Bali is an island and province of Indonesia. The province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nusa Ceningan. It is located at the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Its capital of Denpasar is located at the southern part of the island.

 

With a population of 3,890,757 in the 2010 census, and 4,225,000 as of January 2014, the island is home to most of Indonesia's Hindu minority. According to the 2010 Census, 83.5% of Bali's population adhered to Balinese Hinduism, followed by 13.4% Muslim, Christianity at 2.5%, and Buddhism 0.5%.

 

Bali is a popular tourist destination, which has seen a significant rise in numbers since the 1980s. It is renowned for its highly developed arts, including traditional and modern dance, sculpture, painting, leather, metalworking, and music. The Indonesian International Film Festival is held every year in Bali.

 

Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, the area with the highest biodiversity of marine species. In this area alone over 500 reef building coral species can be found. For comparison, this is about 7 times as many as in the entire Caribbean. There is a wide range of dive sites with high quality reefs, all with their own specific attractions. Many sites can have strong currents and swell, so diving without a knowledgeable guide is inadvisable. Most recently, Bali was the host of the 2011 ASEAN Summit, 2013 APEC and Miss World 2013.

 

HISTORY

ANCIENT

Bali was inhabited around 2000 BC by Austronesian people who migrated originally from Southeast Asia and Oceania through Maritime Southeast Asia. Culturally and linguistically, the Balinese are closely related to the people of the Indonesian archipelago, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Oceania. Stone tools dating from this time have been found near the village of Cekik in the island's west.

 

In ancient Bali, nine Hindu sects existed, namely Pasupata, Bhairawa, Siwa Shidanta, Waisnawa, Bodha, Brahma, Resi, Sora and Ganapatya. Each sect revered a specific deity as its personal Godhead.

 

Inscriptions from 896 and 911 don't mention a king, until 914, when Sri Kesarivarma is mentioned. They also reveal an independent Bali, with a distinct dialect, where Buddhism and Sivaism were practiced simultaneously. Mpu Sindok's great granddaughter, Mahendradatta (Gunapriyadharmapatni), married the Bali king Udayana Warmadewa (Dharmodayanavarmadeva) around 989, giving birth to Airlangga around 1001. This marriage also brought more Hinduism and Javanese culture to Bali. Princess Sakalendukirana appeared in 1098. Suradhipa reigned from 1115 to 1119, and Jayasakti from 1146 until 1150. Jayapangus appears on inscriptions between 1178 and 1181, while Adikuntiketana and his son Paramesvara in 1204.

 

Balinese culture was strongly influenced by Indian, Chinese, and particularly Hindu culture, beginning around the 1st century AD. The name Bali dwipa ("Bali island") has been discovered from various inscriptions, including the Blanjong pillar inscription written by Sri Kesari Warmadewa in 914 AD and mentioning "Walidwipa". It was during this time that the people developed their complex irrigation system subak to grow rice in wet-field cultivation. Some religious and cultural traditions still practised today can be traced to this period.

 

The Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293–1520 AD) on eastern Java founded a Balinese colony in 1343. The uncle of Hayam Wuruk is mentioned in the charters of 1384-86. A mass Javanese emigration occurred in the next century.

 

PORTUGUESE CONTACTS

The first known European contact with Bali is thought to have been made in 1512, when a Portuguese expedition led by Antonio Abreu and Francisco Serrão sighted its northern shores. It was the first expedition of a series of bi-annual fleets to the Moluccas, that throughout the 16th century usually traveled along the coasts of the Sunda Islands. Bali was also mapped in 1512, in the chart of Francisco Rodrigues, aboard the expedition. In 1585, a ship foundered off the Bukit Peninsula and left a few Portuguese in the service of Dewa Agung.

 

DUTCH EAST INDIA

In 1597 the Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived at Bali, and the Dutch East India Company was established in 1602. The Dutch government expanded its control across the Indonesian archipelago during the second half of the 19th century (see Dutch East Indies). Dutch political and economic control over Bali began in the 1840s on the island's north coast, when the Dutch pitted various competing Balinese realms against each other. In the late 1890s, struggles between Balinese kingdoms in the island's south were exploited by the Dutch to increase their control.

 

In June 1860 the famous Welsh naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, travelled to Bali from Singapore, landing at Buleleng on the northcoast of the island. Wallace's trip to Bali was instrumental in helping him devise his Wallace Line theory. The Wallace Line is a faunal boundary that runs through the strait between Bali and Lombok. It has been found to be a boundary between species of Asiatic origin in the east and a mixture of Australian and Asian species to the west. In his travel memoir The Malay Archipelago, Wallace wrote of his experience in Bali:

 

I was both astonished and delighted; for as my visit to Java was some years later, I had never beheld so beautiful and well-cultivated a district out of Europe. A slightly undulating plain extends from the seacoast about ten or twelve miles inland, where it is bounded by a fine range of wooded and cultivated hills. Houses and villages, marked out by dense clumps of coconut palms, tamarind and other fruit trees, are dotted about in every direction; while between them extend luxurious rice-grounds, watered by an elaborate system of irrigation that would be the pride of the best cultivated parts of Europe.

 

The Dutch mounted large naval and ground assaults at the Sanur region in 1906 and were met by the thousands of members of the royal family and their followers who fought against the superior Dutch force in a suicidal puputan defensive assault rather than face the humiliation of surrender. Despite Dutch demands for surrender, an estimated 200 Balinese marched to their death against the invaders. In the Dutch intervention in Bali, a similar massacre occurred in the face of a Dutch assault in Klungkung.

 

AFTERWARD THE DUTCH GOVERNORS

exercised administrative control over the island, but local control over religion and culture generally remained intact. Dutch rule over Bali came later and was never as well established as in other parts of Indonesia such as Java and Maluku.

 

n the 1930s, anthropologists Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson, artists Miguel Covarrubias and Walter Spies, and musicologist Colin McPhee all spent time here. Their accounts of the island and its peoples created a western image of Bali as "an enchanted land of aesthetes at peace with themselves and nature." Western tourists began to visit the island.

 

Imperial Japan occupied Bali during World War II. It was not originally a target in their Netherlands East Indies Campaign, but as the airfields on Borneo were inoperative due to heavy rains, the Imperial Japanese Army decided to occupy Bali, which did not suffer from comparable weather. The island had no regular Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) troops. There was only a Native Auxiliary Corps Prajoda (Korps Prajoda) consisting of about 600 native soldiers and several Dutch KNIL officers under command of KNIL Lieutenant Colonel W.P. Roodenburg. On 19 February 1942 the Japanese forces landed near the town of Senoer [Senur]. The island was quickly captured.

 

During the Japanese occupation, a Balinese military officer, Gusti Ngurah Rai, formed a Balinese 'freedom army'. The harshness of war requisitions made Japanese rule more resented than Dutch rule. Following Japan's Pacific surrender in August 1945, the Dutch returned to Indonesia, including Bali, to reinstate their pre-war colonial administration. This was resisted by the Balinese rebels, who now used recovered Japanese weapons. On 20 November 1946, the Battle of Marga was fought in Tabanan in central Bali. Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, by then 29 years old, finally rallied his forces in east Bali at Marga Rana, where they made a suicide attack on the heavily armed Dutch. The Balinese battalion was entirely wiped out, breaking the last thread of Balinese military resistance.

 

INDIPENDENCE FROM THE DUTCH

In 1946, the Dutch constituted Bali as one of the 13 administrative districts of the newly proclaimed State of East Indonesia, a rival state to the Republic of Indonesia, which was proclaimed and headed by Sukarno and Hatta. Bali was included in the "Republic of the United States of Indonesia" when the Netherlands recognised Indonesian independence on 29 December 1949.

 

CONTEMPORARY

The 1963 eruption of Mount Agung killed thousands, created economic havoc and forced many displaced Balinese to be transmigrated to other parts of Indonesia. Mirroring the widening of social divisions across Indonesia in the 1950s and early 1960s, Bali saw conflict between supporters of the traditional caste system, and those rejecting this system. Politically, the opposition was represented by supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), with tensions and ill-feeling further increased by the PKI's land reform programs. An attempted coup in Jakarta was put down by forces led by General Suharto.

 

The army became the dominant power as it instigated a violent anti-communist purge, in which the army blamed the PKI for the coup. Most estimates suggest that at least 500,000 people were killed across Indonesia, with an estimated 80,000 killed in Bali, equivalent to 5% of the island's population. With no Islamic forces involved as in Java and Sumatra, upper-caste PNI landlords led the extermination of PKI members.

 

As a result of the 1965/66 upheavals, Suharto was able to manoeuvre Sukarno out of the presidency. His "New Order" government reestablished relations with western countries. The pre-War Bali as "paradise" was revived in a modern form. The resulting large growth in tourism has led to a dramatic increase in Balinese standards of living and significant foreign exchange earned for the country. A bombing in 2002 by militant Islamists in the tourist area of Kuta killed 202 people, mostly foreigners. This attack, and another in 2005, severely reduced tourism, producing much economic hardship to the island.

 

GEOGRAPHY

The island of Bali lies 3.2 km east of Java, and is approximately 8 degrees south of the equator. Bali and Java are separated by the Bali Strait. East to west, the island is approximately 153 km wide and spans approximately 112 km north to south; administratively it covers 5,780 km2, or 5,577 km2 without Nusa Penida District, its population density is roughly 750 people/km2.

 

Bali's central mountains include several peaks over 3,000 metres in elevation. The highest is Mount Agung (3,031 m), known as the "mother mountain" which is an active volcano rated as one of the world's most likely sites for a massive eruption within the next 100 years. Mountains range from centre to the eastern side, with Mount Agung the easternmost peak. Bali's volcanic nature has contributed to its exceptional fertility and its tall mountain ranges provide the high rainfall that supports the highly productive agriculture sector. South of the mountains is a broad, steadily descending area where most of Bali's large rice crop is grown. The northern side of the mountains slopes more steeply to the sea and is the main coffee producing area of the island, along with rice, vegetables and cattle. The longest river, Ayung River, flows approximately 75 km.

 

The island is surrounded by coral reefs. Beaches in the south tend to have white sand while those in the north and west have black sand. Bali has no major waterways, although the Ho River is navigable by small sampan boats. Black sand beaches between Pasut and Klatingdukuh are being developed for tourism, but apart from the seaside temple of Tanah Lot, they are not yet used for significant tourism.

 

The largest city is the provincial capital, Denpasar, near the southern coast. Its population is around 491,500 (2002). Bali's second-largest city is the old colonial capital, Singaraja, which is located on the north coast and is home to around 100,000 people. Other important cities include the beach resort, Kuta, which is practically part of Denpasar's urban area, and Ubud, situated at the north of Denpasar, is the island's cultural centre.

 

Three small islands lie to the immediate south east and all are administratively part of the Klungkung regency of Bali: Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan. These islands are separated from Bali by the Badung Strait.

 

To the east, the Lombok Strait separates Bali from Lombok and marks the biogeographical division between the fauna of the Indomalayan ecozone and the distinctly different fauna of Australasia. The transition is known as the Wallace Line, named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who first proposed a transition zone between these two major biomes. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, Bali was connected to Java and Sumatra and to the mainland of Asia and shared the Asian fauna, but the deep water of the Lombok Strait continued to keep Lombok Island and the Lesser Sunda archipelago isolated.

 

CLIMATE

Being just 8 degrees south of the equator, Bali has a fairly even climate year round.

 

Day time temperatures at low elevations vary between 20-33⁰ C although it can be much cooler than that in the mountains. The west monsoon is in place from approximately October to April and this can bring significant rain, particularly from December to March. Outside of the monsoon period, humidity is relatively low and any rain unlikely in lowland areas.

 

ECOLOGY

Bali lies just to the west of the Wallace Line, and thus has a fauna that is Asian in character, with very little Australasian influence, and has more in common with Java than with Lombok. An exception is the yellow-crested cockatoo, a member of a primarily Australasian family. There are around 280 species of birds, including the critically endangered Bali myna, which is endemic. Others Include barn swallow, black-naped oriole, black racket-tailed treepie, crested serpent-eagle, crested treeswift, dollarbird, Java sparrow, lesser adjutant, long-tailed shrike, milky stork, Pacific swallow, red-rumped swallow, sacred kingfisher, sea eagle, woodswallow, savanna nightjar, stork-billed kingfisher, yellow-vented bulbul and great egret.

 

Until the early 20th century, Bali was home to several large mammals: the wild banteng, leopard and the endemic Bali tiger. The banteng still occurs in its domestic form, whereas leopards are found only in neighbouring Java, and the Bali tiger is extinct. The last definite record of a tiger on Bali dates from 1937, when one was shot, though the subspecies may have survived until the 1940s or 1950s. The relatively small size of the island, conflict with humans, poaching and habitat reduction drove the Bali tiger to extinction. This was the smallest and rarest of all tiger subspecies and was never caught on film or displayed in zoos, whereas few skins or bones remain in museums around the world. Today, the largest mammals are the Javan rusa deer and the wild boar. A second, smaller species of deer, the Indian muntjac, also occurs. Saltwater crocodiles were once present on the island, but became locally extinct sometime during the last century.

 

Squirrels are quite commonly encountered, less often is the Asian palm civet, which is also kept in coffee farms to produce Kopi Luwak. Bats are well represented, perhaps the most famous place to encounter them remaining the Goa Lawah (Temple of the Bats) where they are worshipped by the locals and also constitute a tourist attraction. They also occur in other cave temples, for instance at Gangga Beach. Two species of monkey occur. The crab-eating macaque, known locally as "kera", is quite common around human settlements and temples, where it becomes accustomed to being fed by humans, particularly in any of the three "monkey forest" temples, such as the popular one in the Ubud area. They are also quite often kept as pets by locals. The second monkey, endemic to Java and some surrounding islands such as Bali, is far rarer and more elusive is the Javan langur, locally known as "lutung". They occur in few places apart from the Bali Barat National Park. They are born an orange colour, though by their first year they would have already changed to a more blackish colouration. In Java however, there is more of a tendency for this species to retain its juvenile orange colour into adulthood, and so you can see a mixture of black and orange monkeys together as a family. Other rarer mammals include the leopard cat, Sunda pangolin and black giant squirrel.

 

Snakes include the king cobra and reticulated python. The water monitor can grow to at least 1.5 m in length and 50 kg and can move quickly.

 

The rich coral reefs around the coast, particularly around popular diving spots such as Tulamben, Amed, Menjangan or neighbouring Nusa Penida, host a wide range of marine life, for instance hawksbill turtle, giant sunfish, giant manta ray, giant moray eel, bumphead parrotfish, hammerhead shark, reef shark, barracuda, and sea snakes. Dolphins are commonly encountered on the north coast near Singaraja and Lovina.

 

A team of scientists conducted a survey from 29 April 2011 to 11 May 2011 at 33 sea sites around Bali. They discovered 952 species of reef fish of which 8 were new discoveries at Pemuteran, Gilimanuk, Nusa Dua, Tulamben and Candidasa, and 393 coral species, including two new ones at Padangbai and between Padangbai and Amed. The average coverage level of healthy coral was 36% (better than in Raja Ampat and Halmahera by 29% or in Fakfak and Kaimana by 25%) with the highest coverage found in Gili Selang and Gili Mimpang in Candidasa, Karangasem regency.

 

Many plants have been introduced by humans within the last centuries, particularly since the 20th century, making it sometimes hard to distinguish what plants are really native.[citation needed] Among the larger trees the most common are: banyan trees, jackfruit, coconuts, bamboo species, acacia trees and also endless rows of coconuts and banana species. Numerous flowers can be seen: hibiscus, frangipani, bougainvillea, poinsettia, oleander, jasmine, water lily, lotus, roses, begonias, orchids and hydrangeas exist. On higher grounds that receive more moisture, for instance around Kintamani, certain species of fern trees, mushrooms and even pine trees thrive well. Rice comes in many varieties. Other plants with agricultural value include: salak, mangosteen, corn, kintamani orange, coffee and water spinach.

 

ENVIRONMENT

Some of the worst erosion has occurred in Lebih Beach, where up to 7 metres of land is lost every year. Decades ago, this beach was used for holy pilgrimages with more than 10,000 people, but they have now moved to Masceti Beach.

 

From ranked third in previous review, in 2010 Bali got score 99.65 of Indonesia's environmental quality index and the highest of all the 33 provinces. The score measured 3 water quality parameters: the level of total suspended solids (TSS), dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).

 

Because of over-exploitation by the tourist industry which covers a massive land area, 200 out of 400 rivers on the island have dried up and based on research, the southern part of Bali would face a water shortage up to 2,500 litres of clean water per second by 2015. To ease the shortage, the central government plans to build a water catchment and processing facility at Petanu River in Gianyar. The 300 litres capacity of water per second will be channelled to Denpasar, Badung and Gianyar in 2013.

 

ECONOMY

Three decades ago, the Balinese economy was largely agriculture-based in terms of both output and employment. Tourism is now the largest single industry in terms of income, and as a result, Bali is one of Indonesia's wealthiest regions. In 2003, around 80% of Bali's economy was tourism related. By end of June 2011, non-performing loan of all banks in Bali were 2.23%, lower than the average of Indonesian banking industry non-performing loan (about 5%). The economy, however, suffered significantly as a result of the terrorist bombings 2002 and 2005. The tourism industry has since recovered from these events.

 

AGRICULTURE

Although tourism produces the GDP's largest output, agriculture is still the island's biggest employer; most notably rice cultivation. Crops grown in smaller amounts include fruit, vegetables, Coffea arabica and other cash and subsistence crops. Fishing also provides a significant number of jobs. Bali is also famous for its artisans who produce a vast array of handicrafts, including batik and ikat cloth and clothing, wooden carvings, stone carvings, painted art and silverware. Notably, individual villages typically adopt a single product, such as wind chimes or wooden furniture.

 

The Arabica coffee production region is the highland region of Kintamani near Mount Batur. Generally, Balinese coffee is processed using the wet method. This results in a sweet, soft coffee with good consistency. Typical flavours include lemon and other citrus notes. Many coffee farmers in Kintamani are members of a traditional farming system called Subak Abian, which is based on the Hindu philosophy of "Tri Hita Karana". According to this philosophy, the three causes of happiness are good relations with God, other people and the environment. The Subak Abian system is ideally suited to the production of fair trade and organic coffee production. Arabica coffee from Kintamani is the first product in Indonesia to request a Geographical Indication.

 

TOURISM

The tourism industry is primarily focused in the south, while significant in the other parts of the island as well. The main tourist locations are the town of Kuta (with its beach), and its outer suburbs of Legian and Seminyak (which were once independent townships), the east coast town of Sanur (once the only tourist hub), in the center of the island Ubud, to the south of the Ngurah Rai International Airport, Jimbaran, and the newer development of Nusa Dua and Pecatu.

 

The American government lifted its travel warnings in 2008. The Australian government issued an advice on Friday, 4 May 2012. The overall level of the advice was lowered to 'Exercise a high degree of caution'. The Swedish government issued a new warning on Sunday, 10 June 2012 because of one more tourist who was killed by methanol poisoning. Australia last issued an advice on Monday, 5 January 2015 due to new terrorist threats.

 

An offshoot of tourism is the growing real estate industry. Bali real estate has been rapidly developing in the main tourist areas of Kuta, Legian, Seminyak and Oberoi. Most recently, high-end 5 star projects are under development on the Bukit peninsula, on the south side of the island. Million dollar villas are being developed along the cliff sides of south Bali, commanding panoramic ocean views. Foreign and domestic (many Jakarta individuals and companies are fairly active) investment into other areas of the island also continues to grow. Land prices, despite the worldwide economic crisis, have remained stable.

 

In the last half of 2008, Indonesia's currency had dropped approximately 30% against the US dollar, providing many overseas visitors value for their currencies. Visitor arrivals for 2009 were forecast to drop 8% (which would be higher than 2007 levels), due to the worldwide economic crisis which has also affected the global tourist industry, but not due to any travel warnings.

 

Bali's tourism economy survived the terrorist bombings of 2002 and 2005, and the tourism industry has in fact slowly recovered and surpassed its pre-terrorist bombing levels; the longterm trend has been a steady increase of visitor arrivals. In 2010, Bali received 2.57 million foreign tourists, which surpassed the target of 2.0–2.3 million tourists. The average occupancy of starred hotels achieved 65%, so the island is still able to accommodate tourists for some years without any addition of new rooms/hotels, although at the peak season some of them are fully booked.

 

Bali received the Best Island award from Travel and Leisure in 2010. The island of Bali won because of its attractive surroundings (both mountain and coastal areas), diverse tourist attractions, excellent international and local restaurants, and the friendliness of the local people. According to BBC Travel released in 2011, Bali is one of the World's Best Islands, ranking second after Santorini, Greece.

 

In August 2010, the film Eat Pray Love was released in theatres. The movie was based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir Eat, Pray, Love. It took place at Ubud and Padang-Padang Beach at Bali. The 2006 book, which spent 57 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the New York Times paperback nonfiction best-seller list, had already fuelled a boom in Eat, Pray, Love-related tourism in Ubud, the hill town and cultural and tourist center that was the focus of Gilbert's quest for balance through traditional spirituality and healing that leads to love.

 

In January 2016, after music icon David Bowie died, it was revealed that in his will, Bowie asked for his ashes to be scattered in Bali, conforming to Buddhist rituals. He had visited and performed in a number of Southest Asian cities early in his career, including Bangkok and Singapore.

 

Since 2011, China has displaced Japan as the second-largest supplier of tourists to Bali, while Australia still tops the list. Chinese tourists increased by 17% from last year due to the impact of ACFTA and new direct flights to Bali. In January 2012, Chinese tourists year on year (yoy) increased by 222.18% compared to January 2011, while Japanese tourists declined by 23.54% yoy.

 

Bali reported that it has 2.88 million foreign tourists and 5 million domestic tourists in 2012, marginally surpassing the expectations of 2.8 million foreign tourists. Forecasts for 2013 are at 3.1 million.

 

Based on Bank Indonesia survey in May 2013, 34.39 percent of tourists are upper-middle class with spending between $1,286 to $5,592 and dominated by Australia, France, China, Germany and the US with some China tourists move from low spending before to higher spending currently. While 30.26 percent are middle class with spending between $662 to $1,285.

 

SEX TOURISM

In the twentieth century the incidence of tourism specifically for sex was regularly observed in the era of mass tourism in Indonesia In Bali, prostitution is conducted by both men and women. Bali in particular is notorious for its 'Kuta Cowboys', local gigolos targeting foreign female tourists.

 

Tens of thousands of single women throng the beaches of Bali in Indonesia every year. For decades, young Balinese men have taken advantage of the louche and laid-back atmosphere to find love and lucre from female tourists—Japanese, European and Australian for the most part—who by all accounts seem perfectly happy with the arrangement.

 

By 2013, Indonesia was reportedly the number one destination for Australian child sex tourists, mostly starting in Bali but also travelling to other parts of the country. The problem in Bali was highlighted by Luh Ketut Suryani, head of Psychiatry at Udayana University, as early as 2003. Surayani warned that a low level of awareness of paedophilia in Bali had made it the target of international paedophile organisations. On 19 February 2013, government officials announced measures to combat paedophilia in Bali.

 

TRANSPORTATION

The Ngurah Rai International Airport is located near Jimbaran, on the isthmus at the southernmost part of the island. Lt.Col. Wisnu Airfield is found in north-west Bali.

 

A coastal road circles the island, and three major two-lane arteries cross the central mountains at passes reaching to 1,750m in height (at Penelokan). The Ngurah Rai Bypass is a four-lane expressway that partly encircles Denpasar. Bali has no railway lines.

 

In December 2010 the Government of Indonesia invited investors to build a new Tanah Ampo Cruise Terminal at Karangasem, Bali with a projected worth of $30 million. On 17 July 2011 the first cruise ship (Sun Princess) anchored about 400 meters away from the wharf of Tanah Ampo harbour. The current pier is only 154 meters but will eventually be extended to 300–350 meters to accommodate international cruise ships. The harbour here is safer than the existing facility at Benoa and has a scenic backdrop of east Bali mountains and green rice fields. The tender for improvement was subject to delays, and as of July 2013 the situation remained unclear with cruise line operators complaining and even refusing to use the existing facility at Tanah Ampo.

 

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by two ministers, Bali's Governor and Indonesian Train Company to build 565 kilometres of railway along the coast around the island. As of July 2015, no details of this proposed railways have been released.

 

On 16 March 2011 (Tanjung) Benoa port received the "Best Port Welcome 2010" award from London's "Dream World Cruise Destination" magazine. Government plans to expand the role of Benoa port as export-import port to boost Bali's trade and industry sector. The Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry has confirmed that 306 cruise liners are heading for Indonesia in 2013 – an increase of 43 percent compared to the previous year.

 

In May 2011, an integrated Areal Traffic Control System (ATCS) was implemented to reduce traffic jams at four crossing points: Ngurah Rai statue, Dewa Ruci Kuta crossing, Jimbaran crossing and Sanur crossing. ATCS is an integrated system connecting all traffic lights, CCTVs and other traffic signals with a monitoring office at the police headquarters. It has successfully been implemented in other ASEAN countries and will be implemented at other crossings in Bali.

 

On 21 December 2011 construction started on the Nusa Dua-Benoa-Ngurah Rai International Airport toll road which will also provide a special lane for motorcycles. This has been done by seven state-owned enterprises led by PT Jasa Marga with 60% of shares. PT Jasa Marga Bali Tol will construct the 9.91 kilometres toll road (totally 12.7 kilometres with access road). The construction is estimated to cost Rp.2.49 trillion ($273.9 million). The project goes through 2 kilometres of mangrove forest and through 2.3 kilometres of beach, both within 5.4 hectares area. The elevated toll road is built over the mangrove forest on 18,000 concrete pillars which occupied 2 hectares of mangroves forest. It compensated by new planting of 300,000 mangrove trees along the road. On 21 December 2011 the Dewa Ruci 450 meters underpass has also started on the busy Dewa Ruci junction near Bali Kuta Galeria with an estimated cost of Rp136 billion ($14.9 million) from the state budget. On 23 September 2013, the Bali Mandara Toll Road is opened and the Dewa Ruci Junction (Simpang Siur) underpass is opened before. Both are ease the heavy traffic congestion.

 

To solve chronic traffic problems, the province will also build a toll road connecting Serangan with Tohpati, a toll road connecting Kuta, Denpasar and Tohpati and a flyover connecting Kuta and Ngurah Rai Airport.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

The population of Bali was 3,890,757 as of the 2010 Census; the latest estimate (for January 2014) is 4,225,384. There are an estimated 30,000 expatriates living in Bali.

 

ETHNIC ORIGINS

A DNA study in 2005 by Karafet et al. found that 12% of Balinese Y-chromosomes are of likely Indian origin, while 84% are of likely Austronesian origin, and 2% of likely Melanesian origin. The study does not correlate the DNA samples to the Balinese caste system.

 

CASTE SYSTEM

Bali has a caste system based on the Indian Hindu model, with four castes:

 

- Sudra (Shudra) – peasants constituting close to 93% of Bali's population.

- Wesia (Vaishyas) – the caste of merchants and administrative officials

- Ksatrias (Kshatriyas) – the kingly and warrior caste

- Brahmana (Bramhin) – holy men and priests

 

RELIGION

Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, about 83.5% of Bali's population adheres to Balinese Hinduism, formed as a combination of existing local beliefs and Hindu influences from mainland Southeast Asia and South Asia. Minority religions include Islam (13.3%), Christianity (1.7%), and Buddhism (0.5%). These figures do not include immigrants from other parts of Indonesia.

 

Balinese Hinduism is an amalgam in which gods and demigods are worshipped together with Buddhist heroes, the spirits of ancestors, indigenous agricultural deities and sacred places. Religion as it is practised in Bali is a composite belief system that embraces not only theology, philosophy, and mythology, but ancestor worship, animism and magic. It pervades nearly every aspect of traditional life. Caste is observed, though less strictly than in India. With an estimated 20,000 puras (temples) and shrines, Bali is known as the "Island of a Thousand Puras", or "Island of the Gods". This is refer to Mahabarata story that behind Bali became island of god or "pulau dewata" in Indonesian language.

 

Balinese Hinduism has roots in Indian Hinduism and Buddhism, and adopted the animistic traditions of the indigenous people. This influence strengthened the belief that the gods and goddesses are present in all things. Every element of nature, therefore, possesses its own power, which reflects the power of the gods. A rock, tree, dagger, or woven cloth is a potential home for spirits whose energy can be directed for good or evil. Balinese Hinduism is deeply interwoven with art and ritual. Ritualizing states of self-control are a notable feature of religious expression among the people, who for this reason have become famous for their graceful and decorous behaviour.

 

Apart from the majority of Balinese Hindus, there also exist Chinese immigrants whose traditions have melded with that of the locals. As a result, these Sino-Balinese not only embrace their original religion, which is a mixture of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism, but also find a way to harmonise it with the local traditions. Hence, it is not uncommon to find local Sino-Balinese during the local temple's odalan. Moreover, Balinese Hindu priests are invited to perform rites alongside a Chinese priest in the event of the death of a Sino-Balinese. Nevertheless, the Sino-Balinese claim to embrace Buddhism for administrative purposes, such as their Identity Cards.

 

LANGUAGE

Balinese and Indonesian are the most widely spoken languages in Bali, and the vast majority of Balinese people are bilingual or trilingual. The most common spoken language around the tourist areas is Indonesian, as many people in the tourist sector are not solely Balinese, but migrants from Java, Lombok, Sumatra, and other parts of Indonesia. There are several indigenous Balinese languages, but most Balinese can also use the most widely spoken option: modern common Balinese. The usage of different Balinese languages was traditionally determined by the Balinese caste system and by clan membership, but this tradition is diminishing. Kawi and Sanskrit are also commonly used by some Hindu priests in Bali, for Hinduism literature was mostly written in Sanskrit.

 

English and Chinese are the next most common languages (and the primary foreign languages) of many Balinese, owing to the requirements of the tourism industry, as well as the English-speaking community and huge Chinese-Indonesian population. Other foreign languages, such as Japanese, Korean, French, Russian or German are often used in multilingual signs for foreign tourists.

 

CULTURE

Bali is renowned for its diverse and sophisticated art forms, such as painting, sculpture, woodcarving, handcrafts, and performing arts. Balinese cuisine is also distinctive. Balinese percussion orchestra music, known as gamelan, is highly developed and varied. Balinese performing arts often portray stories from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana but with heavy Balinese influence. Famous Balinese dances include pendet, legong, baris, topeng, barong, gong keybar, and kecak (the monkey dance). Bali boasts one of the most diverse and innovative performing arts cultures in the world, with paid performances at thousands of temple festivals, private ceremonies, or public shows.

 

The Hindu New Year, Nyepi, is celebrated in the spring by a day of silence. On this day everyone stays at home and tourists are encouraged to remain in their hotels. On the day before New Year, large and colourful sculptures of ogoh-ogoh monsters are paraded and finally burned in the evening to drive away evil spirits. Other festivals throughout the year are specified by the Balinese pawukon calendrical system.

 

Celebrations are held for many occasions such as a tooth-filing (coming-of-age ritual), cremation or odalan (temple festival). One of the most important concepts that Balinese ceremonies have in common is that of désa kala patra, which refers to how ritual performances must be appropriate in both the specific and general social context. Many of the ceremonial art forms such as wayang kulit and topeng are highly improvisatory, providing flexibility for the performer to adapt the performance to the current situation. Many celebrations call for a loud, boisterous atmosphere with lots of activity and the resulting aesthetic, ramé, is distinctively Balinese. Often two or more gamelan ensembles will be performing well within earshot, and sometimes compete with each other to be heard. Likewise, the audience members talk amongst themselves, get up and walk around, or even cheer on the performance, which adds to the many layers of activity and the liveliness typical of ramé.

 

Kaja and kelod are the Balinese equivalents of North and South, which refer to ones orientation between the island's largest mountain Gunung Agung (kaja), and the sea (kelod). In addition to spatial orientation, kaja and kelod have the connotation of good and evil; gods and ancestors are believed to live on the mountain whereas demons live in the sea. Buildings such as temples and residential homes are spatially oriented by having the most sacred spaces closest to the mountain and the unclean places nearest to the sea.

 

Most temples have an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard which are arranged with the inner courtyard furthest kaja. These spaces serve as performance venues since most Balinese rituals are accompanied by any combination of music, dance and drama. The performances that take place in the inner courtyard are classified as wali, the most sacred rituals which are offerings exclusively for the gods, while the outer courtyard is where bebali ceremonies are held, which are intended for gods and people. Lastly, performances meant solely for the entertainment of humans take place outside the walls of the temple and are called bali-balihan. This three-tiered system of classification was standardised in 1971 by a committee of Balinese officials and artists to better protect the sanctity of the oldest and most sacred Balinese rituals from being performed for a paying audience.

 

Tourism, Bali's chief industry, has provided the island with a foreign audience that is eager to pay for entertainment, thus creating new performance opportunities and more demand for performers. The impact of tourism is controversial since before it became integrated into the economy, the Balinese performing arts did not exist as a capitalist venture, and were not performed for entertainment outside of their respective ritual context. Since the 1930s sacred rituals such as the barong dance have been performed both in their original contexts, as well as exclusively for paying tourists. This has led to new versions of many of these performances which have developed according to the preferences of foreign audiences; some villages have a barong mask specifically for non-ritual performances as well as an older mask which is only used for sacred performances.

 

Balinese society continues to revolve around each family's ancestral village, to which the cycle of life and religion is closely tied. Coercive aspects of traditional society, such as customary law sanctions imposed by traditional authorities such as village councils (including "kasepekang", or shunning) have risen in importance as a consequence of the democratisation and decentralisation of Indonesia since 1998.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Includes Farmers Market in Marion Square, Charleston, South Carolina, and Pride Parade 2016

Author's Note: The contents of this chapter include very sensitive subject matter and may be triggering to some individuals. Scenes of abuse of various forms are represented as not only for storytelling, but to raise awareness of what this behavior looks like. Abusive behavior in this story includes, but is not limited to: physical abuse, mental abuse, verbal abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, intentional triggering of another's PTSD, and trauma. In no way are these scenes intended to purposely trigger or harm anyone.

 

~~~

 

The following morning after Aiden's moonlit flight with Vincent, he'd woken up late just as Vincent was emerging from his quarters. His captain was already fully dressed and ready to run errands. As Vincent explained it to the yawning Aiden, now that he was going to the masquerade, there was much to be done! A short while later, Vincent departed in a determined but cheerful mood to get everything set in motion. And when he returned that evening he had an official invitation to the ball for Aiden in hand! He sat Aiden down and explained in greater detail what preparations would need to be done. While Vincent had informed him that there would be fittings, dancing and etiquette lessons, and even promenades for social practice, the days following were unexpectedly much busier for Aiden than he'd anticipated.

The first order of business was a visit to the tailor! The shop they went to belonged to a highly skilled older man who knew Vincent by sight and greeted the captain enthusiastically. As it turned out, this was where Vincent and the other men in his family frequented as regular customers! After Aiden's nervous last attempt to get himself to visit a shop like this, he was grateful to have Vincent there to guide him through the process. As soon as Vincent explained that they were here for a suit for Aiden for the upcoming ball, the tailor got straight to work! Vincent helped Aiden sort through different fabrics and finally settle on a nice dark teal and gold lining which, as Vincent put it, brought out the color in his eyes. The comment had made Aiden blush slightly; something Vincent noticed which made him feel a little pleased with himself.

When the topic of how much everything was going to cost came up, Aiden felt panic rearing up inside him. He knew it would be expensive but to actually spend the money? Aside from the tiny piece of Fulgora's Eye that he'd gotten for Pete, this was the most expensive purchase he'd ever made for himself! However, with a few quiet, carefully chosen words of reassurance from Vincent, Aiden remembered that he was, in fact, wealthy. He could afford this suit hundreds of times over and then some! With Vincent's encouragement, Aiden went ahead and made the down payment purchase for his suit! Once measurements had been taken some time later and they were free to go, they went next door to the cordwainer. There Aiden got measured again; this time for boots to go specifically for his ballroom attire! This time, Aiden didn't hesitate to pay for his boots which Vincent felt proud of him for.

The lessons Vincent promised began just two days later. While Vincent didn't really care much for all the niceties and politeness of upper class society, he was still a part of it and therefore educated thus. During these lessons, Aiden began to learn the basics of gentlemanly ballroom etiquette. He'd be learning how to dance very soon but first Aiden would need to learn how to properly walk, stand, and even how to talk. While Vincent stressed the importance of these lessons, most of the time the two men were just laughing and enjoying each other's company. Vincent was having such a grand time with his friend that he was often smiling and full of spirit. Vincent suggested Aiden put to practice what he'd learned while they were out and about. Aiden remembered that this was just a part of the facade; the mask that must be put on for society. So, that's what he did. Following Vincent's example, he began to learn. He would gladly play the part. Aiden knew deep down that Vincent liked Aiden just as he was now... but a big part of him wanted to fit into Vincent's world more. He wanted to show Vincent that he was capable of being a part of ALL aspects of his life; not just on the ship.

When it came time for Aiden to learn to dance, Vincent knew that Charlotte would be the most logical choice to be Aiden's dance partner. When the young lady learned to dance a few years ago, it had been Vincent, himself, who was her dance partner as she learned the art. He knew she was a lovely dancer for her age; a talented one, at that. She'd also proven herself to be a patient teacher. Besides all that, Aiden and she got along well and clearly there was chemistry between them. Vincent knew that this would be a perfect opportunity for the two of them to get to know each other and spend time together. There was every reason for him to allow them to practice together! Yet, Vincent knew without a doubt that Charlotte would be all over Aiden...which was why when Aiden arrived for his first day of dance lessons it was not Charlotte there to greet him alongside Vincent....it was Abigail!

Abigail was happy to join Vincent in teaching Aiden how to dance! Of course, she knew the real reason he was asking her even if he didn't want to admit it, and the alternative would have been Bernadette. While Bernie excelled in many other things, Abigail knew just how skilled her sister was on the dance floor....and something told her Aiden would prefer to keep his toes intact.

And so, practice began! Aiden discovered that he liked dancing and the chemistry between the three of them was very pleasant and enjoyable. Abigail was fond of Aiden already and the more she learned and saw of him, the more she found him a pleasure to be around. He was a fun student who made the task of teaching him an enjoyable experience. When the cousins demonstrated to Aiden the various popular dances that he'd see at the ball, the young man was in awe. They appeared to move flawlessly to the music coming out of the phonograph. As it turned out, Abigail had a small passion for dance, and Vincent, while he didn't like to show off, was quite skilled as well. Despite the intricate dances he was shown, Aiden was told he'd be learning the easiest of the dances first: the waltz.

The days passed and things were starting to come together quickly! Aiden's confidence with the waltz was starting to build. Soon, he was guiding Abigail with less mistakes and even felt brave enough to add in a small flourish in his step! Not only was his dancing skills improving, his suit for the masquerade was coming along nicely.

On the topic of his suit one afternoon, Vincent pointed out that dancing in full formal attire was different than practicing in comfortable clothes. It would be heavier and warmer than what they were doing now. He mused that Aiden should be more dressed up while practicing to get used to it; much the way Vincent dressed when out as a member of high society. It got Aiden thinking that maybe it was time he finally got something a little nicer to wear after all.

Normally, these things took time to make so when Aiden went back to the tailor's the next day, he was not expecting to be able to walk out with a brand new outfit in hand. The tailor happened to have a complete set on display that he sold to Aiden at a discounted price. Apparently, it had been made for another customer some time ago who had changed their mind at the very last minute. Amazingly, the entire ensemble fit Aiden like a glove! There were only a couple quick adjustments needed for the pants but that was it!

Finally Aiden stepped up to the mirror. He almost didn't recognize himself! The young man staring back at him looked older and more mature. There was a growing confidence which showed in how he stood tall and smiled with approval.

The next time Aiden was due to meet Abigail and Vincent marked two weeks until the masquerade! While it also meant Damien was officially back in town as well, Aiden had other things on his mind. This was the day he would be arriving dressed like a gentleman; not some commoner who worked aboard a ship.

Aiden was feeling nervous! His hands kept fidgeting and tugging at his fitted blue waistcoat as he stepped off the lift. Just ahead of him was the open door that invitingly led into Vincent's office. What would Vincent think? Would he approve of him? Aiden peeked into the room and took a cursory glance around to see who was all here. His eyes appreciatively settled on the slender yet curvy shape standing by one of the bookshelves beside the tea station.

It was Vincent, of course! He hadn't realized he had company yet. He was standing in front of a small mirror up on one of the bookshelves and was actually humming softly to himself. Intent upon his task, he deftly pinned the last strands of hair into his updo. It was a more effeminate style than Aiden had ever seen on him. It wasn't just his hair but also the way he was dressed that gave him such an androgynous appearance. He was a little more dressed up and the way his corset and trousers flattered and hugged his figure? There was just something different about him today. Whatever it was, Aiden found it attractive.

Just as Vincent finished with his hair and gave a satisfied smile at his appearance there was a soft knock at the door. Ah, that had to be Aiden. He was right on time! As he turned to greet Aiden, he saw Aiden's smile which bemused him. And while he'd never admit it aloud, it made him feel shy. His mind tried to reason why Aiden would be smiling at him as if...as if he were the loveliest creature in the world.

No, his mind reasoned, that couldn't be right! And as if to prove him right, Aiden suddenly began to grin. That's right...he must be amused by his appearance! However, he was completely unaware that, in truth, Aiden was actually grinning at the sight of Vincent's deepening blush that had blossomed across his cheeks at the sight of his friend staring at him...

But now, Vincent was feeling awkward and second-guessing his decision to dress up. He nibbled his lower lip and glanced off to the side. As he reached up with one hand and toyed with his bangs, he said just loud enough for Aiden to hear, "I know, I know. I look silly."

"What? No, you don't!" Aiden chuckled as he stepped into the room. "I think the whole look is very flattering on you."

"You really think so? It's not too much?"

"I really think so. You look great!"

Vincent saw that sweet, reassuring smile and suddenly he felt much better as he found himself suddenly smiling as well. Once upon a time, he would have not believed it so quickly, if at all. But Aiden had a way about him that made him feel safe to be himself. And it seemed that was turning into confidence that was taking hold more firmly in Vincent's life. And though Vincent didn't realize it, he was finally starting to come into himself and blossom; something those closest to him 'had' started to notice.

As it turned out, Abigail had come down with a small cold and wouldn't be joining them today...but Vincent didn't want to cancel Aiden's lesson. After all, Vincent knew how to be led in a dance just as well as he could lead! So, when he offered himself as Aiden's dance partner, he was pleased with Aiden's enthusiastic response.

Once Vincent turned the phonograph on, he turned to face his friend and saw Aiden offering out his hand towards him with a grin. It was much like he'd done the night he'd asked Vincent to join him on their moonlit flight. Vincent grinned back and placed his hand in Aiden's before allowing himself to be guided to the middle of the room.

Aiden slid his hand around Vincent's waist and stepped close, his gaze shifting down to gaze into Vincent's as Vincent's hand came to sit upon his upper arm and gently took his hand. Then after what felt like several quiet, wonderful minutes of suspended time (but was really only a couple of breaths), Aiden began to lead on the next beat of melody that was playing for them.

Aiden had proven by now that he had a pretty good handle on the waltz. So after a couple of dances together, Vincent decided how to show him the first steps of another type of dance he'd demonstrated the first day: the quadrille!

A couple of hours had passed and Aiden was finally ready to give leading a real try! So after a quick break, the men got back to it! It was about halfway through the first dance when Aiden first accidentally treaded on Vincent's toes and bumped into him. At first, Aiden was apologetic, but Vincent laughed it off.

And as they continued to dance, he told Aiden about a few collisions on the dance floor that he'd witnessed. Vincent was no longer keeping an eye on Aiden's dance moves because he was too preoccupied talking and laughing all while still dancing! As natural as can be, Aiden still led Vincent around the small space while listening and tossing in his own laughter and commentary. They were no longer dancing the quadrille, exactly, but instead just dancing for fun while they interacted. In fact, they were so engrossed with each other, their dance, and the music that they were unaware that they were no longer alone.

As seconds turned to nearly a minute, Damien's composure was starting to crack. So this was why Vincent couldn't spend time with him earlier today! Of course, it was because of fucking Aiden! What the bloody Hell was going on? Finally deciding to just get their attention before he completely lost himself, Damien forced another smile upon his face and knocked loudly on the door.

"Damien! Is it three o'clock already?!" Vincent exclaimed before quickly glancing towards the clock. With a small chuckle he added, "Oh, you're early!" He gently detached himself from Aiden's embrace so he could go turn off the music. And as he moved, he glanced out the window and was made aware that it was suddenly getting dark outside as if it were going to pour any moment. And indeed, there was the gentle sound of thunder in the distance.

"Well, you said to just come in when I got here so here I am!"

"I meant at three, but it's fine. It looks like it's going to rain anyways."

It wasn't fine, Vincent felt, but he moved onto the next topic as he joined Aiden and Damien in the center of the room. Vincent realized how nicely Damien was dressed and he complimented him, "Well, don't you look extra sharp today? What's the occasion?"

Damien beamed as Vincent praised his outfit. He'd dressed up just for him for this very reason! He'd even let his hair grow out which he thought gave him a more roguish appearance. He felt handsome and confident; especially now that he knew Vincent approved (just as he already knew he would)!

"Well, thank you! I think I appear rather dashing."

Vincent gave a nod of approval then smiled and gestured over at Aiden. "Aiden's gotten a new outfit, too. Well, two. He's been practicing his dancing for the ball! Didn't you see? He's doing great! He's only just started learning a couple of weeks ago!"

At Vincent's proud grin and praise, Aiden felt himself blush deeply and smile bashfully. He glanced towards Vincent who stood beside him and nudged Aiden's arm with a chuckle. But across the way, Damien wasn't as pleased.

"Wait, wait, wait. The ball?" Damien wondered aloud condescendingly. "Since when is Aiden coming to the ball?"

"Since I invited him!" Vincent retorted more defensively than he'd intended. Damien blinked in surprise and even Aiden felt a little surprised...though also a bit pleased. Mysteriously, a shade of red appeared on Vincent's cheeks as he cleared his throat. He'd invited Aiden there so that he'd not dread the event so much. And...and he wanted him there. Aiden always made things better when he was there!

Unaware that he was still blushing, he quickly glanced up at Aiden then looked back at Damien before explaining a little timidly, "I just thought it would be fun, you know? I wanted to have my best friends with me." And suddenly there was a weight on Vincent's shoulders as Aiden daringly slid his arm over them and leaned towards him with a handsome smile.

"And it's going to be absolutely fantastic. I'm looking forward to it. And...thanks again for teaching me how to dance. These past couple weeks have been...wonderful. You're wonderful."

"Well, gosh! I've been enjoying your company, too. Practice is just a good excuse to see you! It...it HAS been wonderful."

And as Vincent and Aiden teased the boundaries of flirting, the realization of how good they looked side by side was more obvious than ever! Damien suddenly realized that they were even dressed to match in similar colors! It made them look even more like a couple! And with how had Vincent turned to look up at Aiden and seemed to lean into his touch? It took everything in Damien not to punch Aiden in his cocky, smiling face!

'...These past couple of weeks...' Aiden had said. What else had happened during this past month while he was gone?! Maybe he should have come home sooner, after all.

"So, tell us about your trip!" Vincent exclaimed as he was suddenly approaching Damien and tugged him further into the room towards the armchairs. "Would you like some tea? I was just thinking about making some! Aiden?" With both his friends acknowledging his offer, Vincent left Damien to sit and started up the kettle. Meanwhile, Aiden went to lean against the desk as he watched and listened silently.

Damien took his seat and groaned softly as he settled in. His eyes remained focused on Vincent (ignoring Aiden's existence as much as possible) and responded enthusiastically, "It was a lot of fun! I saw lots of family and some old friends..."

Damien began to elaborate on his visit, to which Aiden found a bit dull. However, Vincent seemed to know who Damien was talking about and was much more invested in this conversation. Even as Vincent finished serving their teas, Damien was still talking. It was as Damien's tea finally cooled enough for him to drink some that Aiden finally had a chance to speak.

"After this cup, I think I am going to let you two finish catching up and head out, myself," Aiden informed them. "When you decide when you want to take Leon's Claw up in the air, let me know."

"Mm, that's right. You and I need to decide on that!" Damien replied with a pleased grin to which Vincent smiled and nodded before sipping contently at his tea. Good, Damien thought to himself. Aiden was leaving! As soon as Aiden was gone, he'd get to the bottom of all this.

Aiden finished his tea fairly quickly, and it didn't take long before he reluctantly bid Vincent and Damien farewell. He'd be seeing Vincent the day after tomorrow for sure but that already felt like too far away. And there was something in the way Vincent hesitantly gave Aiden an umbrella to borrow and how he looked at him with a touch of longing that convinced Aiden that Vincent may, in fact, be feeling the exact same way.

Damien watched silently from where he leaned against the desk, arms rising and folding across his chest as the door finally closed behind Aiden. He watched as Vincent turned to face him with a smile. However, Vincent's smile immediately faded as he caught sight of Damien's slight frown and how his brows creased with irritation.

"What's-?" Vincent started but was cut off by Damien's abrupt, "What the fuck is going on?" Vincent drew in a deep breath and defensively responded, "What are you talking about exactly?"

"You know what I mean, Vincent!"

Vincent's lips parted but no words came out. He was flabbergasted! Where was all this coming from?! He really had no idea what Damien was so upset over so quickly! Yet as seconds passed and Vincent couldn't come up with an answer, Damien finally huffed and took a step away and ran his fingers through his hair frustratedly. Though a moment later he took a deep breath and glanced over his shoulders. He let out another sigh and asked Vincent, "I'm your best friend right?"

"Of course you are!"

"You know you can tell me anything."

"I know that."

"So, then what has he done to you?"

"What are you talking about?!"

"Aiden!" Damien placed his hands on Vincent's shoulders and squeezed tightly. Vincent winced and felt a headache take immediate siege as Aiden was being blamed yet again. "Come on, Vincent! This isn't you! I told you: you look silly when you dress like this. What's with the hair?"

Vincent felt his confidence start to sink as he glanced off to the side towards his mirror. Earlier, he'd felt pride in his appearance. He found he liked dressing more androgynously sometimes for personal reasons. Secretly, honestly... Vincent liked pretty things and had always wanted to dress more like this. It wasn't that he wanted to do it all the time but just on those rare occasions...but thanks to Damien, he was starting to question himself again and already wanted to unpin his hair. But then he remembered how Aiden had told him that it was flattering on him and that he looked great!

Remembering that, Vincent shifted his gaze up to look at Damien and placed his hands atop of his and pulled them off before stating a little sharply, "I'm trying something new. It's MY decision, Damien. No one makes that for me. No. One."

Drawing his hands back as if struck, Damien's brow furrowed as if hurt as Vincent walked past him with a sigh. Vincent placed his hands on his prized orrery and stared down at the planets as they rotated around. It was a moment later when Damien's voice appeared right behind him in his ear in a way that sent uncomfortable shivers down his spine.

"You're not the same anymore," Damien murmured. "It's like you're becoming a different person. I just miss my best friend. Is that such a bad thing?"

"No. It's-"

Vincent had turned around and found himself practically sandwiched between the orrery and Damien who was standing very, very close. Vincent wet his lips nervously and glanced off to the side uncomfortably.

"It's not a bad thing. I get it," Vincent relented as he maneuvered away towards his desk. Now feeling much less confident about himself, Vincent folded his arms over his abdomen and hunched slightly. This whole conversation had knocked the wind out of his sails.

Sensing Vincent's drop in mood, Damien reached out to touch his shoulder and explained, "It's just...not you. That's all. But I suppose I can get used to it. I just like good old Vincent, you know? I like how things used to be when it's just us...like now! It's okay, though. So..." And with that, Damien walked past Vincent towards the chair and went to plop down and folded his arms across his chest as he demanded, "...so, what's been going on with you this past month? What brought you to giving 'dancing' lessons?"

Vincent took a deep breath and then let it out and forced a smile on his face. He may as well try to keep the mood light. However, he decided to tread a little more carefully as he shrugged and went to the mirror across the way. He began to unpin the pins in his hair as he explained, "It's not just me. Abby's been helping as his dance partner but she's got a cold so I just stepped in for today."

"Oh! Well why didn't you say SHE was his dance partner?"

And though Vincent's back was turned and he couldn't see it, he could hear and feel Damien's demeanor easing down and becoming less tense. Thank God! He replied, "Because I didn't think it mattered? Anyway, I invited him to come to the ball because I thought it would be fun to have him there. Besides, there will be people he knows and it's a good opportunity. Plus, I was bored! You took TWO extra weeks to come back!"

"Yeah, but it was worth it. At least I had fun! I'm back now. That's what matters and things can go back to as they should be! Tell you what, why don't I come help out with Aiden's lessons? It would be fun! It would be easier to practice with another couple and you and I can dance together! How's that sound? We can practice for the ball!"

Vincent unwound his hair and let it fall across his shoulders; his hair falling forward across his brow and he stared at himself unhappily. And as he did, Damien suddenly appeared behind him, blocking his light and placing his hands around Vincent's upper arms. Vincent glanced off to the side though he felt Damien looming over him and pressing right up against his back and making him shrink and feel very small. Damien's eyes pierced the side of his head and his fingers dug in just the tiniest bit into his arms as he asked, "Don't you think that's a grand idea?"

"I do!" Vincent quickly lied as he plastered a smile on his face and glanced up at him up over his shoulder. Though, honestly, he wanted to crawl and hide for a while. While Damien was right that Aiden could practice better with another couple present for the quadrille, he didn't want to put them together right now. It seemed 4 weeks apart hadn't helped matters at all. "But he's already gotten so good that he won't need much more practice, I think. But if we do, I'll definitely be letting you know first."

Quickly, Vincent turned in place and pushed his long hair over his shoulder, "I'm tired of all this ball talk! Let's decide when we want to go flying!" He hoped Damien would allow himself to be distracted with plans and leave the rest of it alone. He just wanted to enjoy the rest of the day. And thankfully it seemed he was in luck!

Damien grinned and went to take his seat again all while going on a tangent about how eager he was for that. For now, it was best to let Damien enjoy that while he, Vincent, came down from whatever the fuck that argument had been about.

Vincent still wasn't sure what the core of Damien's actual problem was. It always felt like he was running in circles and never directly clarifying what upset him so much. Sometimes, Vincent wondered if even Damien knew. But it was as they parted ways much later in the evening, hours after the whole incident had even happened...that Damien finally started to hint what was really wrong.

"Tell me that you're not going to fall for Aiden."

"That's preposterous! Ha! What in the Hell has you thinking I'm going to fall for Aiden?!"

Vincent actually laughed at the idea! He shook his head as he leaned against the door jamb and folded his arms over his chest. And, if Damien was being honest with himself, Vincent sure did look surprised by this idea. Damien was standing before him in the hallway, peering back at Vincent with slightly narrowed eyes. He didn't want to go until he got that promise.

"Just....promise me you won't!"

"Pfft. Now you're just being ridiculous! Aiden? And 'me?' We're just friends! And crewmates...like you and me. Nothing's going to change, okay? Besides, I am absolutely sure Aiden doesn't see me as anything like that. Don't be a worry wart! You'll see! As soon as this damned masquerade is over with and we're back in the air, everything will be back to normal as it should be."

Vincent smirked and pushed on Damien's shoulder to nudge him to go home. The sooner Damien was gone, the sooner he could lock up and depart, himself. Thankfully, they were heading in opposite directions so he could finally get some peace and quiet.

It took a long moment, but Damien finally gave a satisfied nod and chuckle before responding, "I'm not a worry wart! Just call me a concerned best friend. I care about you. You know that."

"I do know. Be off with you! Get some rest! I'll see you in two days. Five o'clock at Leon's Claw. I'll make sure to get everything arranged ahead of time."

"See you then!"

And as soon as Damien's back was turned, Vincent ducked back into his office and slumped back against the door. Why the Hell was Damien so worried? Sure, Damien was never a person who enjoyed change but who ever truly did? Usually, the two worked very well together and got on well enough. They just needed to work through these few rough patches!

And besides, he was certain that whatever had Damien paranoid would soon pass because sooner or later he'd see that there was only friendship between Aiden and Vincent. It was absurd to think otherwise!

Absolutely...absurd.

  

---

NEXT PART:

www.flickr.com/photos/153660805@N05/53826223464/in/datepo...

  

To select another chapter (or even start from the beginning), here's the album link:

www.flickr.com/photos/153660805@N05/albums/72157717075565127

 

***Please note this is a BOY LOVE (LGBTQ+) series. It is a slow burn and is rated YOUNG ADULT!***

 

Special thank you to my husband Vin (Be My Mannequin? Pose Store) for collaborating with me on this series and co-starring as The Captain!

  

DISCORD SERVER: That's right! The Captain and the Engineer has a Discord Server! If you would like to join and chat with other crewmates and see what's new and happening before it gets posted to Flickr, click the link!

discord.gg/qBa769TAC4

 

***NEW!!!!***

 

The Captain and the Engineer now has a FACEBOOK PAGE! Please come Like, Follow, and join the crew! Thank you so much for all your support!

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Nongla, Guangxi, China/中国广西弄拉

 

Karst rocky desertification is a common and very serious problem in south China. Nongla residents have combated this problem for decades and this area became a nature reserve. The forest coverage rate is 79.6%, but this number includes shrubland and nearly all of it is just shrubland.

I was able to photograph just four species of butterflies during one warm and sunny day in Nongla. I think it is very dissapointing for a nature reserve. It could be much more in some park in the city. Birdwatching was also worse than in the city. Only mothing was better, maybe due to the absence of bug zappers.

www.gxnews.com.cn/staticpages/20140821/newgx53f5a22d-1100...

  

Lotus Elan S3 (1966-69) Engine 1558 cc S4 DOC Production 7895 (includes S1, S2 and S3)

Registration Number SBY 2 F

LOTUS SET

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623671671113...

 

The original Elan was introduced in 1962 as a roadster, although an optional hardtop was offered in 1963 and a coupé version in 1965. The two-seat Lotus Elan replaced the Lotus Elite. It was the first Lotus road car to use a steel backbone chassis with a fibreglass body. At 1,600 lb the Elan was both lightweight and had highly responsive handling. Initial versions of the Elan were also available as a kit to be assembled by the customer. The Elan was technologically advanced with a DOHC 1557 cc engine, 4-wheel disc brakes, rack and pinion steering, and 4-wheel independent suspension.

Series 1 introduced in 1962 with pop up head lights, built on a backbone frame, all independant springing and discs all round. The early ones had a 1498 cc engine, changed to the 1558 after the first batch.

The Series 2 (1964-66) was the same basic spec. and appearance, with enlarged brake calipers, polished veneer fascia, and centre locking wheels. All were fixed heads until June 1966.

The Series 3 has a higher final drive ratio and optional close ratio gearbox. The Special Equipment model has an uprated 115 bhp

 

An Elan was famously used by Emma Peel, the leather clad heroine on the Avengers TV Series.

 

A Big thankyou for an incredible 24.2 Million views

 

Shot 04:05:2014 at the Donington Historic Festival REF 102-252

 

Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word slug is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a small internal shell, particularly sea slugs and semi-slugs (this is in contrast to the common name snail, which applies to gastropods that have a coiled shell large enough that they can fully retract their soft parts into it).

 

Various taxonomic families of land slugs form part of several quite different evolutionary lineages, which also include snails. Thus, the various families of slugs are not closely related, despite a superficial similarity in the overall body form. The shell-less condition has arisen many times independently as an example of convergent evolution, and thus the category "slug" is polyphyletic.

 

Taxonomy

Of the six orders of Pulmonata, two – the Onchidiacea and Soleolifera – solely comprise slugs. A third group, the Sigmurethra, contains various clades of snails, semi-slugs (i.e. snails whose shells are too small for them to retract fully into), and slugs.[1] The taxonomy of this group is in the process of being revised in light of DNA sequencing. It appears that pulmonates are paraphyletic and basal to the opisthobranchs, which are a terminal branch of the tree. The family Ellobiidae are also polyphyletic.

 

Subinfraorder Orthurethra

Superfamily Achatinelloidea Gulick, 1873

Superfamily Cochlicopoidea Pilsbry, 1900

Superfamily Partuloidea Pilsbry, 1900

Superfamily Pupilloidea Turton, 1831

Subinfraorder Sigmurethra

Superfamily Acavoidea Pilsbry, 1895

Superfamily Achatinoidea Swainson, 1840

Superfamily Aillyoidea Baker, 1960

Superfamily Arionoidea J.E. Gray in Turnton, 1840

Superfamily Athoracophoroidea

Family Athoracophoridae

Superfamily Orthalicoidea

Subfamily Bulimulinae

Superfamily Camaenoidea Pilsbry, 1895

Superfamily Clausilioidea Mörch, 1864

Superfamily Dyakioidea Gude & Woodward, 1921

Superfamily Gastrodontoidea Tryon, 1866

Superfamily Helicoidea Rafinesque, 1815

Superfamily Helixarionoidea Bourguignat, 1877

Superfamily Limacoidea Rafinesque, 1815

Superfamily Oleacinoidea H. & A. Adams, 1855

Superfamily Orthalicoidea Albers-Martens, 1860

Superfamily Plectopylidoidea Moellendorf, 1900

Superfamily Polygyroidea Pilsbry, 1894

Superfamily Punctoidea Morse, 1864

Superfamily Rhytidoidea Pilsbry, 1893

Family Rhytididae

Superfamily Sagdidoidera Pilsbry, 1895

Superfamily Staffordioidea Thiele, 1931

Superfamily Streptaxoidea J.E. Gray, 1806

Superfamily Strophocheiloidea Thiele, 1926

Superfamily Parmacelloidea

Superfamily Zonitoidea Mörch, 1864

Superfamily Quijotoidea Jesús Ortea and Juan José Bacallado, 2016

Family Quijotidae

 

Description

Tentacles: Like other pulmonate land gastropods, the majority of land slugs have two pairs of 'feelers' or tentacles on their head. The upper pair is light-sensing and has eyespots at the ends, while the lower pair provides the sense of smell. Both pairs are retractable in stylommatophoran slugs, but contractile in veronicellid slugs.

Mantle: On top of the slug, behind the head, is the saddle-shaped mantle. In stylommatophoran slugs, on the right-hand side of the mantle is a respiratory opening, the pneumostome, which is easier to see when open; also on the right side at the front are the genital opening and anus. Veronicellid slugs have a mantle covering the whole dorsal part of the body, they have no respiratory opening, and the anus opens posteriorly.

Tail: The part of a slug behind the mantle is called the 'tail'.

Keel: Some species of slugs, for example Tandonia budapestensis, have a prominent ridge running over their back along the middle of the tail (sometimes along the whole tail, sometimes only the posterior part).

Foot: The bottom side of a slug, which is flat, is called the 'foot'. Like almost all gastropods, a slug moves by rhythmic waves of muscular contraction on the underside of its foot. It simultaneously secretes a layer of mucus that it travels on, which helps prevent damage to the foot tissues. Around the edge of the foot in some slugs is a structure called the 'foot fringe'.

Vestigial shell: Most slugs retain a remnant of their shell, which is usually internalized. This organ generally serves as storage for calcium salts, often in conjunction with the digestive glands. An internal shell is present in the Limacidae and Parmacellidae. Adult Philomycidae, Onchidiidae and Veronicellidae lack shells.

Physiology

 

An active Ambigolimax slug in Fremont, California

Slugs' bodies are made up mostly of water and, without a full-sized shell, their soft tissues are prone to desiccation. They must generate protective mucus to survive. Many species are most active just after a rain because of the moist ground or during nighttime. In drier conditions, they hide in damp places such as under tree bark, fallen logs, rocks and manmade structures, such as planters, to help retain body moisture.[3] Like all other gastropods, they undergo torsion (a 180° twisting of the internal organs) during development. Internally, slug anatomy clearly shows the effects of this rotation—but externally, the bodies of slugs appear more or less symmetrical, except the pneumostome, which is on one side of the animal, normally the right-hand side.

 

Slugs produce two types of mucus: one is thin and watery, and the other thick and sticky. Both kinds are hygroscopic. The thin mucus spreads from the foot's centre to its edges, whereas the thick mucus spreads from front to back. Slugs also produce thick mucus that coats the whole body of the animal. The mucus secreted by the foot contains fibres that help prevent the slug from slipping down vertical surfaces.

 

The "slime trail" a slug leaves behind has some secondary effects: other slugs coming across a slime trail can recognise the slime trail as produced by one of the same species, which is useful in finding a mate. Following a slime trail is also part of the hunting behaviour of some carnivorous slugs. Body mucus provides some protection against predators, as it can make the slug hard to pick up and hold by a bird's beak, for example, or the mucus itself can be distasteful. Some slugs can also produce very sticky mucus which can incapacitate predators and can trap them within the secretion. Some species of slug, such as Limax maximus, secrete slime cords to suspend a pair during copulation.

 

Reproduction

Slugs are hermaphrodites, having both female and male reproductive organs. Once a slug has located a mate, they encircle each other and sperm is exchanged through their protruded genitalia. A few days later, the slugs lay approximately thirty eggs in a hole in the ground, or beneath the cover of an object such as a fallen log.

 

Apophallation has been reported only in some species of banana slug (Ariolimax) and one species of Deroceras. In the banana slugs, the penis sometimes becomes trapped inside the body of the partner. Apophallation allows the slugs to separate themselves by one or both of the slugs chewing off the other's or its own penis. Once the penis has been discarded, banana slugs are still able to mate using only the female parts of the reproductive system.

 

In a temperate climate, slugs usually live one year outdoors. In greenhouses, many adult slugs may live for more than one year.

 

Ecology

Slugs play an important role in the ecosystem by eating decaying plant material and fungi. Most carnivorous slugs on occasion also eat dead specimens of their own kind.

 

Feeding habits

Most species of slugs are generalists, feeding on a broad spectrum of organic materials, including leaves from living plants, lichens, mushrooms, and even carrion. Some slugs are predators and eat other slugs and snails, or earthworms.

 

Lehmannia feeding on a small fruit in Mexico City

Slugs can feed on a wide variety of vegetables and herbs, including flowers such as petunias, chrysanthemums, daisies, lobelia, lilies, dahlias, narcissus, gentians, primroses, tuberous begonias, hollyhocks, marigolds, and fruits such as strawberries. They also feed on carrots, peas, apples, and cabbage that are offered as a sole food source.

 

Slugs from different families are fungivores. It is the case in the Philomycidae (e. g. Philomycus carolinianus and Phylomicus flexuolaris) and Ariolimacidae (Ariolimax californianus), which respectively feed on slime molds (myxomycetes) and mushrooms (basidiomycetes).[16] Species of mushroom producing fungi used as food source by slugs include milk-caps, Lactarius spp., the oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus and the penny bun, Boletus edulis. Other species pertaining to different genera, such as Agaricus, Pleurocybella and Russula, are also eaten by slugs. Slime molds used as food source by slugs include Stemonitis axifera and Symphytocarpus flaccidus. Some slugs are selective towards certain parts or developmental stages of the fungi they eat, though this is very variable. Depending on the species and other factors, slugs eat only fungi at specific stages of development. Moreover, in other cases, whole mushrooms can be eaten, without any selection or bias towards ontogenetic stages.

 

Predators

Slugs are preyed upon by various vertebrates and invertebrates. The predation of slugs has been the subject of studies for at least a century. Because some species of slugs are considered agricultural pests, research investments have been made to discover and investigate potential predators in order to establish biological control strategies.

 

Vertebrates

Slugs are preyed upon by virtually every major vertebrate group. With many examples among reptiles, birds, mammals, amphibians and fish, vertebrates can occasionally feed on, or be specialised predators of, slugs. Fish that feed on slugs include the brown trout (Salmo trutta), which occasionally feeds on Arion circumscriptus, an arionid slug. Similarly, the shortjaw kokopu (Galaxias postvectis) includes slugs in its diet. Amphibians such as frogs and toads have long been regarded as important predators of slugs. Among them are species in the genus Bufo, Rhinella and Ceratophrys.

 

Reptiles that feed on slugs include mainly snakes and lizards. Some colubrid snakes are known predators of slugs. Coastal populations of the garter snake, Thamnophis elegans, have a specialised diet consisting of slugs, such as Ariolimax, while inland populations have a generalized diet. One of its congeners, the Northwestern garter snake (Thamnophis ordinoides), is not a specialized predator of slugs but occasionally feeds on them. The redbelly snake (Storeria occipitomaculata) and the brown snake (Storeria dekayi) feed mainly but not solely on slugs, while some species in the genus Dipsas (e.g. Dipsas neuwiedi) and the common slug eater snake (Duberria lutrix), are exclusively slug eaters. Several lizards include slugs in their diet. This is the case in the slowworm (Anguis fragilis), the bobtail lizard (Tiliqua rugosa), the she-oak skink (Cyclodomorphus casuarinae) and the common lizard (Zootoca vivipara).

 

Birds that prey upon slugs include common blackbirds (Turdus merula), starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), rooks (Corvus frugilegus), jackdaws (Corvus monedula), owls, vultures and ducks. Studies on slug predation also cite fieldfares (feeding on Deroceras reticulatum), redwings (feeding on Limax and Arion), thrushes (on Limax and Arion ater), red grouse (on Deroceras and Arion hortensis), game birds, wrynecks (on Limax flavus), rock doves and charadriiform birds as slug predators.

 

Mammals that eat slugs include foxes, badgers and hedgehogs.

 

Invertebrates

Beetles in the family Carabidae, such as Carabus violaceus and Pterostichus melanarius, are known to feed on slugs.Ants are a common predator of slugs; some ant species are deterred by the slug's mucus coating, while others such as driver ants will roll the slug in dirt to absorb its mucus.

 

Parasites and parasitoids

Slugs are parasitised by several organisms, including acari and a wide variety of nematodes. The slug mite, Riccardoella limacum, is known to parasitise several dozen species of molluscs, including many slugs, such as Deroceras reticulatum, Arianta arbustorum, Arion ater, Arion hortensis, Limax maximus, Tandonia budapestensis, Milax gagates, and Tandonia sowerbyi. R. limacum can often be seen swarming about their host's body, and live in its respiratory cavity.

 

Several species of nematodes are known to parasitise slugs. The nematode worms Agfa flexilis and Angiostoma limacis respectively live in the salivary glands and rectum of Limax maximus. Species of widely known medical importance pertaining to the genus Angiostrongylus are also parasites of slugs. Both Angiostrongylus costaricensis and Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a meningitis-causing nematode, have larval stages that can only live in molluscs, including slugs, such as Limax maximus.

 

Insects such as dipterans are known parasitoids of molluscs. To complete their development, many dipterans use slugs as hosts during their ontogeny. Some species of blow-flies (Calliphoridae) in the genus Melinda are known parasitoids of Arionidae, Limacidae and Philomycidae. Flies in the family Phoridae, specially those in the genus Megaselia, are parasitoids of Agriolimacidae, including many species of Deroceras. House flies in the family Muscidae, mainly those in the genus Sarcophaga, are facultative parasitoids of Arionidae.

 

Behavior

Slug contracts itself and retracts its tentacles when attacked

A brown and yellow spotted slug curled up into a tight ball so that its head is withdrawn completely, its mantle edge and tail are nearly touching, and none of its foot surface is exposed

The alarm response posture of the Kerry slug, which is found only in this species

When attacked, slugs can contract their body, making themselves harder and more compact and more still and round. By doing this, they become firmly attached to the substrate. This, combined with the slippery mucus they produce, makes slugs more difficult for predators to grasp. The unpleasant taste of the mucus is also a deterrent. Slugs can also incapacitate predators through the production of a highly sticky and elastic mucus which can trap predators in the secretion.

 

Some species present different response behaviors when attacked, such as the Kerry slug. In contrast to the general behavioral pattern, the Kerry slug retracts its head, lets go of the substrate, rolls up completely, and stays contracted in a ball-like shape. This is a unique feature among all the Arionidae, and among most other slugs. Some slugs can self-amputate (autotomy) a portion of their tail to help the slug escape from a predator. Some slug species hibernate underground during the winter in temperate climates, but in other species, the adults die in the autumn.

 

Intra- and inter-specific agonistic behavior is documented, but varies greatly among slug species. Slugs often resort to aggression, attacking both conspecifics and individuals from other species when competing for resources. This aggressiveness is also influenced by seasonality, because the availability of resources such as shelter and food may be compromised due to climatic conditions. Slugs are prone to attack during the summer, when the availability of resources is reduced. During winter, the aggressive responses are substituted by a gregarious behavior.

 

Human relevance

The great majority of slug species are harmless to humans and to their interests, but a small number of species are serious pests of agriculture and horticulture. They can destroy foliage faster than plants can grow, thus killing even fairly large plants. They also feed on fruits and vegetables prior to harvest, making holes in the crop, which can make individual items unsuitable to sell for aesthetic reasons, and can make the crop more vulnerable to rot and disease. Excessive buildup of slugs within some wastewater treatment plants with inadequate screening have been found to cause process issues resulting in increased energy and chemical use.

 

In a few rare cases, humans have developed Angiostrongylus cantonensis-induced meningitis from eating raw slugs. Live slugs that are accidentally eaten with improperly cleaned vegetables (such as lettuce), or improperly cooked slugs (for use in recipes requiring larger slugs such as banana slugs), can act as a vector for a parasitic infection in humans.

 

Prevention

As control measures, baits are commonly used in both agriculture and the garden. In recent years, iron phosphate baits have emerged and are preferred over the more toxic metaldehyde, especially because domestic or wild animals may be exposed to the bait. The environmentally safer iron phosphate has been shown to be at least as effective as baits. Methiocarb baits are no longer widely used. Parasitic nematodes (Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita) are a commercially available biological control method that are effective against a wide range of common slug species. The nematodes are applied in water and actively seek out slugs in the soil and infect them, leading to the death of the slug. This control method is suitable for use in organic growing systems.

 

Other slug control methods are generally ineffective on a large scale, but can be somewhat useful in small gardens. These include beer traps [de], diatomaceous earth, crushed eggshells, coffee grounds, and copper. Salt kills slugs by causing water to leave the body owing to osmosis but this is not used for agricultural control as soil salinity is detrimental to crops. Conservation tillage worsens slug infestations. Hammond et al. 1999 find maize/corn and soybean in the US to be more severely affected under low till because this increases organic matter, thus providing food and shelter.

Kenia - Kikuyu dancer at the Thomson waterfalls.

 

Having migrated to their current location about four centuries ago, the Kikuyu now make up Kenya’s largest ethnic group. The Kikuyu people spread rapidly throughout the Central Province and Kenya. The Kikuyu usually identify their land by the surrounding mountain ranges which they call Kirinyaga-the shining mountain. The Kikuyu are Bantu and actually came into Kenya during the Bantu migration. They include some families from all the surrounding people and can be identified with the Kamba, the Meru, the Embu and the Chuka.

The Kikuyu tribe was originally founded by a man named Gikuyu. Kikuyu history says that the Kikuyu God, Ngai, took Gikuyu to the top of Kirinyaga and told him to stay and build his home there. He was also given his wife, Mumbi. Together, Mumbi and Gikuyu had nine daughters. There was actually a tenth daughter but the Kikuyu considered it to be bad luck to say the number ten. When counting they used to say “full nine” instead of ten. It was from the nine daughters that the nine (occaisionally a tenth) Kikuyu clans -Achera, Agachiku, Airimu, Ambui, Angare, Anjiru, Angui, Aithaga, and Aitherandu- were formed.

The Kikuyu rely heavily on agriculture. They grow bananas, sugarcane, arum lily, yams, beans, millet, maize, black beans and a variety of other vegetables. They also raise cattle, sheep, and goats. They use the hides from the cattle to make bedding, sandals, and carrying straps and they raise the goats and sheep to use for religious sacrifices and purification. In the Kikuyu culture boys and girls are raised very differently. The girls are raised to work in the farm and the boys usually work with the animals. The girls also have the responsibility of taking care of a baby brother or sister and also helping the mother out with household chores.

In the Kikuyu culture family identity is carried on by naming the first boy after the father’s father and the second after the mother’s father. The same goes for the girls; the first is named after the father’s mother and the second after the mother’s mother. Following children are named after the brothers and sisters of the grandparents, starting with the oldest and working to the youngest. Along with the naming of the children was the belief that the deceased grandparent’s spirit, that the child was named after, would come in to the new child. This belief was lost with the increase in life-span because generally the grandparents are now still alive when the children are born.

Though they are traditionally agricultural people and have a reputation as hard-working people, a lot of them are now involved in business. Most of the Kikuyu still live on small

family plots but many of them have also seen the opportunities in business and have moved to cities and different areas to work. They have a desire for knowledge and it is believed that all children should receive a full education. They have a terrific reputation for money management and it is common for them to have many enterprises at one time. The Kikuyu have also been active politically. The first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, was actually a Kikuyu. Kenyatta was a major figure in Kenya's fight for independence.

  

Colac. Population 12,300.

In 1837 a group of pastoralists landed near Geelong to explore the hinterlands along the Barwon River for suitable pastoral states. The group include Hugh Murray, Thomas and James Austin from Van Diemen’s Land and others. The Austin brothers arrived in Hobart in 1831.The Austin brothers settled on the Barwon River (Winchelsea) and at Werribee and Hugh Murray settled near Lake Colac on the Barongarook Creek which now enters the lake at the Colac boat ramp by the Botanic Gardens. In 1838 Captain Foster Fyans the Land Commissioner of Geelong took up land here too for a beef property. In Geelong he became the magistrate in 1849 and lived in the town hence the suburb of Fyansford across the Barwon River. Hugh Murray built the Crook and Plaid Inn near his homestead which partially marks the start of Colac as a town in 1844. The town was surveyed that same year and a blacksmith set up for business in 1845 and a general store opened. Usually the beginning of postal service marks the development of a town and Colac had its first Post Office established in 1847. In 1848 a simple Presbyterian chapel opened and it was followed by a police station in 1849, a second hotel and a day school. In 1850 the town progressed further but the gold rushes of 1851 saw labourers leave the town and progress stalled. At this time Colac had a population of 672 people. More residences and a second Presbyterian Church were built in 1853 and a Catholic Church was erected in 1856. The town had a national school, a flour mill and a Methodist Church by 1860. It was an established town.

 

In the 1865 the Botanical Gardens were started, the first bank opened and the first Shire Hall offices were built. The first town newspaper began, the first Anglican Church was constructed and an Oddfellows Hall built. Although the Botanic Gardens were started at thinks time little happened. Trustees were appointed in 1874 and work finally began. William Guilfoyle of Melbourne Botanic Gardens had a private commission in 1910 to replan the gardens. In 1877 the railway to Colac from Geelong opened. Branch lines opened from Colac to surrounding towns but now all are closed. In 1889 three trains a day left Geelong at 8:45 am, 1:45 pm and 9:15 pm taking about two and a half hours to reach Colac. A few years later an express service was added making four journeys a day. It took less than two hours to do this trip. The town prospered on the back of sheep and their fleeces until the 1890s when dairying became a major industry. The Colac Dairy Company was formed in 1892. The Company closed in 1987 when the factory was taken over by Bonlac Milk Company. After Thomas Austin of Barwon Park estate introduced rabbits in 1857 the district was overrun. To capitalise on this Colac had a rabbit canning factory from 1871 to 1889. As a town Colac is distinctive because it is on the edge of Lake Colac. This freshwater lake has a circumference of 33 kms. It was formed by volcanic activity which created a depression and then lava flows blocked the path of two local rivers southwards forcing them to drain into the depression. It covers almost 2,900 hectares and is relatively shallow with birds nesting in the reeds and commercial eel farming and amateur fishing in the waters. Beyond this lake is Lake Corangamite which is Australia’s largest freshwater lake covering 23,000 hects.

 

Some heritage listed structures in Colac.

•1 Murray St. Great example of 19th century general store. Balustrade and pediment across roof line. Large windows.

•4 Murray St. The former Post Office. Built in 1876 with additions 1888. Similar to the Shire Office but it has central triple arched entrance with clock, rounded windows on upper floor and no pilasters on ground floor.

•6 Murray St. The impressive symmetrical Italianate Shire Hall built in 1892. It replaced the earlier 1865 Shire hall. It has good classical detailing. It complements the Post Office in style.

•15 Murray St. The former Union Bank has recently been an antiques shop. Built in 1916 by architect Walter Butler who designed matching banks in Shepparton, Yarra etc.

•21 Murray St. The former Regent Theatre opened in 1925. Later became the R.S.L Club rooms. Was the site of the first Wesleyan Methodist Church until a new one was built in 1925 in Skene St.

•28 Murray St. Former National Bank. Mr Alexander Dennis laid the foundation stone in 1884. Built in 1885. Rounded window’s on ground floor, central entrance with small triangular pediment above it.

•At corner of Murray and Hesse St is the former two storey Colonial Bank. It is now a shop. Built in 1881.

•As you turn right into Hesse St on your left is Memorial Square. The World War One memorial- a walk in memorial, was designed by Fredrick Sales in 1924. The Square also has memorials to Andrew Fisher, Cliff Young etc. Opposite the memorial back in Murray St is the two storey offices of the Colac Reformer newspaper established in 1875. This building was refashioned in stripped classical style in 1925 with unusual rounded shell fan decoration. Now Hulm’s Bakery.

•(Detour: at end of the park in Dennis St. you will see the Oddfellows Hall built in 1891 in classical style but the rear part was built in 1870. Further along is the former Fire Station built in 1923. North from the IOOF is Derrinook on the next corner north. This huge Edwardian weatherboard private hospital was erected in 1900 for Dr William Brown. Dr Brown died in 1926 and in 1935 it was converted into flats. End of detour. )

 

Foregrounding Métis history and aesthetic practices, this painting includes around150,000 to 250,000 bead-like dots and blends Belcourt’s knowledge of beadwork traditions with her expertise in medicinal plants. Various plants are represented, as well as insects, raindrops, dew and birds. The patterns have been adapted from nature, with several inspired by traditional Métis floral beadwork. A visual ode to water, the work recognizes the life that water brings to everything and everyone.

More Kite Surfing action off Lancing Beach.

Continuing my walk. This installation is Sonoran Neon. They look so fragile. You can see how it is wired with electricity. I wish I had been here at night. I am sure it looks spectacular. It is just North of the Desert Discovery Loop Trail by the "Cactus and Succulent Galleries". www.chihuly.com/blog/chihulywebshorts-dttd-iceneon

 

I had a very nice morning at the Desert Botanical Garden viewing the Chihuly Glass installations. As a Member I get in an hour early. I wish I had taken better advantage of this exhibit and caught some sunsets.

 

dbg.org/media-release/desert-botanical-garden-announces-c...

"Dale Chihuly makes a dramatic return to the Sonoran Desert on Dec. 3 with a stunning new exhibition at two of Arizona’s most iconic venues, Desert Botanical Garden and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West.

 

"Combining art, architecture and nature, Chihuly in the Desert, is set against majestic saguaros, landmark buildings and striking Papago buttes. Chihuly’s masterpieces stun from day to night as color, light and form come alive at two locations for a joint exhibition. Tickets go on sale to the public starting Oct. 4 for the exhibition that runs from Dec. 3, 2021 through June 19, 2022.

 

“The Garden is thrilled to bring Chihuly back to the Valley since their first showing in 2008. We are co-presenting the exhibit with Taliesin West – both venues will be filled with extraordinary glass installations,” says Ken Schutz, the Garden’s executive director. “Partnering with Taliesin West has been a rewarding experience, and I think our successful collaboration might serve as a model for other arts and cultural organizations in the Valley as they bring their programs back on line.”

 

"Chihuly in the Desert showcases Dale Chihuly’s stunning, large-scale installations nestled among the Garden’s world-class collection of desert plants. Featuring installations on the Garden’s trails complemented by a major indoor gallery in Dorrance Hall, the dynamic exhibition includes never-before-seen installations and is a must-see throughout the seasons.

 

Desert Botanical Garden Chihuly 2022

 

DSC01018 acd

Prof. John Pollini working STUDENTS AT OSTIA ANTICA

John Pollini in my opinion is the number 1 authority on Julio Claudian Portrait study. I have had much correspondence with Prof. Pollini and he is passionate about Roman Art. Here is his curriculum Vitae:

 

Education

B.A. Classics, University of Washington, 1/1968

M.A. Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, UC Berkeley, 1/1973

Ph.D. Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, UC Berkeley, 1/1978

 

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History

Professor, Department of Art History (Adjunct Professor for Department of Classics and Department of History), University of Southern California, 1991-

Dean of the School of Fine Arts, University of Southern California, 1993-1996

Chairman of the Department of Art History, University of Southern California, 1990-1993

Associate Professor, Department of Art History and Department of Classics (adjunct appointment), University of Southern California, 1987-1991

Assistant Professor, Department of Classics, Johns Hopkins University, 1980-1987

Curator, Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Museum, 1980-1987

Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Classics, Johns Hopkins University, 1979-1980

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Classics, Case Western Reserve University, 1978-1979

 

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests

Professor Pollini's research is concerned with methodologies of classical art and archaeology, ancient history, classical philology, epigraphy and numismatics. His other scholarly research interests include ancient religion, mythology, narratology, rhetoric and propaganda. Over the years Professor Pollini has excavated at the Greco-Roman site of Aphrodisias, Turkey, and the Etruscan site of Ghiaccio Forte, Italy, and participated in the underwater survey of the port of Tarquinia (Gravisca), Italy. Trained in the methodologies of classical art & archaeology, ancient history, classical philology, epigraphy, and numismatics, Professor Pollini is committed to interdisciplinary teaching and research. Professor Pollini has lectured widely both in the United States and abroad. He has published numerous articles and authored several books.

 

Research Specialties

Classical Art and Archaeology

 

Honors and Awards

Elected Life Member, German Archaeological Association, 2000-

American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, awarded for second time, 2006-2007

Guggenheim Fellowship, deferred until 2007-2008, 2006-2007

Whitehead Professor at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (Honorific Appointment), 9/1/2006-6/1/2007

Departmental Nominee for University Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching 2002, 2002-2005

Mellon Foundation Award for Excellence in Mentoring, 2004-2005

Departmental Nominee for University Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching 1998, 1998-2001

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, awarded for second time, 1995-1996

American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, 1987-1988

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 1983-1984

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1978-1979

Fulbright Award, Fellowship to Italy, 1975-1976

   

CURRICULUM VITAE

 

JOHN POLLINI

 

Department of Art History

Von Kleinsmid Center 351 University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA 90089-0047

  

Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, Department of Art History

Joint Professor, Department of History

Adjunct Professor, Department of Classics

 

President, Classical Archaeological Association of Southern California (CAASC)

  

DEGREES

 

Ph. D. Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, University of California at

Berkeley (1978) (interdisciplinary program involving the Departments of Art History,

Classics, and History; major field: Etruscan and Roman Art and Archaeology; minor

fields: Greek Art and Archaeology and Roman History; Ph.D. equivalency exams in

ancient Greek and Latin) [Diss.: Studies in Augustan “Historical” Reliefs]

 

M.A. Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, University of California at

Berkeley (l973) [MA Thesis: Two Marble Portrait Statues of Pugilists from Carian

Aphrodisias: Iconography and Third Century A.D. Sculptural Traditions in the Roman

East]

 

B.A. magna cum laude, Classics, University of Washington (1968)

 

POSTDOCTORAL ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

 

Dean of the School of Fine Arts, University of Southern California, with administrative,

budgetary, and fund-raising responsibilities (1993-1996)

 

Chairman of the Department of Art History, University of Southern California

(1990-1993)

 

Full Professor, University of Southern California, Department of Art History

(1991-present), with joint appointment in the Department of History and adjunct

appointment in the Department of Classics

 

Associate Professor, University of Southern California, Department of Art History, with

adjunct appointment in the Department of Classics (1987-1991)

 

Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Classics (1980-1987) and

 

Curator of the Johns Hopkins University Archaeological Museum (1980-1987)

 

Visiting Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, Department of Classics

(1979-1980)

 

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Case Western Reserve University, Department of Classics

(1978-1979)

 

INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS,

AWARDS, HONORS

 

William E. Metcalf Lectureship (2008)

 

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2006-2007, deferred to

2007-2008)

 

Whitehead Professor of Archaeology, American School of Classical Studies at

Athens (2006-2007)

 

American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (2006-2007)

 

Kress Foundation Travel Grant (Summer 2006)

 

Mellon Foundation Award for Excellence in Mentoring (2005)

 

Taggart Foundation Grant: Campus Martius Virtual Reality Project (2005)

 

Distinguished Lecturer, Biblical Archaeological Society and Center for Classical

Archaeology, University of Oklahoma, Norman (2005): Series of three lectures on

Roman and Christian Religion, Art, and Ideology

 

Kress Foundation Travel Grant (2003)

 

Senior Humboldt Research Prize (nominated) to Berlin, Germany, for 2000-2001

 

Elected Member (for life) of the German Archaeological Institute (Berlin) (2000)

 

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study and

Research (1995-1996)

 

Kress Foundation Travel Grant (Summer 1988)

 

American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (1987-1988)

 

Kress Foundation Travel Grant (1987)

 

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Independent Study and

Research (1983-1984)

 

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, Case Western Reserve University (1978-1979)

 

Mabelle McLeod Lewis Memorial Fund Fellowship to Italy (1975-1976)

 

Fulbright Fellowship, Università di Roma, Rome, Italy (1975-1976)

 

UNIVERSITY FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS, AWARDS, HONORS

 

Departmental Nominee for University Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching

(2002-2005)

 

College Faculty Research Development Award (consecutive years: 2000-2007)

 

University of Southern California Grant for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching

(with Lynn Swartz Dodd and Nicholas Cipolla) for a virtual reality project “Imaging

Antiquity: Creating Context through Virtual Reconstructions, Digital Resources, and

Traditional Media” (2003-2004)

 

Grant for the “College Initiative for the Study of Political Violence” (2002)

 

University of Southern California Grant for Innovative Undergraduate Teaching

(with Bruce Zuckermann and Lynn Swartz Dodd) to develop a new interdisciplinary and

interdepartmental course entitled “Accessing Antiquity: Actual Objects in Virtual Space”

(2000-2001)

 

University of Southern California Senior Nominee for National Endowment for the

Humanities Summer Stipend for Faculty Research (1998-1999)

 

Departmental Nominee for University Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching

(1998-2001)

 

College Awards and Grants for Research Excellence (consecutive years: 1997-2000)

 

Hewlett Foundation Award and Grant for General Education Course Development

(1997-1998)

 

Faculty Research and Innovation Fund Grant, University of Southern California (1988)

 

University of California Traveling Fellowship (1976-1977)

 

Dean’s Fellowship, U.C. Berkeley (1973-1975)

 

Phi Beta Kappa (1968), University of Washington

 

ADDITIONAL EDUCATIONAL PREPARATION

 

Field trips sponsored by the American Academy in Rome, German Archaeological

Institute, and Comune di Roma (1975-1978)

 

Research in Rome, Italy for dissertation (1975-1978), as well as further study of Greek

and Roman art and architecture in Italy and elsewhere in Europe during this period

 

Supervised study of Greek and Roman sculpture at the J. Paul Getty Museum, with

J. Frel (1973-1975)

 

Course in Greek art and archaeology at the Universität München, Munich, Germany

with E. Homann-Wedeking (1971)

 

Study of the German language at the Goethe Institute, Grafing (Munich), Germany (1971)

 

Course work in Roman, Etruscan, and Italic art and architecture, Università di Roma,

with G. Becatti, M. Pallottino, F. Castagnoli, and M. Squarciapino (1970-1971)

 

ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELD WORK

 

Underwater survey of port of Tarquinia (Gravisca), Italy (1977): Consultant

 

Excavation of Etruscan site of Ghiaccio Forte, Italy (1973)

 

Excavation of Greco-Roman site of Aphrodisias, Turkey (1970-1972)

 

Excavation of Spanish/Indian Mission, Guavave, Arizona (1965-1966)

 

LANGUAGES

 

Ancient: Latin and Greek

Modern: German, Italian, French, modern Greek, some Turkish

 

BOOKS

 

PUBLISHED:

 

I) The Portraiture of Gaius and Lucius Caesar (Fordham University Press, New York

1987) (with a book subvention from the National Endowment for the Humanities).

 

II) Roman Portraiture: Images of Character and Virtue, with graduate student

participation (Fisher Gallery, Los Angeles 1990).

 

III) Gallo-Roman Bronzes and the Process of Romanization:The Cobannus Hoard

(Monumenta Graeca et Romana IX) (Brill, Leiden 2002).

 

IV) The de Nion Head: A Masterpiece of Archaic Greek Sculpture (Philipp von

Zabern, Mainz 2003).

 

V) Terra Marique: Studies in Art History and Marine Archaeology in Honor of Anna

Marguerite McCann on the Receipt of the Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute

of America (editor, designer, and contributor of introduction, publication list, and

one of 19 essays) (Oxbow Publications, Oxford 2005).

 

SUBMITTED:

 

VI) From Republic to Empire: Rhetoric, Religion, and Power in the Visual Culture of

Ancient Rome (University of Oklahoma Press), comprising eight chapters:

CHAPTER I: The Leader and the Divine: Diverse Modes of Representation in Roman Numismatics

CHAPTER II: The Cult Image of Julius Caesar: Conflicts in Religious Theology and Ideology in

Augustus’ Representational Program

CHAPTER III: From Warrior to Statesman in Augustan Art and Ideology: Augustus and the Image of

Alexander

CHAPTER IV: The Ideology of “Peace through Victory” and the Ara Pacis: Visual Rhetoric and the

Creation of a Dynastic Narrative [revised and updated essay originally published in

German]

CHAPTER V: The Acanthus of the Ara Pacis as an Apolline and Dionysiac Symbol of

Anamorphosis, Anakyklosis and Numen Mixtum [revised and updated publication].

CHAPTER VI: Divine Providence in Early Imperial Ideology: The Smaller Cancelleria Relief and

the Ara Providentiae Augustae

CHAPTER VII: The “Insanity” of Caligula or the “Insanity” of the Jews? Differences in Perception

and Religious Beliefs

CHAPTER VIII: “Star Power” in Imperial Rome: Astral Theology, Castorian Imagery, and the Dual

Heirs in the Transmission of the Leadership of the State

 

IN PROGRESS:

 

VII) Christian Destruction and Desecration of Images of Classical Antiquity: A Study

in Religious Intolerance in the Ancient World

 

VIII) Dynastic Narratives in Augustan Art and Thought: The Rhetoric and Poetry of

Visual Imagery [with DVD Virtual Reality Program of the Monuments]

 

IX) The Image of Augustus: Art, Ideology, and the Rhetoric of Leadership

 

X) Social, Sexual, and Religious Intercourse: Sacrificial Ministrants and Sex-Slaves

in Roman Art -- 3rd Century B.C. - 4th Century A.D.

  

ARTICLES

 

PUBLISHED:

 

1) “A Flavian Relief Portrait in the J. Paul Getty Museum,” in Getty Museum Journal

5 (1977) 63-66.

 

2) “Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and the Ravenna Relief,” in Römische Mitteilungen

88 (1981) 117-40.

 

3) “A Pre-Principate Portrait of Gaius (Caligula)?” in Journal of the Walters Art

Gallery 40 (1982) 1-12.

 

4) “Damnatio Memoriae in Stone: Two Portraits of Nero Recut to Vespasian in

American Museums,” in American Journal of Archaeology 88 (1984) 547-55.

 

5) “The Meaning and Date of the Reverse Type of Gaius Caesar on Horseback,” in

American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 30 (1985) 113-17.

 

6) “Response to E. Judge’s ‘On Judging the Merits of Augustus,’” in Center for

Hermeneutical Studies: Colloquy 49 (1985) 44-46.

 

7) “Ahenobarbi, Appuleii and Some Others on the Ara Pacis,” in American Journal of

Archaeology 90 (1986) 453-60.

 

8) “The Findspot of the Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta,” in Bullettino della

Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma 92 (1987/88) 103-108.

 

9) “Two Acrolithic or Pseudo-Acrolithic Sculptures of the Mature Classical Period in

the Archaeological Museum of the Johns Hopkins University,” in Classical Marble:

Geochemistry,Technology, Trade (NATO ASI Series E vol. 153), edd. N. Herz and

M. Waelkens (Dordrecht 1988) 207-17.

 

10) “Man or God: Divine Assimilation and Imitation in the Late Republic and Early

Principate,” in Between Republic and Empire: Interpretations of Augustus and His

Principate, edd. K.A. Raaflaub and M. Toher (Berkeley 1990) 333-63.

 

11) “The Marble Type of the Augustus from Prima Porta: An Isotopic Analysis,” in

Journal of Roman Archaeology 5 (1992) 203-208.

 

12) “The Tazza Farnese: Principe Augusto ‘Redeunt Saturnia Regna’!” in American

Journal of Archaeology 96 (1992) 249-55, 283-300.

 

13) “The Cartoceto Bronzes: Portraits of a Roman Aristocratic Family of the Late First

Century B.C.,” in American Journal of Archaeology 97 (1993) 423-46.

 

14) “The Gemma Augustea: Ideology, Rhetorical Imagery, and the Construction of a

Dynastic Narrative,” in Narrative and Event in Ancient Art, ed. P. Holliday

(Cambridge 1993) 258-98.

 

15) “The Acanthus of the Ara Pacis as an Apolline and Dionysiac Symbol of

Anamorphosis, Anakyklosis and Numen Mixtum,” in Von der Bauforschung zur

Denkmalpflege, Festschrift für Alois Machatschek (Vienna 1993) 181-217.

 

16) “The ‘Trojan Column’ at USC: Reality or Myth?” in Trojan Family (May, 1994)

30-31.

 

17) “The Augustus from Prima Porta and the Transformation of the Polykleitan Heroic

Ideal,” in Polykleitos, the Doryphoros, and Tradition, ed. W. Moon (Madison 1995)

262-82.

 

18) “The ‘Dart Aphrodite’: A New Replica of the ‘Arles Aphrodite Type,’ the Cult Image

of Venus Victrix in Pompey’s Theater at Rome, and Venusian Ideology and Politics

in the Late Republic - Early Principate,” in Latomus 55 (1997) 757-85.

 

19) “Parian Lychnites and the Prima Porta Statue: New Scientific Tests and the Symbolic

Value of the Marble” (with N. Herz, K. Polikreti, and Y. Maniatis), in Journal of

Roman Archaeology 11 (1998) 275-84.

 

20) “The Warren Cup: Homoerotic Love and Symposial Rhetoric in Silver,” in The Art

Bulletin 81 (1999) 21-52.

 

21) “Ein mit Inschriften versehener Legionärshelm von der pannonisch-dakischen Grenze

des römischen Reiches: Besitzverhältnisse an Waffen in der römischen Armee,” in

M. Junkelmann, Römische Helme VIII Sammlung Axel Guttmann, ed. H. Born

(Mainz 2000) 169-88.

 

22) “The Marble Type of the Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta: Facts and Fallacies,

Lithic Power and Ideology, and Color Symbolism in Roman Art,” in Paria Lithos:

Parian Quarries, Marble and Workshops of Sculpture (Proceedings of the First

International Conference on the Archaeology of Paros and the Cyclades, Paros, 2-5

October 1997), edd. D.U. Schilardi and D. Katsonopoulou (Athens 2000) 237-52.

 

23) “The Riace Bronzes: New Observations,” in Acten des 14. Internationalen

Kongresses für Antike Bronzen, Kölner Jahrbuch 33 (2000) 37-56.

 

24) “Two Bronze Portrait Busts of Slave-Boys from a Shrine of Cobannus in Roman

Gaul,” in Studia Varia II: Occasional Papers on Antiquities of The J. Paul Getty

Museum 10 (2001) 115-52.

 

25) “A New Portrait of Octavian/Augustus Caesar,” in Roman Sculpture in the

Art Museum, Princeton University (Princeton 2001) 6-11.

 

26) “Two Gallo-Roman Bronze Portraits of Sacrificial Ministrants in the J. Paul Getty

Museum,” in From the Parts to the Whole 2: Acta of the 13th International Bronze

Congress, Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 28 - June 1, 1996, edd. C.C.

Mattusch, A. Brauer, and S.E. Knudsen (Portsmouth, Rhode Island 2002) 89-91.

 

27) “‘Frieden-durch-Sieg’ Ideologie und die Ara Pacis Augustae: Bildrhetorik und

die Schöpfung einer dynastischen Erzählweise,” in Krieg und Sieg: Narrative

Wanddarstellungen von Altägypten bis ins Mittelalter (Internationales

Kolloquium 23. - 30. Juli 1997 im Schloss Heindorf, Langenlois; Österreichischen

Akademie der Wissenschaften XXIV), edd. M. Bietak und M. Schwarz (Vienna

2002) 137-59.

 

28) “A New Portrait of Octavia and the Iconography of Octavia Minor and Julia Maior,”

Römische Mitteilungen 109 (2002) 11-42.

 

29) “Slave-Boys for Sexual and Religious Service: Images of Pleasure and Devotion,” in

Flavian Rome: Culture, Image, Text, edd. A.J. Boyle and W.J. Dominik (Leiden

2003) 149-66.

 

30) “The Caelian Hill Sacrificial Minister: A Marble Head of an Imperial Slave-Boy from

the Antiquarium Comunale on the Caelian Hill in Rome,” in Römische Mitteilungen

111 (2004) 1-28.

 

31) “A New Head of Augustus from Herculaneum: A Marble Survivor of a Pyroclastic

Surge,” in Römische Mitteilungen 111 (2004) 283-98.

 

32) “The Armstrong and Nuffler Heads and the Portraiture of Julius Caesar, Livia, and

Antonia Minor in Terra Marique: Studies in Honor of Anna Marguerite McCann

on the Receipt of the Gold Medal of the Archaeological Institute of America, ed.

J. Pollini (Oxbow Publications, Oxford 2005) 89-122.

 

33) “A New Marble Portrait of Tiberius: Portrait Typology and Ideology,” in Antike Kunst

48 (2005) 57-72.

 

34) “A North African Portrait of Caracalla from the Mellerio Collection and the

Iconography of Caracalla and Geta,” in Revue Archéologique (2005) 55-77.

 

35) “A Bronze Gorgon Handle Ornament of the Ripe Archaic Greek Period,” in Annuario

della Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene e delle Missioni Italiani in Oriente 83

(2005) 235-47.

 

36) “Ritualizing Death in Republican Rome: Memory, Religion, Class Struggle, and the

Wax Ancestral Mask Tradition’s Origin and Influence on Veristic Portraiture” in

Performing Death: Social Analyses of Funerary Ritual in the Ancient Near East

and Mediterranean (Oriental Institute Seminars 3, University of

Chicago), ed. N. Laneri (Chicago 2007) 237-85.

 

37) “A New Bronze Portrait Bust of Augustus,” in Latomus 66 (2007) 270-73.

 

FORTHCOMING:

 

38) “Gods and Emperors in the East: Images of Power and the Power of Intolerance,”

in the proceedings of an international conference on “‘Sculptural Environment’ of the

Roman Near East: Reflections on Culture, Ideology, and Power” (University of

Michigan), in Interdisciplinary Studies in Ancient Culture and Religion,

edd. E.A. Friedland, S.C. Herbert, and Y.Z. Eliav (Peeters Publ.: Leuven).

 

39) “A New Portrait Bust of Tiberius in the Collection of Michael Bianco,” in Bulletin

Antieke Beschaving 83 (2008) 133-38.

 

40) “The Desecration and Mutilation of the Parthenon Frieze by Christians and Others,” in

Athenische Mitteilungen 122 (2007).

 

41) “Problematics of Making Ambiguity Explicit in Virtual Reconstructions:

A Case Study of the Mausoleum of Augustus,” for the proceedings of an international

conference, “Computer Technology and the Arts: Theory and Practice,” sponsored by

the British Academy and the University of London.

 

42) “A Winged Goat Table Leg Support from the House of Numerius Popidius Priscus at

Pompeii,” in Pompei, Regio VII, Insula 2, pars occidentalis. Indagini, Studi,

Materiali (la Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei), ed. L. Pedroni.

 

43) “Augustus: Portraits of Augustus,” in Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and

Rome (2008).

 

44) “A New Bronze Lar and the Role of the Lares in the Domestic and Civic Religion of the Romans,” in Latomus (2008).

  

IN PROGRESS:

 

45) “The ‘Colville Athena’ Head and Its Typology.”

 

46) “Idealplastik and Idealtheorie: Paradeigmatic Systems, Homosexual Desire, and the

Rhetoric of Identity in Polykleitos’ Doryphoros and Diadoumenos.”

 

REVIEW ARTICLES

 

PUBLISHED:

 

D. Boschung, Die Bildnisse des Augustus (Das römische Herrscherbild I.2) (Berlin 1993),

in Art Bulletin 81 (1999) 723-35.

 

E. Varner, Mutilation and Transformation: Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial

Portraiture (Monumenta Graeca et Romana 10) (Leiden 2004), in Art Bulletin 88

(2006) 591-98.

  

BOOK REVIEWS

 

PUBLISHED:

 

M. Torelli, Typology and Structure of Roman Historical Reliefs, in American Journal of

Archaeology 87 (1983) 572-73.

 

J. Ganzert, Das Kenotaph für Gaius Caesar in Limyra, in American Journal of

Archaeology 90 (1986) 134-36.

 

R. Brilliant, Visual Narratives. Storytelling in Etruscan and Roman Art in American

Journal of Philology 107 (1986) 523-27.

 

PUBLISHED IN CHOICE:

 

E. Bartman, Portraits of Livia: Imaging the Imperial Woman in Augustan Rome, in

vol. 37 (1999) 126.

 

B.S. Ridgway, Prayers in Stone: Greek Architectural Sculpture (Ca. 600 - 100 B.C.),

in vol. 37 (2000) 1095.

 

W.E. Mierse, Temples and Towns in Roman Iberia: The Social and Architectural

Dynamics of Sanctuary Designs from the Third Century B.C. to the Third Century A.D.

in vol. 37 (2000) 1458.

 

V. Karageorgis, Ancient Art from Cyprus: The Cesnola Collection in The Metropolitan

Museum of Art (New York 2000)in vol. 38 (2000) 1953.

 

Z. Hawass, Valley of the Golden Mummies (New York 2000) in vol. 38 (2001)

4036.

 

M.W. Jones, Principles of Roman Architecture (New Haven 2000) in vol. 38 (2001)

5409.

 

F. Salmon, Building on Ruins: The Rediscovery of Rome and English Architecture

(Ashgate 2000) in vol. 39 (2001) 106.

 

J. Boardman, The History of Greek Vases: Potters, Painters and Pictures (New York

2001) in vol. 39 (2002) 3755.

 

Roman Sculpture in the Art Museum, Princeton University, ed. J. M. Padgett (Princeton

2001) in vol. 39 (2002) 6218.

 

G. Hedreen, Capturing Troy: The Narrative Function of Landscape in Archaic and Early

Classical Greek Art (Ann Arbor, 2001) in vol. 40 (2002) 73.

 

A. J. Clark, M. Elston, and M.L. Hart, Understanding Greek Vases: A Guide to Terms,

Styles, and Techniques (Los Angeles 2002) in vol. 40 (2003) 3185.

 

S. Woodford, Images of Myths in Classical Antiquity (Cambridge 2003) in vol. 41

(2003) 89.

 

J. Aruz with R. Wallenfels (edd.), Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from

the Mediterranean to the Indus (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) (New

Haven 2003) in vol. 41 (2004) 2584.

 

G. Curtis, Disarmed: The Story of the Venus de Milo (New York 2003) in vol. 41 (2004)

5083.

 

Games for the Gods: The Greek Athlete and the Olympic Spirit, edd. J.J. Herrmann and C.

Kondoleon (Boston Museum of Fine Arts) in vol. 42 (2004) 646.

 

E.W. Leach, The Social Life of Painting in Ancient Rome and on the Bay of Naples

(Cambridge 2004) in vol. 42 (2004) 1215-16.

 

D. Mazzoleni, Domus: Wall Painting in the Roman House (Los Angeles 2004) in vol. 42

(2005) 1809.

 

S. Fine, Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman World: Toward a New Jewish Archaeology

(Cambridge 2005) in vol. 43 (2006) 1586-87.

 

C.H. Hallett, The Roman Nude: Heroic Portrait Statuary 200 B.C. -- A.D. 300 (Oxford

2005) in vol. 44 (2006).

 

Constantine the Great: York’s Roman Emperor, edd. E. Hartley, J. Hawkes, M. Henig, and

F. Mee (York 2006) in vol. 44 (2006).

 

M.D. Stansbury-O’Donnell, Vase Painting, Gender, and Social Identity in Archaic Athens

(Cambridge 2006) in vol. 44 (2006).

 

PRINCIPAL INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS (Hard Copy and Online):

 

Greek Art and Archaeology: Course Manual (113 pages, 23 plates) and online version of

this Course Manual with digitized images

 

Roman Art and Archaeology: Course Manual (158 pages, 58 plates) and online version

of this Course Manual with digitized images

 

Digging into the Past: Material Culture and the Civilizations of the Ancient

Mediterranean: Course Manual (43 pages)

 

Proseminar Guide to General and Specific Works on Greek and Roman Art and

Archaeology and Related Disciplines (50 pages) and online version

 

Website for AHIS 425, “Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research and Methodology

in Classical Art and Archaeology and Related Disciplines” with links to other important

websites in the fields of Art, Archaeology, Classics, and Ancient History

 

Website for AHIS 201g: “Digging into the Past: Material Culture and the

Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean” (with digitized images)

 

PAPERS GIVEN AT INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL

CONFERENCES AND SYMPOSIA

 

On Judging the Merits of Augustus: Center for Hermeneutical Studies: Colloquy,

Berkeley (April, 1985)

 

Investigating Hellenistic Sculpture: Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts,

National Gallery of Art (October, 1986)

 

Augustus: Monuments, Arts, and Religion: Brown University (March, 1987)

 

Aspects of Ancient Religion: University of California at Berkeley (April, 1987)

 

Marble and Ancient Greece and Rome: International conference sponsored by

NATO at Il Ciocco (Tuscany), Italy (May, 1988)

 

Polykleitos, the Doryphoros and Its Influence: University of Wisconsin, Madison

(October, 1989)

 

UCLA-USC Seminar in Roman Studies: UCLA, Los Angeles (December, 1992)

 

XIIIth International Bronze Congress: Harvard University (May 28 - June 1, 1996)

 

UCLA-USC Seminar in Roman Studies: Roman Representations: Subjectivity, Power

and Space: USC, Los Angeles (March, 1997)

 

International Symposium at Cuma (Naples): Flavian Poets, Artists, Architects and

Engineers in the Campi Flegrei (July, 1997)

 

International Symposium at the University of Vienna: Interdisziplinäres Kolloquium

Historische Architekturreliefs vom Alten Ägypten bis zum Mittelalter (July, 1997)

 

First International Conference on the Archaeology of Paros and the Cyclades: Paros,

Greece (October, 1997)

 

Getty Research Institute Colloquium: Work in Progress (November, 1997)

 

Annual Meetings of the Art Historians of Southern California at California State

University, Northridge, California (November, 1998)

 

XIV. Internationaler Kongress für Antike Bronzen: Werkstattkreise, Figuren und Geräte

(Sponsored by Das Römisch-Germanisches Museum der Stadt Köln und das

Archäologisches Institut der Universität zu Köln [September 1999]): Besides giving paper,

chaired the session “Bronzestatuen und -statuetten: Fundkomplexen, Fundgruppen,

Einzelstücke, und Typen”

 

First International Symposium on Roman Imperial Ideology: Politics, Art, and

Numismatics at the Villa Vergiliana, Cuma (Naples) -- keynote speaker and chaired

session on “Ideology, Historiography, and the Imperial Family” (May, 2000)

 

International Symposium at Emory University, Atlanta: Tyranny and Transformation

(October, 2000)

 

Annual Meeting of the Art Historians of Southern California at the Getty Center,

Los Angeles, California (November, 2000)

Getty Research Institute Colloquium: Work in Progress (December, 2000)

 

Second International Symposium on Roman Imperial Ideology: Politics, Art, and

Numismatics at the Villa Vergiliana, Cuma (Naples) -- chaired session on “The Image of

the Princeps and the Ruler Cult” (May, 2001)

 

UCLA-USC Seminar in Roman Studies: UCLA, Los Angeles (April, 2002)

 

Third International Symposium on Roman Imperial Ideology: Politics, Art, and

Numismatics at the Villa Vergiliana, Cuma (Naples) -- chaired session on “Roman History

and Ideology” (May, 2002)

 

Symposium on the Age of Augustus at UCLA -- (Feb., 2003)

 

Fourth International Symposium on Roman Imperial Ideology: Politics, Art, and

Numismatics at the Villa Vergiliana, Cuma (Naples) -- keynote speaker and

chaired session (May, 2003)

 

International Archaeological Congress, Harvard University (Aug. 2003): Besides giving a

paper, chaired session on “Ancient Society”

 

VIIth International ASMOSIA Conference, Thasos, Greece (Sept. 2003)

 

International Conference in the Arts and the Humanities, Honolulu, Hawaii (Jan. 2004)

 

Symposium on Roman Sculpture, Minneapolis Museum of Art (organized by Richard

Brilliant) (April, 2004)

 

International Symposium on Interaction of Indigenous and Foreign Cults in Italy at Cuma

(Naples) (May, 2004): Besides giving a paper, chaired session

 

International Conference at University of Michigan: “‘Sculptural Environment’ of the

Roman Near East: Reflections on Culture, Ideology, and Power (November 2004)

 

International Conference at Stanford University: “Seeing the Past” (February 2005)

 

International Conference at the University of London: “Computer Technology and the Arts:

Theory and Practice” (November 2005)

 

International Conference at the University of Chicago: “Performing Death: Social Analyses

of Funerary Ritual in the Mediterranean” (February 2006)

  

VIIIth International ASMOSIA Conference, Aix-en-Provence, France (June 2006)

 

Symposium “Art of Warfare”: Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University (January

2007)

 

PAPERS PRESENTED AT ANNUAL CONVENTIONS OF THE

ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE

COLLEGE ART ASSOCIATION

 

Boston (AIA, December, 1979)

 

New Orleans (AIA, December, 1980)

 

San Francisco (AIA, December, 1981)

 

Philadelphia (AIA, December, 1982)

 

Cincinnati (AIA, December, 1983)

 

Toronto (AIA, December, 1984)

 

Washington, D.C. (AIA, December, 1985) -- invited paper, “The Promulgation of the

Image of the Leader in Roman Art,” in a special AIA plenary session on Politics and

Art

 

San Antonio (AIA, December, 1986) -- invited paper, “Time, Narrativity, and Dynastic

Constructs in Augustan Art and Thought,” at a joint AIA-APA session on topics

illustrating connections between Roman art and philology

 

Houston (CAA, February, 1988) -- invited paper, “The Gemma Augustea and the

Construction of a Dynastic Narrative,” for a CAA session on Narrative and Event in

Greek and Roman Art

 

Atlanta (AIA, December, 1994) -- discussant for a joint AIA-APA session on “Rethinking

Nero’s Legacy: New Perspectives on Neronian Art, Literature, and History”

 

New York (AIA, December, 1996) -- special poster session: “The Marble Type of the

Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta: New Scientific Tests” (prepared in collaboration

with Norman Herz, Director of Programs, Center for Archaeological Sciences, University

of Georgia)

 

Chicago (AIA, December, 1997)

 

Washington, D.C. (AIA, December, 1998) -- invited paper, “A Portrait of a Sex-Slave

‘Stud’ (?) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York,” for a special colloquium in

honor of Anna Marguerite McCann on the receipt of the “Gold Medal” of the

Archaeological Institute of America

 

San Francisco (AIA, January, 2004) -- joint paper with N.Cipolla and L. Swartz Dodd

 

OTHER ACADEMIC AND PUBLIC LECTURES/TALKS

 

American Academy, Rome, Italy (March, 1976)

 

Cleveland Society AIA, Cleveland, Ohio (April, 1979)

 

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. (September, 1980)

 

Institute of Fine Arts, New York, N.Y. (October, 1980)

 

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, N.Y. (January, 1983)

 

New York Society AIA, New York, N.Y. (January, 1983)

 

Baltimore Society AIA, Baltimore, Md. (February, 1983)

 

University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (March, 1987)

 

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Ca. (March, 1987)

 

Columbia University, New York, N.Y. (April, 1987)

 

Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, UCLA, Ca. (November 1989)

 

Tulane University, New Orleans, La. (February, 1990)

 

Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, USC, Ca. (February 1990)

 

Los Angeles Society AIA, Los Angeles, Ca. (March, 1990)

 

Fisher Gallery and School of Fine Arts, University of Southern California, Los Angeles,

Ca. (March, 1990)

 

Institute of Fine Arts, New York, N.Y. (April, 1990)

 

American Academy, Rome, Italy (May, 1990)

 

University of Vienna and Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria (June, 1990)

 

San Diego Society AIA, San Diego, Ca. (September, 1990)

 

Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, Getty Museum, Malibu, Ca.

(November, 1990).

 

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa. (December, 1990)

 

Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, Gamble House, Pasadena, Ca.

(March 1991)

 

Henry T. Rowell Lecturer: Baltimore Society AIA, Baltimore, Md. (November, 1991)

 

Villanova University, Villanova, Pa. (November, 1991)

 

Royal-Athena Galleries, Los Angeles, Ca. (October, 1992)

 

Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), National Gallery of Art,

Washington D.C. (November, 1992)

 

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C. (November, 1992)

 

Duke University, Durham, N.C. (November, 1992)

 

University of California, Los Angeles: UCLA/USC Seminar in Roman Studies, Los

Angeles, Ca. (December, 1992)

 

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Ca. (January, 1993)

 

J. Paul Getty Museum and Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, Malibu,

Ca. (February, 1993)

 

Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, UCLA, Ca. (March 1993)

 

California State University, Long Beach, Ca. (March, 1993)

 

Stanford University, Palo Alto, Ca. (April, 1993)

 

University of California, Berkeley, Ca. (April, 1993)

 

California State University, Northridge, Ca. (April, 1993)

 

University of Arizona, Tucson, Az. (April, 1993)

 

American Academy, Rome, Italy (June, 1994)

 

Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities (Director’s Series) (Dec., 1994)

 

University of California, Irvine (May, 1997)

 

American Academy, Rome, Italy (July, 1997)

 

American School of Classical Studies, Athens (October, 1997)

 

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles (March, 1998)

 

British School at Rome (June, 1998)

 

University of California, Berkeley (November, 1998)

 

Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, University of California,

Santa Barbara (March, 1999)

 

Work in Progress: Getty Research Institute, Brentwood, California (December, 2000)

 

Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California, Getty Research Institute,

Brentwood, Ca. (April, 2001)

 

American Academy, Rome, Italy (May, 2001)

 

Loyola Marymount, Los Angeles (March, 2002)

 

Southern California Institute of Architecture (February, 2003)

 

Columbia University, New York (April, 2003)

 

University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands (May, 2003)

 

University of Nijmegen, the Netherlands (May, 2003)

 

American School of Classical Studies, Athens (September, 2003)

 

University of Oklahoma, Norman (March, 2005)

 

Cambridge University, Cambridge, England (November, 2005)

 

American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece (March, 2007)

 

University of Athens, Greece (May, 2007)

 

Los Angeles Society of the AIA, Los Angeles (December, 2007)

 

College of William and Mary (January, 2008)

 

Duke University, Durham (February, 2008)

 

Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA (March, 2008)

 

University of Nebraska, Lincoln (April, 2008)

 

AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS as Whitehead Professor of Archaeology (2006-2007)

 

Participated in all Fall trips of the School to various parts of Greece, giving

presentations on each of the trips.

 

Participated in the School’s Spring trip to Central Anatolia, giving several presentations.

 

Offered a seminar in the Winter Quarter: “Christian Destruction and Desecration of

Images and Shrines of Classical Antiquity.”

  

MISCELLANEOUS TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS

 

Lectures and talks on site regarding the architecture and topography of Rome, Ostia,

and Hadrian’s Villa for members of the Technische Universität für Architektur und

Denkmalpflege, Vienna, Austria; the Summer School of the American Academy in

Rome; St. Olaf College’s Junior Year Abroad Program; and M.A. students of

architecture in a joint summer program of the University of Southern California and the

University of Illinois; and the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome.

 

Talks on various aspects of Classical art and archaeology at meetings of the

Archaeological Society of the Mid-Atlantic States (1980-1987)

 

Gallery talks on the ancient collections of the Archaeological Museum of the Johns

Hopkins University (in capacity as curator) and of the Walters Art Gallery (1979-1987)

 

Gallery talks on the ancient collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Los Angeles

County Museum of Art (1987-present)

 

Talk for USC graduate students in the Dept. of Classics at the Ara Pacis and Mausoleum of

Augustus in Rome (May 26, 2006), organized by Prof. Claudia Moatti, Dept. of Classics

 

SPECIAL TALKS AND LECTURES AT USC

 

Seminar for Professor Claudia Moatti, Department of Classics: “Problems in Ancient Art”

(March, 2005)

 

Seminar for Dr. Daniela Bleichmar, Department of Art History: Rediscovering the

Classical Past: The Relationship of Art History, Archaeology, and Visual Culture (March,

2005)

 

University of Southern California’s 125th Celebration: For Symposium on “Trojan

Legends” presented paper: “USC's Trojan Column: An Ancient and Modern Myth”

(October, 2005)

 

MEDIA INTERVIEWS AND CONSULTATION

 

New York Times, International Herald Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The

History Channel, Arts and Entertainment Channel, KPCC Radio Los Angeles, NBC, Fox

 

Featured piece on my innovative work on the marble type of the statue of Augustus from

Prima Porta: A. Elders, “Tracing the Stones of Classical Brilliance,” in Hermes -- Greece

Today 35 (1999) 20-24.

 

ORGANIZER AND LEADER OF TOURS OF MUSEUMS AND SITES

 

Turkey (for Board of Councilors and donors of the School of Fine Arts, USC, 1995; for

university students and the general public, 1998)

 

Greece (Attica and the Peloponnese) (for university students and the general public, 1999)

 

Central Italy (for university students and the general public, 2000, 2002, 2003)

 

PARTICIPATION IN OTHER COLLOQUIA AND SYMPOSIA

 

Roman Sculpture and Architecture: German Archaeological Institute, Rome

(January, 1978)

 

Roman Architecture: Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery

of Art (January, 1981)

 

The Age of Augustus. The Rise of Imperial Ideology: Brown University (April, 1982)

 

Pictorial Narratives in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: The Johns Hopkins University and

the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art (March, 1984)

 

Villa Gardens of the Roman Empire: Dumbarton Oaks (May, 1984)

 

Retaining the Original -- Multiple Originals, Copies, and Reproductions: Center for

Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art (March, 1985)

 

Investigating Hellenistic Sculpture: Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts,

National Gallery of Art (October, 1986)

 

Marble -- Art Historical and Sculptural Perspectives on Ancient Sculpture: J. Paul Getty

Museum (April, 1988)

 

International Conference on Roman Archaeology and Latin Epigraphy: University of

Rome and the French School of Rome (May, 1988)

 

Roman Portraits in Context: Emory University (January, 1989)

 

Small Bronze Sculpture from the Ancient World: J. Paul Getty Museum (March, 1989)

 

Alexandria and Alexandrianism: J. Paul Getty Museum (April, 1993)

 

International Symposium: “Rome Reborn” Visual Reality Program at UCLA (December,

1996)

 

History of Restoration of Ancient Stone Sculptures, J. Paul Getty Museum (October, 2001)

 

Re-Restoring Ancient Stone Sculpture, J. Paul Getty Museum (March, 2003)

 

Marble Conference on Thasos, Liman, Thasos (Sept. 2003)

 

OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

 

Editorial Assistant (1968-1969) and Associate Editor (1969-1970), AGON: Journal of

Classical Studies

 

Editorial Board, American Journal of Philology (January, 1982-January, 1987)

 

Delegate from Baltimore Society AIA to National Convention (1984-1986)

 

Vice-President, Baltimore Society of the AIA (1985-1987)

 

Co-Director, Exhibition on Roman Portraiture, Fisher Gallery (1989)

 

Co-Founder (with Dr. Diana Buitron) of the Classical Archaeological Society of the Mid-

Atlantic States (1978-87)

 

Founder and President of the Classical Archaeological Society of Southern California

(1987-present)

 

Member of the Ancient Art Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1987-

present)

 

Oversaw the publication and helped edit the newsletter “ARTFACTS” of the

School of Fine Arts (1993-1996) during my tenure as Dean of the School of Fine Arts

 

USC Representative to Advisory Council of the American Academy in Rome

(1993-present)

 

Comitato di Collaborazione Culturale to the Consul General of Italy at Los Angeles

(1995-1998)

 

Advisory Committee for the Virtual Reality Project for Ancient Rome (“Rome Reborn”)

(1996-1998)

 

Delegate from Los Angeles Society AIA to National Convention (Chicago, Dec., 1997)

 

Reviewer for the Getty Grant Program (1999)

 

Reviewer for the MacArthur Foundation Grant (2000, 2003)

 

Planning Committee for a Four-Year International Conference on “Roman Imperial

Ideology” at the Villa Vergiliana at Cuma (Naples), organized by J. Rufus Fears (2000-

2003)

 

Consultant for the Forum of Augustus Project: Sovrintendenza Archeologica Comunale,

Direzione al Foro di Augusto (2004-present)

 

Editor of the newsletter “Musings” for the Department of Art History, USC (2005)

 

Planning Committee for the Internation Bronze Congress in Athens, Greece (2006-2007)

 

Chaired two sessions -- “Roman Sculpture” and “Augustan Art” -- at the Annual Meeting

of the Archaeological Institute of America (San Diego 2007)

  

UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES AND OTHER SERVICE

 

Faculty Senate (1988-1991)

 

Advisory Committee to the Dean of the School of Fine Arts (1990-1991, 1992-1993)

 

Chairman, Personnel Committee of the School of Fine Arts (1988-1990)

 

Library Liaison Officer for Art and Architecture Library (1987-present)

 

Search Committee for Reference Librarian of the Art and Architecture Library

(1989-1990 and 2000)

University Library Committee (1989-1990, 1998-2001)

 

Recruitment Committee for the School of Fine Arts (1989-1995)

 

Space Allocation Committee, School of Fine Arts (1989-1990)

 

University Research Committee (1990-1991)

 

Promotion Committee, School of Fine Arts (1990-1995)

 

University Ad Hoc Committee on Revenue Center Management (1990-1995)

 

Committee for University Development, School of Fine Arts (1993-1995)

 

Development Task Force, the School of Fine Arts (1993-1995)

 

Consultative Committee to the Provost (Spring 1993-1995)

 

University Galleries Advisory Committee (1993-1995)

 

University Committee on Transnational and Multicultural Affairs (1993-1995)

 

Provost’s Council at USC (formerly Council of Deans) (1993-1995)

 

USC Representative to the Advisory Council of the American Academy in Rome

(1993-present)

 

Founder and Member of the Board of Councilors for the School of Fine Arts (1994-1995)

 

Consortium Council of Deans for Development at USC (1995)

 

Tenure and Promotion Committee, Department of Art History (1995-to present)

 

Recruitment Committee for Department of Art History in the College of

Letters, Arts, and Sciences (1996-2005)

 

Program Proposer for the Establishment of an Interdepartmental and Interdisciplinary

Ancient Mediterranean Studies Program (1997-1999)

 

Chinese Search Committee, Department of Art History (1998-1999)

 

Japanese Search Committee, Department of Art History (1998-1999)

 

Professor-In-Charge, USC-Getty Lecture Series, Seminar, and Faculty Dinner (honoring

Salvatore Settis) (1998-1999)

 

Curriculum Committee (Co-Chair) (1998-1999)

 

Chair, Committee for Selection of Departmental Chair (1999-2000)

 

Chair, Merit Review Committee (1999-2000)

 

Committee for the Establishment of an Undergraduate Major in Archaeology

(2002-present)

 

Greek Art Search Committee, Department of Art History and Classics (2001-2004)

 

Faculty Search Committee, Department of Art History: Senior Hiring Initiative (2003-

present)

 

Junior Faculty Review Committee, Department of Art History (2003)

 

USC’s Arts and Humanities Committee (2003-2004)

 

Chair of Oversight Committee for the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Major (Spring 2006)

  

MEMBERSHIPS IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

 

NATIONAL:

 

Archaeological Institute of America

 

College Art Association

 

American Philological Association

 

Association of Ancient Historians

 

Vergilian Society

 

INTERNATIONAL:

 

Deutsches Archäologisches Institut

 

Associazione Internazionale di Archeologia Classica

 

Association for the Study of Marble and Other Stones in Antiquity (AMOSIA)

 

Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

 

If you are interested in Julio Claudian Iconography and portrait study you may enjoy these two links:

 

Julio Claudian Iconographic Association- Joe Geranio- Administrator at groups.yahoo.com/group/julioclaudian/

 

The Portraiture of Caligula- Joe Geranio- Administrator- at

portraitsofcaligula.com/

 

Both are non-profit sites and for educational use only.

 

The BYU Cougars football team is the college football program representing Brigham Young University, a private university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and located in Provo, Utah, United States. The Cougars began collegiate football competition in 1922, and have won 23 conference titles and 1 national title. The team has competed in several different athletic conferences during its history, but since July 1, 2011, it has competed as an Independent. The team plays home games at the 63,470-person-capacity LaVell Edwards Stadium on the university's campus.

 

BYU has had 18 final season rankings in the Top 25. The team has made 33 Bowl appearances with a record of 13–19–1.

 

Team awards for the BYU Cougars include 23 conference titles and one national championship in 1984. For player awards, BYU has produced 51 All-Americans (13 Consensus All-Americans), and one Heisman Trophy winner (Ty Detmer in 1990). Other BYU players finishing in the top ten in Heisman voting include Gary Sheide (8th in 1974), Gifford Nielsen (6th in 1976), Marc Wilson (3rd in 1979), Jim McMahon (5th in 1980, 3rd in 1981), Steve Young (2nd in 1983), Robbie Bosco (3rd in 1984 and 1985), and Ty Detmer (9th in 1989, Winner in 1990, 3rd in 1991). Detmer also won the Maxwell Award (best football player) in 1990.

 

Four BYU players have won the Davey O'Brien Award (best quarterback)—Jim McMahon, Steve Young, and Ty Detmer twice—more than any other school; and seven players have won the Sammy Baugh Trophy (best passer): Steve Sarkisian (1996), Gary Sheide (1974), Marc Wilson (1979), Jim McMahon (1981), Steve Young (1983), Robbie Bosco (1984), and Ty Detmer (1991). Luke Staley won the Doak Walker Award (best running back) and Jim Brown Trophy (best running back) in 2001. Two players earned the Outland Trophy (best interior lineman): Jason Buck (1986) and Moe Elewonibi (1989).

 

For coaching, LaVell Edwards received the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award in 1979, the AFCA (Kodak) Coach of the Year Award in 1984, and the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award (career achievement) in 2003.

 

Six player have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame (Gifford Nielsen in 1994, Marc Wilson in 1996, Jim McMahon in 1999, Steve Young in 2001, Gordon Hudson in 2009, and Ty Detmer in 2011) and LaVell Edwards was inducted as a coach in 2004.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BYU_Cougars_football

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...

Action from the Parham Point to Point back in March.

Low tide on the River Adur at Shoreham this evening, so I could easily wander out and get amongst the moored boats.

The Great Patriotic War (Russian: Вели́кая Оте́чественная война́, romanized: Velikaja Otečestvennaja vojna) is a term used in Russia and some other former republics of the Soviet Union to describe the conflict fought during the period from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945 along the many fronts of the Eastern Front of World War II, primarily between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. For some legal purposes, this period may be extended to 11 May 1945 to include the end of the Prague offensive.

 

History

The term Patriotic War refers to the Russian resistance to the French invasion of Russia under Napoleon I, which became known as the Patriotic War of 1812. In Russian, the term отечественная война originally referred to a war on one's own territory (otechestvo means "the fatherland"), as opposed to a campaign abroad (заграничная война), and later was reinterpreted as a war for the fatherland, i.e. a defensive war for one's homeland. Sometimes the Patriotic War of 1812 was also referred to as the Great Patriotic War (Великая отечественная война); the phrase first appeared in 1844 and became popular on the eve of the centenary of the Patriotic War of 1812.

 

After 1914, the phrase was applied to World War I. It was the name of a special war-time appendix to the magazine Theater and Life (Театр и жизнь) in Saint Petersburg, and referred to the Eastern Front of World War I, where Russia fought against the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The phrases Second Patriotic War (Вторая отечественная война) and Great World Patriotic War (Великая всемирная отечественная война) were also used during World War I in Russia.

 

The term Great Patriotic War re-appeared in the official newspaper of the CPSU, Pravda, on 23 June 1941, just a day after Germany invaded the Soviet Union. It was found in the title of "The Great Patriotic War of the Soviet People" (Velikaya Otechestvennaya Voyna Sovetskogo Naroda), a long article by Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, a member of Pravda editors' collegium. The phrase was intended to motivate the population to defend the Soviet fatherland and to expel the invader, and a reference to the Patriotic War of 1812 was seen as a great morale booster. During the Soviet period, historians engaged in huge distortions to make history fit with Communist ideology, with Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov and Prince Pyotr Bagration transformed into peasant generals, Alexander I alternatively ignored or vilified, and the war becoming a massive "People's War" fought by the ordinary people of Russia with almost no involvement on the part of the government. The invasion by Germany was called the Great Patriotic War by the Soviet government to evoke comparisons with the victory by Tsar Alexander I over Napoleon's invading army.

 

The term Отечественная война (Patriotic War or Fatherland War) was officially recognized by establishment of the Order of the Patriotic War on 20 May 1942, awarded for heroic deeds.

 

The term is not generally used outside the former Soviet Union, and the closest term is the Eastern Front of World War II (1941–1945). Neither term covers the initial phase of World War II in Eastern Europe, during which the USSR, then still in a non-aggression pact with Germany, invaded eastern Poland (1939), the Baltic states (1940), Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (1940) and Finland (1939–1940). The term also does not cover the Soviet–Japanese War (1945) nor the Battles of Khalkhin Gol (1939).

 

In Russia and some other post-Soviet countries, the term is given great significance; it is accepted as a representation of the most important part of World War II. Until 2014, Uzbekistan was the only nation in the Commonwealth of Independent States that had not recognized the term, referring to it as World War II on the state holiday - the Day of Remembrance and Honour.

 

On 9 April 2015, the Ukrainian parliament replaced the term Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) (Velyka vitchyzniana viina) in the country's law with the "Second World War (1939–1945)" (Druha svitova viina), as part of a set of decommunization laws. Also in 2015, Ukraine's "Victory Day over Nazism in World War II" was established as a national holiday in accordance with the law of "On Perpetuation of Victory over Nazism in World War II 1939–1945". The new holiday was celebrated on May 9 and replaced the Soviet-Russian Victory Day, which is celebrated on May 9. These laws were adopted by the Ukrainian parliament within the package of laws on decommunization. In 2023 Ukraine abolished the 2015 9 May "Victory Day over Nazism" holiday and replaced it with the new public holiday "Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II 1939 – 1945" which is celebrated on 8 May annually.

 

Voronezh is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on the Southeastern Railway, which connects western Russia with the Urals and Siberia, the Caucasus and Ukraine, and the M4 highway (Moscow–Voronezh–Rostov-on-Don–Novorossiysk). In recent years the city has experienced rapid population growth, rising in 2021 to 1,057,681, up from 889,680 recorded in the 2010 Census, making it the 14th-most populous city in the country.

 

History

The first chronicle references to the word "Voronezh" are dated 1177, when the Ryazan prince Yaropolk, having lost the battle, fled "to Voronozh" and there was moving "from town to town". Modern data of archeology and history interpret Voronezh as a geographical region, which included the Voronezh river (tributary of the Don) and a number of settlements. In the lower reaches of the river, a unique Slavic town-planning complex of the 8th – early 11th century was discovered, which covered the territory of the present city of Voronezh and its environs (about 42 km long, about 13 forts and many unfortified villages). By the 12th – 13th centuries, most of the old towns were desolate, but new settlements appeared upstream, closer to Ryazan.

 

For many years, the hypothesis of the Soviet historian Vladimir Zagorovsky dominated: he produced the toponym "Voronezh" from the hypothetical Slavic personal name Voroneg. This man allegedly gave the name of a small town in the Chernigov Principality (now the village of Voronezh in Ukraine). Later, in the 11th or 12th century, the settlers were able to "transfer" this name to the Don region, where they named the second city Voronezh, and the river got its name from the city. However, now many researchers criticize the hypothesis, since in reality neither the name of Voroneg nor the second city was revealed, and usually the names of Russian cities repeated the names of the rivers, but not vice versa.

 

The linguistic comparative analysis of the name "Voronezh" was carried out by the Khovansky Foundation in 2009. There is an indication of the place names of many countries in Eurasia, which may partly be not only similar in sound, but also united by common Indo-European languages: Varanasi, Varna, Verona, Brno, etc.

 

A comprehensive scientific analysis was conducted in 2015–2016 by the historian Pavel Popov. His conclusion: "Voronezh" is a probable Slavic macrotoponym associated with outstanding signs of nature, has a root voron- (from the proto-Slavic vorn) in the meaning of "black, dark" and the suffix -ezh (-azh, -ozh). It was not “transferred” and in the 8th - 9th centuries it marked a vast territory covered with black forests (oak forests) - from the mouth of the Voronezh river to the Voronozhsky annalistic forests in the middle and upper reaches of the river, and in the west to the Don (many forests were cut down). The historian believes that the main "city" of the early town-planning complex could repeat the name of the region – Voronezh. Now the hillfort is located in the administrative part of the modern city, in the Voronezh upland oak forest. This is one of Europe's largest ancient Slavic hillforts, the area of which – more than 9 hectares – 13 times the area of the main settlement in Kyiv before the baptism of Rus.

 

In it is assumed that the word "Voronezh" means bluing - a technique to increase the corrosion resistance of iron products. This explanation fits well with the proximity to the ancient city of Voronezh of a large iron deposit and the city of Stary Oskol.

 

Folk etymology claims the name comes from combining the Russian words for raven (ворон) and hedgehog (еж) into Воронеж. According to this explanation two Slavic tribes named after the animals used this combination to name the river which later in turn provided the name for a settlement. There is not believed to be any scientific support for this explanation.

 

In the 16th century, the Middle Don basin, including the Voronezh river, was gradually conquered by Muscovy from the Nogai Horde (a successor state of the Golden Horde), and the current city of Voronezh was established in 1585 by Feodor I as a fort protecting the Muravsky Trail trade route against the slave raids of the Nogai and Crimean Tatars. The city was named after the river.

 

17th to 19th centuries

In the 17th century, Voronezh gradually evolved into a sizable town. Weronecz is shown on the Worona river in Resania in Joan Blaeu's map of 1645. Peter the Great built a dockyard in Voronezh where the Azov Flotilla was constructed for the Azov campaigns in 1695 and 1696. This fleet, the first ever built in Russia, included the first Russian ship of the line, Goto Predestinatsia. The Orthodox diocese of Voronezh was instituted in 1682 and its first bishop, Mitrofan of Voronezh, was later proclaimed the town's patron saint.

 

Owing to the Voronezh Admiralty Wharf, for a short time, Voronezh became the largest city of South Russia and the economic center of a large and fertile region. In 1711, it was made the seat of the Azov Governorate, which eventually morphed into the Voronezh Governorate.

 

In the 19th century, Voronezh was a center of the Central Black Earth Region. Manufacturing industry (mills, tallow-melting, butter-making, soap, leather, and other works) as well as bread, cattle, suet, and the hair trade developed in the town. A railway connected Voronezh with Moscow in 1868 and Rostov-on-Don in 1871.

 

20th century

World War II

During World War II, Voronezh was the scene of fierce fighting between Soviet and combined Axis troops. The Germans used it as a staging area for their attack on Stalingrad, and made it a key crossing point on the Don River. In June 1941, two BM-13 (Fighting machine #13 Katyusha) artillery installations were built at the Voronezh excavator factory. In July, the construction of Katyushas was rationalized so that their manufacture became easier and the time of volley repetition was shortened from five minutes to fifteen seconds. More than 300 BM-13 units manufactured in Voronezh were used in a counterattack near Moscow in December 1941. In October 22, 1941, the advance of the German troops prompted the establishment of a defense committee in the city. On November 7, 1941, there was a troop parade, devoted to the anniversary of the October Revolution. Only three such parades were organized that year: in Moscow, Kuybyshev, and Voronezh. In late June 1942, the city was attacked by German and Hungarian forces. In response, Soviet forces formed the Voronezh Front. By July 6, the German army occupied the western river-bank suburbs before being subjected to a fierce Soviet counter-attack. By July 24 the frontline had stabilised along the Voronezh River as the German forces continued southeast into the Great Bend of the Don. The attack on Voronezh represented the first phase of the German Army's 1942 campaign in the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue.

 

Until January 25, 1943, parts of the Second German Army and the Second Hungarian Army occupied the western part of Voronezh. During Operation Little Saturn, the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive, and the Voronezhsko-Kastornenskoy Offensive, the Voronezh Front exacted heavy casualties on Axis forces. On January 25, 1943, Voronezh was liberated after ten days of combat. During the war the city was almost completely ruined, with 92% of all buildings destroyed.

 

Post-war

By 1950, Voronezh had been rebuilt. Most buildings and historical monuments were repaired. It was also the location of a prestigious Suvorov Military School, a boarding school for young boys who were considered to be prospective military officers, many of whom had been orphaned by war.

 

In 1950–1960, new factories were established: a tire factory, a machine-tool factory, a factory of heavy mechanical pressing, and others. In 1968, Serial production of the Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic plane was established at the Voronezh Aviation factory. In October 1977, the first Soviet domestic wide-body plane, Ilyushin Il-86, was built there.

 

In 1989, TASS published details of an alleged UFO landing in the city's park and purported encounters with extraterrestrial beings reported by a number of children. A Russian scientist that was cited in initial TASS reports later told the Associated Press that he was misquoted, cautioning, "Don't believe all you hear from TASS," and "We never gave them part of what they published", and a TASS correspondent admitted the possibility that some "make-believe" had been added to the TASS story, saying, "I think there is a certain portion of truth, but it is not excluded that there is also fantasizing".

 

21st century

From 10 to 17 September 2011, Voronezh celebrated its 425th anniversary. The anniversary of the city was given the status of a federal scale celebration that helped attract large investments from the federal and regional budgets for development.

 

On December 17, 2012, Voronezh became the fifteenth city in Russia with a population of over one million people.

 

Today Voronezh is the economic, industrial, cultural, and scientific center of the Central Black Earth Region. As part of the annual tradition in the Russian city of Voronezh, every winter the main city square is thematically drawn around a classic literature. In 2020, the city was decorated using the motifs from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. In the year of 2021, the architects drew inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Snow Queen as well as the animation classic The Snow Queen from the Soviet Union. The fairy tale replica city will feature the houses of Kai and Gerda, the palace of the snow queen, an ice rink, and illumination.

 

In June 2023, during the Wagner Group rebellion, forces of the Wagner Group claimed to have taken control of military facilities in the city. Later they were confirmed to have taken the city itself.

 

Administrative and municipal status

Voronezh is the administrative center of the oblast.[1] Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Voronezh Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.[1] As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.

 

City divisions

The city is divided into six administrative districts:

 

Zheleznodorozhny (183,17 km²)

Tsentralny (63,96 km²)

Kominternovsky (47,41 km²)

Leninsky (18,53 km²)

Sovetsky (156,6 km²)

Levoberezhny (123,89 km²)

 

Economy

The leading sectors of the urban economy in the 20th century were mechanical engineering, metalworking, the electronics industry and the food industry.

 

In the city are such companies as:

Tupolev Tu-144

Voronezhselmash (agricultural engineering)

Sozvezdie[36] (headquarter, JSC Concern “Sozvezdie”, in 1958 the world's first created mobile telephony and wireless telephone Altai

Verofarm (pharmaceutics, owner Abbott Laboratories),

Voronezh Mechanical Plant[37] (production of missile and aircraft engines, oil and gas equipment)

Mining Machinery Holding - RUDGORMASH[38] (production of drilling, mineral processing and mining equipment)

VNiiPM Research Institute of Semiconductor Engineering (equipment for plasma-chemical processes, technical-chemical equipment for liquid operations, water treatment equipment)

KBKhA Chemical Automatics Design Bureau with notable products:.

Pirelli Voronezh.

On the territory of the city district government Maslovka Voronezh region with the support of the Investment Fund of Russia, is implementing a project to create an industrial park, "Maslowski", to accommodate more than 100 new businesses, including the transformer factory of Siemens. On September 7, 2011 in Voronezh there opened a Global network operation center of Nokia Siemens Networks, which was the fifth in the world and the first in Russia.

 

Construction

In 2014, 926,000 square meters of housing was delivered.

 

Clusters of Voronezh

In clusters of tax incentives and different preferences, the full support of the authorities. A cluster of Oil and Gas Equipment, Radio-electronic cluster, Furniture cluster, IT cluster, Cluster aircraft, Cluster Electromechanics, Transport and logistics cluster, Cluster building materials and technologies.

 

Geography

Urban layout

Information about the original urban layout of Voronezh is contained in the "Patrol Book" of 1615. At that time, the city fortress was logged and located on the banks of the Voronezh River. In plan, it was an irregular quadrangle with a perimeter of about 238 meter. inside it, due to lack of space, there was no housing or siege yards, and even the cathedral church was supposed to be taken out. However, at this small fortress there was a large garrison - 666 households of service people. These courtyards were reliably protected by the second line of fortifications by a standing prison on taras with 25 towers covered with earth; behind the prison was a moat, and beyond the moat there were stakes. Voronezh was a typical military settlement (ostrog). In the city prison there were only settlements of military men: Streletskaya, Kazachya, Belomestnaya atamanskaya, Zatinnaya and Pushkarskaya. The posad population received the territory between the ostrog and the river, where the Monastyrskaya settlements (at the Assumption Monastery) was formed. Subsequently, the Yamnaya Sloboda was added to them, and on the other side of the fort, on the Chizhovka Mountain, the Chizhovskaya Sloboda of archers and Cossacks appeared. As a result, the Voronezh settlements surrounded the fortress in a ring. The location of the parish churches emphasized this ring-like and even distribution of settlements: the Ilyinsky Church of the Streletskaya Sloboda, the Pyatnitskaya Cossack and Pokrovskaya Belomestnaya were brought out to the passage towers of the prison. The Nikolskaya Church of the Streletskaya Sloboda was located near the marketplace (and, accordingly, the front facade of the fortress), and the paired ensemble of the Rozhdestvenskaya and Georgievskaya churches of the Cossack Sloboda marked the main street of the city, going from the Cossack Gate to the fortress tower.

 

Climate

Voronezh experiences a humid continental climate (Köppen: Dfb) with long, cold winters and short, warm summers.

 

Transportation

Air

The city is served by the Voronezh International Airport, which is located north of the city and is home to Polet Airlines. Voronezh is also home to the Pridacha Airport, a part of a major aircraft manufacturing facility VASO (Voronezhskoye Aktsionernoye Samoletostroitelnoye Obshchestvo, Voronezh aircraft production association) where the Tupolev Tu-144 (known in the West as the "Concordski"), was built and the only operational unit is still stored. Voronezh also hosts the Voronezh Malshevo air force base in the southwest of the city, which, according to a Natural Resources Defense Council report, houses nuclear bombers.[citation needed]

 

Rail

Since 1868, there is a railway connection between Voronezh and Moscow. Rail services form a part of the South Eastern Railway of the Russian Railways. Destinations served direct from Voronezh include Moscow, Kyiv, Kursk, Novorossiysk, Sochi, and Tambov. The main train station is called Voronezh-1 railway station and is located in the center of the city.

 

Bus

There are three bus stations in Voronezh that connect the city with destinations including Moscow, Belgorod, Lipetsk, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, and Astrakhan.

 

Education and culture

Aviastroiteley Park

The city has seven theaters, twelve museums, a number of movie theaters, a philharmonic hall, and a circus. It is also a major center of higher education in central Russia. The main educational facilities include:

 

Voronezh State University

Voronezh State Technical University

Voronezh State University of Architecture and Construction

Voronezh State Pedagogical University

Voronezh State Agricultural University

Voronezh State University of Engineering Technologies

Voronezh State Medical University named after N. N. Burdenko

Voronezh State Academy of Arts

Voronezh State University of Forestry and Technologies named after G.F. Morozov

Voronezh State Institute of Physical Training

Voronezh Institute of Russia's Home Affairs Ministry

Voronezh Institute of High Technologies

Military Educational and Scientific Center of the Air Force «N.E. Zhukovsky and Y.A. Gagarin Air Force Academy» (Voronezh)

Plekhanov Russian University of Economics (Voronezh branch)

Russian State University of Justice

Admiral Makarov State University of Sea and River Fleet (Voronezh branch)

International Institute of Computer Technologies

Voronezh Institute of Economics and Law

and a number of other affiliate and private-funded institutes and universities. There are 2000 schools within the city.

 

Theaters

Voronezh Chamber Theatre

Koltsov Academic Drama Theater

Voronezh State Opera and Ballet Theatre

Shut Puppet Theater

 

Festivals

Platonov International Arts Festival

 

Sports

ClubSportFoundedCurrent LeagueLeague

RankStadium

Fakel VoronezhFootball1947Russian Premier League1stTsentralnyi Profsoyuz Stadion

Energy VoronezhFootball1989Women's Premier League1stRudgormash Stadium

Buran VoronezhIce Hockey1977Higher Hockey League2ndYubileyny Sports Palace

VC VoronezhVolleyball2006Women's Higher Volleyball League A2ndKristall Sports Complex

 

Religion

Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral in Voronezh

Orthodox Christianity is the predominant religion in Voronezh.[citation needed] There is an Orthodox Jewish community in Voronezh, with a synagogue located on Stankevicha Street.

 

In 1682, the Voronezh diocese was formed to fight the schismatics. Its first head was Bishop Mitrofan (1623-1703) at the age of 58. Under him, the construction began on the new Annunciation Cathedral to replace the old one. In 1832, Mitrofan was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

 

In the 1990s, many Orthodox churches were returned to the diocese. Their restoration was continued. In 2009, instead of the lost one, a new Annunciation Cathedral was built with a monument to St. Mitrofan erected next to it.

 

Cemeteries

There are ten cemeteries in Voronezh:

Levoberezhnoye Cemetery

Lesnoye Cemetery

Jewish Cemetery

Nikolskoye Cemetery

Pravoberezhnoye Cemetery

Budyonnovskoe Cemetery

Yugo-Zapadnoye Cemetery

Podgorenskоye Cemetery

Kominternovskoe Cemetery

Ternovoye Cemetery is а historical site closed to the public.

 

Born in Voronezh

18th century

Yevgeny Bolkhovitinov (1767–1837), Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia

Mikhail Pavlov (1792–1840), Russian academic and professor at Moscow University

19th century

1801–1850

Aleksey Koltsov (1809–1842), Russian poet

Ivan Nikitin (1824–1861), Russian poet

Nikolai Ge (1831–1894), Russian realist painter famous for his works on historical and religious motifs

Vasily Sleptsov (1836–1878), Russian writer and social reformer

Nikolay Kashkin (1839–1920), Russian music critic

1851–1900

Valentin Zhukovski (1858–1918), Russian orientalist

Vasily Goncharov (1861–1915), Russian film director and screenwriter, one of the pioneers of the film industry in the Russian Empire

Anastasiya Verbitskaya (1861–1928), Russian novelist, playwright, screenplay writer, publisher and feminist

Mikhail Olminsky (1863–1933), Russian Communist

Serge Voronoff (1866–1951), French surgeon of Russian extraction

Andrei Shingarev (1869–1918), Russian doctor, publicist and politician

Ivan Bunin (1870–1953), the first Russian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature

Alexander Ostuzhev (1874–1953), Russian and Soviet drama actor

Valerian Albanov (1881–1919), Russian navigator and polar explorer

Jan Hambourg (1882–1947), Russian violinist, a member of a famous musical family

Volin (1882–1945), anarchist

Boris Hambourg (1885–1954), Russian cellist who made his career in the USA, Canada, England and Europe

Boris Eikhenbaum (1886–1959), Russian and Soviet literary scholar, and historian of Russian literature

Anatoly Durov (1887–1928), Russian animal trainer

Samuil Marshak (1887–1964), Russian and Soviet writer, translator and children's poet

Eduard Shpolsky (1892–1975), Russian and Soviet physicist and educator

George of Syracuse (1893–1981), Eastern Orthodox archbishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

Yevgeny Gabrilovich (1899–1993), Soviet screenwriter

Semyon Krivoshein (1899–1978), Soviet tank commander; Lieutenant General

Andrei Platonov (1899–1951), Soviet Russian writer, playwright and poet

Ivan Pravov (1899–1971), Russian and Soviet film director and screenwriter

William Dameshek (1900–1969), American hematologist

20th century

1901–1930

Ivan Nikolaev (1901–1979), Soviet architect and educator

Galina Shubina (1902–1980), Russian poster and graphics artist

Pavel Cherenkov (1904–1990), Soviet physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in physics in 1958 with Ilya Frank and Igor Tamm for the discovery of Cherenkov radiation, made in 1934

Yakov Kreizer (1905–1969), Soviet field commander, General of the army and Hero of the Soviet Union

Iosif Rudakovsky (1914–1947), Soviet chess master

Pawel Kassatkin (1915–1987), Russian writer

Alexander Shelepin (1918–1994), Soviet state security officer and party statesman

Grigory Baklanov (1923–2009), Russian writer

Gleb Strizhenov (1923–1985), Soviet actor

Vladimir Zagorovsky (1925–1994), Russian chess grandmaster of correspondence chess and the fourth ICCF World Champion between 1962 and 1965

Konstantin Feoktistov (1926–2009), cosmonaut and engineer

Vitaly Vorotnikov (1926–2012), Soviet statesman

Arkady Davidowitz (1930), writer and aphorist

1931–1950

Grigory Sanakoev (1935), Russian International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster, most famous for being the twelfth ICCF World Champion (1984–1991)

Yuri Zhuravlyov (1935), Russian mathematician

Mykola Koltsov (1936–2011), Soviet footballer and Ukrainian football children and youth trainer

Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov (1936), Russian composer

Iya Savvina (1936–2011), Soviet film actress

Tamara Zamotaylova (1939), Soviet gymnast, who won four Olympic medals at the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics

Yury Smolyakov (1941), Soviet Olympic fencer

Yevgeny Lapinsky (1942–1999), Soviet Olympic volleyball player

Galina Bukharina (1945), Soviet athlete

Vladimir Patkin (1945), Soviet Olympic volleyball player

Vladimir Proskurin (1945), Soviet Russian football player and coach

Aleksandr Maleyev (1947), Soviet artistic gymnast

Valeri Nenenko (1950), Russian professional football coach and player

1951–1970

Vladimir Rokhlin, Jr. (1952), Russian-American mathematician and professor of computer science and mathematics at the Yale University

Lyubov Burda (1953), Russian artistic gymnast

Mikhail Khryukin (1955), Russian swimmer

Aleksandr Tkachyov (1957), Russian gymnast and two times Olympic Champion

Nikolai Vasilyev (1957), Russian professional football coach and player

Aleksandr Babanov (1958), Russian professional football coach and player

Sergey Koliukh (1960), Russian political figure; 4th Mayor of Voronezh

Yelena Davydova (1961), Soviet gymnast

Aleksandr Borodyuk (1962), Russian football manager and former international player for USSR and Russia

Aleksandr Chayev (1962), Russian swimmer

Elena Fanailova (1962), Russian poet

Alexander Litvinenko (1962–2006), officer of the Russian FSB and political dissident

Yuri Shishkin (1963), Russian professional football coach and player

Yuri Klinskikh (1964–2000), Russian musician, singer, songwriter, arranger, founder rock band Sektor Gaza

Yelena Ruzina (1964), athlete

Igor Bragin (1965), footballer

Gennadi Remezov (1965), Russian professional footballer

Valeri Shmarov (1965), Russian football player and coach

Konstantin Chernyshov (1967), Russian chess grandmaster

Igor Pyvin (1967), Russian professional football coach and player

Vladimir Bobrezhov (1968), Soviet sprint canoer

1971–1980

Oleg Gorobiy (1971), Russian sprint canoer

Anatoli Kanishchev (1971), Russian professional association footballer

Ruslan Mashchenko (1971), Russian hurdler

Aleksandr Ovsyannikov (1974), Russian professional footballer

Dmitri Sautin (1974), Russian diver who has won more medals than any other Olympic diver

Sergey Verlin (1974), Russian sprint canoer

Maxim Narozhnyy (1975–2011), Paralympian athlete

Aleksandr Cherkes (1976), Russian football coach and player

Andrei Durov (1977), Russian professional footballer

Nikolai Kryukov (1978), Russian artistic gymnast

Kirill Gerstein (1979), Jewish American and Russian pianist

Evgeny Ignatov (1979), Russian sprint canoeist

Aleksey Nikolaev (1979), Russian-Uzbekistan footballer

Aleksandr Palchikov (1979), former Russian professional football player

Konstantin Skrylnikov (1979), Russian professional footballer

Aleksandr Varlamov (1979), Russian diver

Angelina Yushkova (1979), Russian gymnast

Maksim Potapov (1980), professional ice hockey player

1981–1990

Alexander Krysanov (1981), Russian professional ice hockey forward

Yulia Nachalova (1981–2019), Soviet and Russian singer, actress and television presenter

Andrei Ryabykh (1982), Russian football player

Maxim Shchyogolev (1982), Russian theatre and film actor

Eduard Vorganov (1982), Russian professional road bicycle racer

Anton Buslov (1983–2014), Russian astrophysicist, blogger, columnist at The New Times magazine and expert on transportation systems

Dmitri Grachyov (1983), Russian footballer

Aleksandr Kokorev (1984), Russian professional football player

Dmitry Kozonchuk (1984), Russian professional road bicycle racer for Team Katusha

Alexander Khatuntsev (1985), Russian professional road bicycle racer

Egor Vyaltsev (1985), Russian professional basketball player

Samvel Aslanyan (1986), Russian handball player

Maksim Chistyakov (1986), Russian football player

Yevgeniy Dorokhin (1986), Russian sprint canoer

Daniil Gridnev (1986), Russian professional footballer

Vladimir Moskalyov (1986), Russian football referee

Elena Danilova (1987), Russian football forward

Sektor Gaza (1987–2000), punk band

Regina Moroz (1987), Russian female volleyball player

Roman Shishkin (1987), Russian footballer

Viktor Stroyev (1987), Russian footballer

Elena Terekhova (1987), Russian international footballer

Natalia Goncharova (1988), Russian diver

Yelena Yudina (1988), Russian skeleton racer

Dmitry Abakumov (1989), Russian professional association football player

Igor Boev (1989), Russian professional racing cyclist

Ivan Dobronravov (1989), Russian actor

Anna Bogomazova (1990), Russian kickboxer, martial artist, professional wrestler and valet

Yuriy Kunakov (1990), Russian diver

Vitaly Melnikov (1990), Russian backstroke swimmer

Kristina Pravdina (1990), Russian female artistic gymnast

Vladislav Ryzhkov (1990), Russian footballer

1991–2000

Danila Poperechny (1994), Russian stand-up comedian, actor, youtuber, podcaster

Darya Stukalova (1994), Russian Paralympic swimmer

Viktoria Komova (1995), Russian Olympic gymnast

Vitali Lystsov (1995), Russian professional footballer

Marina Nekrasova (1995), Russian-born Azerbaijani artistic gymnast

Vladislav Parshikov (1996), Russian football player

Dmitri Skopintsev (1997), Russian footballer

Alexander Eickholtz (1998) American sportsman

Angelina Melnikova (2000), Russian Olympic gymnast

Lived in Voronezh

Aleksey Khovansky (1814–1899), editor

Ivan Kramskoi (1837–1887), Russian painter and art critic

Mitrofan Pyatnitsky (1864–1927), Russian musician

Mikhail Tsvet (1872–1919), Russian botanist

Alexander Kuprin (1880–1960), Russian painter, a member of the Jack of Diamonds group

Yevgeny Zamyatin (1884-1937), Russian writer, went to school in Voronezh

Osip Mandelstam (1891–1938), Russian poet

Nadezhda Mandelstam (1899-1980), Russian writer

Gavriil Troyepolsky (1905–1995), Soviet writer

Nikolay Basov (1922–2001), Soviet physicist and educator

Vasily Peskov (1930–2013), Russian writer, journalist, photographer, traveller and ecologist

Valentina Popova (1972), Russian weightlifter

Igor Samsonov, painter

Tatyana Zrazhevskaya, Russian boxer

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Bratislava Castle is the main castle of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. The massive rectangular building with four corner towers stands on an isolated rocky hill of the Little Carpathians, directly above the Danube river, in the middle of Bratislava. Because of its size and location, it has been a dominant feature of the city for centuries.

 

The location provides excellent views of Bratislava, Austria and, in clear weather, parts of Hungary. Many legends are connected with the history of the castle.

 

The castle building includes four towers (one on each corner) and a courtyard with a 80 m (260 ft) deep water well. The largest and tallest tower is the Crown Tower, on the southwest corner. The 47 m (154 ft) tower dates from the 13th century and for approximately 200 years, beginning in the mid-1500s, housed the crown jewels of Hungary. The exterior walls and inside corridors contain fragments of old Gothic and Renaissance construction elements. The walled-up entrance gate from the 16th century is still visible to the east of the main hall/entrance.

 

Behind the entrance is an arcade corridor leading to a large Baroque staircase which, in turn, leads to the exhibitions of the Slovak National Museum on the second floor. The west wing of this floor houses the four halls of the Treasure Chamber (opened in 1988), with a collection of the most precious archaeological finds and other objects of Slovakia, including the prehistoric statue called the Venus of Moravany. The third floor houses an exhibition on the history of Slovakia. The first floor in the south wing of the building houses the rooms of Slovak parliament —the National Council of the Slovak Republic—including furnishings from the 16th century. The northern wing of the building, the former Baroque chapel, houses the Music Hall, in which concerts are held. The courtyard includes the entrance to the Knights Hall.

 

Sigismund Gate in the southeast—the best-preserved original part of the site, built in the 15th century

Vienna Gate in the southwest —built in 1712

Nicholas Gate in the northeast —built in the 16th century

Leopold Gate

 

Other buildings

To the west of the main building is the newly reconstructed F. A. Hillebrandt building, which dates from 1762 and was destroyed by the 1811 fire. The Yard of Honor, the space directly before the castle entrance, dates from the late 18th century.

 

Inside the Sigismund Gate and below the Court of Honor is the Leopold Yard with bastions, constructed in the 17th century.

 

To the east of the castle building, the constellation of the Great Moravian basilica (9th century), the Church of St Savior (11th century), and other early medieval objects is indicated on the ground. The true archaeological findings are directly below this indicated constellation.

 

Adjacent to the Nicholas Gate, a Gothic gateway from the 15th century in the northeast quadrant, is the Lugiland Bastion. This is a long three-floor building from the 17th century that currently houses the National Council of the Slovak Republic and a Baroque stable (today a restaurant). A French baroque garden is located to the south of the stable.

The northern border of the site is formed by a long Baroque building from the 18th century, which today houses the Slovak National Museum and the castle administration.

 

The castle's site, like today's city, has been inhabited for thousands of years, because it is strategically located in the center of Europe at a passage between the Carpathians and the Alps, at an important ford used to cross the Danube river, and at an important crossing of central European ancient (trade) routes running from the Balkans or the Adriatic Sea to the Rhine river or the Baltic Sea, the most important route being the Amber Route.

 

The people of the Boleráz culture (the oldest phase of the Baden culture) were the first known culture to have constructed settlements on the castle hill. This happened around 3500 BC (i.e., in the high Eneolithic Period). Their "castle" was a fortified settlement and a kind of acropolis for settlements in today's Old Town of Bratislava.

 

Further major findings from the castle hill are from the Hallstatt Period (Early Iron Age, 750 –450 BC). At that time, the people of the Kalenderberg Culture, constructed a building plunged into the rock of the castle hill. Again, the "castle" served as an acropolis for settlements found in the western part of the Old Town.

 

During the La Tène Period (Late Iron Age, Celtic Period, 450 BC –1 BC), the castle hill became an important center of the Celts. In the last century BC (after 125 BC), it served as the acropolis of an oppidum (town) of the Celtic Boii. A great number and diversity of findings (including coins, house equipment, two Roman buildings, castle entrance gate, etc.) testifies to this.

 

The castle hill, which was situated at the Danube and thus since 9 BC at the border of the Roman Empire, was also settled by the Romans during the Roman Period (1st to 4th century AD), as findings of bricks of Roman legions (Legion XIII GAN, Legion X GEPF etc.) and some parts of architecture (a Roman figural relief, roof parts, etc.) suggest.

 

The developments in the 5th century (the time of the Great Migration of Peoples) are largely unclear.

 

The situation changed with the arrival of the Slavs in the territory of Bratislava. Initially, they partly used older Roman and Celtic structures and added some fortifications. Probably at the end of the 8th century (definitely not later than in the early 9th century), at the time of the Principality of Nitra, a Slavic castle with a wooden rampart was constructed, with a huge area of 55,000 square metres. In the second half of the 9th century, at the time of Great Moravia, a palace of stone surrounded by dwellings and a big basilica were added.

 

The basilica is the largest Great Moravian basilica from the territory of Slovakia, and the area of the castle is approximately the same as that of the Mikulčice site (the historical town "Moravia"), which is the most important Great Moravian archaeological site.

 

Material from old Roman buildings was used to construct this Slavic castle in Bratislava. This could be a confirmation of the disputed statement of Aventinus from the 16th century, who —referring to lost sources —claimed that around 805/7, the Great Moravian prince Uratislaus (i.e., Vratislav) constructed today's Bratislava (castle?) at the place of a destroyed Roman frontier fort called Pisonium, and the new settlement was named after him, Uratislaburgium/Wratisslaburgium. Another probable fact is that around 900, the castle and the territory it controlled was given in fief to Predslav, the third son of the Great Moravian king Svatopluk I and that Pre(d) slav, or a person of the same name, is the person after which the castle and the town received its old German name Pressburg (from which the old Slovak name Prešporek is derived).

 

The oldest version of this name was Preslava (Slovak) / Preslav(a) sburg (German). It appeared for the first time in 907 (Battle of Pressburg) in the forms Brezalauspurc(h), Braslavespurch, and Pressalauspruch, and then around 1000 on Hungarian coins as Preslav(v) a Civitas (meaning Bratislava Castle). On the other hand, the exact location of Brezalauspurc is still disputed.

 

The construction of a new castle of stone started in the 10th century, but work lagged. Under King Stephen I of Hungary (1000–1038), however, the castle was already one of the central castles of the Kingdom of Hungary. It became the seat of Pozsony county and protected the kingdom against Bohemian (Czech) and German attacks (e.g., in 1030, 1042, 1052, 1108, 1146) and played an important role in throne struggles, such as the one following the death of Stephen I. In 1052, Henry III tried to occupy the castle. According to Hungarian tradition, Zothmund, a Hungarian soldier, swam to the ships of the invading fleet to drill holes in them, and they were sunk. King Solomon of Hungary had lived here until he was taken to the jail of Nitra, according to Ladislaus I's order. At the same time, the old rampart was modernized, and the Church of the St. Savior, with a chapter and a church school, were added. Stephen III of Hungary escaped from his enemies to the castle almost 100 years later.

 

The castle was turned into a proto-Romanesque palace of stone in the 12th century (probably after 1179), possibly because Béla III (1173–1196) decided to make Esztergom the definitive seat of kings of Hungary. It was a palace similar to those constructed in Germany under Friedrich Barbarossa. In 1182, Friedrich Barbarossa gathered his crusader army under the castle. The church institutions and building at the castle were moved to the town below the castle in the early 12th century.

 

The well-fortified Pressburg castle was among the few in the Kingdom of Hungary to be able to withstand Mongol attacks in 1241 and 1242. As a reaction to these attacks, a huge "tower for the protection of the kingdom" was constructed at the castle building in 1245, immediately next to two older palaces. The tower was actually a huge residential building. In addition, seven square towers were built into the old rampart, and a stone wall was added around the castle proper (i.e., the residential building). The biggest of the rampart towers was at the same time a corner tower of the stone wall. Today, it is part of the castle building —it is identical to the present-day "crown tower", which is the largest of the four existing towers of the structure. It was probably built around 1250, when the Knights of St. John were active at the castle.

 

On 25 October 1265, the Czech king, Přemysl Otakar, and the Hungarian king Béla IV's grandchild Kunigunde, were engaged here. Andrew II and Gertrude's daughter, Elisabeth was born here. The new castle faced further conflicts. In 1271, king Otakar II of Bohemia invaded the territory of today's western Slovakia and charged the knight Egid with the administration of the conquered castle. Egid rebelled two years later and was defeated, but due to problems in Bohemia, Otakar had to leave this territory. In 1285–86, the noble Nicholas Kőszegi occupied the castle in order to use it as a basis for a rebellion against the Hungarian king, but he was defeated. Shortly afterwards, in 1287–1291, the Austrian duke Albert of Habsburg, supporting Nicholas, occupied the castle but was defeated by Matthew III Csák, who was made head of Pozsony county. A successful Austrian occupation of the castle and the county occurred in 1302–1312/1322 by Duke Rudolf.

 

As a result of this permanent fighting, the Hungarian king granted the city rights (town charter) to a part of the settlements below the castle in 1291, thereby withdrawing them from the authority of the county head in the castle. Some settlements on the castle hill remained under the castle's authority, and the fortification was gradually extended to them.

 

In 1385, king Sigismund of Luxembourg occupied the castle and Pozsony county and one year later put the county in pawnage to his cousins, the Moravian margraves Prokop and Jošt, in exchange for a loan. The castle was reconquered by Stibor of Stiboricz in 1389, who was made the head of Pozsony county in 1389–1402 as a reward. He had a chapel built in Bratislava Castle.

 

Another ally of king Sigismund, especially in his fights against the Czech Hussites, was the noble family Rozgonyi, which received the Pozsony county head function in 1421. At some point between 1420 and 1430, Sigismund (Holy Roman Emperor) decided to make Bratislava Castle –due to its central location —the center of his new German-Czech-Hungarian empire. In 1423, the king ordered the Rozgonyis to improve the fortifications of the castle as a protection against Hussite attacks, because it was situated close to the Czech border and was only protected by the old wooden ramparts. This was replaced with a stone bulwark. Between 1431 and 1434, a total rearrangement of Pressburg castle took place. Experts from Germany were invited, material was transported from Austria, and towns were imposed special taxes specifically for the construction of the largest castle ever built. The construction master was Konrad von Erlingen. The residential "tower" was demolished, and the form of the new Gothic palace was approximately similar to that of the present-day castle (but without two towers). Today, the only completely preserved part of the castle from that time is the Sigismund Gate (wrongly called the Corvinus Gate), i.e., the eastern entrance gate in the bulwark. Smaller parts have been preserve in the main palace. Sigismund's plans, however, did not materialize, because the castle never became his residence, and he remained in the town below the castle.

 

After Sigismund's death in 1437, his widow, Barbara of Celje, was imprisoned in the castle by the new king, Albert of Habsburg. In 1438, Albert's daughter, Anne, was engaged to the margrave William III, Landgrave of Thuringia in the castle. John Hunyadi and his wife Erzsébet Szilágyi also stayed here. Later on, Ladislas the Posthumous possibly lived in the castle (parts of it were adapted for him). In 1440–1443, there was fighting between Pressburg Castle, ruled by county heads from the Rozgonyi family (supporting king Władysław III of Poland) and the town of Pressburg itself. Castle repairs were conducted in 1438, 1452, and 1463. A water well was constructed in the yard of the castle in the 15th century.

 

In 1536 (de facto already in 1531), after the Turks had conquered present-day Hungary, Pressburg became the capital (seat of the diet and central authorities, place of coronations) of the remaining Kingdom of Hungary, which was renamed Royal Hungary and was ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs. Consequently, Pressburg Castle became the most important royal castle and the formal seat of the kings of Royal Hungary (who, however, resided in Vienna normally). At the same time, from the beginning of the 16th century, Pressburg and its castle had to face various anti-Habsburg uprisings in Royal Hungary on the territory of Slovakia. For example, troops of Gabriel Bethlen occupied the castle between 1619 and 1621, when it was reconquered by Habsburg troops, and had the royal crown removed from Pressburg Castle until 1622. Between 1671 and 1677, Pressburg Castle was home to a court against the Protestants and participants of anti-Habsburg uprisings. Imre Thököly, the leader of another major anti-Habsburg uprising, failed to conquer the castle in 1682–83.

 

Between 1552 and 1784, the Holy Crown of Hungary stayed in the castle. Two Hungarian crown guards, fifty Hungarian and fifty Austrian infantry soldiers cared for it. Hungarian kings who derived from foreign dynasties as Habsburgs could not possess it and only had access to the crown during their coronation ceremony.

 

Immediately after the defeat of the Kingdom of Hungary at the battle at Mohács in 1526, during which the king died, the queen—Maria of Habsburg—fled with her retinue from Buda to Pressburg. The royal treasure (mostly valuable objects of art, the royal scepter, apple, and sword) and many other important objects she has taken with her were deposited in Pressburg Castle and guarded by the royal burgrave John Bornemisza. Shortly afterwards, however, this precious treasure was mostly destroyed by the new king Ferdinand I of Habsburg, who needed it to finance his participation in a civil war in Royal Hungary, and smaller parts went to the Treasury Chamber of Vienna (Wiener Schatzkammer) or became personal property of Maria, or were lost forever.

 

Taking into account the new role of the castle, Ferdinand I had it rebuilt into a Renaissance castle by Italian builders and artists, such as Giulio Licino da Pordanone and Maciotanus Ulisses from Rome, between 1552 and 1562 (with some work continuing even afterwards). The main designer and supervisor of the construction was the Italian architect Pietro Ferrabosco, who had been serving the emperor in Vienna and knew Count Eck Salm, the captain of Pressburg from 1552 –1571. The building's form did not change (except that the entrance was shifted), but it was completely changed inside and outside. Above all, floors and rooms were rearranged, and most rooms received precious ornaments. In the late 16th century, a building for ball games at the eastern wall and a second, better water well were added. Other improvements were made and structures added over the years.

 

In terms of the castle's functions after 1530, it was home to selected participants of diet meetings, and since 1552, it has held the crown jewels, in what is today known as the Crown Tower.

 

Since some of the Renaissance changes were done in haste (especially the wooden roof), as early as in 1616, a new, gradual Early Baroque reconstruction started, based on a design by the main imperial architect Giovanni Battista Carlone. The works were intensified in 1635 and finished around 1647. It was mostly financed by Count Paul Pálffy, the captain of the castle and head of Pozsony county. The look the castle received through this conversion is basically the one it has kept to the present. The northern and western part of the main building were newly built and a new, third floor was added; the main entrance was shifted back to the middle of the wall; the ancient fortifications were improved; the chapel was shifted from the southern part to the northern part (today's Music Hall); and two new towers were added—yielding in sum the present four towers in the corners. As a reward for not having misappropriated state funds during the conversion, the diet appointed Pálffy lifelong captain of Pressburg Castle, head of Pozsony county, and usufructuary of the castle (which remained in possession of the crown), in 1650. One year later, the emperor made those functions and titles hereditary for the Pálffys.

 

In 1653, all wooden ceilings turned out to be defective and had to be replaced in the following years, so that precious paintings placed on them got lost. Ten years later, facing one of the frequent Turkish attacks to the territory of Slovakia, the fortifications were improved under the leadership of military engineer Josef Priami of the Imperial Court in Vienna; further improvements of the fortifications followed around 1673. They ended with the final defeat of the Turks at Vienna in 1683. In 1703, barracks were built in the northeast of the site, and the armoury was turned into barracks as well. The present-day Vienna Gate was constructed on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Charles VI in 1712, and it has been used as the main entrance to the castle since then.

 

When Maria Theresa of Austria became the queen of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1740, she promised to the nobles of the kingdom that she would have a residence both in Pressburg and in Austria. A corresponding conversion of the defensive castle into a modern royal residence was performed between 1761 and 1766.

 

Minor changes were made as early as 1740: besides various changes in the interior, a large garden was added in the northern part of the site, and Emperor Francis I (Maria Theresa's husband, who was interested in botany) created a small garden to the east of the castle building. The chief designer until 1757 was J. B. Martinelli.

 

Major changes inside the castle (in the rococo style) were begun in 1760. The chief designer between 1761 and 1762 was Franz Anton Hillebrandt. A new single-story building for the kitchen, servants, and horses was added to the western wall of the castle. Because the water supply for the castle was not sufficient, Maria Theresa had Johann Wolfgang von Kempelen build a special water pipe drawing water from a tank in the town at the Danube bank, using pumps. The stairs throughout the castle were rebuilt with a lower gradient, on Maria Theresa's request, to enable her to ride her horse upon them. The result of these changes, as for the exterior of the palace itself and the site gates, was very similar to Bratislava Castle as it stands today.

 

Due to disputes with Hungarian nobles, Maria Theresa did not appoint a palatine, who used to represent the nobles, and instead in 1765 appointed a governor for the Kingdom of Hungary, who obeyed the queen. Bratislava Castle became his seat, and the office of the county head left the castle. The second governor was Albert of Saxe-Teschen, from 1765, the queen's son-in-law—the husband of her favorite daughter, Marie Christine of Austria. Albert and Maria Christine moved to the castle in 1766. Since both of them were promoters of culture and science, the castle and the town became places of frequent events and visits in the sphere of culture and science.

 

Because the governor did not have enough space, a new palace (later called the Theresianum) was built at the eastern wall of the castle building in 1767—1770, designed by F. A. Hillebrandt in the classic style. Its furnishings were expensive and precious and included hundreds of objects of art. The first floor was home to a family gallery, which later became the basis of today's Albertina Gallery in Vienna.

 

In addition, a winter riding school was added at the northern end of the castle site, a summer riding school was situated directly in the castle yard, both castle gardens were adapted (in the Schönbrunn style), and night lighting using oil lanterns was introduced on the access road to the castle for the first time in history. In 1770, Maria Theresa herself ordered further valuable paintings and furniture to be provided to both the main castle and the Theresianum, and the governor moved into the completed building.

 

The office of governor of the Kingdom of Hungary was re-abolished in 1781 by the new king, Joseph II, and Albert of Sachsen-Teschen left the castle and took many parts of the equipment away. The (present-day Albertina Gallery) art collection went partly to Vienna and partly to Belgium, where Albert became a new governor. Other objects moved mostly to Vienna. In 1783, Pressburg ceased to be the seat of central authorities of the kingdom; they were moved to Buda (now Budapest). The crown jewels of the Kingdom of Hungary were moved to the Hofburg in Vienna.

 

In 1784, the Theresianum, some other secondary buildings of the site, and the gardens were adapted, as the castle became a "general seminary", which was a type of state school for Catholic priests introduced by Joseph II. The general seminary of Pressburg Castle played an important role in Slovakia's history, having educated many important Slovak intellectuals, such as Anton Bernolák, the author of the first successful codification of the Slovak standard language.

 

In 1802, the general seminary moved to another place, and the castle was assigned to the military as a barracks. This was the beginning of its end. The rococo interiors of the castle were adapted in order to house some 1,500 soldiers. In 1809, Pressburg and the castle were bombarded by Napoleon's troops. On 28 May 1811, the castle burst into flames caused by carelessness of garrison soldiers; the fire spread to parts of the town.

 

The destroyed castle gradually deteriorated, and the military sold parts of the main buildings as construction materials to the surrounding areas. Between the two world wars, attempts were made to demolish the castle to build government offices and a university district on the castle hill and in its surroundings in the first Czechoslovak Republic and the first Slovak Republic. Many parts of the site continued to be used as barracks and adapted accordingly until 1946.

 

In 1946, the ruin was opened to the public. Two years later, the town constructed an amphitheater in the northern part of the castle site; this remained in use for some fifteen years. Films were shown there in the summer.

 

Finally, it was decided to restore the castle. Archaeological and architectural research started in 1953, and long restoration works began in 1957. The restoration was done to the last (Baroque) state of the main building, but at many places, older (Gothic, Renaissance) preserved elements or parts have been restored. The Theresianum has not been renovated, and the F. A. Hillebrandt building of 1762 was restored only around the year 2000. The Slovak painter Janko Alexy gained recognition for his work on the castle. Construction was halted in August 1968, when the castle was occupied by Warsaw Pact troops as part of the Prague Spring. On 28 October 1968, however, the Federation Law, turning the centralist state of Czechoslovakia into a federation of a Czech Socialist Republic and a Slovak Socialist Republic, was signed in the Federation Hall of the castle. On 3 September 1992, the new constitution of independent Slovakia was signed in the Knights Hall.

 

Since 1968, the castle has housed exhibitions of the Slovak National Museum, and at the same time, its rooms have been used by the National Council of the Slovak Republic for presentation purposes. A new restoration has been planned for years, because since 1968, only minor adaptations have been performed, such as the 1988 creation of the Treasure Chamber, the 1995 replacement of glass in the arcades of the solemn staircase, and the 1996–97 complete repair of the roof. The last minor adaptations occurred on the occasion of the Bush-Putin Bratislava summit, in February 2005. A massive reconstruction was started in 2008 and was expected to last five years and cost 1.5–2 billion Slovak korunas (47.06–62.75 million euro).

 

On 6 June 2010, the reconstruction of the Honorary Courtyard of Bratislava Castle was completed, with a nationally televised unveiling ceremony of an equestrian statue of Svatopluk I by sculptor Ján Kulich.

 

Bratislava is the capital and largest city of Slovakia and the fourth largest of all cities on Danube river. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, some sources estimate it to be more than 660,000—approximately 140% of the official figures. Bratislava is in southwestern Slovakia at the foot of the Little Carpathians, occupying both banks of the River Danube and the left bank of the River Morava. Bordering Austria and Hungary, it is the only national capital to border two sovereign states.

 

The city's history has been influenced by people of many nations and religions, including Austrians, Bulgarians, Croats, Czechs, Germans, Hungarians, Jews and Slovaks. It was the coronation site and legislative center and capital of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1563 to 1783; eleven Hungarian kings and eight queens were crowned in St Martin's Cathedral. Most Hungarian parliament assemblies were held here from the 17th century until the Hungarian Reform Era, and the city has been home to many Hungarian, German and Slovak historical figures.

 

Today Bratislava is the political, cultural and economic centre of Slovakia. It is the seat of the Slovak president, the parliament and the Slovak Executive. It has several universities, and many museums, theatres, galleries and other cultural and educational institutions. Many of Slovakia's large businesses and financial institutions have headquarters there.

 

GDP at purchasing power parity is about three times higher than in other Slovak regions. Bratislava receives around one million tourists every year, mostly from the Czech Republic, Germany, and Austria.

 

Bratislava currently the capital of Slovakia and the country's largest city, has existed for about a thousand years. Because of the city's strategic geographical location, it was an important European hub due to its proximity to the advanced cultures of the Mediterranean and the Orient as well as its link to the rest of Europe, which were possible by the Danube River.

 

In the area where present-day Bratislava lies, three skeletons of the (Epi)Pliopithecus vindobonensis were found in the borough Devínska Nová Ves in 1957, dating to 25–15 million years ago. Teeth of the Griphopithecus suessi (formerly known as Sivapithecus darwiny or Dryopithecus darwiny), dating 14–10 million years ago, were also found in Devínska Nová Ves, this time in 1902. From the Paleolithic period, hand-axes and other stone tools of Homo heidelbergensis (from the periods about 0.45 million years and about 0.3 million years ago) and of Neanderthal man were found.

 

The first known permanent settlements on the town's territory (Linear Ceramics Culture) was during the Neolithic period. However, during the Early Stone Age there was already a settlement in the general area. But this was not within the present territory of the city. The first known fortified settlement on the area of later medieval castle of Bratislava appeared in Eneolithic. In the Bronze Age there were settlements from both older and younger (Urnfield cultures) part of the period. On the area of later Devín castle one finds important clues to the final period of the Bronze Age (Podoli Culture), when a fortified settlement arose on the strategic place: rock-cliff over river Morava joining river Danube.

 

The early Iron Age brought a shift of the settlements focus again to the area of today's historical centre and the castle of Bratislava. This period is considered an epilogue to Central European pre-history and this is attributed to the migration of the Thracian tribes, which brought with them their version of the Hellenic civilization. Many archaeological finds support the theory that both the castle-hill and the area of the town (on an important river-crossing) formed an important seat of local Hallstatt Culture and that the richly furnished mounds (barrows) excavated on eastern suburbs of the city may have been burial grounds of princes.

 

The La Tène period is defined as from 450 BC to 50 BC. Celts (more exactly the tribe of Boii) formed between 125 and 50 BC an important Celtic oppidum (fortified town) with a mint in the area of the castle hill and the historical centre. There is an acropolis on the castle hill and some settlements below (crafts) and around it (farming). Bratislava then became a genuine town for the first time in history (it will become a de facto town again in the 9th century AD and then again in the 11th century). The most notable finds are represented by silver coins, bearing inscriptions (biatecs in most cases). Biatec may have been the name of the local prince who organized the minting or the name of the place itself. After the bloody defeat at the hands of Dacian forces under the leadership of King Burebista (shortly after the middle of the 1st century BC) the remaining Celts retreated to the site of Devín, creating a smaller, more easily protected hill-fort settlement. The arrival of Germans from the west forced the rest of the Celts to seek protection under the Romans on the other (right) side of Danube.

 

From the 1st to 4th centuries the border of the Roman Empire (Limes Romanus) ran along the Danube. The northern side belonged to the Free Barbaricum (German tribes – Marcomanni) and southern side belonged to Rome. Under the suburb of Rusovce, the remains of the Roman border town Gerulata have been excavated, as well as cemeteries and farming background of the town (Villa Rusticas). Despite belonging officially to Barbaricum, several sites of Roman presence are to be found on the area of the city. There is, for example, the case of the Devín Castle, which historical records such as the Chronicle of Fulda, alluded to as the impregnable Roman military garrison called Dowina. Traces of Roman presence also include Stupava, a trading station and Dúbravka, which is known for the remains of Roman baths (attempt to build Villa Rustica?).

 

The Slavs arrived in the area between the 5th and 6th centuries during the Migration Period (375-568). Recently, archaeologists found a carbonized loaf of bread at Devin and its age was estimated to be older than the Slavic settlement but still fell within the period of the migration of nations.

 

In 568 the Eurasian Avars arrived in the area. After a successful insurrection of the Slavs (probably at Bratislava-Devín) against Avarian rule in this region, Samo was made King of the Slavs in 623, establishing the first known Slavic political entity, Samo's Empire, which lasted until 658. From the 8th century until 907 the Pressburg fortress as well as the Dowina (Devín) Castle are important centres of the Principality of Nitra.

 

In 864 the first written reference to the Devín Castle (Dowina) appears in the Fuldish Annals. Around 900 it was probably owned by the (originally) Lower Pannonian prince Braslav (Bräslav, Brazlaw) - or by a magnate of the same name - who was a vassal of Bavaria (Germany). Earlier, it was thought that Bräslav was the person who gave the town Bratislava its German name Brezalauspurc (see 907), later Pressburg, and maybe also its new Slovak name Bratislava; nowadays, it is assumed that Pressburg/Brezalauspurc is a distortion of Predeslausburg, a name derived from Predslav, who was (according to some historians) the ruler of Bratislava around 900 and the 3rd son of the Great Moravian king Svätopluk; the modern Slovak name Bratislava, however, is assumed to be derived (by mistake) from the name of the Czech ruler Bretislav I. The first written reference to Bratislava (as Brezalauspurc) appears in 1837 by J. Safarik Slovak historian. The Bavarians were totally defeated by the Magyars; as a result, the Frankish East March dissolved and was occupied by the Magyars (907–955). Pressburg then became part of emerging medieval Hungary.

 

From 1000 to the early 13th century a market settlement (the future town centre) grew below the Pozsony Castle (first written reference in 1151) and became an important centre in the early 13th century. Further settlements in the surrounding areas followed. The Castle became one of the best fortifications in Hungary because of its position, and (along with the city) became a site of frequent attacks and battles, and a place of frequent stay by Hungarian kings. Around 1000 the Pozsony county (comitatus), one of the first counties in Hungary, was founded, probably by Grand Prince Stephen I. Coins with the inscriptions "PHANUS REX" and "RESLAVVA CIV" have been found in Sweden; some scholars claim that the coins were minted in "(p)RESLAVVA CIV(itas)" or "(b)RESLAVVA CIV(itas)" (i.e., in the town of Bratislava), but other authors point out that no coins of this type have been found on the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary, their weight and diameter differ from King Stephen's other coins and their inscriptions are confused which suggest that they are counterfeit coins minted abroad on the sample of other coins that had been minted following the patterns of King Stephen's coins with the inscriptions "STEPHANUS REX" and "REGIA CIVITAS".

 

In 1030 the Czech duke Břetislav I, participating in a campaign of the German emperor Konrad II against Hungary, devastated present-day western Slovakia and undertook an attack against the Pozsony castle but was defeated by the Hungarian king. 12 years later Břetislav I and the troops of the German king Henry III temporarily conquered Pozsony. Henry undertook a new invasion in 1043.

 

In 1052 the German king Henry III besieged Pozsony for 2 months without success, but caused considerable damage to the castle. The following year, Pope Leo IX personally visited the town to achieve a peace between Henry and the Hungarian king. In 1073 and 1074 Hungarian king Solomon, who was based at Pozsony castle during his fighting against Géza and Duke Ladislaus, had the castle reconstructed. Hungarians settled in the market settlement below the castle in several waves in the 12th and 13th centuries, joining the previously predominantly Slovak inhabitants there[citation needed]. In 1108 the German king Henry V, along with the Czech duke Svatopluk, failed to conquer Pozsony/Pressburg castle. In 1109 a new attack of[clarification needed] the Czechs (undertaken as a revenge for a Hungarian attack of Moravia) failed. Boris, who claimed the throne against King Géza I of Hungary (although his mother had been removed by her husband, King Coloman of Hungary because of adultery), besieged and conquered Pressburg Castle in 1146. The Hungarian king has to buy it back. The Hungarian king Stephen III was living in Pozsony castle in the 1160s and had its fortification improved. Participants of the Third Crusade to the Holy Land, led by the German king Frederick I Barbarossa, gathered at Pozsony castle in 1189.

 

In 1241 and 1242 the Mongols failed to conquer the fortified castle and the town below it, but temporarily devastated the surrounding settlements. The castle was adapted after these attacks. After 1242, German colonists came to the town and gradually their number increased, so that until the late 19th century they represented by far the largest ethnic group in the town. In 1271 and 1273–1276 the town was captured by the King of Bohemia, Ottakar II in connection with fighting between Hungary and Bohemia because of Styria. In this connection, the (1st) Peace of Pressburg was signed in 1271.

 

The city was captured by the Hungarian nobleman and palatine Nicolaus von Güssing in 1285–1286, who (temporarily) burned down the castle in 1286, but his revolt against the king was defeated. In 1287–1291 the city was captured by the Austrian duke Albert of Habsburg. Albert was defeated by the Hungarian nobleman Matthew III Csák of Trenčín, who was the leader of Pozsony and Trenčín counties at that time and Pozsony belonged to Hungary again.

 

The town (the part below the castle) was conferred its first (known) town privileges by the Hungarian king Andrew III in 1291. Earlier town privileges are not known, but probable, because Pressburg has been called a "town" as early as around 1250. After 1291, the town received many privileges from Hungarian kings, especially from the emperor Sigismund in the 15th century. After the death of the Hungarian king Andrew III, Pressburg was annexed by Austria in 1301, because Andrew's widow gave the town to the Habsburgs. The Habsburgs returned it to Hungary in 1322, but occupied it again later. It is only in 1338 that the town finally became part of Hungary again. In 1405 the town was declared a free royal town by King Sigismund of Luxemburg. Not only Pressburg but all towns[citation needed] in Hungary got this status (meaning that they received "collective nobility", i.e. the status of a feudal lord with all its privileges) because Sigismund wanted to restrain the increasing power of the (true) feudal lords in Hungary. The Hussites first appeared in 1428, when they burned down the suburbs of Pressburg. Negotiations held a year later in Pressburg between Sigismund of Luxemburg and the Hussites (in April and in June) failed. Between 1432 and 1434 the Hussites tried to conquer the city but their attacks failed. The first bridge over the Danube in Pressburg was built in 1434, but it was destroyed by floods next year. In 1434 and 1435 the amount of paymentsby Hungary, for which the Hussites would leave Slovakia, was officially negotiated. In 1436 Sigismund of Luxemburg awarded Pressburg the right to use its own coat of arms and orders to improve the fortification of the castle (because of the last Hussite invasion during that year). From 1439 to 1486 another bridge over the Danube existed in Pozsony, being washed away by flood in 1486.

 

Between 1440 and 1443 there was fighting between the castle of Pozsony, supporting king Ladislaus III of Poland, and the actual town of Pozsony below the castle hill, supporting (and owned by) queen Elisabeth. In 1442 Ladislaus settled at the castle and temporarily conquered the town, but was defeated by the Austrian emperor Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor supporting Elisabeth. Finally, in 1443 Elisabeth got the town back, but the castle remained in Ladislaus' hands till his death in 1444.

 

From 1465 until 1490 Pozsony was the seat of the first university in present-day Slovakia, the Universitas Istropolitana (often wrongly called Academia Istropolitana). From 1490 to 1526 Pressburg was a place of diplomatic negotiations under the Jagiellonian kings. In the summer of 1490 Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor drove the Hungarians from Austria, and even occupies Hungarian frontier territories, but he is compelled by want of money to retreat, and signed the Treaty of Pressburg (also called the (2nd) Peace of Pressburg) with the Hungarian King Ladislaus II on 7 November 1491. Under this treaty it is agreed that Hungary renounced Lower Austria and agreed that Maximilian should succeed to the crown in case Ladislaus left no legitimate male issue.

 

After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, where the Kingdom of Hungary was defeated by the expanding Ottoman Empire, the Turks besieged Pressburg 1529, but failed to conquer it. Two years later churches and hospitals outside the town wall were deliberately destroyed so that the Turks would not be able to see from there into the town behind the town wall. In the beginning of 1532 thousands of soldiers were sent to Pressburg as a protection against the Turks planning to attack Vienna. Pressburg was temporarily turned to a military camp. The Turks, seeing the military force in Pressburg, decide to attack Vienna from the south. In this period the city became a safe haven for the Holy Crown of Hungary, kept safe from Turkish and Habsburg hands.

 

As a consequence of Ottoman advances through Hungarian territory and the capture of Buda, the Pressburg designated as the capital of Royal Hungary in 1536. The Kingdom of Hungary was part of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1526 to 1918. Pressburg was also made a meeting place of the Hungarian Diet from 1542 to 1848 (with interruptions) and the coronation town for Hungarian kings and queens from 1536 to 1830 (in the St. Martin's Cathedral). The first coronation was that of King Maximilian of Habsburg, the last one the coronation of Ferdinand V. Altogether, 11 kings and 8 queens were crowned in the town. During Maria Theresa's 40-year reign, Bratislava - along with the rest of her empire - enjoyed sustained economic and social growth.

 

However, in the 17th century, the town was affected by anti-Habsburg uprisings. In addition, there was fighting with the Turks, floods, plagues and other disasters. The Evangelic Lutheran Lyceum (Evanjelické lýceum) (a kind of Protestant grammar school[clarification needed] and, in the 19th century, also a kind of university) was founded in 1607.

 

In 1606 (during the Stephen Bocskay Uprising), Bocskay troops occupied the surroundings of Pressburg. Gabriel Bethlen conquered Pressburg in 1619, as a part of the Bethlen uprising. He was defeated by imperial troops in 1621, and then besieged the town from 1621 to 1622. The (3rd) Peace of Pressburg between Gabriel Bethlen and the emperor Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor was signed in 1626, which put an end to the Bethlen anti-Habsburg uprising. From 1671 to 1677 Pressburg was seat of extraordinary courts against the Protestants and participants in the anti-Habsburg uprisings; e.g. a trial against the participants of the Wesselényi conspiracy takes place in 1671. In the Imre Thököly Uprising (1682–1683) Pozsony was the only town in present-day Slovakia that refused to capitulate to Thököly's troops. Finall, the town, but not the castle, capitulated in July 1683 and was only reconquered by Imperial troops after the Turks were defeated near Vienna (September 1683). The last of the uprisings that affected the town was in 1704 (within the Rákóczi Uprising), when Prince Eugene of Savoy managed to protect Pressburg from Rákóczi's troops, although the surroundings of the town wer totally destroyed.

 

Since the 18th century the city has been an important centre of the Slovak national and cultural movement (Slovak National Revival). The Great Plague Epidemic killed 3800 people in the years 1710 and 1711. Later the Holy Trinity column was erected in thanksgiving to God for its ending. In the 18th century, many new baroque buildings were erected, the economy flourished (first factory in 1728), and the first parks were established (see today's Hviezdoslavovo námestie). The town wall was demolished in 1775 to enable further expansion, the first city theatre was opened in 1776, and Pressburg became the largest and most important town in the territory of present-day Slovakia and Hungary. The first journal in Hungary, Mercurius Veridicus ex Hungaria, was published here in 1705 and the first regular newspaper in Hungary (written in Latin), Nova Posoniensia, was published in 1721–1722.

 

The Pragmatic Sanction law was enacted in 1713, which decided the Habsburg monarch's unity and that woman can inherit the Hungarian throne. Maria Theresa of Austria is crowned Queen Regnant of Hungary at St. Martin's Cathedral on 25 June 1741. The 6-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart gave a concert in the Pálffy Palace in 1762. In 1764 the first German newspaper in Hungary, the Pressburger Zeitung, began publication (which ceased in 1929), and on 1 January 1780.the first newspaper in Hungarian, Magyar hírmondó was published here.

 

The population increased by 200% between 1720 and 1780, and by 1782 the population had reached 33,000 (out of which 29,223 were in the part of the town below the castle that had the free royal town status), thus making Pressburg the largest town in Hungary. In 1783, the first newspaper in Slovak, Presspurske Nowiny (which remained in circulation until 1787) was published and the first novel in Slovak, Rene mladenca prihody a skusenosti ("The Adventures and Experiences of the Youth Rene") by Jozef Ignác Bajza, was published.

 

In 1775, Coronation Hill was built by Maria Theresa from soil of Hungary's 64 counties. The new monarch had to ride to the crowning hill and swish their blade towards the four cardinal points. However, in 1783, under the reign of Joseph II, the Crown Jewels were taken to Vienna, and many central offices moved to Buda, which were followed by a big part of the nobility. From here on Pressburg was only the coronation town and the seat of the Hungarian diet. The population decreased and the economic situation of the town deteriorated until 1811.

 

From 1784 to 1800, the General Seminary (a school for Catholic clergy) was based in Pressburg Castle. One of the notable students at this time was Anton Bernolák, who published in 1787 the first Slovak language standard. Another educational institution in Pressburg was the Royal Academy, which moved to the city from Trnava in 1787. In 1803, a separate Department of Czechoslovak Speech and Literature was created (from the Institute of Czechoslovak Speech and Literature founded in 1801) at the Lutheran Lyceum.

 

Pressburg also played a role in early 19th-century European politics. In 1805, the fourth and best-known Treaty of Pressburg was signed by Austria and France after Napoleon I's victory in the Battle of Austerlitz. Four years later, Napoleon's army besieged and bombarded the city and Napoleon himself visited Pressburg. Dévény Castle was turned into a ruin by the French troops in 1809 and Pressburg Castle was inadvertently destroyed by fire in 1811 (remaining in ruins until the 1950s).

 

In 1820, the 9-year-old Franz Liszt played in De Pauli's Palace. Five years later, István Széchenyi offered his yearly income to establish the Hungarian National Learned Society (now the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) in Pozsony. In 1829, the Czech-Slav Society (also called the Society for the Czechoslovak Language and Literature) was created by students of the Lutheran Lyceum, which later became an important organization in the Slovak national movement. Ľudovít Štúr also began studying at the Lyceum during this period, spending 20 years there. In 1843 he codified the present-day Slovak language standard. The industrialisation of the town began with regular steamship transport on the Danube in 1830. Ten years later the first (horse-)railway line in Hungary and present-day Slovakia was built from Pressburg to the town of Svätý Jur, north of Bratislava. Later, it extended to Trnava and Sereď (1846).

 

1835: The first champagne was made by Esch and Co in Pressburg in Hungary

1837: The First middle-class casino (an elite club), (Mágnás Kör or Pozsonyi Casino) was founded by István Széchenyi.

1843: Sándor Petőfi lived in the city. He worked as part of the Diet's administrative staff.

1843–1844: The Hungarian language was proclaimed the official language in legislation, public administration and teaching by the Diet.

1847–1848: Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria opened the Diet in the Primate's Palace's mirror room, addressing the members in Hungarian.

1848 (16 March): Lajos Batthyány and Lajos Kossuth proposed political reforms to the emperor. Lajos Kossuth proclaimed "Hungary reborn" from the hotel Zöldfa (English: Greenwood)'s balcony the next day. Ferdinand I of Austria appointed Lajos Batthyány to form a new Hungarian government.

1848 (18 March): The Diet declared the new Hungarian constitution and abolishes serfdom.

1848: (11 April): Ferdinand I of Austria signed (in the Primate Palace's Mirror Room) the so-called March Laws, by which serfdom was partly abolished in Hungary. Then he dissolved the Diet. That was the last Hungarian Diet convened in Pressburg, since it was then transferred to Budapest.

1848–1849: During the 1848 Revolution the Hungarian Nation Guard was formed by Henrik Justi in the city. This army defeated Jozef Miloslav Hurban's Slovak volunteers near Senec. On 7 October 1848, Josip Jelačić tried to cross the Danube after his army lost the Battle of Pákozd, but Pressburg's citizens destroyed the pontoon bridge. Lajos Kossuth appointed Artúr Görgey the commander-in-chief of the Hungarian army in Pressburg. But the Hungarian army lost the Battle of Schwechat and Prince of Windischgraetz's Austrian army entered the city without fighting on 18 December 1848. After the 1848 Revolution was defeated, the tribunal organized by Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau sentenced 149 people to prison and 14 people to death. The 13 Martyrs of Arad's execution orders were also signed by Haynau there.

1848: A railway connection to Vienna was established.

1849: The City Council created a new (fourth) city district, Mesto Márie Terézie, by incorporating the independent villages of Zuckermandel and Podhradie, beginning the expansion of the city.

1850: A railway connection to Budapest was established.

Late 19th century: New prosperity was arose, partly thanks to mayor Henrik Justi and banker Theodor Edl (who, during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, had been political opponents). This period witnessed considerable modernization of infrastructure in Pressburg, including new sewerage and gas-works in 1856, the beginnings of a telephone and electrical lighting system in 1884, a new water supply system, the first permanent bridge over the Danube in 1891 (Starý most), the development of a tram system in 1895, and the introduction of public electricity in 1902. The city also industrialized, with the foundation of a chemical factory known today as Istrochem in 1873 and an oil refinery known today as Slovnaft in 1895. As a result, during the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, Pressburg was the second most industrialized town of the Kingdom of Hungary.

1866: The Battle of Lamač in Pressburgh, the last battle of the Austro-Prussian War.

1867: After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Henrik Justi, the former leader of the 1848 Hungarian Nation Guard in the city, became the mayor.

1870: Coronation Hill was rebuilt by the city council's order.

1886 (22 Sept): The city theater (today's Slovak National Theatre) was opened. Kálmán Tisza, Hungarian Prime Minister, and his whole government (as well as writer Mór Jókai) took part in this ceremony with the opera Bánk bán. The gala performance was conducted by Ferenc Erkel.

1897 (15 May): A statue of Maria Theresa made by János Fadrusz was erected on the Coronation Hill square. Franz Joseph I of Austria and his family took part in the dedication's ceremony.

 

In 1905 Philipp Lenard, the Hungarian-German physicist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics for his research on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties, visited Pressburg. In the same year, Ján Bahýľ, a Slovak inventor, flew his petrol-engine helicopter in Pressburg, reaching a height of 4 metres for more than 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). A

 

After World War I, began dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. U.S. president Woodrow Wilson and the United States played a major role in the establishment of the new Czechoslovak state. In a blatant attempt to appeal to the Allies, American Slovaks proposed rename the city “Wilsonovo mesto” (Wilson City), after Woodrow Wilson.

 

On 28 October 1918, Czechoslovakia was proclaimed, but its borders were not settled for several months. The dominant Hungarian and German population tried to prevent annexation of the city to Czechoslovakia and declared it a free city, while the Hungarian Prime Minister Károlyi protested against the "Czech invasion". This Hungarian narrative was debunked by the Slovak National Assembly in 15 November, who pointed out the presence of Slovak soldiers and officers among the legionaries and declared their presence as the "defensive action of the Slovaks themselves, to end the anarchy caused by the flight of the Hungarians." The Entente drew a provisional demarcation line, this was revealed to the Hungarian government on December 23, in the document known as the Vix Note. The 33rd regiment arrived from Italy and began to advance on 30 December. The minister for the administration of Slovakia, V. Šrobár, requested to negotiate a peaceful surrender of Bratislava to the Czecho-Slovak troops, through sheriff S. Zoch. Afterwards, General Piccione ordered the legionaries to enter Bratislava on 1 January 1919, and by 2 January all important civil and military buildings were in Czechoslovak hands. The city became the seat of Slovakia's political organs and organizations and became Slovakia's capital on 4 February. The (Hungarian) Elisabeth University was originally based here, before becoming the Slovak Comenius University after the Czechoslovakian state requisitioned it on 6 January.

 

On 12 February 1919, According to Hungarian politician Marcell Jankovics, the Czechoslovak Legions opened fire on the unarmed demonstrators. Slovak sources do not deny the shooting, but add that the Legionaries were defending themselves from violent and aggressive behavior of the demonstrators. A contemporary Slovak language newspaper reported that "a mob spat on our soldiers, tore down badges from their hats, physically attacked them and shot on them from windows." According to Hungarian historian Attila Simon, the intervention by the Czechoslovak soldiers firing on the peaceful demonstrators caused 8 deaths and 14 injuries, while Slovak historian Marián Hronský mentions 6 dead and several injured, including the Czechoslovak military commander who was left wounded by Hungarian demonstrators.

 

On 27 March, the town's official new name became "Bratislava" – instead of "Prešporok" (Slovak) / "Pressburg" (German) / "Pozsony" (Hungarian).

 

On 4 May Milan Rastislav Štefánik, the French–Slovak general, died in an airplane crash near Bratislava (/Pressburg). On 26–27 October 1921, the statue of Maria Theresa, the Austrian Empress, was destroyed by Slovakian nationalists and the members of the Sokol Movement.

 

Between 1928 and 1930 the Hotel Carlton was built in the place of Hotel Zöldfa, on Séta square (now Hviezdoslavovo square). Hotel Zöldfa had included Lajos Kossuth, Franz Joseph I, Alfred Nobel, and Albert Einstein amongst its guests. The 1930 census showed that the Hungarian population had decreased to under 20% of the city, and Hungarian language signs were removed. Between 1938 (October) – 1939 (March), Bratislava became the seat of government of the autonomous Slovakia within Czechoslovakia (see e.g. Jozef Tiso). Between 1938 (November) – 1945, the future Petržalka borough was occupied by Nazi Germany, and from October 1938 to April 1945, the future Devín borough was part of the Lower Austria area of the German Third Reich. After the break-up of Czechoslovakia, Bratislava became the capital of the First Slovak Republic in 1939. By 1945, most of the city's approximately 15,000 Jews had been removed and sent to concentration camps. The Bratislava oil district, including the Apollo oil refinery, was bombed on 9 September 1944 during the German occupation. The Soviet Red Army took Bratislava on 4 April 1945.

 

After the war, most of the German population were expelled (some Germans had already been evacuated by German authorities). In 1946, Jews living in the city were attacked during the Partisan Congress riots.

 

In 1946, the city incorporated the neighbouring villages of Devín, Dúbravka, Lamač, Petržalka, Prievoz (now part of Ružinov), Rača, and Vajnory (Karlova Ves had been annexed in 1944). The so-called Bratislava bridgehead on the right bank of the Danube was enlarged in 1947 with the hitherto Hungarian villages of Jarovce, Rusovce and Čunovo, in accord with the Paris Peace Conference, which transferred these villages to Czechoslovakia, on the grounds that Bratislava needed space for growth. After the Communists seized power in February 1948, the city became part of the Eastern Bloc. Several present-day cultural institutions were established (first films made in the town in 1948; Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra founded in 1949; Slovak National Gallery in 1951, Slovak Academy of Sciences in 1953, Bratislava Gallery in 1959, Slovak Television in 1956), several factories and landmarks were built (sometimes at the expense of the historical cityscape) – Slavín in 1960, Kamzík TV Tower in the 1970s, reconstruction of the Bratislava Castle in 1953–62, and Nový Most, the second bridge over the Danube, in 1972; and factories (Bratislavské automobilové závody and Slovnaft). The city was also affected by the unsuccessful Czechoslovak attempt to liberalize the Communist regime in 1968. Shortly after that, the city became capital of the Slovak Socialist Republic, a part of federalized Czechoslovakia, after the signing of the Law of Federation at the Bratislava Castle in 1968. Since the 1960s, construction of the huge prefab panel buildings had been ongoing. The city also expanded once more in 1972, annexing villages of Jarovce, Rusovce, Čunovo, Devínska Nová Ves, Záhorská Bystrica, Vrakuňa and Podunajské Biskupice. The third bridge over the Danube, called Prístavný most (Harbour Bridge) was built in 1985. The fall of the Communist regime was anticipated by the candle demonstration in 1988, which was violently scattered by the police.

 

In November 1989 the city became one of the centres of the Velvet Revolution; Alexander Dubček held his first speech in the city since 1970, and (one day before demonstrations in Prague), Slovak students rallied against the Communist regime on 16 November 1989; further demonstrations would follow. The first non-Communist political party, "Public Against Violence" (Verejnosť proti násiliu, VPN) was established on 21 November.

 

During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Bratislava was plagued by a rise in criminality. From 6 October 1990 to 16 July 1991 Bratislava had two active serial killers – Ondrej Rigo and Jozef Slovák.

 

In 1991 the factory of the automaker Volkswagen was founded in Bratislava (until 1994 as a joint venture with the Bratislavské automobilové závody); the fourth bridge over the Danube, Most Lafranconi, was built. On 17 July 1992 the Declaration of Independence of the Slovak Nation was adopted by the Slovak National Council (called National Council of the Slovak Republic since 1994). Six days later the prime ministers of the two constituent republics of Czechoslovakia agree to split the country into two independent states; the Constitution of Slovakia was adopted 1 September and signed at Bratislava Castle 3 September. After the Dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1992 the city was declared the capital of independent Slovakia.

Vaia includes Bikini & Sarong in black and red color

-Maitreya

-Slink Hourglass

-Slink Physique

-Belleza Venus, Isis, Freya

-Tonic Fine, Curvy

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Crossroads%20Event/5...

 

Modification includes : rebuilding jaw so no longer spring action, and rebuilding club/weapon so it fits in hand properly. Grimlock was painted with MANY shades of metallic paint, and went through 45 stages of dry brushing and detail effects to make him look like old worn metal. He was clear coated in a prismatic lacquer paint, giving his metal parts a full spectrum of color at certain angles of light. Then clear coated in a high-gloss lacquer.

This issue of “Startling Stories” includes Arthur C. Clarke’s “Against the Fall of Night,” which wasn’t published in book form until 1953. The story takes place billions of years in the future and draws a sharp contrast between two cultures, the city dwellers of Diaspar and the rural dwellers of Lys. The citizens of Diaspar pursue pleasures such as music and knowledge and let technology take care of mundane tasks. The opposite is true in Lys where everything comes from nature. Diaspar was blessed with infinite life and technology, and Lys with youth, quick minds and telepathy. The two cultures had been apart for millennia and neither wanted anything to do with the other – until…?

 

Much of Startling's cover art was painted by Earle K. Bergey, who became strongly associated with the magazine, painting almost every cover between 1942 and 1952. He was known for equipping his heroines with brass bras and implausible costumes, and the public image of science fiction in his day was partly created by his work for Startling and other magazines.

ok, trying to compensate for the lamentable absence of PaD last two days (shame on me!) I thought I would try to give the viewer real value for money and include a free original story to go with the pic, pro bono as they come, but being lazy I engaged an AI dude, ChatGPT to be specific, to write it for me and here it goes, I accept no responsibility for the product, not a single word changed from AI's effort

  

"In a city where the traffic lights were permanently stuck on yellow, and everyone walked a little sideways just because it felt right, there stood a statue of a lion with a leaf clasped gently in his mouth. The statue's name was Sir Reginald P. Lionhart III, but everyone just called him Reggie. No one knew why a lion would hold a leaf, and frankly, no one questioned the oddities in this town—like the crosswalks that led nowhere or the park benches facing brick walls.

 

Reggie's leaf wasn't just any leaf; it was a meticulously chosen leaf from the only tree in the city that grew upside down. The roots reached for the sky, and the branches plunged into the earth, defying all botanical logic. One day, the leaf decided it had enough of subterranean life and embarked on an adventure upward, eventually landing squarely into Reggie's open mouth.

 

Reggie, being a lifelike statue with a keen sense of irony, decided to keep the leaf right there. It was his silent protest against the mundane expectations placed upon stone lions. Holding a leaf was his way of saying, "I contain multitudes."

 

People started to notice. The local philosopher, who held office hours on the corner between the invisible bookstore and the café that only served imaginary tea, proclaimed that the leaf symbolized the absurdity of existence. "It's a manifestation of our intrinsic desire to find meaning in the meaningless!" he shouted to a crowd of none.

 

Children began to leave offerings at Reggie's feet: mismatched socks, left-handed gloves, and drawings of three-headed dragons playing saxophones. They felt a kinship with this lion who dared to be different in a world that was already quite different.

 

One night, a mime—who wasn't actually trapped in an invisible box but liked to pretend he was—approached Reggie. "Why the leaf?" the mime didn't say. Reggie didn't reply, because statues and mimes share an unspoken bond that transcends words.

 

Meanwhile, the mayor issued a decree that all statues must adhere to the "Statue Code of Conduct," which explicitly forbade the unauthorized holding of foliage. Reggie remained unmoved—literally and metaphorically. The townspeople loved him for it. They started a movement called "Leaf It Be," campaigning for the rights of statues to express themselves.

 

Amidst all this, the leaf began to sprout tiny wings. Turns out, it wasn't a leaf at all but a caterpillar in disguise, yearning to become a butterfly but accidentally becoming a leaf instead. Reggie didn't mind. He admired the caterpillar’s commitment to its absurd identity crisis.

 

Eventually, the caterpillar-leaf took flight, leaving Reggie's mouth and soaring into the nonsensical sky, where clouds sometimes floated underground and rain fell upwards. Reggie felt a pang of something that might have been emotion if statues could feel.

 

In the end, Reggie decided to hold a spoon in his mouth next, just to keep things interesting. The townspeople applauded his new choice, reading all sorts of culinary and existential meanings into it. The philosopher began writing a book titled "The Spoonful of Existence," which no one would read because the pages were all blank.

 

By the way, did you ever consider that maybe the lion isn't holding the leaf—the leaf is holding the lion? In a world that absurd, anything is possible. Perhaps the real question isn't why the lion has a leaf in his mouth, but why we think a leaf doesn't belong there in the first place."

   

Kartikeya (Sanskrit Kārtikēya "son of Kṛttikā" Tamil: Kārttikēyaṉ) (/ˌkɑrtɪˈkeɪjə/), also known as Murugan, Skanda, Kumaran, Kumara Swami and Subramaniyan is the Hindu god of war. He is the Commander-in-Chief of the army of the devas and the son of Shiva and Parvati.

 

Murugan (Tamil Murukaṉ) is often referred to as Tamiḻ kaṭavuḷ ("god of the Tamils") and is worshiped primarily in areas with Tamil influences, especially South India, Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Réunion. His six most important shrines in India are the Six Abodes of Murugan, temples located in Tamil Nadu.

 

In Bengal, Odisha and Maharashtra, he is popularly known as Kartikeya.

 

OTHER NAMES

The several names of Murugan of Tamil origin would include the following, Seyon, Senthil, Vēlaṇ, Kumāran ("prince, child, young one"), Svaminatha ("smart, clever"), Saravaṇa, Arumugam or Shanmuga ("having six faces"), Dandapani ("god with a club"), Guhan or Guruguha ("cave-dweller"), Subrahmanya, Kartikeya and Skanda "attacker". He was also known as Mahasena and the Kadamba dynasty worshiped him by this name.

 

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

SANGAM TAMIL LITERATURE

The Tolkāppiyam, possibly the most ancient of the Tamil literature, mentions Ceyyavaṉ "the red one", who is identified with Murugan, whose name is literally Murukaṉ "the youth"; the three other gods referred in the Tolkāppiyam are Māyavaṉ "the dark one" (identified with Vishnu), Vēntaṉ "the sovereign" (identified with Indra) and Koṟṟavai "the victorious" (identified with Kali). Extant Sangam literature works, dated between the third century BCE and the fifth century CE glorified Murugan, "the red god seated on the blue peacock, who is ever young and resplendent," as "the favoured god of the Tamils." The Sangam poetry divided space and Tamil land into five allegorical areas (tinai) and. according to the Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai ( c. 400–450), attributed to the great Sangam poet Nakkirar, Murugan was the presiding deity of the kuṟiñci (hilly tracts). The Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai is a deeply devotional poem included in the Pattuppāṭṭu "ten idyls" of the age of the third Sangam. In the Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai, he is described as a god of eternal youth: "His face shines a myriad rays light and removes the darkness from this world".

 

Other Sangam period works in Tamil that refer to Murugan in detail include the Paripāṭal, the Akanaṉūṟu and the Purananuru.

 

VEDIC AND PURANIC LITERATURE

The Atharvaveda calls Kumāra Agnibhū because he is form of Agni, who held him in his hands when Kumāra was born. The Shatapatha Brahmana refers to him as the son of Rudra and the six faces of Rudra. The Taittiriya Aranyaka contains the Gayatri Mantra for Shanmukha. The Chandogya Upanishad refers to Skanda as the "way that leads to wisdom". Baudhāyana's Dharmasūtra calls Skanda Mahāsena "Having a Great Army" and Subrahmaṇya "beloved of Brahmins". The āraṇyaparvan (first section of the third book) of the Mahabharata relates the legend of Kartikeya Skanda in considerable detail. The Skanda Purana is devoted to the narrative of Kartikeya. The Upanishads also constantly make a reference to a Supreme Being called Guha, the indweller.

 

HINDU EPICS

The first elaborate account of Kartikeya's origin occurs in the Mahabharata. In a complicated story, he is said to have been born from Agni and Svaha, after the latter impersonated the six of the seven wives of the Saptarishi (Seven Sages). The actual wives then become the Pleiades. Kartikeya is said to have been born to destroy a buffalo demon (mahishasura). In later mythology, the buffalo demon became the adversary of Durga.

 

Indra attacks Kartikeya as he sees the latter as a threat until Shiva intervenes and makes Kartikeya the commander-in-chief of the army of the Devas. He is also married to Devasena, Indra's daughter. The origin of this marriage lies probably in the punning of 'Deva-sena-pati'. It can mean either lord of Devasena or Lord of the army (sena) of Devas. But according to Anandamurti, in his master work on Shiva and other works, Kartikeya was married to Devasenā and that is on the ground of his name as Devasena's husband, Devasenāpati, misinterpreted as Deva-senāpati (Deva's general) that he was granted the title general and made the Deva's army general.

 

The Ramayana version is closer to the stories told in the Puranas below.

 

References to Murugan can be traced back to the first millennium BCE. There are references to Murugan in Kautilya's Arthashastra, in the works of Patanjali, in Kalidasa's epic poem the Kumārasambhava. The Kushan Empire, which governed from what is today Peshawar, and the Yaudheyas, a confederation in the Punjab region, struck coins bearing the image of Skanda. The deity was venerated also by the Ikshvakus, an Andhra dynasty, and the Gupta Empire. The worship of Kumāra was one of the six principal sects of Hinduism at the time of Adi Shankara. The Shanmata system propagated by him included this sect. In many Shiva and Devi temples of Tamil Nadu, Murugan is installed on the left of the main deity. The story of His birth goes as follows:

 

Sati immolated herself in a pyre as her father King Daksha had insulted Shiva, her Lord. She was reborn as Parvathi or Uma, daughter of the King of Himalayas, Himavan. She then married her Lord Shiva. The Devas were under onslaught from the Asuras whose leader was Soorapadman. He had been granted boons that only Lord Shiva or his seed could kill him. Fearless he vanquished the Devas and made them his slaves. The Devas ran to Vishnu for help who told them that it was merely their fault for attending Daksha's yagna, without the presence of Lord Shiva. After this, they ran to Shiva for help. Shiva decided to take action against Soorapadman's increasing conceit. He frowned and his third eye- the eye of knowledge- started releasing sparks. There were six sparks in total. Agni had the responsibility to take them to Saravana Lake. As he was carrying them, the sparks were growing hotter and hotter that even the Lord of Fire could not withstand the heat. Soon after Murugan was born on a lotus in the Saravana Lake with six faces, giving him the name Arumukan. Lord Shiva and Parvati visited and tears of joy started flowing as they witnessed the most handsome child. Shiva and Parvathi gave the responsibility of taking care of Muruga to the six Krittika sisters. Muruga grew up to be a handsome, intelligent, powerful, clever youth. All the Devas applauded at their saviour, who had finally come to release them from their woes. Murugan became the supreme general of the demi-gods, then escorted the devas and led the army of the devas to victory against the asuras.

 

PURANAS

Though slightly varying versions occur in the Puranas, they broadly follow the same pattern. By this period, the identification of Shiva/Rudra with Agni, that can be traced back to the Vedas and Brahmanas, had clearly made Kartikeya the son of Shiva.

 

The Skanda Purana narrates that Shiva first wed Dakshayani (also named Sati), the first incarnation of Adi Shakthi the granddaughter of Brahma, and the daughter of Daksha. Daksha was a Vishnu devotee and never liked Shiva, who symbolized destruction of evil, detachment, and who lives a simple life. Daksha publicly insults Shiva in a Yagna ceremony, and Dakshayani immolates herself. The Yagna is destroyed by Shiva's avatar Virabhadra. Virabhadra broke the sacrificial vessels, polluted the offerings, insulted the priests and finally cut off Daksha's head, trampled on Indra, broke the staff of Yama, scattered the gods on every side; then he returned to Kailash. Taraka believed that, because Shiva is an ascetic and his earlier marriage was conducted with great difficulty, his remarriage was out of the question, hence his boon of being killed by Shiva's son alone would give him invincibility.

 

The Devas manage to get Shiva married to Parvati (who was Dakshayani, reborn), by making Manmatha (also known as Kama), the God of love awaken him from his penance, but Manmatha incurred the Lord's wrath indicated by the opening his third eye – "Netri Kann", and being destroyed and resurrected. Shiva hands over his effulgence of the third eye used to destroy Manmatha to Agni, as he alone is capable of handling it until it becomes the desired offspring. But even Agni, tortured by its heat, hands it over to Ganga who in turn deposits it in a lake in a forest of reeds (sharavanam). Then Goddess Parvati, took the form of this water body as she alone is capable of taming the Tejas of Shiva, her consort. The child is finally born in this forest (vana) with six faces: eesanam, Tathpurusham, vamadevam, agoram, sathyojatham and adhomugam. He is first spotted and cared for by six women representing the Pleiades — Kritika in Sanskrit. He thus gets named Kartikeya. As a young lad, he destroys Tarakasur. He is also called Kumara (Tamil and Sanskrit for "youth").

 

LEGENDS

Given that legends related to Murugan are recounted separately in several Hindu epics, some differences between the various versions are observed. Some Sanskrit epics and puranas indicate that he was the elder son of Shiva. This is suggested by the legend connected to his birth; the wedding of Shiva and Parvati being necessary for the birth of a child who would vanquish the asura named Taraka. Also, Kartikeya is seen helping Shiva fight the newborn Ganesha, Shiva's other son, in the Shiva Purana. In the Ganapati Khandam of the Brahma Vaivarta Purana, he is seen as the elder son of Shiva and Ganesha as the younger. In South India, it is believed that he is the younger of the two. A Puranic story has Ganesha obtain a divine fruit of knowledge from Narada winning a contest with Murugan. While Murugan speeds around the world thrice to win the contest for the fruit, Ganesha circumambulates Shiva and Parvati thrice as an equivalent and is given the fruit. After winning it, he offers to give the fruit to his upset brother. After this event, Ganesha was considered the elder brother owing as a tribute to his wisdom. Many of the major events in Murugan's life take place during his youth, and legends surrounding his birth are popular. This has encouraged the worship of Murugan as a child-God, very similar to the worship of the child Krishna in north India. He is married to two wives, Valli and Devasena. This led to a very interesting name : Devasenapati viz. Pati (husband) of Devsena and/or Senapati (commander in chief) of Dev (gods).

 

SYMBOLISM

Kartikeya symbols are based on the weapons – Vel, the Divine Spear or Lance that he carries and his mount the peacock. He is sometimes depicted with many weapons including: a sword, a javelin, a mace, a discus and a bow although more usually he is depicted wielding a sakti or spear. This symbolizes his purification of human ills. His javelin is used to symbolize his far reaching protection, his discus symbolizes his knowledge of the truth, his mace represents his strength and his bow shows his ability to defeat all ills. His peacock mount symbolizes his destruction of the ego. His six heads represent the six siddhis bestowed upon yogis over the course of their spiritual development. This corresponds to his role as the bestower of siddhis.

 

REGIONS OF WORSHIP

SOUTH INDIA

Murugan is often referred to as "Tamil Kadavul" "God of the Tamils" and is worshiped primarily in areas with Tamil influences. Subramanya is also a major deity among the Hindus of northern Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana. Rituals like nagaradhane are unique to Uttara Kannada region of Karnataka.

 

TAMIL NADU

In Tamil Nadu, Murugan has continued to be popular with all classes of society right since the Sangam age. This has led to more elaborate accounts of his mythology in the Tamil language, culminating in the Tamil version of Skanda Purana, called Kandha Purānam, written by Kacchiappa Sivachariyar (1350–1420 AD.) of Kumara Kottam in the city of Kanchipuram. (He was a scholar in Tamil literature, and a votary of the Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy) He is married to two deities, Valli, a daughter of a tribal chief and Deivayanai (also called Devasena), the daughter of Indhra. During His bachelorhood, Lord Murugan is also regarded as Kumaraswami (or Bachelor God), Kumara meaning a bachelor and Swami meaning God. Muruga rides a peacock and wields a bow in battle. The lance called Vel in Tamil is a weapon closely associated with him. The Vel was given to him by his mother, Parvati, and embodies her energy and power. His army's standard depicts a rooster. In the war, Surapadman was split into two, and each half was granted a boon by Murugan. The halves, thus turned into the peacock (his mount) and the rooster his flag, which also "refers to the sun".

 

As Muruga is worshipped predominantly in Tamil Nadu, many of his names are of Tamil origin. These include Senthil, the red or formidable one; Arumugam, the six-faced one; Guhan and Maal-Marugan, the son-in-law of Vishnu. Murugan is venerated throughout the Tamil year. There is a six-day period of fast and prayer in the Tamil month of Aippasi known as the Skanda Shasti. He is worshipped at Thaipusam, celebrated by Tamil communities worldwide near the full moon of the Tamil month Thai. This commemorates the day he was given a Vel or lance by his mother in order to vanquish the asuras. Thirukarthigai or the full moon of the Tamil month of Karthigai signifies his birth. Each Tuesday of the Tamil month of Adi is also dedicated to the worship of Murugan. Tuesday in the Hindu tradition connotes Mangala, the god of planet Mars and war.

 

WEST BENGAL

Kartikeya also known as Kartik or Kartika is also worshipped in West Bengal, and Bangladesh on the last day of the Hindu month of 'Kartik'. However, the popularity of Kartik Puja (worshipping Kartik) is decreasing now, and Kartikeya is primarily worshipped among those who intend to have a son. In Bengal, traditionally, many people drop images of Kartik inside the boundaries of different households, who all are either newly married, or else, intend to get a son to carry on with their ancestry. Lord Kartik is also associated to the Babu Culture prevailed in historic Kolkata, and hence, many traditional old Bengali paintings still show Kartik dressed in traditional Bengali style. Also, in some parts of West Bengal, Kartik is traditionally worshipped by the ancestors of the past royal families too, as in the district of Malda. In Bansberia (Hooghly district) Kartik Puja festival is celebrated like Durga puja of Kolkata, Jagadhatri puja in Chandannagar for consecutive four days. The festival starts on 17 November every year and on 16 November in case of Leap year. Some of the must see Puja committees are Bansberia Kundugoli Nataraj, Khamarapara Milan Samity RadhaKrishna, Kishor Bahini, Mitali Sangha, Yuva Sangha, Bansberia Pratap Sangha and many more. In Durga Puja in Bengal, Kartikeya is considered to be a son of Parvati or Durga and Shiva along with his brother Ganesha.

 

ODISHA

Kumara Purnima, which is celebrated on the full moon day after Vijayadashami, is one of the popular festival dedicated to Kartikeya in Odisha.It is believed that unmarried girls worship Kartikeya on this day to get grooms handsome as Kartikeya. Kartikeya is worshiped during Durga Puja in Odisha as well as in various Shiva temples throughout the year. Kartik puja is celebrated in Cuttack along with various other parts of the state during the last phases of Hindu month of Kartik. Kartik purnima is celebrated with much joy and in a grand fashion in Cuttack, Jamadhar, Rekabibajar of Jajpur District and other parts in the state.

 

OTHER PARTS

Kartikeya Swami or locally called the Devta "Kelang Wazir" is worshipped near parts of Bharmour as their main deity at Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh. Situated at Kugti Village, which is 10-14 km from Bharmour is the major deity of the tribe Gaddi. The temple of Kartikeya Swami is visited every year by thousands of devotees when the trek is opened in the month of March-April.(Covered with snow in the winters)

 

Historically, Kartikeya was immensely popular in the Indian subcontinent. One of the major Puranas, the Skanda Purana is dedicated to him. In the Bhagavad-Gita (Ch.10, Verse 24), Krishna, while explaining his omnipresence, names the most perfect being, mortal or divine, in each of several categories. While doing so, he says: "Among generals, I am Skanda, the lord of war."

 

Kartikeya's presence in the religious and cultural sphere can be seen at least from the Gupta age. Two of the Gupta kings, Kumaragupta and Skandagupta, were named after him. He is seen in the Gupta sculptures and in the temples of Ellora and Elephants. As the commander of the divine armies, he became the patron of the ruling classes. His youth, beauty and bravery was much celebrated in Sanskrit works like the Kathasaritsagara. Kalidasa made the birth of Kumara the subject of a lyrical epic, the Kumaarasambhavam. In ancient India, Kartikeya was also regarded as the patron deity of thieves, as may be inferred from the Mrichchakatikam, a Sanskrit play by Shudraka, and in the Vetala-panchvimshati, a medieval collection of tales. This association is linked to the fact that Kartikeya had dug through the Krauncha mountain to kill Taraka and his brothers (in the Mrichchakatikam, Sarivilaka prays to him before tunnelling into the hero's house).

 

However, Kartikeya's popularity in North India receded from the Middle Ages onwards, and his worship is today virtually unknown except in parts of Haryana. There is a very famous temple dedicated to Him in the town of Pehowa in Haryana and this temple is very well known in the adjoining areas, especially because women are not allowed anywhere close to it. Women stay away from this temple in Pehowa town of Haryana because this shrine celebrates the Brahmachari form of Kartikeya. Reminders of former devotions to him include a temple at Achaleshwar, near Batala in Punjab, and another temple of Skanda atop the Parvati hill in Pune, Maharashtra. There is also a popular temple of Kartikeya called Kartik Swami Mandir in the Panchavati region of Nashik, Maharashtra. In Maharashtra too, women don't visit Kartik swami temple.

 

SRI LANKA

Murugan is adored by both Tamil Hindus and Sinhalese Buddhists in Sri Lanka. Numerous temples exist throughout the island. He is a favorite deity of the common folk everywhere and it is said he never hesitates to come to the aid of a devotee when called upon. In the deeply Sinhalese south of Sri Lanka, Murugan is worshipped at the temple in Katirkāmam, where he is known as Kathiravel or Katragama Deviyo (Lord of Katragama). This temple is next to an old Buddhist place of worship. Local legend holds that Lord Murugan alighted in Kataragama and was smitten by Valli, one of the local aboriginal lasses. After a courtship, they were married. This event is taken to signify that Lord Murugan is accessible to all who worship and love him, regardless of their birth or heritage. The Nallur Kandaswamy temple, the Maviddapuram Kandaswamy Temple and the Sella Channithy Temple near Valvettiturai are the three foremost Murugan temples in Jaffna. The Chitravelayutha temple in Verukal on the border between Trincomalee and Batticaloa is also noteworthy as is the Mandur Kandaswamy temple in Batticaloa. The late medieval-era temple of the tooth in Kandy, dedicated to the tooth relic of the Buddha, has a Kataragama deiyo shrine adjacent to it dedicated to the veneration of Skanda in the Sinhalese tradition. Almost all buddhist temples house a shrine room for Kataragama deviyo (Murugan) reflecting the significance of Murugan in Sinhala Buddhism,

 

Based on archeological evidence found, it is believed that the Kiri Vehera was either renovated to build during the 1st century BCE. There are number of others inscriptions and ruins.

 

By the 16th century the Kathiravel shrine at Katirkāmam had become synonymous with Skanda-Kumara who was a guardian deity of Sinhala Buddhism. The town was popular as a place of pilgrimage for Hindus from India and Sri Lanka by the 15 the century. The popularity of the deity at the Kataragama temple was also recorded by the Pali chronicles of Thailand such as Jinkalmali in the 16th century. There are number of legends both Buddhist and Hindu that attribute supernatural events to the very locality. Scholars such as Paul Younger and Heinz Bechert speculate that rituals practiced by the native priests of Kataragama temple betray Vedda ideals of propitiation. Hence they believe the area was of Vedda veneration that was taken over by the Buddhist and Hindus in the medieval period.

 

MALAYSIA

Lord Murugan is one of the most important deities worshipped by the Tamil Hindus in Malaysia and other South-East Asian countries such as Singapore and Indonesia. Thaipoosam is one of the important festivals celebrated. Sri Subramanyar Temple at Batu Caves temple complex in Malaysia is dedicated to Lord Murugan.

 

MURUGAN TEMPLES

The main temples of Murugan are located in Tamil Nadu and other parts of south India. They include the Aru Padaiveedu (six abodes) — Thiruchendur, Swamimalai, Pazhamudircholai, Thirupparangunram, Palani (Pazhani), Thiruthani and other important shrines like Mayilam, Sikkal, Marudamalai, Kundrathur, Vadapalani, Kandakottam, Thiruporur, Vallakottai, Vayalur, Thirumalaikoil, Chennimalai, Sivanmalai, Pachaimalai and Pavalamalai near Gobichettipalayam. Malai Mandir, a prominent and popular temple complex in Delhi, is one of the few dedicated to Murugan in all of North India apart from the Pehowa temple in Haryana.

 

There are many temples dedicated to Lord Subramanya in Kerala. Amongst them are Atiyambur Sri Subramanya Temple in Kanhangad Kasaragod, Payyannur Subramanya Swamy temple in Payyanur, Panmana Subramanya Swamy temple in Panmana and the Subramanya temple in Haripad. There is a temple in Skandagiri, Secunderabad, one in Bikkavolu, East Godavari district and one in Mopidevi,Krishna district in the state of Andhra Pradesh. In Karnataka there is the Kukke Subramanya Temple where Lord Murugan is worshiped as the Lord of the serpents. Aaslesha Bali, Sarpa Samskara with nagapathista samarpa are major prayers here.

 

The key temples in Sri Lanka include the sylvan shrine in Kataragama / (Kadirgamam) or Kathirkamam in the deep south, the temple in Tirukovil in the east, the shrine in Embekke in the Kandyan region and the famed Nallur Kandaswamy temple in Jaffna. There are several temples dedicated to Lord Murugan in Malaysia, the most famous being the Batu Caves near Kuala Lumpur. There is a 42.7-m-high statue of Lord Murugan at the entrance to the Batu Caves, which is the largest Lord Murugan statue in the world. Sri Thandayuthapani Temple in Tank Road, Singapore is a major Hindu temple where each year the Thaipusam festival takes place with devotees of Lord Muruga carrying Kavadis seeking penance and blessings of the Lord.

 

MURUGAN TEMPLES IN AMERICA

In the USA, Shiva Murugan Temple in Concord, Northern California and Murugan Temple of North America in Maryland, Washington DC region are popular. Thaipusam walk for Shiva Murugan Temple in Concord, USA is very pouplar and attracting many devotees from all over America. In Toronto, Canada, Canada Kanthasamy Temple is known amongst many Hindus in Canada. In Dollard-des-Ormeaux, a suburb of the city of Montreal in Canada, there is a monumental temple of Murugan.

 

MURUGAN TEMPLES IN UK

In the United Kingdom, Highgate Hill Murugan temple is one of the oldest and most famous. In London, Sri Murugan Temple in Manor park is a well-known temple. In Midlands, Leicester Shri Siva Murugan Temple is gaining popularity recently. Skanda Vale in West Wales was founded by Guruji, a Tamil devotee of Subramaniam, and its primary deity is Lord Murugan.

 

MURUGAN TEMPLES IN AUSTRALIA

In Australia, Sydney Murugan temple in Parramatta (Mays Hill), Perth Bala Muruguan temple in Mandogalup and Kundrathu Kumaran temple in Rockbank, Melbourne are major Hindu temples for all Australian Hindus and Murugan devotees. In New Zealand, there is a Thirumurugan Temple in Auckland and a Kurinji Kumaran Temple in Wellington, both dedicated to Lord Murugan.

 

MURUGAN TEMPLES IN EUROPE

The Sri Sivasubramaniar Temple, located in the Sihl Valley in Adliswil, is the most famous and largest Hindu temple in Switzerland.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Hanuman is a Hindu god and an ardent devotee of Rama. He is a central character in the Indian epic Ramayana and its various versions. He also finds mentions in several other texts, including Mahabharata, the various Puranas and some Jain texts. A vanara, Hanuman participated in Rama's war against the demon king Ravana. Several texts also present him as an incarnation of Lord Shiva. He is the son of Kesari, and is also described as the son of Vayu, who according to several stories, played a role in his birth. Several sects including Arya Samaj believe that Hanuman was a human and not vanara.

 

ETYMOLOGY & OTHER NAMES

The Sanskrit texts mention several legends about how Sri Hanuman got his name. One legend is that Indra, the king of the deities, struck Sri Hanuman's jaw during his childhood (see below). The child received his name from the Sanskrit words Hanu ("jaw") and -man (or -mant, "prominent" or "disfigured"). The name thus means "one with prominent or disfigured jaw". Another theory says the name derives from the Sanskrit words Han ("killed" or "destroyed") and maana (pride); the name implies "one whose pride was destroyed". Some Jain texts mention that Sri Hanuman spent his childhood on an island called Hanuruha, which is the origin of his name.

 

According to one theory, the name "Hanuman" derives from the proto-Dravidian word for male monkey (ana-mandi), which was later Sanskritized to "Hanuman" (see historical development below). Linguistic variations of "Hanuman" include Hanumat, Anuman (Tamil), Anoman (Indonesian), Andoman (Malay) and Hunlaman (Lao).

 

Hanuman came to be regarded as an avatar (incarnation) of Shiva by the 10th century CE (this development possibly started as early as in the 8th century CE). Hanuman is mentioned as an avatar of Shiva or Rudra in the Sanskrit texts like Mahabhagvata Purana, Skanda Purana, Brhaddharma Purana and Mahanataka among others. This development might have been a result of the Shavite attempts to insert their ishta devata (cherished deity) in the Vaishnavite texts, which were gaining popularity. The 17th century Oriya work Rasavinoda by Divakrsnadasa goes on to mention that the three gods – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva – combined take to the form of Hanuman.

 

Hanuman became more important in the medieval period, and came to be portrayed as the ideal devotee (bhakta) of Rama. His characterization as a lifelong brahmachari (celibate) was another important development during this period. The belief that Hanuman's celibacy is the source of his strength became popular among the wrestlers in India. The celibacy or brahmacharya aspect of Hanuman is not mentioned in the original Ramayana.

 

BIRTH & CHILDHOOD

Hanuman was born to the vanaras. His mother Anjana was an apsara who was born on earth due to a curse. She was redeemed from this curse on her giving birth to a son. The Valmiki Ramayana states that his father Kesari was the son of Brihaspati and that Kesari also fought on Rama's side in the war against Ravana. Anjana and Kesari performed intense prayers to Shiva to get a child. Pleased with their devotion, Shiva granted them the boon they sought. Hanuman, in another interpretation, is the incarnation or reflection of Shiva himself.

 

Hanuman is often called the son of the deity Vayu; several different traditions account for the Vayu's role in Hanuman's birth. One story mentioned in Eknath's Bhavartha Ramayana (16th century CE) states that when Anjana was worshiping Shiva, the King Dasharatha of Ayodhya was also performing the ritual of Putrakama yagna in order to have children. As a result, he received some sacred pudding (payasam) to be shared by his three wives, leading to the births of Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Shatrughna. By divine ordinance, a kite snatched a fragment of that pudding and dropped it while flying over the forest where Anjana was engaged in worship. Vayu, the Hindu deity of the wind, delivered the falling pudding to the outstretched hands of Anjana, who consumed it. Hanuman was born to her as a result. Another tradition says that Anjana and her husband Kesari prayed Shiva for a child. By Shiva's direction, Vayu transferred his male energy to Anjana's womb. Accordingly, Hanuman is identified as the son of the Vayu.

 

Another story of Hanuman's origins is derived from the Vishnu Purana and Naradeya Purana. Narada, infatuated with a princess, went to his lord Vishnu, to make him look like Vishnu, so that the princess would garland him at swayamvara (husband-choosing ceremony). He asked for hari mukh (Hari is another name of Vishnu, and mukh means face). Vishnu instead bestowed him with the face of a vanara. Unaware of this, Narada went to the princess, who burst into laughter at the sight of his ape-like face before all the king's court. Narada, unable to bear the humiliation, cursed Vishnu, that Vishnu would one day be dependent upon a vanara. Vishnu replied that what he had done was for Narada's own good, as he would have undermined his own powers if he were to enter matrimony. Vishnu also noted that Hari has the dual Sanskrit meaning of vanara. Upon hearing this, Narada repented for cursing his idol. But Vishnu told him not repent as the curse would act as a boon, for it would lead to the birth of Hanuman, an avatar of Shiva, without whose help Rama (Vishnu's avatar) could not kill Ravana.

 

BIRTH PLACE

Multiple places in India are claimed as the birthplace of Hanuman.

 

According to one theory, Hanuman was born on 'Anjaneya Hill', in Hampi, Karnataka. This is located near the Risyamukha mountain on the banks of the Pampa, where Sugreeva and Rama are said to have met in Valmiki Ramayana's Kishkinda Kanda. There is a temple that marks the spot. Kishkinda itself is identified with the modern Anegundi taluk (near Hampi) in Bellary district of Karnataka.

Anjan, a small village about 18 km away from Gumla, houses "Anjan Dham", which is said to be the birthplace of Hanuman. The name of the village is derived from the name of the goddess Anjani, the mother of Hanuman. Aanjani Gufa (cave), 4 km from the village, is believed to be the place where Anjani once lived. Many objects of archaeological importance obtained from this site are now held at the Patna Museum.

The Anjaneri (or Anjneri) mountain, located 7 km from Trimbakeshwar in the Nasik district, is also claimed as the birthplace of Hanuman.

According to Anjan Dham, Hanuman was born on Lakshka Hill near Sujangarh in Churu district, Rajasthan.

 

CHILDHOOD

As a child, believing the sun to be a ripe mango, Hanuman pursued it in order to eat it. Rahu, a Vedic planet corresponding to an eclipse, was at that time seeking out the sun as well, and he clashed with Hanuman. Hanuman thrashed Rahu and went to take sun in his mouth.[18] Rahu approached Indra, king of devas, and complained that a monkey child stopped him from taking on Sun, preventing the scheduled eclipse. This enraged Indra, who responded by throwing the Vajra (thunderbolt) at Hanuman, which struck his jaw. He fell back down to the earth and became unconscious. A permanent mark was left on his chin (हनुः hanuḥ "jaw" in Sanskrit), due to impact of Vajra, explaining his name. Upset over the attack, Hanuman's father figure Vayu deva (the deity of air) went into seclusion, withdrawing air along with him. As living beings began to asphyxiate, Indra withdrew the effect of his thunderbolt. The devas then revived Hanuman and blessed him with multiple boons to appease Vayu.

 

Brahma gave Hanuman a boon that would protect him from the irrevocable Brahma's curse. Brahma also said: "Nobody will be able to kill you with any weapon in war." From Brahma he obtained the power of inducing fear in enemies, of destroying fear in friends, to be able to change his form at will and to be able to easily travel wherever he wished. From Shiva he obtained the boons of longevity, scriptural wisdom and ability to cross the ocean. Shiva assured safety of Hanuman with a band that would protect him for life. Indra blessed him that the Vajra weapon will no longer be effective on him and his body would become stronger than Vajra. Varuna blessed baby Hanuman with a boon that he would always be protected from water. Agni blessed him with immunity to burning by fire. Surya gave him two siddhis of yoga namely "laghima" and "garima", to be able to attain the smallest or to attain the biggest form. Yama, the God of Death blessed him healthy life and free from his weapon danda, thus death would not come to him. Kubera showered his blessings declaring that Hanuman would always remain happy and contented. Vishwakarma blessed him that Hanuman would be protected from all his creations in the form of objects or weapons. Vayu also blessed him with more speed than he himself had. Kamadeva also blessed him that the sex will not be effective on him.So his name is also Bala Bramhachari.

 

On ascertaining Surya to be an all-knowing teacher, Hanuman raised his body into an orbit around the sun and requested to Surya to accept him as a student. Surya refused and explained claiming that he always had to be on the move in his chariot, it would be impossible for Hanuman to learn well. Undeterred, Hanuman enlarged his form, with one leg on the eastern ranges and the other on the western ranges, and facing Surya again pleaded. Pleased by his persistence, Surya agreed. Hanuman then learned all of the latter's knowledge. When Hanuman then requested Surya to quote his "guru-dakshina" (teacher's fee), the latter refused, saying that the pleasure of teaching one as dedicated as him was the fee in itself. Hanuman insisted, whereupon Surya asked him to help his (Surya's) spiritual son Sugriva. Hanuman's choice of Surya as his teacher is said to signify Surya as a Karma Saakshi, an eternal witness of all deeds. Hanuman later became Sugriva's minister.

 

Hanuman was mischievous in his childhood, and sometimes teased the meditating sages in the forests by snatching their personal belongings and by disturbing their well-arranged articles of worship. Finding his antics unbearable, but realizing that Hanuman was but a child, (albeit invincible), the sages placed a mild curse on him by which he became unable to remember his own ability unless reminded by another person. The curse is highlighted in Kishkindha Kanda and he was relieved from the curse by the end of Kishkindha Kanda when Jambavantha reminds Hanuman of his abilities and encourages him to go and find Sita and in Sundara Kanda he used his supernatural powers at his best.

 

ADVANTURES IN RAMAYANA

The Sundara Kanda, the fifth book in the Ramayana, focuses on the adventures of Hanuman.

 

MEETING WITH RAMA

Hanuman meets Rama during the Rama's 14-year exile. With his brother Lakshmana, Rama is searching for his wife Sita who had been abducted by Ravana. Their search brings them to the vicinity of the mountain Rishyamukha, where Sugriva, along with his followers and friends, are in hiding from his older brother Vali.

 

Having seen Rama and Lakshmana, Sugriva sends Hanuman to ascertain their identities. Hanuman approaches the two brothers in the guise of a brahmin. His first words to them are such that Rama says to Lakshmana that none could speak the way the brahmin did unless he or she had mastered the Vedas. He notes that there is no defect in the brahmin's countenance, eyes, forehead, brows, or any limb. He points out to Lakshmana that his accent is captivating, adding that even an enemy with sword drawn would be moved. He praises the disguised Hanuman further, saying that sure success awaited the king whose emissaries were as accomplished as he was.

 

When Rama introduces himself, the brahman identitifies himself as Hanuman and falls prostrate before Rama, who embraces him warmly. Thereafter, Hanuman's life becomes interwoven with that of Rama. Hanuman then brings about friendship and alliance between Rama and Sugriva; Rama helps Sugriva regain his honour and makes him king of Kishkindha. Sugriva and his vanaras, most notably Hanuman, help Rama defeat Raavana and reunite with Sita.

 

In their search for Sita, a group of Vanaras reaches the southern seashore. Upon encountering the vast ocean, every vanara begins to lament his inability to jump across the water. Hanuman too is saddened at the possible failure of his mission, until the other vanaras and the wise bear Jambavantha begin to extol his virtues. Hanuman then recollects his own powers, enlarges his body, and flies across the ocean. On his way, he encounters a mountain that rises from the sea, proclaims that it owed his father a debt, and asks him to rest a while before proceeding. Not wanting to waste any time, Hanuman thanks the mountain, touches it briefly, and presses on. He then encounters a sea-monster, Surasa, who challenges him to enter her mouth. When Hanuman outwits her, she admits that her challenge was merely a test of his courage. After killing Simhika, a rakshasi, he reaches Lanka.

 

FINDING SITA

Hanuman reaches Lanka through flight and marvels at its beauty. After he finds Sita in captivity in a garden, Hanuman reveals his identity to her, reassures her that Rama has been looking for her, and uplifts her spirits. He offers to carry her back to Rama, but she refuses his offer, saying it would be an insult to Rama as his honour is at stake. In order to give Sita faith, Hanuman gives her a ring that Rama wanted Hanuman to give her. After meeting Sita, Hanuman begins to wreak havoc, gradually destroying the palaces and properties of Lanka. He kills many rakshasas, including Jambumali and Aksha Kumar. To subdue him, Ravana's son Indrajit uses the Brahmastra. Though immune to the effects of this weapon Hanuman, out of respect to Brahma, allows himself be bound. Deciding to use the opportunity to meet Ravana, and to assess the strength of Ravana's hordes, Hanuman allows the rakshasa warriors to parade him through the streets. He conveys Rama's message of warning and demands the safe return of Sita. He also informs Ravana that Rama would be willing to forgive him if he returns Sita honourably.

 

Enraged, Ravana orders Hanuman's execution, whereupon Ravana's brother Vibhishana intervenes, pointing out that it is against the rules of engagement to kill a messenger. Ravana then orders Hanuman's tail be lit afire. As Ravana's forces attempted to wrap cloth around his tail, Hanuman begins to lengthen it. After frustrating them for a while, he allows it to burn, then escapes from his captors, and with his tail on fire he burns down large parts of Lanka. After extinguishing his flaming tail in the sea, he returns to Rama.

 

SHAPESHIFTING

In the Ramayana Hanuman changes shape several times. For example, while he searches for the kidnapped Sita in Ravana's palaces on Lanka, he contracts himself to the size of a cat, so that he will not be detected by the enemy. Later on, he takes on the size of a mountain, blazing with radiance, to show his true power to Sita.

 

Also he enlarges & immediately afterwards contracts his body to out-wit Surasa, the she-demon, who blocked his path while crossing the sea to reach Lanka. Again, he turns his body microscopically small to enter Lanka before killing Lankini, the she-demon guarding the gates of Lanka.

 

He achieved this shape-shifting by the powers of two siddhis; Anima and Garima bestowed upon him in his childhood by Sun-God, Surya.

 

MOUNTAIN LIFTING

When Lakshmana is severely wounded during the battle against Ravana, Hanuman is sent to fetch the Sanjivani, a powerful life-restoring herb, from Dronagiri mountain in the Himalayas, to revive him. Ravana realises that if Lakshmana dies, a distraught Rama would probably give up, and so he dispatches the sorcerer Kalanemi to intercept Hanuman. Kalanemi, in the guise of a sage, deceives Hanuman, but Hanuman uncovers his plot with the help of an apsara, whom he rescues from her accursed state as a crocodile.

 

Ravana, upon learning that Kalanemi has been slain by Hanuman, summons Surya to rise before its appointed time because the physician Sushena had said that Lakshmana would perish if untreated by daybreak. Hanuman realizes the danger, however, and, becoming many times his normal size, detains the Sun God to prevent the break of day. He then resumes his search for the precious herb, but, when he finds himself unable to identify which herb it is, he lifts the entire mountain and delivers it to the battlefield in Lanka. Sushena then identifies and administers the herb, and Lakshmana is saved. Rama embraces Hanuman, declaring him as dear to him as his own brother. Hanuman releases Surya from his grip, and asks forgiveness, as the Sun was also his Guru.

 

Hanuman was also called "langra veer"; langra in Hindi means limping and veer means "brave". The story behind Hanuman being called langra is as follows. He was injured when he was crossing the Ayodhya with the mountain in his hands. As he was crossing over Ayodhya, Bharat, Rama's young brother, saw him and assumed that some Rakshasa was taking this mountain to attack Ayodhya. Bharat then shot Hanuman with an arrow, which was engraved with Rama's name. Hanuman did not stop this arrow as it had Rama's name written on it, and it injured his leg. Hanuman landed and explained to Bharat that he was moving the mountain to save his own brother, Lakshmana. Bharat, very sorry, offered to fire an arrow to Lanka, which Hanuman could ride in order to reach his destination more easily. But Hanuman declined the offer, preferring to fly on his own, and he continued his journey with his injured leg.

 

PATALA INCIDENT

In another incident during the war, Rama and Lakshmana are captured by the rakshasa Mahiravana and Ahiravan), brother of Ravana, who held them captive in their palace in Patala (or Patalpuri) - the netherworld. Mahiravana keeps them as offerings to his deity. Searching for them, Hanuman reaches Patala, the gates of which are guarded by a young creature called Makardhwaja (known also as Makar-Dhwaja or Magar Dhwaja), who is part reptile and part Vanara.

 

The story of Makardhwaja's birth is said to be that when Hanuman extinguished his burning tail in the ocean, a drop of his sweat fell into the waters, eventually becoming Makardhwaja, who perceives Hanuman as his father. When Hanuman introduces himself to Makardhwaja, the latter asks his blessings. Hanuman enters Patala.

 

Upon entering Patala, Hanuman discovers that to kill Mahiravana, he must simultaneously extinguish five lamps burning in different directions. Hanuman assumes the Panchamukha or five-faced form of Sri Varaha facing north, Sri Narasimha facing south, Sri Garuda facing west, Sri Hayagriva facing the sky and his own facing the east, and blows out the lamps. Hanuman then rescues Rama and Lakshmana. Afterwards, Rama asks Hanuman to crown Makardhwaja king of Patala. Hanuman then instructs Makardhwaja to rule Patala with justice and wisdom.

 

To date Chandraloak Devpuri mandir is located at Dugana a small village 17 km from Laharpur,Sitapur district,Uttar Pradesh. A divine place where Chakleswar Mahadev situated.

 

HONOURS

Shortly after he is crowned Emperor upon his return to Ayodhya, Rama decides to ceremoniously reward all his well-wishers. At a grand ceremony in his court, all his friends and allies take turns being honoured at the throne. Hanuman approaches without desiring a reward. Seeing Hanuman come up to him, an emotionally overwhelmed Rama embraces him warmly, declaring that he could never adequately honour or repay Hanuman for the help and services he received from the noble Vanara. Sita, however, insists that Hanuman deserved honour more than anyone else, and Sita gives him a necklace of precious stones adorning her neck.

 

When he receives it, Hanuman immediately takes it apart, and peers into each stone. Taken aback, many of those present demand to know why he is destroying the precious gift. Hanuman answers that he was looking into the stones to make sure that Rama and Sita are in them, because if they are not, the necklace is of no value to him. At this, a few mock Hanuman, saying his reverence and love for Rama and Sita could not possibly be as deep as he implies. In response, Hanuman tears his chest open, and everyone is stunned to see Rama and Sita literally in his heart.

 

HANUMAN RAMAYANA

After the victory of Rama over Ravana, Hanuman went to the Himalayas to continue his worship of the Lord Rama. There he scripted a version of the Ramayana on the Himalayan mountains using his nails, recording every detail of Rama's deeds. When Maharishi Valmiki visited him to show him his own version of the Ramayana, he saw Hanuman's version and became very disappointed.

 

When Hanuman asked Valmiki the cause of his sorrow, the sage said that his version, which he had created very laboriously, was no match for the splendour of Hanuman's, and would therefore go ignored. At this, Hanuman discarded his own version, which is called the Hanumad Ramayana. Maharishi Valmiki was so taken aback that he said he would take another birth to sing the glory of Hanuman which he had understated in his version.

 

Later, one tablet is said to have floated ashore during the period of Mahakavi Kalidasa, and hung at a public place to be deciphered by scholars. Kalidasa is said to have deciphered it and recognised that it was from the Hanumad Ramayana recorded by Hanuman in an extinct script, and considered himself very fortunate to see at least one pada of the stanza.

 

AFTER RAMAYANA WAR

After the war, and after reigning for several years, the time arrived for Rama to depart to his supreme abode Vaikuntha. Many of Rama's entourage, including Sugriva, decided to depart with him. Hanuman, however, requested from Rama that he will remain on earth as long as Rama's name was venerated by people. Sita accorded Hanuman that desire, and granted that his image would be installed at various public places, so he could listen to people chanting Rama's name. He is one of the immortals (Chiranjivi) of Hinduism.

 

MAHABHARATA

Hanuman is also considered to be the brother of Bhima, on the basis of their having the same father, Vayu. During the Pandavas' exile, he appears disguised as a weak and aged monkey to Bhima in order to subdue his arrogance. Bhima enters a field where Hanuman is lying with his tail blocking the way. Bhima, unaware of his identity, tells him to move it out of the way. Hanuman, incognito, refuses. Bhima then tries to move the tail himself but he is unable, despite his great strength. Realising he is no ordinary monkey, he inquires as to Hanuman's identity, which is then revealed. At Bhima's request, Hanuman is also said to have enlarged himself to demonstrate the proportions he had assumed in his crossing of the sea as he journeyed to Lanka and also said that when the war came, he would be there to protect the Pandavas. This place is located at Sariska National Park in the Alwar District of the State of Rajasthan and named as Pandupole(Temple of Hanuman ji).Pandupole is very famous tourist spot of Alwar.

 

During the great battle of Kurukshetra, Arjuna entered the battlefield with a flag displaying Hanuman on his chariot. The incident that led to this was an earlier encounter between Hanuman and Arjuna, wherein Hanuman appeared as a small talking monkey before Arjuna at Rameshwaram, where Rama had built the great bridge to cross over to Lanka to rescue Sita. Upon Arjuna's wondering aloud at Rama's taking the help of monkeys rather than building a bridge of arrows, Hanuman challenged him to build a bridge capable of bearing him alone; Arjuna, unaware of the vanara's true identity, accepted. Hanuman then proceeded to repeatedly destroy the bridges made by Arjuna, who decided to take his own life. Krishna smiled and placed his divine discus beneath the bridge,and this time hanuman could no longer break it.Vishnu then appeared before them both after originally coming in the form of a tortoise, chiding Arjuna for his vanity and Hanuman for making Arjuna feel incompetent. As an act of penitence, Hanuman decided to help Arjuna by stabilizing and strengthening his chariot during the imminent great battle. After, the battle of Kurukshetra was over, Krishna asked Arjuna, that today you step down the chariot before me. After Arjuna got down, Krishna followed him and thanked Hanuman for staying with them during the whole fight in the form of a flag on the chariot. Hanuman came in his original form, bowed to Krishna and left the flag, flying away into the sky. As soon as he left the flag, the chariot began to burn and turned into ashes. Arjuna was shocked to see this, then Krishna told Arjuna, that the only reason his chariot was still standing was because of the presence of Himself and Hanuman, otherwise, it would have burnt many days ago due to effects of celestial weapons thrown at it in the war.

 

According to legend, Hanuman is one of the four people to have heard the Bhagwad Gita from Krishna and seen his Vishvarupa (universal) form, the other three being Arjuna, Sanjaya and Barbarika, son of Ghatotkacha.

 

OTHER TEXTS

Apart from Ramayana and Mahabharata, Hanuman is mentioned in several other texts. Some of these stories add to his adventures mentioned in the earlier epics, while others tell alternative stories of his life.

 

Paumacariya (also known as Pauma Chariu or Padmacharit), the Jain version of Ramayana written by Vimalasuri, mentions Hanuman as a Vidyadhara (a supernatural being), who is the son of Pavangati and Anjana Sundari. Anjana gives birth to Hanuman in a forest cave, after being banished by her in-laws. Her maternal uncle rescues her from the forest; while boarding his vimana, Anjana accidentally drops her baby on a rock. However, the baby remains uninjured while the rock is shattered. The baby is raised in Hanuruha, his great uncle's island kingdom, from which Hanuman gets his name. In this version, Hanuman is not celibate. He marries princess Anangakusuma, the daughter of Kharadushana and Ravana's sister Chandranakha. Ravana also presents Hanuman one of his nieces as a second wife. After becoming an ally of Sugriva, Hanuman acquires a hundred more wives. Hanuman is originally enraged at Rama for murdering his father-in-law Kharadushana. However, he becomes a supporter of Rama after meeting him and learning about Sita's kidnapping by Ravana. He goes to Lanka on Rama's behalf, but is unable to convince Ravana to surrender. Ultimately, he joins Rama in the war against Ravana and performs several heroic deeds. After the victory and subsequent celebrations, both Rama and Hanuman take Jaineshwari Diksha and become Jain Munis and achieve salvation. Later Jain texts such as Uttarapurana (9th century CE) by Gunabhadra and Anjana-Pavananjaya (12th century CE) tells the same story.

 

The Brahma Purana mentions that the vanaras built several Shiva lingams in Kishkindha. After his return to Ayodhya, Rama asks Hanuman to destroy these lingams, as they are no longer required. However, when Hanuman is unable to uproot these lingams, Rama orders them to worshipped permanently. The Skanda Purana mentions a variant of this story, which happens in Rameswaram. The Narada Purana describes Hanuman as a master of vocal music, and as an embodiment of the combined power of Shiva and Vishnu.

 

Apart from the Puranas, the Agama Saunaka Samhitha, and Agastya Sara Samhitha explains certain stories which are not mentioned in other Hindu texts along with the worship rituals of Hanuman. Recently a simple English Translation of some of stories are released as a book named Tales Of Hanuman: Tales from the eternal life of Hanuman

 

The 16th-century Indian poet Tulsidas wrote Hanuman Chalisa, a devotional song dedicated to Hanuman. He claimed to have visions where he met face to face with Hanuman. Based on these meetings, he wrote Ramcharitmanas, an Awadhi language version of Ramayana. The Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple (Varanasi) is said to be located on the spot where Tulsidas had these visions. The works of Tulsidas played an important role in increasing the popularity of Hanuman worship in North India.

 

Durga Chalisa mentions that Hanuman leads and welcomes the procession of the ferocious lion-riding Bhavani.

 

The non-Indian versions of Ramayana, such as the Thai Ramakien, mention that Hanuman had relationships with multiple women, including Svayamprabha, Benjakaya (Vibhisana's daughter), Suvannamaccha and even Ravana's wife Mandodari. According to these versions of the Ramayana, Macchanu is son of Hanuman borne by Suvannamaccha, daughter of Ravana. The Jain text Paumacariya also mentions that Hanuman married Lankasundari, the daughter of Lanka's chief defender Bajramukha. Another legend says that a demigod named Matsyaraja (also known as Makardhwaja or Matsyagarbha) claimed to be his son. Matsyaraja's birth is explained as follows: a fish (matsya) was impregnated by the drops of Hanuman's sweat, while he was bathing in the ocean.

 

PROPHECY & LEGACY

A number of religious leaders have claimed to have seen Hanuman over the course of the centuries, notably Madhvacharya (13th century CE), Tulsidas (16th century), Samarth Ramdas (17th century), Raghavendra Swami (17th century) and Swami Ramdas (20th century).

 

Swaminarayan, founder of the Hindu Swaminarayan sects, holds that other than worship of God through the Narayana Kavacha, Hanuman is the only deity who may be worshiped in the event of trouble by evil spirits.

 

Others have also asserted his presence wherever the Ramayana is read.

 

“Bow down to Hanumān, who is the slayer of demons, and who is present with head bowed and eyes full of flowing tears wherever the fame of Rāma is sung.”

 

This can be found in other texts such as the Vinaya Patrika by Tulsidas and the Mahabharta, and in other texts with only slight variation in language. During the readings of the Ramayana (Ramayanpath), a special puja and space (asan) are reserved for Hanuman.

 

TEMPLES

Hanuman is worshipped by villagers as a boundary guardian, by Shaiva ascetics as a Yogi, and by wrestlers for his strength. There are numerous temples for Hanuman, and his images are usually installed at all temples where images of avatars of Vishnu are installed. Hanuman temples are believed to keep the area and surroundings free of rakshasas (demons) and other evil beings. Hanuman idols are found on mountain roads because it is believed that he protects people from accidents.

 

Jakhu temple is a famous temple at Shimla, the capital of Himachal Pradesh. The word "Jakhu" is derived from "Yaku"/"Yaksha". The hill is the legendary abode of Yaksha, Kinners Nagas and Asuras. The temple was founded on a plain where, according to legend, Hanuman's sudden landing flattened a hill. A 33-metre statue of Hanuman has been erected at the top of the 2,591-metre tall Jakhu Hill, the highest point in Shimla.

 

According to the Ramayana, during the battle between Lord Rama and Ravana at Lanka, Lakshmana, brother of Lord Rama, was mortally wounded by an arrow. To save his life, Hanuman journeyed to the Himalayas to retrieve the Sanjeevani herb. En route, he encountered a meditating sage on Jakhu mountain; as he paused to inquire about the herb, Hanuman's landing on the mountain compressed the earth, changing the shape of the mountain to its present state. In his haste to depart, Hanuman is said to have left his friends behind, and they are said to continue to roam the area even today. A temple honoring Lord Hanuman was constructed by the Jakhu sage.

 

The oldest known independent Hanuman statue is the one at Khajuraho, which has an inscription dated Sam. 940 (AD 883) mentioning that it was erected by Gahil's son Gollak.

 

Sankat Mochan Shri Hanuman Mandir, located in the Punjab town of Phillaur is one of the popular temples of Hanuman. Sankat Mochan Hanuman Temple, Varanasi, believed to be built by Tulsidas, is second most popular temple in the city.

 

Namakkal Anjaneyar temple is located in the town of Namakkal, Tamil Nadu. There is an 18-feet idol of Sri Hanuman in the temple facing east, worshipping Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swami (one of the avatar of god Vishnu) in this temple. Anjenayar idol is Swayambu, believed to be growing in height; thus, temple has no roof enclosing.

 

Sholinghur Sri Yoga Narasimha swami temple and Sri Yoga Anjaneyar temple, located in Sholinghur, a town which is about 30 km from Arakkonam of Vellore District.Sri yoga Anjaneyar temple located over small hill containing 480 steps from ground. Lord Anjaneyar with Sathurpujam (sathur=four, pujam=arms) Sri Sangu and Sri Chakaram 2 hands and Jabba Malai and Jaba Shankaram in other two respectively facing Sri yoga Narasimha swami and Yoga Amurthavalli Thayar present over hill (periya malai= big hill) with 1305 steps from ground. Sholinghur shetram one among 108 divya desams also one of most famous temple of our Lord Anjaneya.

 

Ragigudda Anjaneya temple is a Hanuman temple located in JP Nagar Bangalore. The temple is located on a hillock.

 

The Hanuman temple at Nerul, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, India is situated inside SIES complex. The Hanuman idol is 10 m tall and is installed on a pedestal of height 4 m, bringing the total height to 14 m. In the picture shown, Hanuman has silver coverings (Silver Kavasam). The 33 feet Hanuman idol is carved out of single granite stone. This is the tallest single granite stone Hanuman idol in India as per the temple.

 

Similarly, a 10 m idol of Sri Anjaneyar was entrenched in 1989 at Nanganallur in Chennai, India. The distinguishing factor of the idol is that it was molded out of a single rock.

 

An 26-m Karya Siddhi Hanuman statue was installed at Carapichaima in Trinidad and Tobago, by Avadhoota Dattapeetham's Pontiff Ganapathy Sachchidananda. It is the tallest in the Western hemisphere and second tallest in the world. One has also built a Karya Siddhi Hanuman Temple in Frisco, Texas in the U.S.

 

The tallest Hanuman statue is the Veera Abhaya Anjaneya Hanuman Swami, standing 135 feet tall at Yerravaram, 46 km from Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, installed in 2003.

 

The image of Hanuman is said to have come alive and moved when installed at the Shri Hanuman Mandir, Sarangpur. The temple is noted for getting rid of evil spirits.

 

Suchindram temple is a pious place lying about 14 km from Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. The temple is famous for it 18 feet tall Hanuman idol. This idol is decorated fully with butter (Vennai kappu in Tamil) and Sandalwood paste (Chandana kappu in Tamil).

 

In Rajasthan,Hanuman Temples at Mehendipur Balaji in Dausa district (80 km from Jaipur) and Salasar dhaam in Churu district (160 km from Jaipur) attract a large number of devotees from all over India. [{Chandraloak Devpuri Balaji}] is located in Dugana 17 km from Laharpur district-sitapur,UttarPradesh

 

Bhaktha Anjaneyar is Temple is located in Vedasandur, Dindigul, Tamil Nadu.

 

Kaviyoor is a small village about 5–6 km from the town of Thiruvalla, Kerala The Kaviyoor Mahadevar Temple here is about 100 years old and the Hanuman temple inside the Shiva temple is considered as very auspicious by devotees. Hanuman idol consecrated here is made of Panchaloha and is depicting him telling the story of Ramayana to Sita in the Asoka Vana.

 

Yalagur, a small village about 30–35 km from the town of Bagalkot in Karnataka, also has a temple dedicated to Hanuman.

 

Sri Baktha Hanuman Temple, Ramboda.Sri Lanka. Ramboda is a place where Hanuman was searching for Sita Devi.

 

WORSHIP

Some of the prayers, songs, mantras, shlokas, devoted to Hanuman include Hanuman Chalisa, Bajranga Baan, Maruti Strotam, Anjaneya Dandakam , Vadvanal Strotam, Hanuman Sathhika, Hanuman Bahuk, Hanuman Dwadesha, Bhimrupi Strotam, Sundara Kanda, Maruti Gayatri Mantra, Hanumansahasranam stotra (Stotra of thousand names of Hanuman), Ek-mukhi Hanuman Raksha Kavacham, Pancha-mukhi Hanuman Raksha Kavacham and Sapta-mukhi Hanuman Raksha Kavacham.

 

"Ram Raksha Strotam", the Sanskrit Strota, a Shield of Rama has lines devoted to Hanuman, saying, whoever, reads this, will be protected by Hanuman.

 

PANCHAMUKHA SRI HANUMAN

Sri Hanuman assumed Panchamukha or five-faced form to kill Ahiravana, a powerful rakshasa black-magician and practitioner of the dark arts during the Ramayana war. Ahiravana, brother of Ravana, had taken Lord Rama and Lakshmana to netherworld as captive, and the only way to kill him was to extinguish five lamps burning in different directions, all at the same instant. Sri Hanuman assumed His Panchamukha form and accomplished the task, thus killing the rakshasa, and freeing Rama and Lakshmana.

 

This form of Sri Hanuman is very popular, and is also known as Panchamukha Anjaneya and Panchamukhi Anjaneya. (Anjaneya, which means "son of Anjana", is another name of Sri Hanuman). These faces show there is nothing in the world which does not come under any the influence of any of the five faces, symbolic of his all around security to all devotees. This also signifies vigilance and control over the five directions - north, south, east, west and the upward direction/zenith.

 

There are five ways of prayer, Naman, Smaran, Keerthanam, Yachanam and Arpanam. The five faces depict these five forms. Lord Sri Hanuman always used to Naman, Smaran and Keerthanam of Lord Sri Rama. He totally surrendered (Arpanam) to his Master Sri Rama. He also begged (yachanam) Sri Rama to bless him the undivided love.

 

The weapons are a parashu, a Khanda, a chakra, a dhaalam, a gada, a trishula, a kumbha, a Katar, a plate filled with blood and again a big Gada.

 

Chitrakoot in Central India is claimed to be the resting place of Sri Hanuman. The Hanuman Dhara Temple is situated on the peak of mountain where there is natural rock formation image of Shri Hanuman inside the cave and a natural stream of water falling on the tail. It is believed that after the coronation of Lord Rama, Sri Hanuman requested for a permanent place to settle in the Kingdom of Lord Rama, where his Injury of burns on his tails will be cured. Lord Rama, then with his arrow, spurred a stream of water on the tip of mountain and asked Sri Hanuman to rest there with water of the stream falling on his tail to cool down burning sensation in his tail. The access to the cave temple is through stairs starting from bottom of the mountain to its top. It takes roughly 30 to 40 minutes to reach the temple. Over time the temple has gained a new name, namely Hanuman Dhara.

 

Sri Panchamukha Anjaneya Swami was the main deity of Sri Raghavendra Swami. The place where he meditated on this five-faced form of Sri Hanuman is now known as Panchamukhi, wherein a temple for him has been built. There is also a shrine for Panchamukha Anjaneya Swami at Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu, India. A 12 m tall monolithic green granite murti of Sri Panchamukha Hanuman has been installed in Thiruvallur, also in Tamil Nadu. This place was known as Rudravanam in olden times when many saints and seers had blessed this place with their presence. The Panchamukha Hanuman Ashram itself was established by a saint called Venkatesa Battar. A four foot image of Panchmukha Hanuman has been consecrated West of Lusaka, Zambia in Oye Kapi farm.

 

RELATION WITH SHANI

In Hinduism, Hanuman is one of the few deities not afflicted by Shani. Hanuman is the one of the deities in Hindu religion, over whom Shani could not cast his spell. Shani could not overcome Hanuman and as such people worship Hanuman to get rid of malefic effects of Shani.

 

In the Ramayana, Hanuman is said to have rescued Shani, from the clutches of Ravana.

 

In gratitude, Shani promised Hanuman that those who prayed him (Hanuman) would be rescued from the painful effects of Saturn, which in Hindu astrology, is said to produce malefic effects on one's life when one is afflicted "negatively" with Saturn.

 

Another version of the encounter between Lord Hanuman and Shani Bhagavan is that the latter once climbed on to Lord Hanuman's shoulder, implying that he (Hanuman) was coming under the effects of the influence of Shani. At this, Hanuman assumed a large size, and Shani was caught painfully between Hanuman's shoulders and the ceiling of the room they were in. As the pain was unbearable, Shani requested Hanuman to release him, promising that he (Shani) would moderate the malefic effects of his influence on a person praying to Hanuman. Hanuman released Shani thereafter.

 

In the verse with a thousand Names of Hanuman the Hanumansahasranam stotra, Shani is one of the Names of Hanuman. In some regions of India, Hanuman is also seen sporting an iron whip akin to Shani.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Entity Catwa EyeShadow Pack

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Includes 5 styles on one easy to use HUD

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See store for more options for Catwa, LeLutka, Maitreya, Slink, Belleza and more!

Entity Catwa EyeShadow Pack

Designed and fitted for CATWA mesh heads

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maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Wild%20Orchid%20Main/186/1...

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include of ZOMEI Star filter 67mm

A few from Super Sunday - June's Goodwood Breakfast Club

INCLUDES:

- FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1995 reissue) (replacement copy; old copy from 1992 somehow removed first two minutes of the movie)

- Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1994 Masterpiece Collection)

- All Dogs Go to Heaven (1994 Reissue)

- Aladdin and the King of Thieves (replacement copy; old copy is messed up)

- Aladdin: The Return of Jafar

If your strengths include caring for others, building strong relationships and working as an effective member of a diverse team, you may be attracted to a career in an Allied Health field. Allied Health professionals apply their expertise to prevent, diagnose, treat and rehabilitate, through delivering direct patient care, rehabilitation, treatment, diagnostics and health improvement interventions. If you are a healthcare or Allied Health professional or ready to graduate from a health related degree, there are some great reasons for wanting to work in the Public Sector. Job security, access to professional development and opportunities for career progression are a few of the reasons why health professionals are attracted to working in the Public Service.

 

Unfortunately, these attractions can mean that there is plenty of competition for advertised vacancies which will mean that you will need to ensure that your application stands out from dozens, if not hundreds, of other applicants. Given that many healthcare or Allied Health positions will require the same basic qualifications such as a three year or four year degree in your specialty, your application will need to highlight your particular skills, experience, characteristics or aptitudes in such a way that you are chosen to progress to the interview stage of the recruitment process. A well-prepared and professionally written application can help you put yourself in front of an interview panel thus giving you the opportunity to shine.

 

A good resume for a healthcare or Allied Health professional will be more than just a statement of your work history. A well-written resume should highlight to an employer the relevant experience and skills that you will bring to their organisation. The ‘right’ content will depend on your particular work history within the healthcare industry and the kind of role that you are targeting. How far back should your work history go? Should you include non-health related jobs? A professional resume writer will be able to advise you on the ideal layout for your resume to present your experience and skills in the best possible light.

 

Castle Fraser is the most elaborate Z-plan castle in Scotland and one of the grandest 'Castles of Mar'. It is located near Kemnay in the Aberdeenshire region of Scotland. The castle stands in over 300 acres (1.2 km2) of landscaped grounds, woodland and farmland which includes a walled kitchen garden of the 19th century. There is archaeological evidence of an older square tower dating from around 1400 or 1500 within the current construction.

 

Originally known as Muchall-in-Mar, construction of the elaborate, five-storey Z-plan castle was begun in 1575 by the 6th Laird of Fraser, Michael Fraser, on the basis of an earlier tower, and was completed in 1636. A panel on the northern side of the castle is signed "I Bel", believed to be the mark of the master mason John Bell of Midmar, the castle is a joint creation over several decades with another master mason of this period, Thomas Leiper.

 

Castle Fraser is contemporary with other nearby castles: Craigievar Castle, Crathes Castle and Midmar Castle which are also believed to have been designed by the Bell family of master masons.

 

The castle was modernised in a classical style in the late 18th century, with a new entrance inserted in the south side and sash windows throughout. This work was supervised by Elyza Fraser, the lady laird, assisted by Mary Bristow. Elyza was also responsible for the landscaping of the grounds, sweeping away the remains of the original formal gardens and orchards, and for the construction of the impressive octagonal stable block.

 

The interiors of the building were entirely reconstructed again between 1820 and 1850, by Charles Fraser, using the architects John Smith and William Burn.

 

The Library is a fine example of John Smith's regency style with Tudor detailing. Many of William Burn's more extravagant gothic designs for the most important rooms were not carried out, although a gothic style pipe organ was installed (now removed to Kemnay Church).

 

External works during this period included the construction of the twin gatehouses (still extant), and a grand domed stair and access corridors with loggias in the courtyard (removed).

 

The castle was given a partial 'restoration' by the new owners around 1950. The architect and antiquary Dr William Kelly supervised the removal of much 19th-century work to reveal the earlier fabric.

 

Castle Fraser retains the atmosphere of a family home and still contains the original contents, including Fraser family portraits, furniture and collections. The evocative interiors represent all periods of the castle's history, from the Medieval stone vaulted Great Hall to the Regency Dining Room.

 

Castle Fraser was built as the home of the Frasers of Muchalls, later Frasers of Castle Fraser. The castle was passed down through the Lords Fraser, the Frasers of Inverallochy and then the Mackenzie family who took the name Mackenzie Fraser.

 

In 1897 the last male Fraser of the direct line, Frederick Mackenzie Fraser, died childless. In 1921 his widow, Theodora, sold the castle due to the lack of a suitable heir and mounting financial difficulties.

 

The buyer was Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray. The Pearson family restored the castle as a shooting lodge and gave it to the National Trust for Scotland in 1976.

Heteromastix sp.

Subfamily: Dysmorphocerinae

Family: Cantharidae

Order: Coleoptera

 

The soldier beetles classified under the family Cantharidae, include around 135 genera and approximately 5,000 species distributed globally. These beetles are divided into five subfamilies: Cantharinae, Silinae, Dysmorphocerinae, Malthininae, and Chauliognathinae (Brancucci 1980).

 

Soldier beetles have soft bodies and straight sides, making them easily recognizable, and are found all over the world. The name “soldier beetle” comes from their resemblance of one of the early known species to the red uniforms of early British soldiers, though they are also called “leatherwings” because of their soft wing covers (elytra).

 

Adult soldier beetles are active during the day and often gather in large groups on the flowers of different native and exotic trees and shrubs, as well as other noticeable surfaces. Chauliognathus lugubris , commonly called the Plague Soldier Beetle, is noted for massive mating groups that sometimes form, with research showing up to 92% of individuals in such clusters involved in mating (Webb 1986).

 

The adult beetles typically feed on green leaves, nectar, pollen, and occasionally prey on small insects (Lawrence & Britton 1994).

 

Their larvae, which are caterpillar-like and covered in fine hairs (earning the name velvet worms), live in soil and leaf litter as generalist predators of small arthropods. They pupate in earthen cells below moist soil, emerging in spring and summer (LeSage 1991). Larvae go through seven instars and are dark in colour, active, and hunt eggs, small insects, snails, and other tiny creatures on the ground and in foliage.

 

In this species, larger males tend to choose larger females, with body size linked to a male’s success in securing mates and a female’s ability to evade pursuit.

 

Adult cantharids produce defensive secretions and are part of mimicry complexes. If handled roughly, Chauliognathus lugubris emits drops of a milky substance from glands on its thorax and abdomen. The secretion contains alkaloids like precoccinelline, hippodamine, and propyleine—previously only found in ladybirds (Coccinellidae)—as well as (Z)-8-dihydromatricaria acid, also detected in the American species Chauliognathus lecontei (Meinwald 1968; Moore & Brown 1978). The chemicals in this fluid also include an acetylinic fatty acid called dihydromatricaria acid, or DHMA, which is one of a group of chemicals called polyynes that are known to have anti-microbial properties and which have promise as anticancer drugs (Haritos 2012).

 

In the case of this observation, I think it will be difficult to get ID to species. Assuming I have the right genus, there are 77 Heteromastix species listed by Atlas of Living Australia. Quite a few of the pinned specimens from the Museum of South Australia have been digitised (thank you MoSA), but that reveals that many of them are superficially similar. At least 10 of the 77 have the overall colour pattern of black head and black elytra with a red thorax.

  

References

 

Brancucci, M. 1980. Morphologie comparée, évolution et systématique des Cantharidae (Insecta: Coleoptera). Entomologica Basiliensia 5: 215-388

 

Haritos, V. S., Horne, I., Damcevski, K., Glover, K., Gibb, N., Okada, S., & Hamberg, M. (2012). The convergent evolution of defensive polyacetylenic fatty acid biosynthesis genes in soldier beetles. Nature communications, 3(1), 1150.

 

Lawrence, J.F. & Britton, E.B. 1994. Australian Beetles. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press x 192 pp.

 

LeSage, L. 1991. Order Coleoptera. Cantharidae (Cantharoidea). pp. 429-431 in Stehr, F.W. (ed.). Immature Insects. Coleoptera and Diptera. Dubuque, Iowa : Kendall-Hunt Vol. 2 xvi 975 pp.

 

Moore, B.P. & Brown, W.V. 1978. Precoccinelline and related alkaloids in the Australian soldier beetle, Chauliognathus pulchellus (Coleoptera: Cantharidae). Insect Biochemistry 8: 393-395

 

Meinwald, J., Meinwald, Y.C., Chalmers, A.M. & Eisner, T. 1968. Dihydromatricaria acid: acetylenic acid secreted by soldier beetle. Science (Washington, D.C.) 160: 890-892

 

Webb, G.A. 1986. A breeding aggregation of Chauliognathus pulchellus Macleay (Coleoptera: Cantharidae). Victorian Naturalist 103(4): 114-116

  

DSC09591_LR

Citroen Ami 6 (1961-69) Engine 602cc HO2 OHV Production 1,840,159 (includes Ami 8 and Dyanne)

Registration Number MWV 41 F (First registered in the UK 1990. on an age related number, first allocated for Wiltshire)

CITREON SET

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623776731490...

 

The Citroen Ami 6 was introduced in 1961, and offered as a saloon and break (estate), more upmarket than the companies 2CV with the same suspension design and indirect four speed gearbox, controlled vie a dash mouted remote, The car features a concave rear window and along with the Ford Taunus P3 were the first cars to feature rectangular or lozenge-shaped (non-round) headlights which remained illegal in the USA until 1975.

Sales initially were not as good as those of the older 2CV; the Ami's first full year of production was 1962, during which only 85,358 against 144, 758 of its older sibling, Chiefly down to pricing, the two cars shared the same underpinnings, though the newer more agressive looking Ami was priced 35% higher, although its popularity did later increase.

Power output during the eight year production run increased from 22 bhp to 31 bhp by 1969 remaining faithful to the 602cc flat 2 air cooled engine.

 

The Ami 6 was replaced in 1969 by the redesigned Ami 8 in March 1969... .

 

Many thanks for a fantabulous 32,404,800 views

 

Shot on 01.01.2015 at Brooklands New Years Day Classic Car Gathering Ref 104-105

Grace Beverly Jones (b19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, supermodel, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.

In 1977, Jones secured a record deal with Island Records, initially becoming a star of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen That Face Before", "Private Life", and "Slave to the Rhythm". In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude.

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th most successful dance artist of all time.[10]

1948–73: Early life, and modeling career

Grace Jones was born in 1948 (though most sources say 1952) in Spanish Town, Jamaica, the daughter of Marjorie (née Williams) and Robert W. Jones, who was a local politician and Apostolic clergyman The couple already had two children, and would go on to have four more.[19] Robert and Marjorie moved to the East Coast of the United States,[19] where Robert worked as an agricultural labourer until a spiritual experience during a failed suicide attempt inspired him to become a Pentecostal minister.[20] While they were in the US, they left their children with Marjorie's mother and her new husband, Peart.[21] Jones knew him as "Mas P" ('Master P') and later noted that she "absolutely hated him"; as a strict disciplinarian he regularly beat the children in his care, representing what Jones described as "serious abuse".[22] She was raised into the family's Pentecostal faith,[23] having to take part in prayer meetings and Bible readings every night.[24] She initially attended the Pentecostal All Saints School,[25] before being sent to a nearby public school.[26] As a child, shy Jones had only one schoolfriend and was teased by classmates for her "skinny frame", but she excelled at sports and found solace in the nature of Jamaica.[27]

"[My childhood] was all about the Bible and beatings. We were beaten for any little act of dissent, and hit harder the worse the disobedience. It formed me as a person, my choices, men I have been attracted to... It was a profoundly disciplined, militant upbringing, and so in my own way, I am very militant and disciplined. Even if that sometimes means being militantly naughty, and disciplined in the arts of subversion. ."

— Grace Jones, 2015.[28]

Marjorie and Robert eventually brought their children – including the 13 year old Grace – to live with them in the US, where they had settled in Lyncourt, Salina, New York, near Syracuse.[29][30] It was in the city that her father had established his own ministry, the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ, in 1956.[31] Jones continued her schooling and after she graduated, enrolled at Onondaga Community College majoring in Spanish.[32][33] Jones began to rebel against her parents and their religion; she began wearing makeup, drinking alcohol, and visiting gay clubs with her brother.[34] At college, she also took a theatre class, with her drama teacher convincing her to join him on a summer stock tour in Philadelphia.[35][33] Arriving in the city, she decided to stay there, immersing herself in the Counterculture of the 1960s by living in hippie communes, earning money as a go-go dancer, and using LSD and other drugs.[36] She later praised the use of LSD as "a very important part of my emotional growth... The mental exercise was good for me".[37]

She moved back to New York at 18 and signed on as a model with Wilhelmina Modelling agency. She moved to Paris in 1970.[33][38] The Parisian fashion scene was receptive to Jones' unusual, androgynous, bold, dark-skinned appearance. Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada hired her for runway modelling, and she appeared on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.[39] Jones also modelled for Azzedine Alaia, and was frequently photographed promoting his line. While modelling in Paris, she shared an apartment with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange. Hall and Jones frequented Le Sept, one of Paris's most popular gay clubs of the 1970s and '80s, and socialised with Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld.[40] In 1973, Jones appeared on the cover of a reissue of Billy Paul's 1970 album Ebony Woman.

1974–79: Transition to music, and early releases

Jones was signed by Island Records, who put her in the studio with disco record producer, Tom Moulton. Moulton worked at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, and Portfolio, was released in 1977. The album featured three songs from Broadway musicals, "Send in the Clowns" by Stephen Sondheim from A Little Night Music, "What I Did for Love" from A Chorus Line and "Tomorrow" from Annie. The second side of the album opens up with a seven-minute reinterpretation of Édith Piaf's "La Vie en rose" followed by three new recordings, two of which were co-written by Jones, "Sorry", and "That's the Trouble". The album finished with "I Need a Man", Jones' first club hit.[41] The artwork to the album was designed by Richard Bernstein, an artist for Interview.

In 1978, Jones and Moulton made Fame, an immediate follow-up to Portfolio, also recorded at Sigma Sound Studios. The album featured another reinterpretation of a French classic, "Autumn Leaves" by Jacques Prévert. The Canadian edition of the vinyl album included another French language track, "Comme un oiseau qui s'envole", which replaced "All on a Summers Night"; in most locations this song served as the B-side of the single "Do or Die". In the North American club scene, Fame was a hit album and the "Do or Die"/"Pride"/"Fame" side reached top 10 on both the US Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. The album was released on compact disc in the early 1990s, but soon went out of print. In 2011, it was released and remastered by Gold Legion, a record company that specialises in reissuing classic disco albums on CD.[42] Jones' live shows were highly sexualized and flamboyant, leading her to be called "Queen of the Gay Discos."[4]

Muse was the last of Jones' disco albums. The album features a re-recorded version "I'll Find My Way to You", which Jones released three years prior to Muse. Originally appearing in the 1976 Italian film, Colt 38 Special Squad in which Jones had a role as a club singer, Jones also recorded a song called "Again and Again" that was featured in the film. Both songs were produced by composer Stelvio Cipriani. Icelandic keyboardist Thor Baldursson arranged most of the album and also sang duet with Jones on the track "Suffer". Like the last two albums, the cover art is by Richard Bernstein. Like Fame, Muse was later released by Gold Legion.[43]

1980–85: Breakthrough, Nightclubbing, and acting

With anti-disco sentiment spreading, and with the aid of the Compass Point All Stars, Jones transitioned into new wave music with the 1980 release of Warm Leatherette. The album included covers of songs by The Normal ("Warm Leatherette"), The Pretenders ("Private Life"), Roxy Music ("Love Is the Drug"), Smokey Robinson ("The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers ("Breakdown") and Jacques Higelin ("Pars"). Sly Dunbar revealed that the title track was also the first to be recorded with Jones.[44][45] Tom Petty wrote the lyrics to "Breakdown", and he also wrote the third verse of Jones' reinterpretation.[46] The album included one song co-written by Jones, "A Rolling Stone". Originally, "Pull Up to the Bumper" was to be included on the album, but its R&B sound did not fit with the rest of the material.[47] By 1981, she had begun collaborating with photographer and graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she also had a relationship.[48]

The 1981 release of Nightclubbing included Jones' covers of songs by Flash and the Pan ("Walking in the Rain"), Bill Withers ("Use Me"), Iggy Pop/David Bowie ("Nightclubbing") and Ástor Piazzolla ("I've Seen That Face Before"). Three songs were co-written by Jones: "Feel Up", "Art Groupie" and "Pull Up to the Bumper". Sting wrote "Demolition Man"; he later recorded it with The Police on the album Ghost in the Machine. "I've Done It Again" was written by Marianne Faithfull. The strong rhythm featured on Nightclubbing was produced by Compass Point All Stars, including Sly and Robbie, Wally Badarou, Mikey Chung, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson and Barry Reynolds. The album entered in the Top 5 in four countries, and became Jones' highest-ranking record on the US Billboard mainstream albums and R&B charts.

Nightclubbing claimed the number 1 slot on NME's Album of the Year list.[49] Slant Magazine listed the album at No. 40 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s.[50] Nightclubbing is now widely considered Jones' best studio album.[51] The album's cover art is a painting of Jones by Jean-Paul Goude. Jones is presented as a man wearing an Armani suit jacket, with a cigarette in her mouth and a flattop haircut. While promoting the album, Jones slapped chat-show host Russell Harty live on air after he had turned to interview other guests, making Jones feel she was being ignored.[52]

Having already recorded two reggae-oriented albums under the production of Compass Point All Stars, Jones went to Nassau, Bahamas in 1982 and recorded Living My Life; the album resulted in Jones' final contribution to the Compass Point trilogy, with only one cover, Melvin Van Peebles's "The Apple Stretching". The rest were original songs; "Nipple to the Bottle" was co-written with Sly Dunbar, and, apart from "My Jamaican Guy", the other tracks were collaborations with Barry Reynolds. Despite receiving a limited single release, the title track was left off the album. Further session outtakes included "Man Around the House" (Jones, Reynolds) and a cover of "Ring of Fire", written by June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore and popularized by Johnny Cash, both of which were included on the 1998 compilation Private Life: The Compass Point Sessions. The album's cover art resulted from another Jones/Goude collaboration; the artwork has been described as being as famous as the music on the record. It features Jones' disembodied head cut out from a photograph and pasted onto a white background. Jones' head is sharpened, giving her head and face an angular shape.A piece of plaster is pasted over her left eyebrow, and her forehead is covered with drops of sweat.

Jones' three albums under the production of the Compass Point All Stars resulted in Jones' One Man Show, a performance art/pop theatre presentation devised by Goude and Jones in which she also performed tracks from the albums Portfolio ("La Vie en rose"), Warm Leatherette, ("Private Life", "Warm Leatherette"), Nightclubbing ("Walking in the Rain", "Feel Up", "Demolition Man", "Pull Up to the Bumper" and "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)") and from Living My Life, "My Jamaican Guy" and the album's title track. Jones dressed in elaborate costumes and masks (in the opening sequence as a gorilla) and alongside a series of Grace Jones lookalikes. A video version, filmed live in London and New York City and completed with some studio footage, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video the following year.

After the release of Living My Life, Jones took on the role of Zula the Amazonian in Conan the Destroyer (1984) and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1985, Jones starred as May Day, henchman to main antagonist Max Zorin in the 14th James Bond film A View to a Kill; Jones was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress. That same year, she was featured on the Arcadia song "Election Day". Jones was among the many stars to promote the Honda Scooter; other artists included Lou Reed, Adam Ant, and Miles Davis Jones also, with her boyfriend Dolph Lundgren posed nude for Playboy.

After Jones' success as a mainstream actress, she returned to the studio to work on Slave to the Rhythm, the last of her recordings for Island. Bruce Woolley, Simon Darlow, Stephen Lipson and Trevor Horn wrote the material, and it was produced by Horn and Lipson. It was a concept album that featured several interpretations of the title track. The project was originally intended for Frankie Goes to Hollywood as a follow-up to "Relax", but was given to Jones.All eight tracks on the album featured excerpts from a conversation with Jones, speaking about many aspects of her life. The interview was conducted by journalist Paul Morley. The album features voice-overs from actor Ian McShane reciting passages from Jean-Paul Goude's biography Jungle Fever. Slave to the Rhythm was successful in German-speaking countries and in the Netherlands, where it secured Top 10 placings. It reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart in November 1985 and became the second-highest-ranking album released by Jones. Jones earned an MTV Video Music Award nomination for the title track's music video.

After her success with Slave to the Rhythm, Island released Island Life, Jones' first best-of compilation, which featured songs from most of her releases with Island (Portfolio, Fame, Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing, Living My Life and Slave to the Rhythm). American writer and journalist Glenn O'Brien wrote the essay for the inlay booklet. The compilation charted in the UK, New Zealand and the United States.The artwork on the cover of the compilation was of another Jones/Goude collaboration; it featured Jones' celestial body in a montage of separate images, following Goude's ideas on creating credible illusions with his cut-and-paint technique. The body position is anatomically impossible.

The artwork, a piece called "Nigger Arabesque" was originally published in the New York magazine in 1978, and was used as a backdrop for the music video of Jones' hit single "La Vie en rose". The artwork has been described as "one of pop culture's most famous photographs". The image was also parodied in Nicki Minaj's 2011 music video for "Stupid Hoe", in which Minaj mimicked the pose.

1986–89: Slave to the Rhythm, Island Life, further films, Jones teamed up with music producer Nile Rodgers of Chic, whom Jones had previously tried to work with during the disco era.[67] The album was recorded at Skyline Studios in New York and post-produced at Atlantic Studios and Sterling Sound. Inside Story was the first album Jones produced, which resulted in heated disputes with Rodgers. Musically, the album was more accessible than her previous albums with the Compass Point All Stars, and explored different styles of pop music, with undertones of jazz, gospel, and Caribbean sounds. All songs on the album were written by Jones and Bruce Woolley. Richard Bernstein teamed up with Jones again to provide the album's artwork. Inside Story made the top 40 in several European countries. The album was Jones' last entry to date on US Billboard 200 albums chart. The same year, Jones starred as Katrina, an Egyptian queen vampire in the vampire film Vamp. For her work in the film, Jones was awarded a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1987, Jones appeared in two films, Straight to Hell, and Mary Lambert's Siesta, for which Jones was nominated for Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Bulletproof Heart was released in 1989, produced by Chris Stanley, who co-wrote, and co-produced the majority of the songs, and was featured as a guest vocalist on "Don't Cry Freedom". Robert Clivillés and David Cole of C+C Music Factory produced some tracks on the album.

1990–2004: Boomerang, soundtracks, and collaborations

In 1990, Jones appeared as herself in the documentary, Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol. 1992 saw Jones starring as Helen Strangé, in the Eddie Murphy film Boomerang, for which she also contributed the song "7 Day Weekend" to its soundtrack. Jones released two more soundtrack songs in 1992; "Evilmainya", recorded for the film Freddie as F.R.O.7, and "Let Joy and Innocence Prevail" for the film Toys. In 1994, she was due to release an electro album titled Black Marilyn with artwork featuring the singer as Marilyn Monroe. "Sex Drive" was released as the first single in September 1993, but due to unknown reasons the record was eventually shelved. The track "Volunteer", recorded during the same sessions, leaked in 2009.[68]

In 1996, Jones released "Love Bites", an up-tempo electronic track to promote the Sci-Fi Channel's Vampire Week, which consisted of a series of vampire-themed films aired on the channel in early November 1996. The track features Jones singing from the perspective of a vampire. The track was released as a non-label promo-only single. To this day, it has not been made commercially available.[69] In June 1998, she was scheduled to release an album entitled Force of Nature, on which she worked with trip hop musician Tricky.[70] The release of Force of Nature was cancelled due to a disagreement between the two, and only a white label 12" single featuring two dance mixes of "Hurricane" was issued at the time;[71] a slowed-down version of this song became the title track of her comeback album released ten years later while another unreleased track from the album, "Clandestine Affair" (recycling the chorus from her unreleased 1993 track "Volunteer"), appeared on a bootleg 12" in 2004.[72] Jones recorded the track "Storm" in 1998 for the movie The Avengers, and in 1999, appeared in an episode of the Beastmaster television series as the Umpatra Warrior.

The same year, Jones recorded "The Perfect Crime", an up-tempo song for Danish TV written by the composer duo Floppy M. aka Jacob Duus and Kåre Jacobsen. Jones was also ranked 82nd place on VH1's "100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll".[citation needed] In 2000, Jones collaborated with rapper Lil' Kim, appearing on the song "Revolution" from her album The Notorious K.I.M. In 2001, Jones starred in the made-for-television film, Wolf Girl (also known as Blood Moon), as an intersex circus performer named Christoph/Christine. In 2002, Jones joined Luciano Pavarotti on stage for his annual Pavarotti and Friends fundraiser concert to support the United Nations refugee agency's programs for Angolan refugees in Zambia. In November 2004, Jones sang "Slave to the Rhythm" at a tribute concert for record producer Trevor Horn at London's Wembley Arena

  

Made to order in our Atelier. Includes: the bathrobe made of natural cotton and lace, the nightgown made of milky color delicate chiffon.

In spring of 2007, the Albertina also received the previously based in Salzburg "Batliner Collection" as unrestricted permanent loan. The collection of Rita and Herbert Batliner includes important works by modern masters, from French impressionism to German expressionism of the "Blue Rider" and the "bridge" to works of the Fauvist or the Russian avant-garde from Chagall to Malevich.

de.wikipedia.org / wiki / Albertina_ (Vienna)

 

 

The Albertina

The architectural history of the Palais

(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Image: The oldest photographic view of the newly designed Palais Archduke Albrecht, 1869

"It is my will that ​​the expansion of the inner city of Vienna with regard to a suitable connection of the same with the suburbs as soon as possible is tackled and at this on Regulirung (regulation) and beautifying of my Residence and Imperial Capital is taken into account. To this end I grant the withdrawal of the ramparts and fortifications of the inner city and the trenches around the same".

This decree of Emperor Franz Joseph I, published on 25 December 1857 in the Wiener Zeitung, formed the basis for the largest the surface concerning and architecturally most significant transformation of the Viennese cityscape. Involving several renowned domestic and foreign architects a "master plan" took form, which included the construction of a boulevard instead of the ramparts between the inner city and its radially upstream suburbs. In the 50-years during implementation phase, an impressive architectural ensemble developed, consisting of imperial and private representational buildings, public administration and cultural buildings, churches and barracks, marking the era under the term "ring-street style". Already in the first year tithe decided a senior member of the Austrian imperial family to decorate the facades of his palace according to the new design principles, and thus certified the aristocratic claim that this also "historicism" said style on the part of the imperial house was attributed.

Image: The Old Albertina after 1920

It was the palace of Archduke Albrecht (1817-1895), the Senior of the Habsburg Family Council, who as Field Marshal held the overall command over the Austro-Hungarian army. The building was incorporated into the imperial residence of the Hofburg complex, forming the south-west corner and extending eleven meters above street level on the so-called Augustinerbastei.

The close proximity of the palace to the imperial residence corresponded not only with Emperor Franz Joseph I and Archduke Albert with a close familial relationship between the owner of the palace and the monarch. Even the former inhabitants were always in close relationship to the imperial family, whether by birth or marriage. An exception here again proves the rule: Don Emanuel Teles da Silva Conde Tarouca (1696-1771), for which Maria Theresa in 1744 the palace had built, was just a close friend and advisor of the monarch. Silva Tarouca underpins the rule with a second exception, because he belonged to the administrative services as Generalhofbaudirektor (general court architect) and President of the Austrian-Dutch administration, while all other him subsequent owners were highest ranking military.

In the annals of Austrian history, especially those of military history, they either went into as commander of the Imperial Army, or the Austrian, later kk Army. In chronological order, this applies to Duke Carl Alexander of Lorraine, the brother-of-law of Maria Theresa, as Imperial Marshal, her son-in-law Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, also field marshal, whos adopted son, Archduke Charles of Austria, the last imperial field marshal and only Generalissimo of Austria, his son Archduke Albrecht of Austria as Feldmarschalil and army Supreme commander, and most recently his nephew Archduke Friedrich of Austria, who held as field marshal from 1914 to 1916 the command of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Despite their military profession, all five generals conceived themselves as patrons of the arts and promoted large sums of money to build large collections, the construction of magnificent buildings and cultural life. Charles Alexander of Lorraine promoted as governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1741 to 1780 the Academy of Fine Arts, the Théâtre de Ja Monnaie and the companies Bourgeois Concert and Concert Noble, he founded the Academie royale et imperial des Sciences et des Lettres, opened the Bibliotheque Royal for the population and supported artistic talents with high scholarships. World fame got his porcelain collection, which however had to be sold by Emperor Joseph II to pay off his debts. Duke Albert began in 1776 according to the concept of conte Durazzo to set up an encyclopedic collection of prints, which forms the core of the world-famous "Albertina" today.

Image : Duke Albert and Archduchess Marie Christine show in family cercle the from Italy brought along art, 1776. Frederick Henry Füger.

1816 declared to Fideikommiss and thus in future indivisible, inalienable and inseparable, the collection 1822 passed into the possession of Archduke Carl, who, like his descendants, it broadened. Under him, the collection was introduced together with the sumptuously equipped palace on the Augustinerbastei in the so-called "Carl Ludwig'schen fideicommissum in 1826, by which the building and the in it kept collection fused into an indissoluble unity. At this time had from the Palais Tarouca by structural expansion or acquisition a veritable Residenz palace evolved. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen was first in 1800 the third floor of the adjacent Augustinian convent wing adapted to house his collection and he had after 1802 by his Belgian architect Louis de Montoyer at the suburban side built a magnificent extension, called the wing of staterooms, it was equipped in the style of Louis XVI. Only two decades later, Archduke Carl the entire palace newly set up. According to scetches of the architect Joseph Kornhäusel the 1822-1825 retreaded premises presented themselves in the Empire style. The interior of the palace testified from now in an impressive way the high rank and the prominent position of its owner. Under Archduke Albrecht the outer appearance also should meet the requirements. He had the facade of the palace in the style of historicism orchestrated and added to the Palais front against the suburbs an offshore covered access. Inside, he limited himself, apart from the redesign of the Rococo room in the manner of the second Blondel style, to the retention of the paternal stock. Archduke Friedrich's plans for an expansion of the palace were omitted, however, because of the outbreak of the First World War so that his contribution to the state rooms, especially, consists in the layout of the Spanish apartment, which he in 1895 for his sister, the Queen of Spain Maria Christina, had set up as a permanent residence.

Picture: The "audience room" after the restoration: Picture: The "balcony room" around 1990

The era of stately representation with handing down their cultural values ​​found its most obvious visualization inside the palace through the design and features of the staterooms. On one hand, by the use of the finest materials and the purchase of masterfully manufactured pieces of equipment, such as on the other hand by the permanent reuse of older equipment parts. This period lasted until 1919, when Archduke Friedrich was expropriated by the newly founded Republic of Austria. With the republicanization of the collection and the building first of all finished the tradition that the owner's name was synonymous with the building name:

After Palais Tarouca or tarokkisches house it was called Lorraine House, afterwards Duke Albert Palais and Palais Archduke Carl. Due to the new construction of an adjacently located administration building it received in 1865 the prefix "Upper" and was referred to as Upper Palais Archduke Albrecht and Upper Palais Archduke Frederick. For the state a special reference to the Habsburg past was certainly politically no longer opportune, which is why was decided to name the building according to the in it kept collection "Albertina".

Picture: The "Wedgwood Cabinet" after the restoration: Picture: the "Wedgwood Cabinet" in the Palais Archduke Friedrich, 1905

This name derives from the term "La Collection Albertina" which had been used by the gallery Inspector Maurice von Thausing in 1870 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts for the former graphics collection of Duke Albert. For this reason, it was the first time since the foundation of the palace that the name of the collection had become synonymous with the room shell. Room shell, hence, because the Republic of Austria Archduke Friedrich had allowed to take along all the movable goods from the palace in his Hungarian exile: crystal chandeliers, curtains and carpets as well as sculptures, vases and clocks. Particularly stressed should be the exquisite furniture, which stems of three facilities phases: the Louis XVI furnitures of Duke Albert, which had been manufactured on the basis of fraternal relations between his wife Archduchess Marie Christine and the French Queen Marie Antoinette after 1780 in the French Hofmanufakturen, also the on behalf of Archduke Charles 1822-1825 in the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory by Joseph Danhauser produced Empire furnitures and thirdly additions of the same style of Archduke Friedrich, which this about 1900 at Portois & Ffix as well as at Friedrich Otto Schmidt had commissioned.

The "swept clean" building got due to the strained financial situation after the First World War initially only a makeshift facility. However, since until 1999 no revision of the emergency equipment took place, but differently designed, primarily the utilitarianism committed office furnitures complementarily had been added, the equipment of the former state rooms presented itself at the end of the 20th century as an inhomogeneous administrative mingle-mangle of insignificant parts, where, however, dwelt a certain quaint charm. From the magnificent state rooms had evolved depots, storage rooms, a library, a study hall and several officed.

Image: The Albertina Graphic Arts Collection and the Philipphof after the American bombing of 12 März 1945.

Image: The palace after the demolition of the entrance facade, 1948-52

Worse it hit the outer appearance of the palace, because in times of continued anti-Habsburg sentiment after the Second World War and inspired by an intolerant destruction will, it came by pickaxe to a ministerial erasure of history. In contrast to the graphic collection possessed the richly decorated facades with the conspicuous insignia of the former owner an object-immanent reference to the Habsburg past and thus exhibited the monarchial traditions and values ​​of the era of Francis Joseph significantly. As part of the remedial measures after a bomb damage, in 1948 the aristocratic, by Archduke Albert initiated, historicist facade structuring along with all decorations was cut off, many facade figures demolished and the Hapsburg crest emblems plunged to the ground. Since in addition the old ramp also had been cancelled and the main entrance of the bastion level had been moved down to the second basement storey at street level, ended the presence of the old Archduke's palace after more than 200 years. At the reopening of the "Albertina Graphic Collection" in 1952, the former Hapsburg Palais of splendour presented itself as one of his identity robbed, formally trivial, soulless room shell, whose successful republicanization an oversized and also unproportional eagle above the new main entrance to the Augustinian road symbolized. The emocratic throw of monuments had wiped out the Hapsburg palace from the urban appeareance, whereby in the perception only existed a nondescript, nameless and ahistorical building that henceforth served the lodging and presentation of world-famous graphic collection of the Albertina. The condition was not changed by the decision to the refurbishment because there were only planned collection specific extensions, but no restoration of the palace.

Image: The palace after the Second World War with simplified facades, the rudiment of the Danubiusbrunnens (well) and the new staircase up to the Augustinerbastei

This paradigm shift corresponded to a blatant reversal of the historical circumstances, as the travel guides and travel books for kk Residence and imperial capital of Vienna dedicated itself primarily with the magnificent, aristocratic palace on the Augustinerbastei with the sumptuously fitted out reception rooms and mentioned the collection kept there - if at all - only in passing. Only with the repositioning of the Albertina in 2000 under the direction of Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the palace was within the meaning and in fulfillment of the Fideikommiss of Archduke Charles in 1826 again met with the high regard, from which could result a further inseparable bond between the magnificent mansions and the world-famous collection. In view of the knowing about politically motivated errors and omissions of the past, the facades should get back their noble, historicist designing, the staterooms regain their glamorous, prestigious appearance and culturally unique equippment be repurchased. From this presumption, eventually grew the full commitment to revise the history of redemption and the return of the stately palace in the public consciousness.

Image: The restored suburb facade of the Palais Albertina suburb

The smoothed palace facades were returned to their original condition and present themselves today - with the exception of the not anymore reconstructed Attica figures - again with the historicist decoration and layout elements that Archduke Albrecht had given after the razing of the Augustinerbastei in 1865 in order. The neoclassical interiors, today called after the former inhabitants "Habsburg Staterooms", receiving a meticulous and detailed restoration taking place at the premises of originality and authenticity, got back their venerable and sumptuous appearance. From the world wide scattered historical pieces of equipment have been bought back 70 properties or could be returned through permanent loan to its original location, by which to the visitors is made experiencable again that atmosphere in 1919 the state rooms of the last Habsburg owner Archduke Frederick had owned. The for the first time in 80 years public accessible "Habsburg State Rooms" at the Palais Albertina enable now again as eloquent testimony to our Habsburg past and as a unique cultural heritage fundamental and essential insights into the Austrian cultural history. With the relocation of the main entrance to the level of the Augustinerbastei the recollection to this so valuable Austrian Cultural Heritage formally and functionally came to completion. The vision of the restoration and recovery of the grand palace was a pillar on which the new Albertina should arise again, the other embody the four large newly built exhibition halls, which allow for the first time in the history of the Albertina, to exhibit the collection throughout its encyclopedic breadh under optimal conservation conditions.

Image: The new entrance area of the Albertina

64 meter long shed roof. Hans Hollein.

The palace presents itself now in its appearance in the historicist style of the Ringstrassenära, almost as if nothing had happened in the meantime. But will the wheel of time should not, cannot and must not be turned back, so that the double standards of the "Albertina Palace" said museum - on the one hand Habsburg grandeur palaces and other modern museum for the arts of graphics - should be symbolized by a modern character: The in 2003 by Hans Hollein designed far into the Albertina square cantilevering, elegant floating flying roof. 64 meters long, it symbolizes in the form of a dynamic wedge the accelerated urban spatial connectivity and public access to the palace. It advertises the major changes in the interior as well as the huge underground extensions of the repositioned "Albertina".

 

Christian Benedictine

Art historian with research interests History of Architecture, building industry of the Hapsburgs, Hofburg and Zeremonialwissenschaft (ceremonial sciences). Since 1990 he works in the architecture collection of the Albertina. Since 2000 he supervises as director of the newly founded department "Staterooms" the restoration and furnishing of the state rooms and the restoration of the facades and explores the history of the palace and its inhabitants.

 

www.wien-vienna.at/albertinabaugeschichte.php

The Ajanta Caves (Ajiṇṭhā leni; Marathi: अजिंठा लेणी) in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, India are about 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 or 650 CE. The caves include paintings and sculptures described by the government Archaeological Survey of India as "the finest surviving examples of Indian art, particularly painting", which are masterpieces of Buddhist religious art, with figures of the Buddha and depictions of the Jataka tales. The caves were built in two phases starting around the 2nd century BCE, with the second group of caves built around 400–650 CE according to older accounts, or all in a brief period of 460 to 480 according to the recent proposals of Walter M. Spink. The site is a protected monument in the care of the Archaeological Survey of India, and since 1983, the Ajanta Caves have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

The caves are located in the Indian state of Maharashtra, near Jalgaon and just outside the village of Ajinṭhā 20°31′56″N 75°44′44″E), about 59 kilometres from Jalgaon railway station on the Delhi – Mumbai line and Howrah-Nagpur-Mumbai line of the Central Railway zone, and 104 kilometres from the city of Aurangabad. They are 100 kilometres from the Ellora Caves, which contain Hindu and Jain temples as well as Buddhist caves, the last dating from a period similar to Ajanta. The Ajanta caves are cut into the side of a cliff that is on the south side of a U-shaped gorge on the small river Waghur, and although they are now along and above a modern pathway running across the cliff they were originally reached by individual stairs or ladders from the side of the river 35 to 110 feet below.

 

The area was previously heavily forested, and after the site ceased to be used the caves were covered by jungle until accidentally rediscovered in 1819 by a British officer on a hunting party. They are Buddhist monastic buildings, apparently representing a number of distinct "monasteries" or colleges. The caves are numbered 1 to 28 according to their place along the path, beginning at the entrance. Several are unfinished and some barely begun and others are small shrines, included in the traditional numbering as e.g. "9A"; "Cave 15A" was still hidden under rubble when the numbering was done. Further round the gorge are a number of waterfalls, which when the river is high are audible from outside the caves.

 

The caves form the largest corpus of early Indian wall-painting; other survivals from the area of modern India are very few, though they are related to 5th-century paintings at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka. The elaborate architectural carving in many caves is also very rare, and the style of the many figure sculptures is highly local, found only at a few nearby contemporary sites, although the Ajanta tradition can be related to the later Hindu Ellora Caves and other sites.

 

HISTORY

Like the other ancient Buddhist monasteries, Ajanta had a large emphasis on teaching, and was divided into several different caves for living, education and worship, under a central direction. Monks were probably assigned to specific caves for living. The layout reflects this organizational structure, with most of the caves only connected through the exterior. The 7th-century travelling Chinese scholar Xuanzang informs us that Dignaga, a celebrated Buddhist philosopher and controversialist, author of well-known books on logic, lived at Ajanta in the 5th century. In its prime the settlement would have accommodated several hundred teachers and pupils. Many monks who had finished their first training may have returned to Ajanta during the monsoon season from an itinerant lifestyle.

 

The caves are generally agreed to have been made in two distinct periods, separated by several centuries.

 

CAVES OF THE FIRST (SATAVAHANA) PERIOD

The earliest group of caves consists of caves 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15A. According to Walter Spink, they were made during the period 100 BCE to 100 CE, probably under the patronage of the Satavahana dynasty (230 BCE – c. 220 CE) who ruled the region. Other datings prefer the period 300 BCE to 100 BCE, though the grouping of the earlier caves is generally agreed. More early caves may have vanished through later excavations. Of these, caves 9 and 10 are stupa halls of chaitya-griha form, and caves 12, 13, and 15A are vihāras (see the architecture section below for descriptions of these types). The first phase is still often called the Hinayāna phase, as it originated when, using traditional terminology, the Hinayāna or Lesser Vehicle tradition of Buddhism was dominant, when the Buddha was revered symbolically. However the use of the term Hinayana for this period of Buddhism is now deprecated by historians; equally the caves of the second period are now mostly dated too early to be properly called Mahayana, and do not yet show the full expanded cast of supernatural beings characteristic of that phase of Buddhist art. The first Satavahana period caves lacked figurative sculpture, emphasizing the stupa instead, and in the caves of the second period the overwhelming majority of images represent the Buddha alone, or narrative scenes of his lives.

 

Spink believes that some time after the Satavahana period caves were made the site was abandoned for a considerable period until the mid-5th century, probably because the region had turned mainly Hindu

 

CAVES OF THE LATER OR VAKATAKA PERIOD

The second phase began in the 5th century. For a long time it was thought that the later caves were made over a long period from the 4th to the 7th centuries CE, but in recent decades a series of studies by the leading expert on the caves, Walter M. Spink, have argued that most of the work took place over the very brief period from 460 to 480 CE, during the reign of Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty. This view has been criticized by some scholars, but is now broadly accepted by most authors of general books on Indian art, for example Huntington and Harle.

 

The second phase is still often called the Mahāyāna or Greater Vehicle phase, but scholars now tend to avoid this nomenclature because of the problems that have surfaced regarding our understanding of Mahāyāna.

 

Some 20 cave temples were simultaneously created, for the most part viharas with a sanctuary at the back. The most elaborate caves were produced in this period, which included some "modernization" of earlier caves. Spink claims that it is possible to establish dating for this period with a very high level of precision; a fuller account of his chronology is given below. Although debate continues, Spink's ideas are increasingly widely accepted, at least in their broad conclusions. The Archaeological Survey of India website still presents the traditional dating: "The second phase of paintings started around 5th – 6th centuries A.D. and continued for the next two centuries". Caves of the second period are 1–8, 11, 14–29, some possibly extensions of earlier caves. Caves 19, 26, and 29 are chaitya-grihas, the rest viharas.

 

According to Spink, the Ajanta Caves appear to have been abandoned by wealthy patrons shortly after the fall of Harishena, in about 480 CE. They were then gradually abandoned and forgotten. During the intervening centuries, the jungle grew back and the caves were hidden, unvisited and undisturbed, although the local population were aware of at least some of them.

 

REDISCOVERY

On 28 April 1819, a British officer for the Madras Presidency, John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tiger, accidentally discovered the entrance to Cave No. 10 deep within the tangled undergrowth. There were local people already using the caves for prayers with a small fire, when he arrived. Exploring that first cave, long since a home to nothing more than birds and bats and a lair for other larger animals, Captain Smith vandalized the wall by scratching his name and the date, April 1819. Since he stood on a five-foot high pile of rubble collected over the years, the inscription is well above the eye-level gaze of an adult today. A paper on the caves by William Erskine was read to the Bombay Literary Society in 1822. Within a few decades, the caves became famous for their exotic setting, impressive architecture, and above all their exceptional, all but unique paintings. A number of large projects to copy the paintings were made in the century after rediscovery, covered below. In 1848 the Royal Asiatic Society established the "Bombay Cave Temple Commission" to clear, tidy and record the most important rock-cut sites in the Bombay Presidency, with John Wilson, as president. In 1861 this became the nucleus of the new Archaeological Survey of India. Until the Nizam of Hyderabad built the modern path between the caves, among other efforts to make the site easy to visit, a trip to Ajanta was a considerable adventure, and contemporary accounts dwell with relish on the dangers from falls off narrow ledges, animals and the Bhil people, who were armed with bows and arrows and had a fearsome reputation.

 

Today, fairly easily combined with Ellora in a single trip, the caves are the most popular tourist destination in Mahrashtra, and are often crowded at holiday times, increasing the threat to the caves, especially the paintings. In 2012, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation announced plans to add to the ASI visitor centre at the entrance complete replicas of caves 1, 2, 16 & 17 to reduce crowding in the originals, and enable visitors to receive a better visual idea of the paintings, which are dimly-lit and hard to read in the caves. Figures for the year to March 2010 showed a total of 390,000 visitors to the site, divided into 362,000 domestic and 27,000 foreign. The trends over the previous few years show a considerable growth in domestic visitors, but a decline in foreign ones; the year to 2010 was the first in which foreign visitors to Ellora exceeded those to Ajanta.

 

PAINTINGS

Mural paintings survive from both the earlier and later groups of caves. Several fragments of murals preserved from the earlier caves (Caves 9 and 11) are effectively unique survivals of court-led painting in India from this period, and "show that by Sātavāhana times, if not earlier, the Indian painter had mastered an easy and fluent naturalistic style, dealing with large groups of people in a manner comparable to the reliefs of the Sāñcī toraņa crossbars".

 

Four of the later caves have large and relatively well-preserved mural paintings which "have come to represent Indian mural painting to the non-specialist", and fall into two stylistic groups, with the most famous in Caves 16 and 17, and apparently later paintings in Caves 1 and 2. The latter group were thought to be a century or more later than the others, but the revised chronology proposed by Spink would place them much closer to the earlier group, perhaps contemporary with it in a more progressive style, or one reflecting a team from a different region. The paintings are in "dry fresco", painted on top of a dry plaster surface rather than into wet plaster.

 

All the paintings appear to be the work of painters at least as used to decorating palaces as temples, and show a familiarity with and interest in details of the life of a wealthy court. We know from literary sources that painting was widely practised and appreciated in the courts of the Gupta period. Unlike much Indian painting, compositions are not laid out in horizontal compartments like a frieze, but show large scenes spreading in all directions from a single figure or group at the centre. The ceilings are also painted with sophisticated and elaborate decorative motifs, many derived from sculpture. The paintings in cave 1, which according to Spink was commissioned by Harisena himself, concentrate on those Jataka tales which show previous lives of the Buddha as a king, rather than as an animal or human commoner, and so show settings from contemporary palace life.

 

In general the later caves seem to have been painted on finished areas as excavating work continued elsewhere in the cave, as shown in caves 2 and 16 in particular. According to Spink's account of the chronology of the caves, the abandonment of work in 478 after a brief busy period accounts for the absence of painting in caves such as 4 and 17, the later being plastered in preparation for paintings that were never done.

 

COPIES

The paintings have deteriorated significantly since they were rediscovered, and a number of 19th-century copies and drawings are important for a complete understanding of the works. However, the earliest projects to copy the paintings were plagued by bad fortune. In 1846, Major Robert Gill, an Army officer from Madras presidency and a painter, was appointed by the Royal Asiatic Society to replicate the frescoes on the cave walls to exhibit these paintings in England. Gill worked on his painting at the site from 1844 to 1863 (though he continued to be based there until his death in 1875, writing books and photographing) and made 27 copies of large sections of murals, but all but four were destroyed in a fire at the Crystal Palace in London in 1866, where they were on display.

 

Another attempt was made in 1872 when the Bombay Presidency commissioned John Griffiths, then principal of the Bombay School of Art, to work with his students to make new copies, again for shipping to England. They worked on this for thirteen years and some 300 canvases were produced, many of which were displayed at the Imperial Institute on Exhibition Road in London, one of the forerunners of the Victoria and Albert Museum. But in 1885 another fire destroyed over a hundred paintings that were in storage. The V&A still has 166 paintings surviving from both sets, though none have been on permanent display since 1955. The largest are some 3 × 6 metres. A conservation project was undertaken on about half of them in 2006, also involving the University of Northumbria. Griffith and his students had unfortunately painted many of the paintings with "cheap varnish" in order to make them easier to see, which has added to the deterioration of the originals, as has, according to Spink and others, recent cleaning by the ASI.

 

A further set of copies were made between 1909 and 1911 by Christiana Herringham (Lady Herringham) and a group of students from the Calcutta School of Art that included the future Indian Modernist painter Nandalal Bose. The copies were published in full colour as the first publication of London's fledgling India Society. More than the earlier copies, these aimed to fill in holes and damage to recreate the original condition rather than record the state of the paintings as she was seeing them. According to one writer, unlike the paintings created by her predecessors Griffiths and Gill, whose copies were influenced by British Victorian styles of painting, those of the Herringham expedition preferred an 'Indian Renascence' aesthetic of the type pioneered by Abanindranath Tagore.

 

Early photographic surveys were made by Robert Gill, who learnt to use a camera from about 1856, and whose photos, including some using stereoscopy, were used in books by him and Fergusson (many are available online from the British Library), then Victor Goloubew in 1911 and E.L. Vassey, who took the photos in the four volume study of the caves by Ghulam Yazdani (published 1930–1955).

 

ARCHITECTURE

The monasteries mostly consist of vihara halls for prayer and living, which are typically rectangular with small square dormitory cells cut into the walls, and by the second period a shrine or sanctuary at the rear centred on a large statue of the Buddha, also carved from the living rock. This change reflects the movement from Hinayana to Mahāyāna Buddhism. The other type of main hall is the narrower and higher chaitya hall with a stupa as the focus at the far end, and a narrow aisle around the walls, behind a range of pillars placed close together. Other plainer rooms were for sleeping and other activities. Some of the caves have elaborate carved entrances, some with large windows over the door to admit light. There is often a colonnaded porch or verandah, with another space inside the doors running the width of the cave.

 

The central square space of the interior of the viharas is defined by square columns forming a more or less square open area. Outside this are long rectangular aisles on each side, forming a kind of cloister. Along the side and rear walls are a number of small cells entered by a narrow doorway; these are roughly square, and have small niches on their back walls. Originally they had wooden doors. The centre of the rear wall has a larger shrine-room behind, containing a large Buddha statue. The viharas of the earlier period are much simpler, and lack shrines. Spink in fact places the change to a design with a shrine to the middle of the second period, with many caves being adapted to add a shrine in mid-excavation, or after the original phase.

 

The plan of Cave 1 shows one of the largest viharas, but is fairly typical of the later group. Many others, such as Cave 16, lack the vestibule to the shrine, which leads straight off the main hall. Cave 6 is two viharas, one above the other, connected by internal stairs, with sanctuaries on both levels.

 

The four completed chaitya halls are caves 9 and 10 from the early period, and caves 19 and 26 from the later period of construction. All follow the typical form found elsewhere, with high ceilings and a central "nave" leading to the stupa, which is near the back, but allows walking behind it, as walking around stupas was (and remains) a common element of Buddhist worship (pradakshina). The later two have high ribbed roofs, which reflect timber forms, and the earlier two are thought to have used actual timber ribs, which have now perished. The two later halls have a rather unusual arrangement (also found in Cave 10 at Ellora) where the stupa is fronted by a large relief sculpture of the Buddha, standing in Cave 19 and seated in Cave 26. Cave 29 is a late and very incomplete chaitya hall.

 

The form of columns in the work of the first period is very plain and un-embellished, with both chaitya halls using simple octagonal columns, which were painted with figures. In the second period columns were far more varied and inventive, often changing profile over their height, and with elaborate carved capitals, often spreading wide. Many columns are carved over all their surface, some fluted and others carved with decoration all over, as in cave 1.

 

The flood basalt rock of the cliff, part of the Deccan Traps formed by successive volcanic eruptions at the end of the Cretaceous, is layered horizontally, and somewhat variable in quality, so the excavators had to amend their plans in places, and in places there have been collapses in the intervening centuries, as with the lost portico to cave 1. Excavation began by cutting a narrow tunnel at roof level, which was expanded downwards and outwards; the half-built vihara cave 24 shows the method. Spink believes that for the first caves of the second period the excavators had to relearn skills and techniques that had been lost in the centuries since the first period, which were then transmitted to be used at later rock-cut sites in the region, such as Ellora, and the Elephanta, Bagh, Badami and Aurangabad Caves.

 

The caves from the first period seem to have been paid for by a number of different patrons, with several inscriptions recording the donation of particular portions of a single cave, but according to Spink the later caves were each commissioned as a complete unit by a single patron from the local rulers or their court elites. After the death of Harisena smaller donors got their chance to add small "shrinelets" between the caves or add statues to existing caves, and some two hundred of these "intrusive" additions were made in sculpture, with a further number of intrusive paintings, up to three hundred in cave 10 alone.

 

A grand gateway to the site, at the apex of the gorge's horsehoe between caves 15 and 16, was approached from the river, and is decorated with elephants on either side and a nāga, or protective snake deity.

 

ICONOGRAPHY OF THE CAVES

In the pre-Christian era, the Buddha was represented symbolically, in the form of the stupa. Thus, halls were made with stupas to venerate the Buddha. In later periods the images of the Buddha started to be made in coins, relic caskets, relief or loose sculptural forms, etc. However, it took a while for the human representation of the Buddha to appear in Buddhist art. One of the earliest evidences of the Buddha's human representations are found at Buddhist archaeological sites, such as Goli, Nagarjunakonda, and Amaravati. The monasteries of those sites were built in less durable media, such as wood, brick, and stone. As far as the genre of rock-cut architecture is concerned it took many centuries for the Buddha image to be depicted. Nobody knows for sure at which rock-cut cave site the first image of the Buddha was depicted. Current research indicates that Buddha images in a portable form, made of wood or stone, were introduced, for the first time, at Kanheri, to be followed soon at Ajanta Cave 8 (Dhavalikar, Jadhav, Spink, Singh). While the Kanheri example dates to 4th or 5th century CE, the Ajanta example has been dated to c. 462–478 CE (Spink). None of the rock-cut monasteries prior to these dates, and other than these examples, show any Buddha image although hundreds of rock-cut caves were made throughout India during the first few centuries CE. And, in those caves, it is the stupa that is the object of veneration, not the image. Images of the Buddha are not found in Buddhist sailagrhas (rock-cut complexes) until the times of the Kanheri (4th–5th century CE) and Ajanta examples (c. 462–478 CE).

 

The caves of the second period, now all dated to the 5th century, were typically described as "Mahayana", but do not show the features associated with later Mahayana Buddhism. Although the beginnings of Mahāyāna teachings go back to the 1st century there is little art and archaeological evidence to suggest that it became a mainstream cult for several centuries. In Mahayana it is not Gautama Buddha but the Bodhisattva who is important, including "deity" Bodhisattva like Manjushri and Tara, as well as aspects of the Buddha such as Aksobhya, and Amitabha. Except for a few Bodhisattva, these are not depicted at Ajanta, where the Buddha remains the dominant figure. Even the Bodhisattva images of Ajanta are never central objects of worship, but are always shown as attendants of the Buddha in the shrine. If a Bodhisattva is shown in isolation, as in the Astabhaya scenes, these were done in the very last years of activities at Ajanta, and are mostly 'intrusive' in nature, meaning that they were not planned by the original patrons, and were added by new donors after the original patrons had suddenly abandoned the region in the wake of Emperor Harisena's death.

 

The contrast between iconic and aniconic representations, that is, the stupa on one hand and the image of the Buddha on the other, is now being seen as a construct of the modern scholar rather than a reality of the past. The second phase of Ajanta shows that the stupa and image coincided together. If the entire corpus of the art of Ajanta including sculpture, iconography, architecture, epigraphy, and painting are analysed afresh it will become clear that there was no duality between the symbolic and human forms of the Buddha, as far as the 5th-century phase of Ajanta is concerned. That is why most current scholars tend to avoid the terms 'Hinayana' and 'Mahayana' in the context of Ajanta. They now prefer to call the second phase by the ruling dynasty, as the Vākāţaka phase.

 

CAVES

CAVE 1

Cave 1 was built on the eastern end of the horse-shoe shaped scarp, and is now the first cave the visitor encounters. This would when first made have been a less prominent position, right at the end of the row. According to Spink, it is one of the latest caves to have been excavated, when the best sites had been taken, and was never fully inaugurated for worship by the dedication of the Buddha image in the central shrine. This is shown by the absence of sooty deposits from butter lamps on the base of the shrine image, and the lack of damage to the paintings that would have been happened if the garland-hooks around the shrine had been in use for any period of time. Although there is no epigraphic evidence, Spink believes that the Vākāţaka Emperor Harishena was the benefactor of the work, and this is reflected in the emphasis on imagery of royalty in the cave, with those Jakata tales being selected that tell of those previous lives of the Buddha in which he was royal.

 

The cliff has a more steep slope here than at other caves, so to achieve a tall grand facade it was necessary to cut far back into the slope, giving a large courtyard in front of the facade. There was originally a columned portico in front of the present facade, which can be seen "half-intact in the 1880s" in pictures of the site, but this fell down completely and the remains, despite containing fine carving, were carelessly thrown down the slope into the river, from where they have been lost, presumably carried away in monsoon torrents.

 

This cave has one of the most elaborate carved façades, with relief sculptures on entablature and ridges, and most surfaces embellished with decorative carving. There are scenes carved from the life of the Buddha as well as a number of decorative motifs. A two pillared portico, visible in the 19th-century photographs, has since perished. The cave has a front-court with cells fronted by pillared vestibules on either side. These have a high plinth level. The cave has a porch with simple cells on both ends. The absence of pillared vestibules on the ends suggest that the porch was not excavated in the latest phase of Ajanta when pillared vestibules had become a necessity and norm. Most areas of the porch were once covered with murals, of which many fragments remain, especially on the ceiling. There are three doorways: a central doorway and two side doorways. Two square windows were carved between the doorways to brighten the interiors.

 

Each wall of the hall inside is nearly 12 m long and 6.1 m high. Twelve pillars make a square colonnade inside supporting the ceiling, and creating spacious aisles along the walls. There is a shrine carved on the rear wall to house an impressive seated image of the Buddha, his hands being in the dharmachakrapravartana mudra. There are four cells on each of the left, rear, and the right walls, though due to rock fault there are none at the ends of the rear aisle. The walls are covered with paintings in a fair state of preservation, though the full scheme was never completed. The scenes depicted are mostly didactic, devotional, and ornamental, with scenes from the Jataka stories of the Buddha's former existences as a bodhisattva), the life of the Gautama Buddha, and those of his veneration. The two most famous individual painted images at Ajanta are the two over-life size figures of the protective bodhisattvas Padmapani and Vajrapani on either side of the entrance to the Buddha shrine on the wall of the rear aisle (see illustrations above). According to Spink, the original dating of the paintings to about 625 arose largely or entirely because James Fegusson, a 19th-century architectural historian, had decided that a scene showing an ambassador being received, with figures in Persian dress, represented a recorded embassy to Persia (from a Hindu monarch at that) around that date.

 

CAVE 2

Cave 2, adjacent to Cave 1, is known for the paintings that have been preserved on its walls, ceilings, and pillars. It looks similar to Cave 1 and is in a better state of preservation.

 

Cave 2 has a porch quite different from Cave one. Even the façade carvings seem to be different. The cave is supported by robust pillars, ornamented with designs. The front porch consists of cells supported by pillared vestibules on both ends. The cells on the previously "wasted areas" were needed to meet the greater housing requirements in later years. Porch-end cells became a trend in all later Vakataka excavations. The simple single cells on porch-ends were converted into CPVs or were planned to provide more room, symmetry, and beauty.

 

The paintings on the ceilings and walls of this porch have been widely published. They depict the Jataka tales that are stories of the Buddha's life in former existences as Bodhisattva. Just as the stories illustrated in cave 1 emphasize kingship, those in cave 2 show many "noble and powerful" women in prominent roles, leading to suggestions that the patron was an unknown woman. The porch's rear wall has a doorway in the center, which allows entrance to the hall. On either side of the door is a square-shaped window to brighten the interior.

 

The hall has four colonnades which are supporting the ceiling and surrounding a square in the center of the hall. Each arm or colonnade of the square is parallel to the respective walls of the hall, making an aisle in between. The colonnades have rock-beams above and below them. The capitals are carved and painted with various decorative themes that include ornamental, human, animal, vegetative, and semi-divine forms.

 

Paintings appear on almost every surface of the cave except for the floor. At various places the art work has become eroded due to decay and human interference. Therefore, many areas of the painted walls, ceilings, and pillars are fragmentary. The painted narratives of the Jataka tales are depicted only on the walls, which demanded the special attention of the devotee. They are didactic in nature, meant to inform the community about the Buddha's teachings and life through successive rebirths. Their placement on the walls required the devotee to walk through the aisles and 'read' the narratives depicted in various episodes. The narrative episodes are depicted one after another although not in a linear order. Their identification has been a core area of research since the site's rediscovery in 1819. Dieter Schlingloff's identifications have updated our knowledge on the subject.

 

CAVE 4

The Archeological Survey of India board outside the caves gives the following detail about cave 4: "This is the largest monastery planned on a grandiose scale but was never finished. An inscription on the pedestal of the buddha's image mentions that it was a gift from a person named Mathura and paleographically belongs to 6th century A.D. It consists of a verandah, a hypostylar hall, sanctum with an antechamber and a series of unfinished cells. The rear wall of the verandah contains the panel of Litany of Avalokiteśvara".

 

The sanctuary houses a colossal image of the Buddha in preaching pose flanked by bodhisattvas and celestial nymphs hovering above.

 

CAVES 9-10

Caves 9 and 10 are the two chaitya halls from the first period of construction, though both were also undergoing an uncompleted reworking at the end of the second period. Cave 10 was perhaps originally of the 1st century BCE, and cave 9 about a hundred years later. The small "shrinelets" called caves 9A to 9D and 10A also date from the second period, and were commissioned by individuals.

 

The paintings in cave 10 include some surviving from the early period, many from an incomplete programme of modernization in the second period, and a very large number of smaller late intrusive images, nearly all Buddhas and many with donor inscriptions from individuals. These mostly avoided over-painting the "official" programme and after the best positions were used up are tucked away in less prominent positions not yet painted; the total of these (including those now lost) was probably over 300, and the hands of many different artists are visible.

 

OTHER CAVES

Cave 3 is merely a start of an excavation; according to Spink it was begun right at the end of the final period of work and soon abandoned. Caves 5 and 6 are viharas, the latter on two floors, that were late works of which only the lower floor of cave 6 was ever finished. The upper floor of cave 6 has many private votive sculptures, and a shrine Buddha, but is otherwise unfinished. Cave 7 has a grand facade with two porticos but, perhaps because of faults in the rock, which posed problems in many caves, was never taken very deep into the cliff, and consists only of the two porticos and a shrine room with antechamber, with no central hall. Some cells were fitted in.

 

Cave 8 was long thought to date to the first period of construction, but Spink sees it as perhaps the earliest cave from the second period, its shrine an "afterthought". The statue may have been loose rather than carved from the living rock, as it has now vanished. The cave was painted, but only traces remain.

 

SPINK´S DETAILED CHRONOLOGY

Walter M. Spink has over recent decades developed a very precise and circumstantial chronology for the second period of work on the site, which unlike earlier scholars, he places entirely in the 5th century. This is based on evidence such as the inscriptions and artistic style, combined with the many uncompleted elements of the caves. He believes the earlier group of caves, which like other scholars he dates only approximately, to the period "between 100 BCE – 100 CE", were at some later point completely abandoned and remained so "for over three centuries", as the local population had turned mainly Hindu. This changed with the accession of the Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka Dynasty, who reigned from 460 to his death in 477. Harisena extended the Central Indian Vakataka Empire to include a stretch of the east coast of India; the Gupta Empire ruled northern India at the same period, and the Pallava dynasty much of the south.

 

According to Spink, Harisena encouraged a group of associates, including his prime minister Varahadeva and Upendragupta, the sub-king in whose territory Ajanta was, to dig out new caves, which were individually commissioned, some containing inscriptions recording the donation. This activity began in 462 but was mostly suspended in 468 because of threats from the neighbouring Asmaka kings. Work continued on only caves 1, Harisena's own commission, and 17–20, commissioned by Upendragupta. In 472 the situation was such that work was suspended completely, in a period that Spink calls "the Hiatus", which lasted until about 475, by which time the Asmakas had replaced Upendragupta as the local rulers.

 

Work was then resumed, but again disrupted by Harisena's death in 477, soon after which major excavation ceased, except at cave 26, which the Asmakas were sponsoring themselves. The Asmakas launched a revolt against Harisena's son, which brought about the end of the Vakataka Dynasty. In the years 478–480 major excavation by important patrons was replaced by a rash of "intrusions" – statues added to existing caves, and small shrines dotted about where there was space between them. These were commissioned by less powerful individuals, some monks, who had not previously been able to make additions to the large excavations of the rulers and courtiers. They were added to the facades, the return sides of the entrances, and to walls inside the caves. According to Spink, "After 480, not a single image was ever made again at the site", and as Hinduism again dominated the region, the site was again abandoned, this time for over a millennium.

 

Spink does not use "circa" in his dates, but says that "one should allow a margin of error of one year or perhaps even two in all cases".

 

IMPACT ON MODERN INDIAN PAINTINGS

The Ajanta paintings, or more likely the general style they come from, influenced painting in Tibet and Sri Lanka.

 

The rediscovery of ancient Indian paintings at Ajanta provided Indian artists examples from ancient India to follow. Nandlal Bose experimented with techniques to follow the ancient style which allowed him to develop his unique style. Abanindranath Tagore also used the Ajanta paintings for inspiration.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Muscat (Arabic: مَسْقَط, Masqaṭ pronounced [ˈmasqatˤ]) is the capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total population of Muscat Governorate was 1.72 million as of September 2022. The metropolitan area spans approximately 3,500 km2 (1,400 sq mi) and includes six provinces called wilayats, making it the largest city in the Arabian Peninsula by area.[citation needed] Known since the early 1st century AD as an important trading port between the west and the east, Muscat was ruled by various indigenous tribes as well as foreign powers such as the Persians, the Portuguese Empire and the Ottoman Empire at various points in its history. A regional military power in the 18th century, Muscat's influence extended as far as East Africa and Zanzibar. As an important port-town in the Gulf of Oman, Muscat attracted foreign traders and settlers such as the Persians, Balochs and Sindhis. Since the accession of Qaboos bin Said as Sultan of Oman in 1970, Muscat has experienced rapid infrastructural development that has led to the growth of a vibrant economy and a multi-ethnic society. Muscat is termed as a Beta - Global City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

 

The Hajar Mountains dominate the landscape of Muscat. The city lies on the Arabian Sea along the Gulf of Oman and is in the proximity of the strategic Straits of Hormuz. Low-lying white buildings typify most of Muscat's urban landscape, while the port-district of Muttrah, with its corniche and harbour, form the north-eastern periphery of the city. Muscat's economy is dominated by trade, petroleum, liquified natural gas and porting.

 

Toponymy

Ptolemy's Map of Arabia identifies the territories of Cryptus Portus and Moscha Portus. Scholars are divided in opinion on which of the two is related to the city of Muscat. Similarly, Arrianus references Omana and Moscha in Voyage of Nearchus. Interpretations of Arrianus' work by William Vincent and Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville conclude that Omana was a reference to Oman, while Moscha referred to Muscat. Similarly, other scholars identify Pliny the Elder's reference to Amithoscuta to be Muscat.

 

The origin of the word Muscat is disputed. Some authors claim that the word has Arabic origins – from moscha, meaning an inflated hide or skin. Other authors claim that the name Muscat means anchorage or the place of "letting fall the anchor". Other derivations include muscat from Old Persian, meaning strong-scented, or from Arabic, meaning falling-place, or hidden. Cryptus Portus is synonymous with Oman ("hidden land"). But "Ov-man" (Omman), and the old Sumerian name Magan (Maa-kan), means sea-people in Arabic. An inhabitant is a Muscatter, Muscatian, Muscatite or Muscatan. In 1793 AD the capital was transferred from Rustaq to Muscat.

 

History

See also: Timeline of Muscat, Oman

Evidence of communal activity in the area around Muscat dates back to the 6th millennium BC in Ras al-Hamra, where burial sites of fishermen have been found. The graves appear to be well formed and indicate the existence of burial rituals. South of Muscat, remnants of Harappan pottery indicate some level of contact with the Indus Valley civilisation. Muscat's notability as a port was acknowledged as early as the 1st century AD by the Greek geographer Ptolemy, who referred to it as Cryptus Portus (the Hidden Port), and by Pliny the Elder, who called it Amithoscuta.

 

The port fell to a Sassanid invasion in the 3rd century AD, under the rule of Shapur I, while conversion to Islam occurred during the 7th century. Muscat's importance as a trading port continued to grow in the centuries that followed, under the influence of the Azd dynasty, a local tribe. The establishment of the First Imamate in the 9th century was the first step in consolidating disparate Omani tribal factions under the banner of an Ibadi state. However, tribal skirmishes continued, allowing the Abbasids of Baghdad to conquer Oman. The Abbasids occupied the region until the 11th century, when they were driven out by the local Yahmad tribe. Power over Oman shifted from the Yahmad tribe to the Azdi Nabahinah clan, during whose rule, the people of coastal ports such as Muscat prospered from maritime trade and close alliances with the Indian subcontinent, at the cost of the alienation of the people of the interior of Oman.

 

The Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque sailed to Muscat in 1507, in an attempt to establish trade relations. As he approached the harbour, his ships were fired on. He then decided to conquer Muscat. Most of the city burned to the ground during and after the fighting.

 

The Portuguese maintained a hold on Muscat for over a century, despite challenges from Persia and a bombardment of the town by the Ottoman Turks in 1546. The Turks twice captured Muscat from the Portuguese, in the Capture of Muscat (1552) and 1581–88. The election of Nasir bin Murshid Al-Ya'rubi as Imam of Oman in 1624 changed the balance of power again in the region, from the Persians and the Portuguese to local Omanis. Among the most important castles and forts in Muscat, the Al Jalali Fort and the Al-Mirani Fort are the most prominent buildings left by the Portuguese. On August 16, 1648 the Imam dispatched an army to Muscat, which captured and demolished the high towers of the Portuguese, weakening their grip over the town. Decisively, in 1650, a small but determined body of the Imam's troops attacked the port at night, forcing an eventual Portuguese surrender on January 23, 1650. A civil war and repeated incursions by the Persian king Nader Shah in the 18th century destabilised the region, and further strained relations between the interior and Muscat. This power vacuum in Oman led to the emergence of the Al Bu Sa‘id dynasty, which has ruled Oman ever since.

 

Muscat's naval and military supremacy was re-established in the 19th century by Said bin Sultan, who signed a treaty with U.S. President Andrew Jackson's representative Edmund Roberts on September 21, 1833. Having gained control over Zanzibar, in 1840 Said moved his capital to Stone Town, the ancient quarter of Zanzibar City; however, after his death in 1856, control over Zanzibar was lost when it became an independent sultanate under his sixth son, Majid bin Said (1834/5–1870), while the third son, Thuwaini bin Said, became the Sultan of Oman.

 

By the 19th century, a large Hindu merchant community in the port city dominated its commercial life. It is argued that their settlement at least since the fifteenth century; one of the reasons is that the Portuguese relied heavily on them to secure a trade monopoly in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf area. The Sindhis were amongst the first during this era, followed by the Kutchis. The merchant community played an important role in expelling the Europeans in 1650. They were not affected by civil war that established the Al Bu Sa‘id dynasty and continued to prosper under Ahmad bin Said al-Busaidi. Important trade existed between the city and Thatta, and later, Kutch, expanding to other parts of India.

 

During the second half of the 19th century, the fortunes of the Al Bu Sa‘id declined and friction with the Imams of the interior resurfaced. Muscat and Muttrah were attacked by tribes from the interior in 1895 and again in 1915. A tentative ceasefire was brokered by the British, which gave the interior more autonomy. However, conflicts among the disparate tribes of the interior, and with the Sultan of Muscat and Oman continued into the 1950s, and eventually escalated into the Dhofar Rebellion (1962). The rebellion forced the Sultan Said bin Taimur to seek the assistance of the British in quelling the uprisings from the interior. The failed assassination attempt of April 26, 1966 on Said bin Taimur led to the further isolation of the Sultan, who had moved his residence from Muscat to Salalah, amidst the civilian armed conflict. On July 23, 1970, Qaboos bin Said, son of the Sultan, staged a bloodless coup d'état in the Salalah palace with the assistance of the British, and took over as ruler.

 

With the assistance of the British, Qaboos bin Said put an end to the Dhofar uprising and consolidated disparate tribal territories. He renamed the country the Sultanate of Oman (called Muscat and Oman hitherto), in an attempt to end to the interior's isolation from Muscat. Qaboos enlisted the services of capable Omanis to fill positions in his new government, drawing from such corporations as Petroleum Development Oman. New ministries for social services such as health and education were established. The construction of Mina Qaboos, a new port conceived initially by Sa‘id bin Taimur, was developed during the early days of Qaboos' rule. Similarly, a new international airport was developed in Muscat's Seeb district. A complex of offices, warehouses, shops and homes transformed the old village of Ruwi in Muttrah into a commercial district. The first five-year development plan in 1976 emphasised infrastructural development of Muscat, which provided new opportunities for trade and tourism in the 1980s–1990s, attracting migrants from around the region. On June 6, 2007, Cyclone Gonu hit Muscat causing extensive damage to property, infrastructure and commercial activity.

 

Geography and geology

Muscat is located in northeast Oman. The Tropic of Cancer passes south of the area. It is bordered to its west by the plains of the Al Batinah Region and to its east by Ash Sharqiyah Region. The interior plains of Ad Dakhiliyah Region border Muscat to the south, while the Gulf of Oman forms the northern and western periphery of the city. The water along the coast of Muscat runs deep, forming two natural harbours, in Muttrah and Muscat. The Central Hajar Mountains run through the northern coastline of the city.

 

Volcanic rocks, predominantly serpentinite and diorite are apparent in the Muscat area and extend along the Gulf of Oman coast for ten or twelve 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) from the district of Darsait to Yiti. Plutonic rocks constitute the hills and mountains of Muscat and span approximately 30 miles (48 km) from Darsait to Ras Jissah. These igneous rocks consists of serpentinite, greenstone, and basalt, typical of rocks in southeastern regions of the Arabian Peninsula. South of Muscat, the volcanic rock strata are broken up and distorted, rising to a maximum height of 6,000 feet (1,800 m) in Al-Dakhiliyah, a region which includes Jebel Akhdar, the country's highest range. The hills in Muscat are mostly devoid of vegetation but are rich in iron.

 

The halophytic sabkha type desert vegetation is predominant in Muscat. The Qurum Nature Reserve contains plants such as the Arthrocnemum Macrostachyum and Halopeplis Perfoliata. Coral reefs are common in Muscat. Acropora reefs exist in the sheltered bays of the satellite towns of Jussah and Khairan. Additionally, smaller Porites reef colonies exist in Khairan, which have fused to form a flat-top pavement that is visible at low tide. Crabs and spiny crayfish are found in the waters of the Muscat area, as are sardines and bonito. Glassfish are common in freshwater estuaries, such as the Qurum Nature Reserve.

 

The Sultan Qaboos Street forms the main artery of Muscat, running west-to-east through the city. The street eventually becomes Al Nahdah Street near Al Wattayah. Several inter-city roads such as Nizwa Road and Al Amrat Road, intersect with Al Sultan Qaboos Road (in Rusail and Ruwi, respectively). Muttrah, with the Muscat Harbour, Corniche, and Mina Qaboos, is located in the north-eastern coastline of the city, adjacent to the Gulf of Oman. Other coastal districts of Muscat include Darsait, Mina Al Fahal, Ras Al Hamar, Al Qurum Heights, Al Khuwair, and Al Seeb. Residential and commercial districts further inland include Al Hamriyah, Al Wadi Al Kabir, Ruwi, Al Wattayah, Madinat Qaboos, Al Azaiba and Al Ghubra.

 

Climate

Muscat features a hot, arid climate (Köppen climate classification BWh) with long, sweltering summers and warm "winters". Annual rainfall in Muscat is about 10 centimetres or 4 inches, falling mostly from December to April. In general, precipitation is scarce in Muscat, with the months May to November typically receiving only a trace of rainfall. However, in recent years, heavy precipitation events from tropical systems originating in the Arabian Sea have struck the city. Cyclone Gonu in June 2007 and Cyclone Phet in June 2010 affected the city with damaging winds and rainfall amounts exceeding 100 millimetres or 4 inches in just a single day. The climate generally is very hot and also very humid in the summer, with temperatures sometimes reaching as high as 45 °C or 113 °F.

 

Economy

Muscat's economy, like that of Oman, is dominated by trade. The more traditional exports of the city included dates, mother of pearl, and fish. Many of the souks of Muttrah sell these items and traditional Omani artefacts. Petroleum Development Oman has been central to Muscat's economy since at least 1962 and is the country's second largest employer, after the government. Its major shareholders include Shell, Total, and Partex and its production is estimated to be about 720,000 barrels per day (114,000 m3/d). Muscat also has major trading companies such as the Suhail Bahwan Group, which is a trading partner for corporations such as Toshiba, Subaru, Seiko, Hewlett-Packard, General Motors, RAK Ceramics; Saud Bahwan Group whose trading partners are Toyota, Daihatsu, KIA and Hertz Rent-a-Car; Zubair Automotive whose trading partners include Mitsubishi, and Chrysler brands such as Dodge; and Moosa AbdulRahman Hassan which operates as one of the oldest automotive agencies in the entire region having been established in 1927. The private Health Care sector of Muscat, Oman has numerous hospitals and clinics.

 

The Muscat Securities Market is the principal stock exchange of Oman. It is located in Central Business District of Muscat and it was established in 1988, and has since distinguished itself as a pioneer among its regional peers in terms of transparency and disclosure regulations and requirements.

 

Mina'a Sultan Qaboos, Muscat's main trading port, is a trading hub between the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent and the Far East with an annual volume of about 1.6 million tons. However, the emergence of the Jebel Ali Free Zone in neighboring Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has made that port the premier maritime trading port of the region with about 44 million tons traded in cargo annually. Many infrastructural facilities are owned and operated by the government of Oman. Omantel is the major telecommunications organization in Oman and provides local, long-distance and international dialing facilities and operates as the country's only ISP. Recent liberalization of the mobile telephone market has seen the establishment of a second provider, Ooredoo.

 

Muscat is home to multibillion-dollar conglomerate CK Industries with their headquarters located in Ruwi. Ajman based Amtek Industries also have a couple of offices around the city. It is also home to Galfar Engineering, headed by P. Mohammed Ali.

 

The airline Oman Air has its head office on the grounds of Muscat International Airport.

 

Demographics

According to the 2003 census conducted by the Oman Ministry of National Economy, the population of Muscat is over 630,000, which included 370,000 males and 260,000 females. Muscat formed the second largest governorate in the country, after Al Batinah, accounting for 27% of the total population of Oman. As of 2003, Omanis constituted 60% of the total population of Muscat, while expatriates accounted for about 40%. The population density of the city was 162.1 per km2.

  

Shangri la in Muscat

The governorate of Muscat comprises six wilayats: Muttrah, Bawshar, Seeb, Al Amrat, Muscat and Qurayyat. Seeb, located in the western section of the governorate, was the most populous (with over 220,000 residents), while Muttrah had the highest number of expatriates (with over 100,000). Approximately 71% of the population was within the 15–64 age group, with the average Omani age being 23 years. About 10% of the population is illiterate, an improvement when compared to the 18% illiteracy rate recorded during the 1993 census. Expatriates accounted for over 60% of the labour force, dominated by males, who accounted for 80% of the city's total labour. A majority of expatriates (34%) was in engineering-related occupations, while most Omanis worked in engineering, clerical, scientific or technical fields. The defense sector was the largest employer for Omanis, while construction, wholesale and retail trade employed the largest number of expatriates.

 

The ethnic makeup of Muscat has historically been influenced by people not native to the Arabian Peninsula. British Parliamentary papers dating back to the 19th century indicate the presence of a significant Hindu Gujarati merchants in the city. Indeed, four Hindu temples existed in Muscat ca. 1760. Christianity flourished in Oman (Bēṯ Mazūnāyē "land of the Maganites"; a name deriving from its Sumerian designation) from the late 4th century to the 7th century. Missionary activity by the Assyrians of the Church of the East resulted in a significant Christian population living in the region, with a bishop being attested by 424 AD under the Metropolitan of Fars and Arabia. The rise of Islam saw the Syriac and Arabic-speaking Christian population eventually disappear. It is thought to have been brought back in by the Portuguese in 1507. Protestant missionaries established a hospital in Muscat in the 19th century.

 

Like the rest of Oman, Arabic is the predominant language of the city. In addition, English, Balochi, Sindhi, Swahili and Indian languages such as Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Tulu, Telugu and Urdu are spoken by the residents of Muscat.

 

Islam is the predominant religion in the city, with most followers being Ibadi Muslims. Non-Muslims are allowed to practise their religion, but may not proselytize publicly or distribute religious literature. In 2017 the Sultanate of Oman unveiled the Mushaf Muscat, an interactive calligraphic Quran following a brief from the Omani Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs.

 

Notable landmarks

The city has numerous mosques including the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque, Ruwi Mosque, Saeed bin Taimoor and Zawawi Mosque. A few Shi'ite mosques also exist here. Muscat has a number of museums. These include Museum of Omani Heritage, National Museum of Oman, Oman Children's Museum, Bait Al Zubair, Oman Oil and Gas Exhibition Centre, Omani French Museum, Sultan's Armed Forces Museum and the Omani Aquarium and Marine Science and Fisheries Centre. The Bait Al Falaj Fort played an important role in Muscat's military history.

 

Recent projects include an opera house which opened on October 14, 2011. One of the most notable new projects is the Oman National Museum. It is expected to be an architectural jewel along with the Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque. Visitors are also encouraged[who?] to visit Old Muscat and the Old Palace. The main shopping district is situated in Al Qurum Commercial Area. However, shopping malls are found throughout the city. One of the largest malls in Oman is Oman Avenues Mall, located in Ghubra. The fourth largest mall is in Seeb, near the international airport, called City Centre Muscat, housing all major international brands and the largest Carrefour hypermarket. Two new megamalls opened during 2019 and 2020: in the Mabela area of Muscat are Al Araimi Boulevard and Mall of Muscat.[citation needed] The Mall of Muscat is also home to the Oman Aquarium and a snow park which opened in late 2019.[50] Mall Of Oman, the largest shopping mall in Oman was opened in Summer 2021 housing over 100+ stores including Snow Oman, Vox Cinemas, an arcade (Magic Planet) and various food chains.

 

Culture

The traditional Dhow, an enduring symbol of Oman

Outwardly, Oman shares many of the cultural characteristics of its Arab neighbours, particularly those in the Gulf Cooperation Council. Despite these similarities, important factors make Oman unique in the Middle East. These result as much from geography and history as from culture and economics. The relatively recent and artificial nature of the state of Oman makes it difficult to describe a national culture; however, sufficient cultural heterogeneity exists within its national boundaries to make Oman distinct from other Arab States of the Persian Gulf. Oman's cultural diversity is greater than that of its Arab neighbours, given its historical expansion to the Swahili Coast and the Indian Ocean.

 

Oman has a long tradition of shipbuilding, as maritime travel played a major role in the Omanis' ability to stay in contact with the civilisations of the ancient world. Sur was one of the most famous shipbuilding cities of the Indian Ocean. The Al Ghanja ship takes one whole year to build. Other types of Omani ship include As Sunbouq and Al Badan.

 

In March 2016, archaeologists working off Al-Hallaniyah Island identified a shipwreck believed to be that of the Esmeralda from Vasco da Gama's 1502–1503 fleet. The wreck was initially discovered in 1998. Later underwater excavations took place between 2013 and 2015 through a partnership between the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture and Blue Water Recoveries Ltd., a shipwreck recovery company. The vessel was identified through such artifacts as a "Portuguese coin minted for trade with India (one of only two coins of this type known to exist) and stone cannonballs engraved with what appear to be the initials of Vincente Sodré, da Gama's maternal uncle and the commander of the Esmeralda".

 

Notable people

Mohammed Al Barwani (born 1952), billionaire and founder of MB Holding

Avicii (1989–2018), Swedish music producer and DJ, died in Muscat Hills

Mahesh Bhupathi (born 1974), Indian tennis player. He studied at the Indian School, Muscat.

Sarah-Jane Dias (born 1974), Indian actress. She studied at the Indian School, Muscat.

Isla Fisher (born 1976), Australian actress, born to Scottish parents and lived in Australia

Tate McRae (born 2003), Canadian singer-songwriter, studied at The American International School Muscat

Ali Al-Habsi (born 1981), professional footballer, captain of the Oman national and goalkeeper for Saudi club Al Hilal

Amad Al-Hosni (born 1984), professional footballer

Ahmad Al Harthy (born 1981), racecar driver

Fatma Al-Nabhani (born 1991), tennis player

Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy (born 1964), former Omani Minister of Commerce and Industry

Sneha Ullal (born 1987), Indian Bollywood Actress. She studied at the Indian School, Muscat.

Nitya Vidyasagar (born 1985), American actress

Al Faisal Al Zubair (born 1998), racecar driver

Hamed Al-Wahaibi (born 1968), rally driver

 

Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located in West Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of the Persian Gulf. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, while sharing maritime borders with Iran and Pakistan. The capital and largest city is Muscat. Oman has a population of nearly 4.7 million and is ranked the 124th most-populous country. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast, and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam exclaves are surrounded by United Arab Emirates on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz (which it shares with Iran) and the Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.

 

From the 17th century, the Omani Sultanate was an empire, vying with the Portuguese and British Empires for influence in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean. At its peak in the 19th century, Omani influence and control extended across the Strait of Hormuz to Iran and Pakistan, and as far south as Zanzibar. In the 20th century, the sultanate came under the influence of the United Kingdom. For over 300 years, the relations built between the two empires were based on mutual benefit. The UK recognized Oman's geographical importance as a trading hub that secured their trading lanes in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean and protected their empire in the Indian sub-continent. Oman is an absolute monarchy led by a sultan, with power passed down through the male line. Qaboos bin Said was the Sultan from 1970 until his death on 10 January 2020. Qaboos, who died childless, had named his cousin, Haitham bin Tariq, as his successor in a letter, and the family confirmed him as the Sultan of Oman.

 

Formerly a maritime empire, Oman is the oldest continuously independent state in the Arab world. It is a member of the United Nations, the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. It has oil reserves ranked 22nd globally. In 2010, the United Nations Development Programme ranked Oman as the most improved nation in the world in terms of development during the preceding 40 years. A portion of its economy involves tourism and trading fish, dates and other agricultural produce. Oman is categorized as a high-income economy and, as of 2023, ranks as the 48th most peaceful country in the world according to the Global Peace Index.

 

Oman is the site of pre-historic human habitation, stretching back over 100,000 years. The region was impacted by powerful invaders, including other Arab tribes, Portugal and Britain. Oman once possessed the island of Zanzibar on the east coast of Africa as a colony. Oman also held Gwadar as a colony for many years.

 

Prehistoric record

In Oman, a site was discovered by Doctor Bien Joven in 2011 containing more than 100 surface scatters of stone tools belonging to the late Nubian Complex, known previously only from archaeological excavations in Sudan. Two optically stimulated luminescence age estimates place the Arabian Nubian Complex at approximately 106,000 years old. This provides evidence for a distinct Mobile Stone Age technocomplex in southern Arabia, around the earlier part of the Marine Isotope Stage 5.

 

The hypothesized departure of humankind from Africa to colonise the rest of the world involved them crossing the Straits of Bab el Mandab in the southern Red Sea and moving along the green coastlines around Arabia and thence to the rest of Eurasia. Such crossing became possible when sea level had fallen by more than 80 meters to expose much of the shelf between southern Eritrea and Yemen; a level that was reached during a glacial stadial from 60 to 70 ka as climate cooled erratically to reach the last glacial maximum. From 135,000 to 90,000 years ago, tropical Africa had megadroughts which drove the humans from the land and towards the sea shores, and forced them to cross over to other continents. The researchers used radiocarbon dating techniques on pollen grains trapped in lake-bottom mud to establish vegetation over the ages of the Malawi lake in Africa, taking samples at 300-year-intervals. Samples from the megadrought times had little pollen or charcoal, suggesting sparse vegetation with little to burn. The area around Lake Malawi, today heavily forested, was a desert approximately 135,000 to 90,000 years ago.

 

Luminescence dating is a technique that measures naturally occurring radiation stored in the sand. Data culled via this methodology demonstrates that 130,000 years ago, the Arabian Peninsula was relatively warmer which caused more rainfall, turning it into a series of lush habitable land. During this period the southern Red Sea's levels dropped and was only 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) wide. This offered a brief window of time for humans to easily cross the sea and cross the Peninsula to opposing sites like Jebel Faya. These early migrants running away from the climate change in Africa, crossed the Red Sea into Yemen and Oman, trekked across Arabia during favourable climate conditions. 2,000 kilometres of inhospitable desert lie between the Red Sea and Jebel Faya in UAE. But around 130,000 years ago the world was at the end of an ice age. The Red Sea was shallow enough to be crossed on foot or on a small raft, and the Arabian peninsula was being transformed from a parched desert into a green land.

 

There have been discoveries of Paleolithic stone tools in caves in southern and central Oman, and in the United Arab Emirates close to the Straits of Hormuz at the outlet of the Persian Gulf (UAE site (Jebel Faya). The stone tools, some up to 125,000 years old, resemble those made by humans in Africa around the same period.

 

Persian period

The northern half of Oman (beside modern-day Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, plus Balochistan and Sindh provinces of Pakistan) presumably was part of the Maka satrapy of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. By the time of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the satrapy may have existed in some form and Alexander is said to have stayed in Purush, its capital, perhaps near Bam, in Kerman province. From the 2nd half of the 1st millennium BCE, waves of Semitic speaking peoples migrated from central and western Arabia to the east. The most important of these tribes are known as Azd. On the coast Parthian and Sassanian colonies were maintained. From c. 100 BCE to c. 300 CE Semitic speakers appear in central Oman at Samad al-Shan and the so-called Pre-islamic recent period, abbreviated PIR, in what has become the United Arab Emirates. These waves continue, in the 19th century bringing Bedouin ruling families who finally ruled the Persian Gulf states.

 

The Kingdom of Oman was subdued by the Sasanian Empire's forces under Vahrez during the Aksumite–Persian wars. The 4,000-strong Sasanian garrison was headquartered at Jamsetjerd/Jamshedgird (modern Jebel Gharabeh, also known as Felej al-Sook).

 

Conversion to Islam

Oman was exposed to Islam in 630, during the lifetime of the prophet Muhammad; consolidation took place in the Ridda Wars in 632.

 

In 751 Ibadi Muslims, a moderate branch of the Kharijites, established an imamate in Oman. Despite interruptions, the Ibadi imamate survived until the mid-20th century.

 

Oman is currently the only country with a majority Ibadi population. Ibadhism has a reputation for its "moderate conservatism". One distinguishing feature of Ibadism is the choice of ruler by communal consensus and consent. The introduction of Ibadism vested power in the Imam, the leader nominated by the ulema. The Imam's position was confirmed when the imam—having gained the allegiance of the tribal sheiks—received the bay'ah (oath of allegiance) from the public.

 

Foreign invasions

Several foreign powers attacked Oman. The Qarmatians controlled the area between 931 and 932 and then again between 933 and 934. Between 967 and 1053 Oman formed part of the domain of the Iranian Buyyids, and between 1053 and 1154 Oman was part of the Seljuk Empire. Seljuk power even spread through Oman to Koothanallur in southern India.

 

In 1154 the indigenous Nabhani dynasty took control of Oman, and the Nabhani kings ruled Oman until 1470, with an interruption of 37 years between 1406 and 1443.

 

The Portuguese took Muscat on 1 April 1515, and held it until 26 January 1650, although the Ottomans controlled Muscat from 1550 to 1551 and from 1581 to 1588. In about the year 1600, Nabhani rule was temporarily restored to Oman, although that lasted only to 1624 with the establishment of the fifth imamate, also known as the Yarubid Imamate. The latter recaptured Muscat from the Portuguese in 1650 after a colonial presence on the northeastern coast of Oman dating to 1508.

 

Turning the table, the Omani Yarubid dynasty became a colonial power itself, acquiring former Portuguese colonies in east Africa and engaging in the slave trade, centered on the Swahili coast and the island of Zanzibar.

 

By 1719 dynastic succession led to the nomination of Saif bin Sultan II (c. 1706–1743). His candidacy prompted a rivalry among the ulama and a civil war between the two factions, led by major tribes, the Hinawi and the Ghafiri, with the Ghafiri supporting Saif ibn Sultan II. In 1743, Persian ruler Nader Shah occupied Muscat and Sohar with Saif's assistance. Saif died, and was succeeded by Bal'arab bin Himyar of the Yaruba.

 

Persia had occupied the coast previously. Yet this intervention on behalf of an unpopular dynasty brought about a revolt. The leader of the revolt, Ahmad bin Said al-Busaidi, took advantage of the assassination of the Persian king, Nadir Shah in Khurasan in 1747 and the chaos that resulted in the Persian Empire by expelling the dwindling Persian forces. He then defeated Bal'arab, and was elected sultan of Muscat and imam of Oman.

 

The Al Busaid clan thus became a royal dynasty. Like its predecessors, Al Busaid dynastic rule has been characterized by a history of internecine family struggle, fratricide, and usurpation. Apart from threats within the ruling family, there were frequent challenges from the independent tribes of the interior. The Busaidid dynasty renounced the imamate after Ahmad bin Said. The interior tribes recognized the imam as the sole legitimate ruler, rejected the authority of the sultan, and fought for the restoration of the imamate.

 

Schisms within the ruling family became apparent before Ahmad ibn Said's death in 1783 and later manifested themselves with the division of the family into two main lines:

 

the Sultan ibn Ahmad (ruled 1792–1806) line, controlling the maritime state, with nominal control over the entire country

the Qais branch, with authority over the Al Batinah and Ar Rustaq areas

This period also included a revolt in Oman's colony of Zanzibar in the year 1784.

 

During the period of Sultan Said ibn Sultan's reign (1806–1856), Oman built up its overseas colonies, profiting from the slave trade. As a regional commercial power in the 19th century, Oman held the island of Zanzibar on the Swahili Coast, the Zanj region of the East African coast, including Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, and (until 1958) Gwadar on the Arabian Sea coast of present-day Pakistan.

 

When Great Britain prohibited slavery in the mid-19th century, the sultanate's fortunes reversed. The economy collapsed, and many Omani families migrated to Zanzibar. The population of Muscat fell from 55,000 to 8,000 between the 1850s and 1870s. Britain seized most of the overseas possessions, and by 1900 Oman had become a different country than before.

 

Late 19th and early 20th centuries

When Sultan Sa'id bin Sultan Al-Busaid died in 1856, his sons quarrelled over the succession. As a result of this struggle, the empire—through the mediation of Britain under the Canning Award—was divided in 1861 into two separate principalities: Sultanate of Zanzibar (with its African Great Lakes dependencies), and the area of "Muscat and Oman". This name was abolished in 1970 in favor of "Sultanate of Oman", but implies two political cultures with a long history:

 

The coastal tradition: more cosmopolitan, and secular, found in the city of Muscat and adjacent coastline ruled by the sultan.

The interior tradition: insular, tribal, and highly religious under the ideological tenets of Ibadism, found in "Oman proper" ruled by an imam.

The more cosmopolitan Muscat has been the ascending political culture since the founding of the Al Busaid dynasty in 1744, although the imamate tradition has found intermittent expression.

 

The death of Sa'id bin Sultan in 1856 prompted a further division: the descendants of the late sultan ruled Muscat and Oman (Thuwaini ibn Said Al-Busaid, r. 1856–1866) and Zanzibar (Mayid ibn Said Al-Busaid, r. 1856–1870); the Qais branch intermittently allied itself with the ulama to restore imamate legitimacy. In 1868, Azzan bin Qais Al-Busaid (r. 1868–1871) emerged as self-declared imam. Although a significant number of Hinawi tribes recognized him as imam, the public neither elected him nor acclaimed him as such.

 

Imam Azzan understood that to unify the country a strong, central authority had to be established with control over the interior tribes of Oman. His rule was jeopardized by the British, who interpreted his policy of bringing the interior tribes under the central government as a move against their established order. In resorting to military means to unify Muscat and Oman, Imam Azzan alienated members of the Ghafiri tribes, who revolted in the 1870–1871 period. The British gave financial and political support to Turki bin Said Al-Busaid, Imam Azzan's rival in exchange of controlling the area. In the Battle of Dhank, Turki bin Said defeated the forces of Imam Azzan, who was killed in battle outside Muttrah in January 1871.

 

Muscat and Oman was the object of Franco-British rivalry throughout the 18th century. During the 19th century, Muscat and Oman and the United Kingdom concluded several treaties of commerce benefitting mostly the British. In 1908 the British entered into an agreement based in the imperialistic plans to control the area. Their traditional association was confirmed in 1951 through a new treaty of commerce, based on oil reserves, and navigation by which the United Kingdom recognized the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman as a fully independent state, under their supervision and their strategic neo-colonial interest.

 

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were tensions between the sultan in Muscat and the Ibadi Imam in Nizwa. This conflict was resolved temporarily by the Treaty of Seeb, which granted the imam rule in the interior Imamate of Oman, while recognising the sovereignty of the sultan in Muscat and its surroundings.

 

Late 20th century

In 1954, the conflict flared up again, when the Treaty of Seeb was broken by the sultan after oil was discovered in the lands of the Imam. The new imam (Ghalib bin Ali) led a 5-year rebellion against the sultan's attack. The Sultan was aided by the colonial British forces and the Shah of Iran. In the early 1960s, the Imam, exiled to Saudi Arabia, obtained support from his hosts and other Arab governments, but this support ended in the 1980s. The case of the Imam was argued at the United Nations as well, but no significant measures were taken.

 

Zanzibar paid an annual subsidy to Muscat and Oman until its independence in early 1964.

 

In 1964, a separatist revolt began in Dhofar province. Aided by Communist and leftist governments such as the former South Yemen (People's Democratic Republic of Yemen), the rebels formed the Dhofar Liberation Front, which later merged with the Marxist-dominated Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG). The PFLOAG's declared intention was to overthrow all traditional Persian Gulf régimes. In mid-1974, the Bahrain branch of the PFLOAG was established as a separate organisation and the Omani branch changed its name to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (PFLO), while continuing the Dhofar Rebellion.

 

1970s

In the 1970 Omani coup d'état, Qaboos bin Said al Said ousted his father, Sa'id bin Taimur, who later died in exile in London. Al Said ruled as sultan until his death. The new sultan confronted insurgency in a country plagued by endemic disease, illiteracy, and poverty. One of the new sultan's first measures was to abolish many of his father's harsh restrictions, which had caused thousands of Omanis to leave the country, and to offer amnesty to opponents of the previous régime, many of whom returned to Oman. 1970 also brought the abolition of slavery.

 

Sultan Qaboos also established a modern governmental structure and launched a major development programme to upgrade educational and health facilities, build modern infrastructure and develop the country's natural resources.

 

In an effort to curb the Dhofar insurgency, Sultan Qaboos expanded and re-equipped the armed forces and granted amnesty to all surrendering rebels while vigorously prosecuting the war in Dhofar. He obtained direct military support from the UK, imperial Iran, and Jordan. By early 1975, the guerrillas were confined to a 50-square-kilometre (19 sq mi) area near the Yemeni border and shortly thereafter were defeated. As the war drew to a close, civil action programs were given priority throughout Dhofar and helped win the allegiance of the people. The PFLO threat diminished further with the establishment of diplomatic relations in October 1983 between South Yemen and Oman, and South Yemen subsequently lessened propaganda and subversive activities against Oman. In late 1987 Oman opened an embassy in Aden, South Yemen, and appointed its first resident ambassador to the country.

 

Throughout his reign, Sultan Qaboos balanced tribal, regional, and ethnic interests in composing the national administration. The Council of Ministers, which functions as a cabinet, consisted of 26 ministers, all of whom were directly appointed by Qaboos. The Majlis Al-Shura (Consultative Council) has the mandate of reviewing legislation pertaining to economic development and social services prior to its becoming law. The Majlis Al-Shura may request ministers to appear before it.

 

1990s

In November 1996, Sultan Qaboos presented his people with the "Basic Statutes of the State", Oman's first written "constitution". It guarantees various rights within the framework of Qur'anic and customary law. It partially resuscitated long dormant conflict-of-interest measures by banning cabinet ministers from being officers of public shareholding firms. Perhaps most importantly, the Basic Statutes provide rules for setting Sultan Qaboos' succession.

 

Oman occupies a strategic location on the Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, 35 miles (56 km) directly opposite Iran. Oman has concerns with regional stability and security, given tensions in the region, the proximity of Iran and Iraq, and the potential threat of political Islam. Oman maintained its diplomatic relations with Iraq throughout the Gulf War while supporting the United Nations allies by sending a contingent of troops to join coalition forces and by opening up to pre-positioning of weapons and supplies.

 

2000s

In September 2000, about 100,000 Omani men and women elected 83 candidates, including two women, to seats in the Majlis Al-Shura. In December 2000, Sultan Qaboos appointed the 48-member Majlis Al Dowla, or State Council, including five women, which acts as the upper chamber in Oman's bicameral representative body.

 

Al Said's extensive modernization program has opened the country to the outside world and has preserved a long-standing political and military relationship with the United Kingdom, the United States, and others. Oman's moderate, independent foreign policy has sought to maintain good relations with all Middle Eastern countries.

 

Qaboos, the Arab world's longest-serving ruler, died on 10 January 2020 after nearly 50 years in power. On 11 January 2020, his cousin Haitham bin Tariq al-Said was sworn in as Oman's new sultan.

 

Rulers of Oman

of Zanzibar and Oman)

Thuwaini bin Said (19 October 1856 – 11 February 1866)

Salim bin Thuwaini (11 February 1866 – October 1868)

Azzan bin Qais (October 1868 – 30 January 1871)

Turki bin Said (30 January 1871 – 4 June 1888)

Faisal bin Turki (4 June 1888 – 15 October 1913)

Taimur bin Faisal (15 October 1913 – 10 February 1932)

Said bin Taimur (10 February 1932 – 23 July 1970)

Qaboos bin Said (23 July 1970 to 10 January 2020)

Haitham bin Tariq (11 January 2020 - present)

Sunday at the 75th Members' Meeting, Goodwood

Updated to include the DS US Rapunzel special edition classic doll bought from Disney Store USA last year.

 

DS UK 12" Rapunzel Wedding Doll (blonde)

DS US 12 " Flynn Rider

DS UK Tangled Ever After mini doll set

DS LE 17" Wedding Rapunzel

DS UK 12" Tangled Ever After gift set

DS Tangled Ever After ornament

DS US 12" Classic doll (brunette)

 

All bought in 2012

 

I had to laugh at the frenzy when I uploaded my photo of the gift set last year, wasn't so funny when I found it on blogs & forums where it went uncredited...

The Shah-i-Zinda Ensemble includes mausoleums and other ritual buildings of 11th – 15th and 19th centuries. The name Shah-i-Zinda (meaning "The living king") is connected with the legend that Qutham ibn Abbas, a cousin of Muhammad, is buried here. He came to Samarkand with the Arab invasion in the 7th century to preach Islam.

The Shah-i-Zinda complex was formed over eight (from the 11th until the 19th) centuries and now includes more than twenty buildings

Biennalist @ Venice Biennale

 

during the Venice Biennale 2019 Biennalist format was expressing about the Biennale concept with art work

 

Unfortunatly the Venice Biennale 2021 is post pone to 2022

 

wich change the concept of Biennale

 

Biennalist / Venice Biennale

 

www.emergencyrooms.org/biennalist.html

 

#ThierryGeoffroy

#venicebiennale #biennalist #artformat #biennale #artbiennale #biennial

#BiennaleArte2019

 

------

 

more here about the Biennale :

 

Ralph Rugoff has declared: «May You Live in Interesting Times will no doubt include artworks that reflect upon precarious aspects of existence today, including different threats to key traditions, institutions and relationships of the “post-war order.” But let us acknowledge at the outset that art does not exercise its forces in the domain of politics. Art cannot stem the rise of nationalist movements and authoritarian governments in different parts of the world, for instance, nor can it alleviate the tragic fate of displaced peoples across the globe (whose numbers now represent almost one percent of the world’s entire population).»

 

ALBANIA

Maybe the cosmos is not so extraordinary

Commissioner: Ministry of Culture Republic of Albania. Curator: Alicia Knock.

Exhibitor: Driant Zeneli.

 

ALGERIA***

Time to shine bright

Commissioner/Curator: Hellal Mahmoud Zoubir, National Council of Arts and Letters Ministry of Culture. Exhibitors: Rachida Azdaou, Hamza Bounoua, Amina Zoubir, Mourad Krinah, Oussama Tabti.

Venue: Fondamenta S. Giuseppe, 925

 

ANDORRA

The Future is Now / El futur és ara

Commissioner: Eva Martínez, “Zoe”. Curators: Ivan Sansa, Paolo De Grandis.

Exhibitor: Philippe Shangti.

Venue: Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, Castello 3701

 

ANTIGUA & BARBUDA

Find Yourself: Carnival and Resistance

Commissioner: Daryll Matthew, Minister of Sports, Culture, National Festivals and the Arts. Curator: Barbara Paca with Nina Khrushcheva. Exhibitors: Timothy Payne, Sir Gerald Price, Joseph Seton, and Frank Walter; Intangible Cultural, Heritage Artisans and Mas Troup.

Venue: Centro Culturale Don Orione Artigianelli, Dorsoduro 919

 

ARGENTINA

El nombre de un país / The name of a country

Commissioner: Sergio Alberto Baur Ambasciatore. Curator: Florencia Battiti. Exhibitor: Mariana Telleria.

Venue: Arsenale

 

ARMENIA (Republic of)

Revolutionary Sensorium

Commissioner: Nazenie Garibian, Deputy Minister. Curator: Susanna Gyulamiryan.

Exhibitors: "ArtlabYerevan" Artistic Group (Gagik Charchyan, Hovhannes Margaryan, Arthur Petrosyan, Vardan Jaloyan) and Narine Arakelian.

Venue: Palazzo Zenobio – Collegio Armeno Moorat-Raphael, Dorsoduro 2596

 

AUSTRALIA

ASSEMBLY

Commissioner: Australia Council for the Arts. Curator: Juliana Engberg. Exhibitor: Angelica Mesiti.

Venue: Giardini

 

AUSTRIA

Discordo Ergo Sum

Commissioner: Arts and Culture Division of the Federal Chancellery of Austria.

Curator: Felicitas Thun-Hohenstein. Exhibitor: Renate Bertlmann.

Venue: Giardini

 

AZERBAIJAN (Republic of )

Virtual Reality

Commissioner: Mammad Ahmadzada, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Curators: Gianni Mercurio, Emin Mammadov. Exhibitors: Zeigam Azizov, Orkhan Mammadov, Zarnishan Yusifova, Kanan Aliyev, Ulviyya Aliyeva.

Venue: Palazzo Lezze, Campo S. Stefano, San Marco 2949

 

BANGLADESH (People’s Republic of)

Thirst

Commissioner: Liaquat Ali Lucky. Curators: Mokhlesur Rahman, Viviana Vannucci.

Exhibitors: Bishwajit Goswami, Dilara Begum Jolly, Heidi Fosli, Nafis Ahmed Gazi, Franco Marrocco, Domenico Pellegrino, Preema Nazia Andaleeb, Ra Kajol, Uttam Kumar karmaker.

Venue: Palazzo Zenobio – Collegio Armeno Moorat-Raphael, Dorsoduro 2596

 

BELARUS (Republic of)

Exit / Uscita

Commissioner: Siarhey Kryshtapovich. Curator: Olga Rybchinskaya. Exhibitor: Konstantin Selikhanov.

Venue: Spazio Liquido, Sestiere Castello 103, Salizada Streta

 

BELGIUM

Mondo Cane

Commissioner: Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Curator: Anne-Claire Schmitz.

Exhibitor: Jos de Gruyter & Harald Thys.

Venue: Giardini

 

BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA

ZENICA-TRILOGY

Commissioner: Senka Ibrišimbegović, Ars Aevi Museum for Contemporary Art Sarajevo.

Curators: Anja Bogojević, Amila Puzić, Claudia Zini. Exhibitor: Danica Dakić.

Venue: Palazzo Francesco Molon Ca’ Bernardo, San Polo 2184/A

 

BRAZIL

Swinguerra

Commissioner: José Olympio da Veiga Pereira, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo.

Curator: Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro. Exhibitor: Bárbara Wagner & Benjamin de Burca.

Venue: Giardini

 

BULGARIA

How We Live

Commissioner: Iaroslava Boubnova, National Gallery in Sofia. Curator: Vera Mlechevska.

Exhibitors: Rada Boukova , Lazar Lyutakov.

Venue: Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, San Marco 2893

 

CANADA

ISUMA

Commissioner: National Gallery of Canada. Curators: Asinnajaq, Catherine Crowston, Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Barbara Fischer, Candice Hopkins. Exhibitors: Isuma (Zacharias Kunuk, Norman Cohn, Paul Apak, Pauloosie Qulitalik).

Venue: Giardini

 

CHILE

Altered Views

Commissioner: Varinia Brodsky, Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage.

Curator: Agustín Pérez. Rubio. Exhibitor: Voluspa Jarpa.

Venue: Arsenale

 

CHINA (People’s Republic of)

Re-睿

Commissioner: China Arts and Entertainment Group Ltd. (CAEG).

Curator: Wu Hongliang. Exhibitors: Chen Qi, Fei Jun, He Xiangyu, Geng Xue.

Venue: Arsenale

 

CROATIA

Traces of Disappearing (In Three Acts)

Commissioner: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia. Curator: Katerina Gregos.

Exhibitor: Igor Grubić.

Venue: Calle Corner, Santa Croce 2258

 

CUBA

Entorno aleccionador (A Cautionary Environment)

Commissioner: Norma Rodríguez Derivet, Consejo Nacional de Artes Plásticas.

Curator: Margarita Sanchez Prieto. Exhibitors: Alejandro Campins, Alex Hérnandez, Ariamna Contino and Eugenio Tibaldi. Venue: Isola di San Servolo

 

CYPRUS (Republic of)

Christoforos Savva: Untimely, Again

Commissioner: Louli Michaelidou. Curator: Jacopo Crivelli Visconti. Exhibitor: Christoforos Savva.

Venue: Associazione Culturale Spiazzi, Castello 3865

 

CZECH (Republic) and SLOVAK (Republic)

Stanislav Kolíbal. Former Uncertain Indicated

Commissioner: Adam Budak, National Gallery Prague. Curator: Dieter Bogner.

Exhibitor: Stanislav Kolibal.

Venue: Giardini

 

DOMINICAN (Republic) *

Naturaleza y biodiversidad en la República Dominicana

Commissioner: Eduardo Selman, Minister of Culture. Curators: Marianne de Tolentino, Simone Pieralice, Giovanni Verza. Exhibitors: Dario Oleaga, Ezequiel Taveras, Hulda Guzmán, Julio Valdez, Miguel Ramirez, Rita Bertrecchi, Nicola Pica, Marraffa & Casciotti.

Venue: Palazzo Albrizzi Capello, Cannaregio 4118 – Sala della Pace

 

EGYPT

khnum across times witness

Commissioner: Ministry of Culture. Curator: Ahmed Chiha.

Exhibitors: Islam Abdullah, Ahmed Chiha, Ahmed Abdel Karim.

Venue: Giardini

 

ESTONIA

Birth V

Commissioner: Maria Arusoo, Centre of Contemporary Arts of Estonia. Curators: Andrew Berardini, Irene Campolmi, Sarah Lucas, Tamara Luuk. Exhibitor: Kris Lemsalu.

Venue: c/o Legno & Legno, Giudecca 211

 

FINLAND (Alvar Aalto Pavilion)

A Greater Miracle of Perception

Commissioner: Raija Koli, Director Frame Contemporary Art Finland.

Curators: Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Christopher Wessels. Exhibitors: Miracle Workers Collective (Maryan Abdulkarim, Khadar Ahmed, Hassan Blasim, Giovanna Esposito Yussif, Sonya Lindfors, Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, Outi Pieski, Leena Pukki, Lorenzo Sandoval, Martta Tuomaala, Christopher L. Thomas, Christopher Wessels, Suvi West).

Venue: Giardini

 

FRANCE

Deep see blue surrounding you / Vois ce bleu profond te fondre

Commissioner: Institut français with the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture. Curator: Martha Kirszenbaum. Exhibitor: Laure Prouvost.

Venue: Giardini

 

GEORGIA

REARMIRRORVIEW, Simulation is Simulation, is Simulation, is Simulation

Commissioner: Ana Riaboshenko. Curator: Margot Norton. Exhibitor: Anna K.E.

Venue: Arsenale

 

GERMANY

Commissioner: ifa (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office, Germany. Curator: Franciska Zólyom. Exhibitor: Natascha Süder Happelmann.

Venue: Giardini

 

GHANA ***

Ghana Freedom

Commissioner: Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. Curator: Nana Oforiatta Ayim.

Exhibitors: Felicia Abban, John Akomfrah, El Anatsui, Lynette Yiadom Boakye, Ibrahim Mahama, Selasi Awusi Sosu.

Venue: Arsenale

 

GREAT BRITAIN

Cathy Wilkes

Commissioner: Emma Dexter. Curator: Zoe Whitley. Exhibitor: Cathy Wilkes.

Venue: Giardini

 

GREECE

Mr Stigl

Commissioner: Syrago Tsiara (Deputy Director of the Contemporary Art Museum - Metropolitan Organization of Museums of Visual Arts of Thessaloniki - MOMus).

Curator: Katerina Tselou. Exhibitors: Panos Charalambous, Eva Stefani, Zafos Xagoraris.

Venue: Giardini

 

GRENADA

Epic Memory

Commissioner: Susan Mains. Curator: Daniele Radini Tedeschi.

Exhibitors: Amy Cannestra, Billy Gerard Frank, Dave Lewis, Shervone Neckles, Franco Rota Candiani, Roberto Miniati, CRS avant-garde.

Venue: Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello (first floor), Cannaregio 4118

 

GUATEMALA

Interesting State

Commissioner: Elder de Jesús Súchite Vargas, Minister of Culture and Sports of Guatemala. Curator: Stefania Pieralice. Exhibitors: Elsie Wunderlich, Marco Manzo.

Venue: Palazzo Albrizzi-Capello (first floor), Cannaregio 4118

 

HAITI

THE SPECTACLE OF TRAGEDY

Commissioner: Ministry of Culture and Communication.

Curator: Giscard Bouchotte. Exhibitor: Jean Ulrick Désert.

Venue: Circolo Ufficiali Marina, Calle Seconda de la Fava, Castello 2168

 

HUNGARY

Imaginary Cameras

Commissioner: Julia Fabényi, Museo Ludwig – Museo d’arte contemporanea, Budapest.

Curator: Zsuzsanna Szegedy-Maszák. Exhibitor: Tamás Waliczky.

Venue: Giardini

 

ICELAND

Chromo Sapiens – Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir / Shoplifter

Commissioner: Eiríkur Þorláksson, Icelandic Ministry of Education, Science and Culture.

Curator: Birta Gudjónsdóttir. Exhibitor: Hrafnhildur Arnardóttir / Shoplifter.

Venue: Spazio Punch, Giudecca 800

 

INDIA

Our time for a future caring

Commissioner: Adwaita Gadanayak National Gallery of Modern Art.

Curator: Roobina Karode, Director & Chief Curator, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. Exhibitors: Atul Dodiya, Ashim Purkayastha, GR Iranna, Jitish Kallat, Nandalal Bose, Rummana Hussain, Shakuntala Kulkarni.

Venue: Arsenale

 

INDONESIA

Lost Verses

Commissioner: Ricky Pesik & Diana Nazir, Indonesian Agency for Creative Economy.

Curator: Asmudjo Jono Irianto. Exhibitors: Handiwirman Saputra and Syagini Ratna Wulan.

Venue: Arsenale

 

IRAN (Islamic Republic of)

of being and singing

Commissioner: Hadi Mozafari, General Manager of Visual Arts Administration of Islamic Republic of Iran. Curator: Ali Bakhtiari.

Exhibitors: Reza Lavassani, Samira Alikhanzadeh, Ali Meer Azimi.

Venue: Fondaco Marcello, San Marco 3415

 

IRAQ

Fatherland

Commissioner: Fondazione Ruya. Curators: Tamara Chalabi, Paolo Colombo.

Exhibitor: Serwan Baran.

Venue: Ca’ del Duca, Corte del Duca Sforza, San Marco 3052

 

IRELAND

The Shrinking Universe

Commissioner: Culture Ireland. Curator: Mary Cremin. Exhibitor: Eva Rothschild.

Venue: Arsenale

 

ISRAEL

Field Hospital X

Commissioner: Michael Gov, Arad Turgeman. Curator: Avi Lubin. Exhibitor: Aya Ben Ron.

Venue: Giardini

 

ITALY

Commissioner: Federica Galloni, Direttore Generale Arte e Architettura Contemporanee e Periferie Urbane, Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali. Curator: Milovan Farronato.

Exhibitors: Enrico David, Liliana Moro, Chiara Fumai.

Venue: Padiglione Italia, Tese delle Vergini, Arsenale

 

IVORY COAST

The Open Shadows of Memory

Commissioner: Henri Nkoumo. Curator: Massimo Scaringella. Exhibitors: Ernest Dükü, Ananias Leki Dago, Valérie Oka, Tong Yanrunan.

Venue: Castello Gallery, Castello 1636/A

 

JAPAN

Cosmo-Eggs

Commissioner: The Japan Foundation. Curator: Hiroyuki Hattori. Exhibitors: Motoyuki Shitamichi, Taro Yasuno, Toshiaki Ishikura, Fuminori Nousaku.

Venue: Giardini

 

KIRIBATI

Pacific Time - Time Flies

Commissioner: Pelea Tehumu, Ministry of Internal Affairs. Curators: Kautu Tabaka, Nina Tepes. Exhibitors: Kaeka Michael Betero, Daniela Danica Tepes, Kairaken Betio Group; Teroloang Borouea, Neneia Takoikoi, Tineta Timirau, Teeti Aaloa, Kenneth Ioane, Kaumai Kaoma, Runita Rabwaa, Obeta Taia, Tiribo Kobaua, Tamuera Tebebe, Rairauea Rue, Teuea Kabunare, Tokintekai Ekentetake, Katanuti Francis, Mikaere Tebwebwe, Terita Itinikarawa, Kaeua Kobaua, Raatu Tiuteke, Kaeriti Baanga, Ioanna Francis, Temarewe Banaan, Aanamaria Toom, Einako Temewi, Nimei Itinikarawa, Teniteiti Mikaere, Aanibo Bwatanita, Arin Tikiraua.

Venue: European Cultural Centre, Palazzo Mora, Strada Nuova 3659

 

KOREA (Republic of)

History Has Failed Us, but No Matter

Commissioner: Arts Council Korea. Curator: Hyunjin Kim. Exhibitors: Hwayeon Nam, siren eun young jung, Jane Jin Kaisen.

Venue: Giardini

 

KOSOVO (Republic of)

Family Album

Commissioner: Arta Agani. Curator: Vincent Honore. Exhibitor: Alban Muja.

Venue: Arsenale

 

LATVIA

Saules Suns

Commissioner: Dace Vilsone. Curators: Valentinas Klimašauskas, Inga Lāce.

Exhibitor: Daiga Grantiņa.

Venue: Arsenale

 

LITHUANIA

Sun & Sea (Marina)

Commissioner: Rasa Antanavičıūte. Curator: Lucia Pietroiusti.

Exhibitors: Lina Lapelyte, Vaiva Grainyte and Rugile Barzdziukaite.

Venue: Magazzino No. 42, Marina Militare, Arsenale di Venezia, Fondamenta Case Nuove 2738c

 

LUXEMBOURG (Grand Duchy of)

Written by Water

Commissioner: Ministry of Culture of Luxembourg.

Curator: Kevin Muhlen. Exhibitor: Marco Godinho.

Venue: Arsenale

 

NORTH MACEDONIA (Republic of )

Subversion to Red

Commissioner: Mira Gakina. Curator: Jovanka Popova. Exhibitor: Nada Prlja.

Venue: Palazzo Rota Ivancich, Castello 4421

 

MADAGASCAR ***

I have forgotten the night

Commissioner: Ministry of Communication and Culture of the Republic of Madagascar. Curators: Rina Ralay Ranaivo, Emmanuel Daydé.

Exhibitor: Joël Andrianomearisoa.

Venue: Arsenale

 

MALAYSIA ***

Holding Up a Mirror

Commissioner: Professor Dato’ Dr. Mohamed Najib Dawa, Director General of Balai Seni Negara (National Art Gallery of Malaysia), Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Malaysia. Curator: Lim Wei-Ling. Exhibitors: Anurendra Jegadeva, H.H.Lim, Ivan Lam, Zulkifli Yusoff.

Venue: Palazzo Malipiero, San Marco 3198

 

MALTA

Maleth / Haven / Port - Heterotopias of Evocation

Commissioner: Arts Council Malta. Curator: Hesperia Iliadou Suppiej. Exhibitors: Vince Briffa, Klitsa Antoniou, Trevor Borg.

Venue: Arsenale

 

MEXICO

Actos de Dios / Acts of God

Commissioner: Gabriela Gil Verenzuela. Curator: Magalí Arriola. Exhibitor: Pablo Vargas Lugo.

Venue: Arsenale

 

MONGOLIA

A Temporality

Commissioner: The Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports of Mongolia.

Curator: Gantuya Badamgarav. Exhibitor: Jantsankhorol Erdenebayar with the participation of traditional Mongolian throat singers and Carsten Nicolai (Alva Noto).

Venue: Bruchium Fermentum, Calle del Forno, Castello 2093-2090

 

MONTENEGRO

Odiseja / An Odyssey

Commissioner: Nenad Šoškić. Curator: Petrica Duletić. Exhibitor: Vesko Gagović.

Venue: Palazzo Malipiero (piano terra), San Marco 3078-3079/A, Ramo Malipiero

 

MOZAMBIQUE (Republic of)

The Past, the Present and The in Between

Commissioner: Domingos do Rosário Artur. Curator: Lidija K. Khachatourian.

Exhibitors: Gonçalo Mabunda, Mauro Pinto, Filipe Branquinho.

Venue: Palazzo Mora, Strada Nova, 3659

 

NETHERLANDS (The)

The Measurement of Presence

Commissioner: Mondriaan Fund. Curator: Benno Tempel. Exhibitors: Iris Kensmil, Remy Jungerman. Venue: Giardini

 

NEW ZEALAND

Post hoc

Commissioner: Dame Jenny Gibbs. Curators: Zara Stanhope and Chris Sharp.

Exhibitor: Dane Mitchell.

Venue: Palazzina Canonica, Riva Sette Martiri

 

NORDIC COUNTRIES (FINLAND - NORWAY - SWEDEN)

Weather Report: Forecasting Future

Commissioner: Leevi Haapala / Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma / Finnish National Gallery, Katya García-Antón / Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA), Ann-Sofi Noring / Moderna Museet. Curators: Leevi Haapala, Piia Oksanen. Exhibitors: Ane Graff, Ingela Ihrman, nabbteeri.

Venue: Giardini

 

PAKISTAN ***

Manora Field Notes

Commissioner: Syed Jamal Shah, Pakistan National Council of the Arts, PNCA.

Curator: Zahra Khan. Exhibitor: Naiza Khan.

Venue: Tanarte, Castello 2109/A and Spazio Tana, Castello 2110-2111

 

PERU

“Indios Antropófagos”. A butterfly Garden in the (Urban) Jungle

Commissioner: Armando Andrade de Lucio. Curator: Gustavo Buntinx. Exhibitors: Christian Bendayán, Otto Michael (1859-1934), Manuel Rodríguez Lira (1874-1933), Segundo Candiño Rodríguez, Anonymous popular artificer.

Venue: Arsenale

 

PHILIPPINES

Island Weather

Commissioner: National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) / Virgilio S. Almario.

Curator: Tessa Maria T. Guazon. Exhibitor: Mark O. Justiniani.

Venue: Arsenale

 

POLAND

Flight

Commissioner: Hanna Wroblewska. Curators: Łukasz Mojsak, Łukasz Ronduda.

Exhibitor: Roman Stańczak.

Venue: Giardini

 

PORTUGAL

a seam, a surface, a hinge or a knot

Commissioner: Directorate-General for the Arts. Curator: João Ribas. Exhibitor: Leonor Antunes.

Venue: Fondazione Ugo e Olga Levi Onlus, Palazzo Giustinian Lolin, San Marco 2893

 

ROMANIA

Unfinished Conversations on the Weight of Absence

Commissioner: Attila Kim. Curator: Cristian Nae. Exhibitor: Belu-Simion Făinaru, Dan Mihălțianu, Miklós Onucsán.

Venues: Giardini and New Gallery of the Romanian Institute for Culture and Humanistic Research (Campo Santa Fosca, Palazzo Correr, Cannaregio 2214)

 

RUSSIA

Lc 15:11-32

Commissioner: Semyon Mikhailovsky. Curator: Mikhail Piotrovsky. Exhibitors: Alexander Sokurov, Alexander Shishkin-Hokusai.

Venue: Giardini

 

SAN MARINO (Republic of)

Friendship Project International

Commissioner: Vito Giuseppe Testaj. Curator: Vincenzo Sanfo. Exhibitors: Gisella Battistini, Martina Conti, Gabriele Gambuti, Giovanna Fra, Thea Tini, Chen Chengwei, Li Geng, Dario Ortiz, Tang Shuangning, Jens W. Beyrich, Xing Junqin, Xu de Qi, Sebastián.

Venue: Palazzo Bollani, Castello 3647; Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, Castello 6691

 

SAUDI ARABIA

After Illusion بعد توهم

Commissioner: Misk Art Insitute. Curator: Eiman Elgibreen. Exhibitor: Zahrah Al Ghamdi.

Venue: Arsenale

 

SERBIA

Regaining Memory Loss

Commissioner: Vladislav Scepanovic. Curator: Nicoletta Lambertucci. Exhibitor: Djordje Ozbolt.

Venue: Giardini

 

SEYCHELLES (Republic of)

Drift

Commissioner: Galen Bresson. Curator: Martin Kennedy.

Exhibitors: George Camille and Daniel Dodin.

Venue: Palazzo Mora, Strada Nova, 3659

 

SINGAPORE

Music For Everyone: Variations on a Theme

Commissioner: Rosa Daniel, Chief Executive Officer, National Arts Council (NAC).

Curator: Michelle Ho. Exhibitor: Song-Ming Ang.

Venue: Arsenale

 

SLOVENIA (Republic of)

Here we go again... SYSTEM 317

A situation of the resolution series

Commissioner: Zdenka Badovinac, Director Moderna galerija / Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana. Curator: Igor Španjol. Exhibitor: Marko Peljhan.

Venue: Arsenale

 

SOUTH AFRICA (Republic of)

The stronger we become

Commissioner: Titi Nxumalo, Console Generale. Curators: Nkule Mabaso, Nomusa Makhubu. Exhibitors: Dineo Seshee Bopape, Tracey Rose, Mawande Ka Zenzile.

Venue: Arsenale

 

SPAIN

Perforated by Itziar Okariz and Sergio Prego

Commissioner: AECID Agencia Espanola de Cooperacion Internacional Para El Desarrollo. Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Union Europea y Cooperacion. Curator: Peio Aguirre.

Exhibitors: Itziar Okariz, Sergio Prego.

Venue: Giardini

 

SWITZERLAND

Moving Backwards

Commissioner: Swiss Arts Council Pro-Helvetia: Marianne Burki, Sandi Paucic, Rachele Giudici Legittimo. Curator: Charlotte Laubard. Exhibitors: Pauline Boudry/Renate Lorenz.

Venue: Giardini

 

SYRIAN ARAB (Republic)

Syrian Civilization is still alive

Commissioner/Curator: Emad Kashout. Exhibitors: Abdalah Abouassali, Giacomo Braglia, Ibrahim Al Hamid, Chen Huasha, Saed Salloum, Xie Tian, Saad Yagan, Primo Vanadia, Giuseppe Biasio.

Venue: Isola di San Servolo; Chiesetta della Misericordia, Campo dell'Abbazia, Cannaregio

 

THAILAND

The Revolving World

Commissioner: Vimolluck Chuchat, Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Ministry of Culture, Thailand. Curator: Tawatchai Somkong. Exhibitors: Somsak Chowtadapong, Panya Vijinthanasarn, Krit Ngamsom.

Venue: In Paradiso 1260, Castello

 

TURKEY

We, Elsewhere

Commissioner: IKSV. Curator: Zeynep Öz. Exhibitor: İnci Eviner.

Venue: Arsenale

 

UKRAINE

The Shadow of Dream cast upon Giardini della Biennale

Commissioner: Svitlana Fomenko, First Deputy Minister of Culture. Curators: Open group (Yurii Biley, Pavlo Kovach, Stanislav Turina, Anton Varga). Exhibitors: all artists of Ukraine.

Venue: Arsenale

 

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Nujoom Alghanem: Passage

Commissioner: Salama bint Hamdan Al Nahyan Foundation.

Curators: Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath. Exhibitor: Nujoom Alghanem.

Venue: Arsenale

 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Martin Puryear: Liberty

Commissioner/Curator: Brooke Kamin Rapaport. Exhibitor: Martin Puryear.

Venue: Giardini

 

URUGUAY

“La casa empática”

Commissioner: Alejandro Denes. Curators: David Armengol, Patricia Bentancur.

Exhibitor: Yamandú Canosa.

Venue: Giardini

 

VENEZUELA (Bolivarian Republic of)

Metaphore of three windows

Venezuela: identity in time and space

Commissioner/Curator: Oscar Sottillo Meneses. Exhibitors: Natalie Rocha Capiello, Ricardo García, Gabriel López, Nelson Rangelosky.

Venue: Giardini

 

ZIMBABWE (Republic of)

Soko Risina Musoro (The Tale without a Head)

Commissioner: Doreen Sibanda, National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Curator: Raphael Chikukwa. Exhibitors: Georgina Maxim, Neville Starling , Cosmas Shiridzinomwa, Kudzanai Violet Hwami.

Venue: Istituto Provinciale per L’infanzia “Santa Maria Della Pietà”. Calle della Pietà Castello n. 3701 (ground floor)

 

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invited artist :

Lawrence Abu Hamdan (Jordan / Beirut)

Njideka Akunyili Crosby (Nigeria / USA),Halil Altındere (Turkey),Michael Armitage (Kenya / UK),Korakrit Arunanondchai (Thailand / USA),Alex Gvojic (USA),Ed Atkins (UK / Germany / Denmark),Tarek Atoui (Lebanon / France),

Darren Bader (USA),Nairy Baghramian (Iran / Germany,

Neïl Beloufa (France),Alexandra Bircken (Germany),Carol Bove (Switzerland / USA,

Christoph Büchel (Switzerland / Iceland,

Ludovica Carbotta (Italy / Barcelona),Antoine Catala (France / USA),Ian Cheng (USA),George Condo (USA

Alex Da Corte (USA),Jesse Darling (UK / Germany),Stan Douglas (Canada),Jimmie Durham (USA / Germany),Nicole Eisenman (France / USA,

Haris Epaminonda (Cyprus / Germany),Lara Favaretto (Italy),Cyprien Gaillard (France / Germany), Gill (India),Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (France),Shilpa Gupta (India),Soham Gupta (India),Martine Gutierrez (USA),Rula Halawani (Palestine),Anthea Hamilton (UK),Jeppe Hein (Denmark / Germany),Anthony Hernandez (USA),Ryoji Ikeda (Japan / France),Arthur Jafa (USA),Cameron Jamie (USA / France / Germany),Kahlil Joseph (USA),Zhanna Kadyrova (Ukraine),Suki Seokyeong Kang (South Korea),Mari Katayama (Japan),Lee Bul (South Korea),Liu Wei (China),Maria Loboda (Poland / Germany),Andreas Lolis (Albania / Greece),Christian Marclay (USA / London),Teresa Margolles (Mexico / Spain),Julie Mehretu (Ethiopia / USA),Ad Minoliti (Argentina),Jean-Luc Moulène (France),Zanele Muholi (South Africa),Jill Mulleady (Uruguay / USA),Ulrike Müller (Austria / USA),Nabuqi (China),Otobong Nkanga (Nigeria / Belgium),Khyentse Norbu (Bhutan / India),Frida Orupabo (Norway),Jon Rafman (Canada).Gabriel Rico (Mexico),Handiwirman Saputra (Indonesia),Tomás Saraceno (Argentina / Germany),Augustas Serapinas (Lithuania),Avery Singer (USA),Slavs and Tatars (Germany),Michael E. Smith (USA),Hito Steyerl (Germany),Tavares Strachan (Bahamas / USA),Sun Yuan and Peng Yu (China),Henry Taylor (USA),Rosemarie Trockel (Germany),Kaari Upson (USA),Andra Ursuţa (Romania),Danh Vō (Vietnam / Mexico),Kemang Wa Lehulere (South Africa),Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand) and Tsuyoshi Hisakado (Japan),Margaret Wertheim and Christine Wertheim (Australia / USA) ,Anicka Yi (South Korea/ USA),Yin Xiuzhen (China),Yu Ji (China / Austria)

  

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other Biennale :(Biennials ) :Venice Biennial , Documenta Havana Biennial,Istanbul Biennial ( Istanbuli),Biennale de Lyon ,Dak'Art Berlin Biennial,Mercosul Visual Arts Biennial ,Bienal do Mercosul Porto Alegre.,Berlin Biennial ,Echigo-Tsumari Triennial .Yokohama Triennial Aichi Triennale,manifesta ,Copenhagen Biennale,Aichi Triennale

Yokohama Triennial,Echigo-Tsumari Triennial.Sharjah Biennial ,Biennale of Sydney, Liverpool , São Paulo Biennial ; Athens Biennale , Bienal do Mercosul ,Göteborg International Biennial for Contemporary Art

  

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Kashgar is an oasis city with an approximate population of 350,000. It is the westernmost city in China, located near the border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Kashgar has a rich history of over 2,000 years and served as a trading post and strategically important city on the Silk Road between China, the Middle East, and Europe. Kashgar is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

 

Located historically at the convergence point of widely varying cultures and empires, Kashgar has been under the rule of the Chinese, Turkic, Mongol, and Tibetan empires. The city has also been the site of an extraordinary number of battles between various groups of people on the steppes.

 

Now administered as a county-level unit of the People's Republic of China, Kashgar is the administrative centre of its eponymous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which has an area of 162,000 square kilometres and a population of approximately 3.5 million. The city's urban area covers 15 km2, though its administrative area extends over 555 km2.

 

NAME

The modern Chinese name is 喀什 (Kāshí), a shortened form of the longer and less-frequently used (simplified Chinese: 喀什噶尔; traditional Chinese: 喀什噶爾; pinyin: Kāshígé’ěr; Uyghur: قەشقەر‎). Ptolemy (AD 90-168), in his Geography, Chapter 15.3A, refers to Kashgar as “Kasi”. Its western and probably indigenous name is the Kāš ("rock"), to which the East Iranian -γar ("mountain"); cf. Pashto and Middle Persian gar/ġar, from Old Persian/Pahlavi girīwa ("hill; ridge (of a mountain)") was attached. Alternative historical Romanizations for "Kashgar" include Cascar and Cashgar.

 

Non-native names for the city, such as the old Chinese name Shule 疏勒 and Tibetan Śu-lig may have originated as an attempts to transcribe the Sanskrit name for Kashgar, Śrīkrīrāti ("fortunate hospitality")

 

Variant transcriptions of the official Uyghur: يېڭىشەھەر‎ include: K̂äxk̂är or Kaxgar, as well as Jangi-schahr, Kashgar Yangi Shahr, K’o-shih-ka-erh, K’o-shih-ka-erh-hsin-ch’eng, Ko-shih-ka-erh-hui-ch’eng, K’o-shih-ko-erh-hsin-ch’eng, New Kashgar, Sheleh, Shuleh, Shulen, Shu-lo, Su-lo, Su-lo-chen, Su-lo-hsien, Yangi-shaar, Yangi-shahr, Yangishar, Yéngisheher, Yengixəh̨ər and Еңишәһәр.

 

HISTORY

HAN DYNASTY

The earliest mention of Kashgar occurs when a Chinese Han dynasty envoy traveled the Northern Silk Road to explore lands to the west.

 

Another early mention of Kashgar is during the Former Han (also known as the Western Han dynasty), when in 76 BC the Chinese conquered the Xiongnu, Yutian (Khotan), Sulei (Kashgar), and a group of states in the Tarim basin almost up to the foot of the Tian Shan range.

 

Ptolemy speaks of Scythia beyond the Imaus, which is in a “Kasia Regio”, probably exhibiting the name from which Kashgar and Kashgaria (often applied to the district) are formed. The country’s people practised Zoroastrianism and Buddhism before the coming of Islam.

 

In the Book of Han, which covers the period between 125 BC and 23 AD, it is recorded that there were 1,510 households, 18,647 people and 2,000 persons able to bear arms. By the time covered by the Book of the Later Han (roughly 25 to 170 AD), it had grown to 21,000 households and had 3,000 men able to bear arms.

 

The Book of the Later Han provides a wealth of detail on developments in the region:

 

"In the period of Emperor Wu [140-87 BC], the Western Regions1 were under the control of the Interior [China]. They numbered thirty-six kingdoms. The Imperial Government established a Colonel [in charge of] Envoys there to direct and protect these countries. Emperor Xuan [73-49 BC] changed this title [in 59 BC] to Protector-General.

 

Emperor Yuan [40-33 BC] installed two Wuji Colonels to take charge of the agricultural garrisons on the frontiers of the king of Nearer Jushi [Turpan].

 

During the time of Emperor Ai [6 BC-AD 1] and Emperor Ping [AD 1-5], the principalities of the Western Regions split up and formed fifty-five kingdoms. Wang Mang, after he usurped the Throne [in AD 9], demoted and changed their kings and marquises. Following this, the Western Regions became resentful, and rebelled. They, therefore, broke off all relations with the Interior [China] and, all together, submitted to the Xiongnu again.

 

The Xiongnu collected oppressively heavy taxes and the kingdoms were not able to support their demands. In the middle of the Jianwu period [AD 25-56], they each [Shanshan and Yarkand in 38, and 18 kingdoms in 45], sent envoys to ask if they could submit to the Interior [China], and to express their desire for a Protector-General. Emperor Guangwu, decided that because the Empire was not yet settled [after a long period of civil war], he had no time for outside affairs, and [therefore] finally refused his consent [in AD 45].

 

In the meantime, the Xiongnu became weaker. The king of Suoju [Yarkand], named Xian, wiped out several kingdoms. After Xian’s death [c. AD 62], they began to attack and fight each other. Xiao Yuan [Tura], Jingjue [Cadota], Ronglu [Niya], and Qiemo [Cherchen] were annexed by Shanshan [the Lop Nur region]. Qule [south of Keriya] and Pishan [modern Pishan or Guma] were conquered and fully occupied by Yutian [Khotan]. Yuli [Fukang], Danhuan, Guhu [Dawan Cheng], and Wutanzili were destroyed by Jushi [Turpan and Jimasa]. Later these kingdoms were re-established.

 

During the Yongping period [AD 58-75], the Northern Xiongnu forced several countries to help them plunder the commanderies and districts of Hexi. The gates of the towns stayed shut in broad daylight."

 

And, more particularly in reference to Kashgar itself, is the following record:

 

"In the sixteenth Yongping year of Emperor Ming 73, Jian, the king of Qiuci (Kucha), attacked and killed Cheng, the king of Shule (Kashgar). Then he appointed the Qiuci (Kucha) Marquis of the Left, Douti, King of Shule (Kashgar). ‹See TfD›

In winter 73, the Han sent the Major Ban Chao who captured and bound Douti. He appointed Zhong, the son of the elder brother of Cheng, to be king of Shule (Kashgar). Zhong later rebelled. (Ban) Chao attacked and beheaded him."

 

THE KUSHANS

The Book of the Later Han also gives the only extant historical record of Yuezhi or Kushan involvement in the Kashgar oasis:

 

"During the Yuanchu period (114-120) in the reign of Emperor, the king of Shule (Kashgar), exiled his maternal uncle Chenpan to the Yuezhi (Kushans) for some offence. The king of the Yuezhi became very fond of him. Later, Anguo died without leaving a son. His mother directed the government of the kingdom. She agreed with the people of the country to put Yifu (lit. “posthumous child”), who was the son of a full younger brother of Chenpan on the throne as king of Shule (Kashgar). Chenpan heard of this and appealed to the Yuezhi (Kushan) king, saying:

 

"Anguo had no son. His relative (Yifu) is weak. If one wants to put on the throne a member of (Anguo’s) mother’s family, I am Yifu’s paternal uncle, it is I who should be king."

 

The Yuezhi (Kushans) then sent soldiers to escort him back to Shule (Kashgar). The people had previously respected and been fond of Chenpan. Besides, they dreaded the Yuezhi (Kushans). They immediately took the seal and ribbon from Yifu and went to Chenpan, and made him king. Yifu was given the title of Marquis of the town of Pangao [90 li, or 37 km, from Shule].

 

‹See TfD›

Then Suoju (Yarkand) continued to resist Yutian (Khotan), and put themselves under Shule (Kashgar). Thus Shule (Kashgar), became powerful and a rival to Qiuci (Kucha) and Yutian (Khotan)."

 

However, it was not very long before the Chinese began to reassert their authority in the region:

 

“In the second Yongjian year (127), during Emperor Shun’s reign, Chenpan sent an envoy to respectfully present offerings. The Emperor bestowed on Chenpan the title of Great Commandant-in-Chief for the Han. Chenxun, who was the son of his elder brother, was appointed Temporary Major of the Kingdom. ‹See TfD›

In the fifth year (130), Chenpan sent his son to serve the Emperor and, along with envoys from Dayuan (Ferghana) and Suoju (Yarkand), brought tribute and offerings.”

 

From an earlier part of the same text comes the following addition:

 

“In the first Yangjia year (132), Xu You sent the king of Shule (Kashgar), Chenpan, who with 20,000 men, attacked and defeated Yutian (Khotan). He beheaded several hundred people, and released his soldiers to plunder freely. He replaced the king [of Jumi] by installing Chengguo from the family of [the previous king] Xing, and then he returned.”[38]

 

Then the first passage continues:

 

“In the second Yangjia year (133), Chenpan again made offerings (including) a lion and zebu cattle. ‹See TfD›

 

Then, during Emperor Ling’s reign, in the first Jianning year, the king of Shule (Kashgar) and Commandant-in-Chief for the Han (i.e. presumably Chenpan), was shot while hunting by the youngest of his paternal uncles, Hede. Hede named himself king.

‹See TfD›

In the third year (170), Meng Tuo, the Inspector of Liangzhou, sent the Provincial Officer Ren She, commanding five hundred soldiers from Dunhuang, with the Wuji Major Cao Kuan, and Chief Clerk of the Western Regions, Zhang Yan, brought troops from Yanqi (Karashahr), Qiuci (Kucha), and the Nearer and Further States of Jushi (Turpan and Jimasa), altogether numbering more than 30,000, to punish Shule (Kashgar). They attacked the town of Zhenzhong [Arach − near Maralbashi] but, having stayed for more than forty days without being able to subdue it, they withdrew. Following this, the kings of Shule (Kashgar) killed one another repeatedly while the Imperial Government was unable to prevent it.”

 

THREE KINGDOMS TO THE SUI

These centuries are marked by a general silence in sources on Kashgar and the Tarim Basin.

 

The Weilüe, composed in the second third of the 3rd century, mentions a number of states as dependencies of Kashgar: the kingdom of Zhenzhong (Arach?), the kingdom of Suoju (Yarkand), the kingdom of Jieshi, the kingdom of Qusha, the kingdom of Xiye (Khargalik), the kingdom of Yinai (Tashkurghan), the kingdom of Manli (modern Karasul), the kingdom of Yire (Mazar − also known as Tágh Nák and Tokanak), the kingdom of Yuling, the kingdom of Juandu (‘Tax Control’ − near modern Irkeshtam), the kingdom of Xiuxiu (‘Excellent Rest Stop’ − near Karakavak), and the kingdom of Qin.

 

However, much of the information on the Western Regions contained in the Weilüe seems to have ended roughly about (170), near the end of Han power. So, we can’t be sure that this is a reference to the state of affairs during the Cao Wei (220-265), or whether it refers to the situation before the civil war during the Later Han when China lost touch with most foreign countries and came to be divided into three separate kingdoms.

 

Chapter 30 of the Records of the Three Kingdoms says that after the beginning of the Wei Dynasty (220) the states of the Western Regions did not arrive as before, except for the larger ones such as Kucha, Khotan, Kangju, Wusun, Kashgar, Yuezhi, Shanshan and Turpan, who are said to have come to present tribute every year, as in Han times.

 

In 270, four states from the Western Regions were said to have presented tribute: Karashahr, Turpan, Shanshan, and Kucha. Some wooden documents from Niya seem to indicate that contacts were also maintained with Kashgar and Khotan around this time.

 

In 422, according to the Songshu, ch. 98, the king of Shanshan, Bilong, came to the court and "the thirty-six states in the Western Regions" all swore their allegiance and presented tribute. It must be assumed that these 36 states included Kashgar.

 

The "Songji" of the Zizhi Tongjian records that in the 5th month of 435, nine states: Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all came to the Wei court.

 

In 439, according to the Weishu, ch. 4A, Shanshan, Kashgar and Karashahr sent envoys to present tribute.

 

According to the Weishu, ch. 102, Chapter on the Western Regions, the kingdoms of Kucha, Kashgar, Wusun, Yueban, Tashkurghan, Shanshan, Karashahr, Turpan and Sute all began sending envoys to present tribute in the Taiyuan reign period (435-440).

 

In 453 Kashgar sent envoys to present tribute (Weishu, ch. 5), and again in 455.

 

An embassy sent during the reign of Wencheng Di (452-466) from the king of Kashgar presented a supposed sacred relic of the Buddha; a dress which was incombustible.

 

In 507 Kashgar, is said to have sent envoys in both the 9th and 10th months (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

In 512, Kashgar sent envoys in the 1st and 5th months. (Weishu, ch. 8).

 

Early in the 6th century Kashgar is included among the many territories controlled by the Yeda or Hephthalite Huns, but their empire collapsed at the onslaught of the Western Turks between 563 and 567 who then probably gained control over Kashgar and most of the states in the Tarim Basin.

 

TANG DYNASTY

The founding of the Tang dynasty in 618 saw the beginning of a prolonged struggle between China and the Western Turks for control of the Tarim Basin. In 635, the Tang Annals reported an emissary from the king of Kashgar to the Tang capital. In 639 there was a second emissary bringing products of Kashgar as a token of submission to the Tang state.

 

Buddhist scholar Xuanzang passed through Kashgar (which he referred to as Ka-sha) in 644 on his return journey from India to China. The Buddhist religion, then beginning to decay in India, was active in Kashgar. Xuanzang recorded that they flattened their babies heads, tattooed their bodies and had green eyes. He reported that Kashgar had abundant crops, fruits and flowers, wove fine woolen stuffs and rugs. Their writing system had been adapted from Indian script but their language was different from that of other countries. The inhabitants were sincere Buddhist adherents and there were some hundreds of monasteries with more than 10,000 followers, all members of the Sarvastivadin School.

 

At around the same era, Nestorian Christians were establishing bishoprics at Herat, Merv and Samarkand, whence they subsequently proceeded to Kashgar, and finally to China proper itself.

 

In 646, the Turkic Kagan asked for the hand of a Tang Chinese princess, and in return the Emperor promised Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, Karashahr and Sarikol as a marriage gift, but this did not happen as planned.

 

In a series of campaigns between 652 and 658, with the help of the Uyghurs, the Chinese finally defeated the Western Turk tribes and took control of all their domains, including the Tarim Basin kingdoms. Karakhoja was annexed in 640, Karashahr during campaigns in 644 and 648, and Kucha fell in 648.

 

In 662 a rebellion broke out in the Western Regions and a Chinese army sent to control it was defeated by the Tibetans south of Kashgar.

 

After another defeat of the Tang Chinese forces in 670, the Tibetans gained control of the whole region and completely subjugated Kashgar in 676-8 and retained possession of it until 692, when the Tang dynasty regained control of all their former territories, and retained it for the next fifty years.

 

In 722 Kashgar sent 4,000 troops to assist the Chinese to force the "Tibetans out of "Little Bolu" or Gilgit.

 

In 728, the king of Kashgar was awarded a brevet by the Chinese emperor.

 

In 739, the Tangshu relates that the governor of the Chinese garrison in Kashgar, with the help of Ferghana, was interfering in the affairs of the Turgesh tribes as far as Talas.

 

In 751 the Chinese were defeated by an Arab army in the Battle of Talas. The An Lushan Rebellion led to the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia due to the fact that the Tang dynasty was forced to withdraw its troops from the region to fight An Lushan. The Tibetans cut all communication between China and the West in 766.

 

Soon after the Chinese pilgrim monk Wukong passed through Kashgar in 753. He again reached Kashgar on his return trip from India in 786 and mentions a Chinese deputy governor as well as the local king.

 

BATTLES WITH ARAB CALIPHATE

In 711, the Arabs invaded Kashgar, but did not hold the city for any length of time. Kashgar and Turkestan lent assistance to the reigning queen of Bukhara, to enable her to repel the Arabs. Although the Muslim religion from the very commencement sustained checks, it nevertheless made its weight felt upon the independent states of Turkestan to the north and east, and thus acquired a steadily growing influence. It was not, however, till the 10th century that Islam was established at Kashgar, under the Kara-Khanid Khanate.

 

THE TURKIC RULE

According to the 10th-century text, Hudud al-'alam, "the chiefs of Kashghar in the days of old were from the Qarluq, or from the Yaghma." The Karluks, Yaghmas and other tribes such as the Chigils formed the Karakhanids. The Karakhanid Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan converted to Islam in the 10th century and captured Kashgar. Kashgar was the capital of the Karakhanid state for a time but later the capital was moved to Balasaghun. During the latter part of the 10th century, the Muslim Karakhanids began a struggle against the Buddhist Kingdom of Khotan, and the Khotanese defeated the Karakhanids and captured Kashgar in 970. Chinese sources recorded the king of Khotan offering to send them a dancing elephant captured from Kashgar. Later in 1006, the Karakhanids of Kashgar under Yusuf Kadr Khan conquered Khotan.

 

The Karakhanid Khanate however was beset with internal strife, and the khanate split into two, the Eastern and Western Karakhanid Khanates, with Kashgar falling within the domain of the Eastern Karakhanid state. In 1089, the Western Karakhanids fell under the control of the Seljuks, but the Eastern Karakhanids was for the most part independent.

 

Both the Karakhanid states were defeated in the 12th century by the Kara-Khitans who captured Balasaghun, however Karakhanid rule continued in Kashgar under the suzerainty of the Kara-Khitans. The Kara-Khitan rulers followed a policy of religious tolerance, Islamic religious life continued uninterrupted and Kashgar was also a Nestorian metropolitan see. The last Karakhanid of Kashgar was killed in a revolt in 1211 by the city's notables. Kuchlug, a usurper of the throne of the Kara-Khitans, then attacked Kashgar which finally surrendered in 1214.

 

THE MONGOLS

The Kara-Khitai in their turn were swept away in 1219 by Genghis Khan. After his death, Kashgar came under the rule of the Chagatai Khans. Marco Polo visited the city, which he calls Cascar, about 1273-4 and recorded the presence of numerous Nestorian Christians, who had their own churches. Later In the 14th century, a Chagataid khan Tughluq Timur converted to Islam, and Islamic tradition began to reassert its ascendancy.

 

In 1389−1390 Tamerlane ravaged Kashgar, Andijan and the intervening country. Kashgar endured a troubled time, and in 1514, on the invasion of the Khan Sultan Said, was destroyed by Mirza Ababakar, who with the aid of ten thousand men built a new fort with massive defences higher up on the banks of the Tuman river. The dynasty of the Chagatai Khans collapsed in 1572 with the division of the country among rival factions; soon after, two powerful Khoja factions, the White and Black Mountaineers (Ak Taghliq or Afaqi, and Kara Taghliq or Ishaqi), arose whose differences and war-making gestures, with the intermittent episode of the Oirats of Dzungaria, make up much of recorded history in Kashgar until 1759. The Dzungar Khanate conquered Kashgar and set up the Khoja as their puppet rulers.

 

QING CONQUEST

The Qing dynasty defeated the Dzungar Khanate during the Ten Great Campaigns and took control of Kashgar in 1759. The conquerors consolidated their authority by settling other ethnics emigrants in the vicinity of a Manchu garrison.

 

Rumours flew around Central Asia that the Qing planned to launch expeditions towards Transoxiana and Samarkand, the chiefs of which sought assistance from the Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali. The alleged expedition never happened so Ahmad Shah withdrew his forces from Kokand. He also dispatched an ambassador to Beijing to discuss the situation of the Afaqi Khojas, but the representative was not well received, and Ahmed Shah was too busy fighting off the Sikhs to attempt to enforce his demands through arms.

The Qing continued to hold Kashgar with occasional interruptions during the Afaqi Khoja revolts. One of the most serious of these occurred in 1827, when the city was taken by Jahanghir Khoja; Chang-lung, however, the Qing general of Ili, regained possession of Kashgar and the other rebellious cities in 1828.

 

The Kokand Khanate raided Kashgar several times. A revolt in 1829 under Mahommed Ali Khan and Yusuf, brother of Jahanghir resulted in the concession of several important trade privileges to the Muslims of the district of Altishahr (the "six cities"), as it was then called.

 

The area enjoyed relative calm until 1846 under the rule of Zahir-ud-din, the local Uyghur governor, but in that year a new Khoja revolt under Kath Tora led to his accession as the authoritarian ruler of the city. However, his reign was brief—at the end of seventy-five days, on the approach of the Chinese, he fled back to Khokand amid the jeers of the inhabitants. The last of the Khoja revolts (1857) was of about equal duration, and took place under Wali-Khan, who murdered the well-known traveler Adolf Schlagintweit.

 

1862 CHINESE HUI REVOLT

The great Dungan revolt (1862–1877) involved insurrection among various Muslim ethnic groups. It broke out in 1862 in Gansu then spread rapidly to Dzungaria and through the line of towns in the Tarim Basin.

 

Dungan troops based in Yarkand rose and in August 1864 massacred some seven thousand Chinese and their Manchu commander. The inhabitants of Kashgar, rising in their turn against their masters, invoked the aid of Sadik Beg, a Kyrgyz chief, who was reinforced by Buzurg Khan, the heir of Jahanghir Khoja, and his general Yakub Beg. The latter men were dispatched at Sadik’s request by the ruler of Khokand to raise what troops they could to aid his Muslim friends in Kashgar.

 

Sadik Beg soon repented of having asked for a Khoja, and eventually marched against Kashgar, which by this time had succumbed to Buzurg Khan and Yakub Beg, but was defeated and driven back to Khokand. Buzurg Khan delivered himself up to indolence and debauchery, but Yakub Beg, with singular energy and perseverance, made himself master of Yangi Shahr, Yangi-Hissar, Yarkand and other towns, and eventually became sole master of the country, Buzurg Khan proving himself totally unfit for the post of ruler.

 

With the overthrow of Chinese rule in 1865 by Yakub Beg (1820–1877), the manufacturing industries of Kashgar are supposed to have declined.

 

Yaqub Beg entered into relations and signed treaties with the Russian Empire and the British Empire, but when he tried to get their support against China, he failed.

 

Kashgar and the other cities of the Tarim Basin remained under Yakub Beg’s rule until May 1877, when he died at Korla. Thereafter Kashgaria was reconquered by the forces of the Qing general Zuo Zongtang during the Qing reconquest of Xinjiang.

 

QING RULE

There were eras in Xinjiang's history where intermarriage was common, "laxity" which set upon Uyghur women led them to marry Chinese men and not wear the veil in the period after Yaqub Beg's rule ended, it is also believed by Uyghurs that some Uyghurs have Han Chinese ancestry from historical intermarriage, such as those living in Turpan.

 

Even though Muslim women are forbidden to marry non-Muslims in Islamic law, from 1880-1949 it was frequently violated in Xinjiang since Chinese men married Muslim Turki (Uyghur) women, a reason suggested by foriengers that it was due to the women being poor, while the Turki women who married Chinese were labelled as whores by the Turki community, these marriages were illegitimate according to Islamic law but the women obtained benefits from marrying Chinese men since the Chinese defended them from Islamic authorities so the women were not subjected to the tax on prostitution and were able to save their income for themselves. Chinese men gave their Turki wives privileges which Turki men's wives did not have, since the wives of Chinese did not have to wear a veil and a Chinese man in Kashgar once beat a mullah who tried to force his Turki Kashgari wife to veil. The Turki women also benefited in that they were not subjected to any legal binding to their Chinese husbands so they could make their Chinese husbands provide them with as much their money as she wanted for her relatives and herself since otherwise the women could just leave, and the property of Chinese men was left to their Turki wives after they died. Turki women considered Turki men to be inferior husbands to Chinese and Hindus. Because they were viewed as "impure", Islamic cemeteries banned the Turki wives of Chinese men from being buried within them, the Turki women got around this problem by giving shrines donations and buying a grave in other towns. Besides Chinese men, other men such as Hindus, Armenians, Jews, Russians, and Badakhshanis intermarried with local Turki women. The local society accepted the Turki women and Chinese men's mixed offspring as their own people despite the marriages being in violation of Islamic law. Turki women also conducted temporary marriages with Chinese men such as Chinese soldiers temporarily stationed around them as soldiers for tours of duty, after which the Chinese men returned to their own cities, with the Chinese men selling their mixed daughters with the Turki women to his comrades, taking their sons with them if they could afford it but leaving them if they couldn't, and selling their temporary Turki wife to a comrade or leaving her behind.

 

An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, 3 Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local Turki (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in Kashgar, this caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretense of protecting Muslim women because there was anti-Russian sentiment being built up, even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims violently clashed with the Russians before they were dispersed by guards, the Chinese sought to end to tensions to prevent the Russians from building up a pretext to invade.

 

After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.

 

Many of the young Kashgari women were most attractive in appearance, and some of the little girls quite lovely, their plaits of long hair falling from under a jaunty little embroidered cap, their big dark eyes, flashing teeth and piquant olive faces reminding me of Italian or Spanish children. One most beautiful boy stands out in my memory. He was clad in a new shirt and trousers of flowered pink, his crimson velvet cap embroidered with gold, and as he smiled and salaamed to us I thought he looked like a fairy prince. The women wear their hair in two or five plaits much thickened and lengthened by the addition of yak's hair, but the children in several tiny plaits.

 

The peasants are fairly well off, as the soil is rich, the abundant water-supply free, and the taxation comparatively light. It was always interesting to meet them taking their live stock into market. Flocks of sheep with tiny lambs, black and white, pattered along the dusty road; here a goat followed its master like a dog, trotting behind the diminutive ass which the farmer bestrode; or boys, clad in the whity-brown native cloth, shouted incessantly at donkeys almost invisible under enormous loads of forage, or carried fowls and ducks in bunches head downwards, a sight that always made me long to come to the rescue of the luckless birds.

 

It was pleasant to see the women riding alone on horseback, managing their mounts to perfection. They formed a sharp contrast to their Persian sisters, who either sit behind their husbands or have their steeds led by the bridle; and instead of keeping silence in public, as is the rule for the shrouded women of Iran, these farmers' wives chaffered and haggled with the men in the bazar outside the city, transacting business with their veils thrown back.

 

Certainly the mullas do their best to keep the fair sex in their place, and are in the habit of beating those who show their faces in the Great Bazar. But I was told that poetic justice had lately been meted out to one of these upholders of the law of Islam, for by mistake he chastised a Kashgari woman married to a Chinaman, whereupon the irate husband set upon him with a big stick and castigated him soundly.

 

That a Muslim should take in marriage one of alien faith is not objected to; it is rather deemed a meritorious act thus to bring an unbeliever to the true religion. The Muslim woman, on the other hand, must not be given in marriage to a non-Muslim; such a union is regarded as the most heinous of sins. In this matter, however, compromises are sometimes made with heaven: the marriage of a Turki princess with the emperor Ch'ien-lung has already been referred to; and, when the present writer passed through Minjol (a day's journey west of Kashgar) in 1902, a Chinese with a Turki wife (? concubine) was presented to him.

 

FIRST EAST TURKESTAN REPUBLIC

Kashgar was the scene of continual battles from 1933 to 1934. Ma Shaowu, a Chinese Muslim, was the Tao-yin of Kashgar, and he fought against Uyghur rebels. He was joined by another Chinese Muslim general, Ma Zhancang.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1933)

Uighur and Kirghiz forces, led by the Bughra brothers and Tawfiq Bay, attempted to take the New City of Kashgar from Chinese Muslim troops under General Ma Zhancang. They were defeated.

 

Tawfiq Bey, a Syrian Arab traveler, who held the title Sayyid (descendent of prophet Muhammed) and arrived at Kashgar on August 26, 1933, was shot in the stomach by the Chinese Muslim troops in September. Previously Ma Zhancang arranged to have the Uighur leader Timur Beg killed and beheaded on August 9, 1933, displaying his head outside of Id Kah Mosque.

 

Han chinese troops commanded by Brigadier Yang were absorbed into Ma Zhancang's army. A number of Han chinese officers were spotted wearing the green uniforms of Ma Zhancang's unit of the 36th division, presumably they had converted to Islam.

 

BATTLE OF KASHGAR (1934)

The 36th division General Ma Fuyuan led a Chinese Muslim army to storm Kashgar on February 6, 1934, attacking the Uighur and Kirghiz rebels of the First East Turkestan Republic. He freed another 36th division general, Ma Zhancang, who was trapped with his Chinese Muslim and Han Chinese troops in Kashgar New City by the Uighurs and Kirghiz since May 22, 1933. In January, 1934, Ma Zhancang's Chinese Muslim troops repulsed six Uighur attacks, launched by Khoja Niyaz, who arrived at the city on January 13, 1934, inflicting massive casualties on the Uighur forces. From 2,000 to 8,000 Uighur civilians in Kashgar Old City were massacred by Tungans in February, 1934, in revenge for the Kizil massacre, after retreating of Uighur forces from the city to Yengi Hisar. The Chinese Muslim and 36th division Chief General Ma Zhongying, who arrived at Kashgar on April 7, 1934, gave a speech at Id Kah Mosque in April, reminding the Uighurs to be loyal to the Republic of China government at Nanjing. Several British citizens at the British consulate were killed or wounded by the 36th division on March 16, 1934.

 

PEOPLE´S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Kashgar was incorporated into the People's Republic of China in 1949. During the Cultural Revolution, one of the largest statues of Mao in China was built in Kashgar, near People's Square. In 1986, the Chinese government designated Kashgar a "city of historical and cultural significance". Kashgar and surrounding regions have been the site of Uyghur unrest since the 1990s. In 2008, two Uyghur men carried out a vehicular, IED and knife attack against police officers. In 2009, development of Kashgar's old town accelerated after the revelations of the deadly role of faulty architecture during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Many of the old houses in the old town were built without regulation, and as a result, officials found them to be overcrowded and non-compliant with fire and earthquake codes. When the plan started, 42% of the city's residents lived in the old town. With compensation, residents of faulty buildings are being counseled to move to newer, safer buildings that will replace the historic structures in the $448 million plan, including high-rise apartments, plazas, and reproductions of ancient Islamic architecture. The European Parliament issued a resolution in 2011 calling for "culture-sensitive methods of renovation." The International Scientific Committee on Earthen Architectural Heritage (ISCEAH) has expressed concern over the demolition and reconstruction of historic buildings. ISCEAH has, additionally, urged the implementation of techniques utilized elsewhere in the world to address earthquake vulnerability.

 

Following the July 2009 Urumqi riots, the government focused on local economic development in an attempt to ameliorate ethnic tensions in the greater Xinjiang region. Kashgar was made into a Special Economic Zone in 2010, the first such zone in China's far west. In 2011, a spate of violence over two days killed dozens of people. By May 2012 two-thirds of the old city had been demolished, fulfilling "political as well as economic goals." In July 2014 the Imam of the Id Kah Mosque, Juma Tayir, was assassinated in Kashgar.

 

CLIMATE

Kashgar features a desert climate (Köppen BWk) with hot summers and cold winters, with large temperature differences between those two seasons: The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.3 °C in January to 25.6 °C in July, while the annual mean is 11.84 °C. Spring is long and arrives quickly, while fall is somewhat brief in comparison. Kashgar is one of the driest cities on the planet, averaging only 64 millimetres of precipitation per year. The city’s wettest month, July, only sees on average 9.1 millimetres of rain. Because of the extremely arid conditions, snowfall is rare, despite the cold winters. Records have been as low as −24.4 °C in January and up to 40.1 °C in July. The frost-free period averages 215 days. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 50% in March to 70% in September, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually.

 

DEMOGRAPHICS

Kashgar is predominately peopled by Muslim Uyghurs. Compared to Ürümqi, Xinjiang's capital and largest city, Kashgar is less industrial and has significantly fewer Han Chinese residents.

 

ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY

The city has a very important Sunday market. Thousands of farmers from the surrounding fertile lands come into the city to sell a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Kashgar’s livestock market is also very lively. Silk and carpets made in Hotan are sold at bazaars, as well as local crafts, such as copper teapots and wooden jewellery boxes.

 

In order to boost the economy in Kashgar region, the government classified the area as the sixth Special Economic Zone of China in May 2010.

 

Mahmud al-Kashgari (Turkish: Kâşgarlı Mahmud) (Mahmut from Kashgar) wrote the first Turkic–Arabic Exemplary Dictionary called Divan-ı Lugat-it Türk[citation needed]

 

The movie The Kite Runner was filmed in Kashgar. Kashgar and the surrounding countryside stood in for Kabul and Afghanistan, since filming in Afghanistan was not possible due to safety and security reasons.

 

SIGHTS

Kashgar's Old City has been called "the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in Central Asia". It is estimated to attract more than one million tourists annually.

 

- Id Kah Mosque, the largest mosque in China, is located in the heart of the city.

- People's Park, the main public park in central Kashgar.

- An 18 m high statue of Mao Zedong in Kashgar is one of the few large-scale statues of Mao remaining in China.

- The tomb of Afaq Khoja in Kashgar is considered the holiest Muslim site in Xinjiang. Built in the 17th century, the tiled mausoleum 5 km northeast of the city centre also contains the tombs of five generations of his family. Abakh was a powerful ruler, controlling Khotan, Yarkand, Korla, Kucha and Aksu as well as Kashgar. Among some Uyghur Muslims, he was considered a great Saint (Aulia).

- Sunday Market in Kashgar is renowned as the biggest market in central Asia; a pivotal trading point along the Silk Road where goods have been traded for more than 2,000 years. The market is open every day but Sunday is the largest.

 

TRANSPORTATION

AIR

Kashgar Airport serves mainly domestic flights, the majority of them from Urumqi. The only scheduled international flights are passenger and cargo services with Pakistan's capital Islamabad.

 

RAIL

Kashgar has the westernmost railway station in China. It is connected to the rest of China's rail network via the Southern Xinjiang Railway, which was built in December 1999. Kashgar–Hotan Railway opened for passenger traffic in June 2011, and connected Kashgar with cities in the southern Tarim Basin including Shache (Yarkand), Yecheng (Kargilik) and Hotan. Travel time to Urumqi from Kashgar is approximately 25 hours, while travel time to Hotan is approximately ten hours.

 

The investigation work of a further extension of the railway line to Pakistan has begun. In November 2009, Pakistan and China agreed to set up a joint venture to do a feasibility study of the proposed rail link via the Khunjerab Pass.

 

Proposals for a rail connection to Osh in Kyrgyzstan have also been discussed at various levels since at least 1996.

 

In 2012, a standard gauge railway from Kashgar via Tajikistan and Afghanistan to Iran and beyond has been proposed.

 

ROAD

The Karakorum highway (KKH) links Islamabad, Pakistan with Kashgar over the Khunjerab Pass. The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project was that will upgrade transport links between China and Pakistan, including the upgrades to the Karakorum highway. Bus routes exist for passenger travel south into Pakistan. Kyrgyzstan is also accessible from Kashgar, via the Torugart Pass and Irkeshtam Pass; as of summer 2007, daily bus service connects Kashgar with Bishkek’s Western Bus Terminal. Kashgar is also located on China National Highways G314 (which runs to Khunjerab Pass on the Sino−Pakistani border, and, in the opposite direction, towards Ürümqi), and G315, which runs to Xining, Qinghai from Kashgar.

 

WIKIPEDIA

“Southwest” includes Kim Kardashian (34) as children’s names categorically. But the compass has still more to offer: Now the pregnant It Girl “Easton” did as the name of her son from this week.

That your next child “Southwest” might mean, reality TV star...

 

failerz.com/kim-kardashian-considers-her-son-to-call-easton/

More of Sunday's action at the Masters Historic Festival, Brands Hatch

Includes:

!O: Teacup Piglet Gatcha

~Tableau Vivant~ Emotes -

{af} Breakfast Books

-tb- Vanity - Vanity Desk

ARIA] Oolong Teacup Planter Iris- Plum - RARE

[Commoner] Photo Album

It includes:

 

One Hunter

One Delta

One Drifter

One WunderWaffe

Two Speter Rio De Janeiros

Three Normal Specters

And 19 various heads

 

I'm very blessed to have this collection. Hopefully I'll be able to get more and meet Eclipsegrafx himself at BFVA!

  

-Matthew

Modern Le Mans cars during a High Speed Demonstration at the 77th Members' Meeting, Goodwood.

I usually include what I am reading in my Day in the Life photos. Reading has always been central to my way of life, and even more now I rarely leave the house.

 

uploaded with Uploader for Flickr for Android

Unlike Trumpton, Chigley includes many guest appearances by characters from the previous two series, including Windy Miller of Camberwick Green and the Trumpton fire brigade, complete with their famous roll-call. This was at least partly for economic reasons, as it allowed the established characters' theme songs to be re-used, thus saving money on recording.

 

Notable new characters include Mr Swallow of Treddle's Wharf, Mr Cresswell, owner of Cresswell's Chigley Biscuit factory, Harry Farthing the potter and his daughter Winnie and, last but not least, the aristocratic Lord Belborough of Winkstead Hall and his butler Brackett, who also operate a private railway that seems to run through most of Trumptonshire.

 

As with the other series, everybody's problems appear to be sorted out by the end of each episode. However, then Lord Belborough orders everyone to the grounds of Winkstead Hall after the 6 o'clock whistle which sounds the end of the day's work at the local biscuit factory. Belborough plays his vintage organ, while the workers gather for a dance and the episode fades out.