More the chaotic start of the children's section of the Bolney Pram Race

St. Veit an der Glan (Slovene Sveti Vid or Šent Fid , sometimes also with the addition ob Glini ) is the name of both a municipality with 12,255 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2023) in Carinthia , Austria , and its largest town , the main town of the municipality, with 10,520 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2023).

 

The city was built at the intersection of old transport routes. It was the state capital of Carinthia until 1518, and it is the seat of the district headquarters of the political district of St. Veit an der Glan .

 

Municipality

The municipality is located in Central Carinthia, in the south of the St. Veit an der Glan district. In terms of landscape, it includes the east of the Glantal , the northeast of the Glantaler Bergland , the north of the Zollfeld and the west of the Launsdorfer Senke . In the north of the municipality the main town is at the foot of the Lorenziberg , which is just outside the municipality, and south of the main town are the Muraunberg, the Hörzendorfer See and the Tanzenberg. In the southwest the community extends to the eastern slope of the Ulrichsberg, in the southeast over the northern part of the Zollfeld to the western slope of the Magdalensberg.

 

Main town

The city was created at the intersection of old traffic routes: from the ancient connection from the Danube region to the Adriatic, which turns west at St. Veit towards Feldkirchen-Villach-Tarvis, roads branch off here to the south to Klagenfurt (and further via Loibl or Seeberg) as well to the east towards Völkermarkt and Görtschitztal with the old Hüttenberg iron center.

 

The town lies in the very east of the Glan Valley, on an alluvial fan at the confluence of Wimitz and Mühlbach into the Glan . Over the past 150 years it has expanded in area in all directions, especially towards the southeast towards Zollfeld, most recently in 1958 through the incorporation of St. Donat .

 

The municipality includes seven cadastral communities (area: as of December 31, 2021):

 

Galling (293.92 ha)

Hörzendorf (682.28 ha)

Niederdorf (569.16 ha)

Projern (898.22 ha)

St. Donat (1,390.27 ha)

St. Veit an der Glan (868.30 ha)

Tanzenberg (377.06 ha)

Localities

The municipality includes 41 towns (population as of January 1, 2023):

 

Affelsdorf (29)

Aich (4)

Altglandorf (107)

Arndorf (8)

Baardorf (6)

Baiersdorf (28)

Leg kicks (11)

Blintendorf (11)

Dellach (46)

Draschelbach (3)

Eberdorf (4)

Galling (8)

Gersdorf (23)

Wood (10)

Hörzendorf (362)

Karlsberg (14)

Karnberg (63)

Lasdorf (6)

Lebmach (0)

Mairist (22)

Milbersdorf (18)

Muraunberg (76)

Niederdorf (4)

Plowing (18)

Pörtschach am Berg (29)

Preilitz (33)

Projectors (50)

Cycle path (4)

Ragga hall (7)

Ritzendorf (13)

St. Andrä (16)

St. Donat (461)

St. Veit an der Glan (10,520)

Streimberg (1)

Tanzenberg (4)

Ulrichsberg (24)

Unterbergen (90)

Untermühlbach (87)

Unterwuhr (30)

Wainz (5)

Zwischenbergen (0)

 

Structure of the main town

Historically, today's capital St. Veit an der Glan was divided into the city (Old Town, Inner City) and five suburbs (Friesacher Vorstadt, Klagenfurter Vorstadt, Villacher Vorstadt, Völkermarkter Vorstadt, Weitensfelder Vorstadt). The suburbs were temporarily (1869 and 1880) run as separate towns, then as parts of the town. Today this subdivision no longer has any practical meaning. Although some of the former suburbs give their names to census districts, these do not correspond to the historical suburban areas.

 

Old Town

The old town (inner city, formerly simply: city ) surrounded by city walls was built in the 12th/13th century. Century created. The city around the Upper and Lower Squares consisted of four quarters:

 

To the north of Oberer Platz, around the town hall and along Judengasse (today Bräuhausgasse), there was the Fourteen Nothelfer quarter. It was named after the Nothelfer Church, which was demolished in 1790 and replaced by a residence that is now used as the district headquarters.

South of the Oberer Platz and around the Kirchgassl was the parish district with the town parish church.

To the north of the Unteren Platz (formerly: Niederer Platz) and on Burggasse was the castle district with the so-called Herzogsburg.

The Zwölfbotenviertel south of Unteren Platz and around Botengasse was named after the Twelve Messenger Church, which was demolished in the 18th century.

 

Mailänder Hof, Friesacher Vorstadt

In 1428 this settlement was called Friesacher Ort . In the 19th century, the Friesacher Vorstadt consisted of a few houses on Friesacher Straße, which led away from the old town to the east, including the Gasthaus Stern (at the location of today's Fuchspalast) and the Mailänderhof. In addition, the Kölnhof, the Ranftlhof, the Schönmühle an der Wimitz, the Theresienhof and on the road towards Kraig the Marienhof were counted as part of the Friesach suburb.

 

Klagenfurt suburb

Before the city was planned, St. Veit also extended southeast outside the city wall that was then built, around the area of ​​today's country road. The Church of St. Johann im Erlach existed near today's Evangelical Church from the early 13th century at the latest. The settlement was later called St.-Johannes-Vorstadt (1754).

 

In the 19th century, the Klagenfurt suburb consisted primarily of houses along Klagenfurter Strasse and individual buildings in the area of ​​today's Prinzhofer Strasse. Outside the closed development were the paper mill on the Glan, the lead white factory (used as a barracks after it closed at the end of the 19th century; today Funder Villa) and above on the road to Kollerhof the saltpeter plantation, on the loop near the mouth of the Wimitz and a little further down the Glan the city saw. In the area of ​​the lead white factory and the large marshalling yard built nearby, the name Glandorf was used from 1890.

 

Villacher Vorstadt

The Citizens' Hospital was founded west of the city in 1321 - the building complex is still preserved today - and two years later the Poor Clares Monastery was next to it. After the monastery church of Our Lady, the settlement that emerged there was initially called Our Women's Place . The term Franciscan suburb appeared in the 18th century; the monastery church became a Franciscan church in the 17th century. After the name Feldkirchener Vorstadt was also used in the early 19th century, the name Villacher Vorstadt finally prevailed . The Zeneggenhof trade headquarters , which was demolished in 2003, was also important there .

 

Völkermarkter Vorstadt

The Völkermarkter Vorstadt was the smallest and most recently mentioned of the five suburbs. In the 19th century it only comprised a few houses close to the city on what is now Völkermarkter Straße and far outside, near the Wimitz, Weyer Castle, the Rassnigmühle and the Abdeckerkeusche.

 

Weitensfeld suburb

Already in the 14th/15th. In the 19th century, the area of ​​today's Rechtsgasse and between Obermühlbacher Straße and Erlgraben ( Mühlbach ) was built on. There were trade headquarters in the Döber and, from the 17th century, a nobleman's residence. A military hospital or military hospital appeared here in the 18th century and, from the early 19th century, a bathhouse. The settlement was at times also called the Lazarettviertel or - after the Loretto Church, later the Calvary Church, built in the 17th century - as the Loreto Quarter or the Quarter under the Calvaryberg .

 

Structure according to counting districts

The community is divided into census tracts for statistical purposes. The census tracts 000 to 022 include the main town, the census tracts 030 and 040 the rest of the community. The boundaries of the census tracts do not coincide with the historical boundaries of the suburbs, even if their names are used:

 

Antiquity

There was a fort in Roman times on the Gratzerkogel am Zollfeld, on the southern edge of today's municipal area. In the 5th century a settlement was built in its place, which was abandoned around 600.

 

Founding of the city

The earliest indication of settlement in the area of ​​today's city in the narrower sense is the fragment of an early medieval Carolingian wattle stone, which can be seen in secondary use in the outer wall of the Karner near today's city parish church . According to legend, an invasion by the Hungarians in 901 was the reason for the founding of the city: Saint Vitus appeared to a Carantan duke named Rathold at a battle near Hungerbrunn north of today's city and gave him courage . After a victorious battle, the Duke had an alder thicket cleared on the battlefield and a church built on this spot, around which the city gradually grew.

 

A settlement initially emerged in the area between the location of today's parish church and the church of St. Johann im Erlach (which was near today's Evangelical Church), along what was then the course of the Mühlbach; At that time there was probably a stately court in the area of ​​today's city center. In 1122 the Spanheimers succeeded the Eppensteiners as Dukes of Carinthia ; St. Veit gained importance among them. Today's parish church was built. In 1147 Margrave Engelbert III sold. (Spanheim) gave the farm of St. Veit to the diocese of Bamberg , but the purchase was canceled soon afterwards. St. Veit quickly became the center of the ducal estates in Carinthia, which initially resided at the nearby Freiberg Castle , just outside the current municipal boundary.

 

Ducal residence, state capital of Carinthia

In the late 12th century, the seat of the dukes was gradually moved from Freiberg Castle to the town of St. Veit, which was named forum (market) in 1199. The place experienced its first heyday under Duke Bernhard von Spanheim (1202–1256), the son-in-law of King Ottokar of Bohemia . A school was mentioned in 1204. From 1205 onwards, the ducal mint stood in St. Veit (until 1725), where the oldest surviving coin with a German inscription was minted in 1220. In 1224 St. Veit received city charter with its own judge and twelve juries (councillors). Bernhard had city walls built and he built the castle in St. Veit, which was documented as a fort or palace , while there was a ring of castles on the hills around the city. Bernhard ran a brilliant court: he introduced the hereditary court offices of cupbearer, steward and marshal. In 1214 Walther von der Vogelweide stayed in St. Veit. In 1277 Ulrich von Lichtenstein fought in the tournament here. After the Spanheim family died out (1269), Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol became duke in 1286. In the following uprisings in 1293, the castle and the city were badly damaged; the city walls were then renewed. The Citizens' Hospital and the Poor Clares Monastery were founded in the 1320s.

 

For the Counts of Gorizia-Tyrol, St. Veit was only a secondary residence. When the Duchy of Carinthia fell to the Habsburgs in 1335, St. Veit finally lost its importance as a residence, but the sovereign authorities were expanded: there were Hoftaiding and Landschranne , district judges, court masters and the sovereign vice cathedral in the city. Meetings of princes took place in the city in 1360 and 1374. From 1450 the place was referred to in documents as the “capital”. Between 1473 and 1492 there were five Turkish invasions of the city's surroundings, and in 1480 the suburbs were damaged during a siege by the Hungarians. In the 15th century, the nobility and clergy had become more important in the country; After their state troops, who wanted to put down a peasant revolt in northern Carinthia, were barred from passing through the city by the city of St. Veit in 1516, the state troops intervened with the emperor against the city. This led to Emperor Maximilian I handing Klagenfurt over to the estates in 1518 in order to weaken the importance of St. Vitus, and gradually Klagenfurt was expanded and took on the functions of a capital.

 

Reformation and Counter-Reformation; Iron, trade

In the 1520s, the prince's armory (later incorrectly called “Ducal Castle”) was built on the northeast corner of the city. Some castles near the city were rebuilt or expanded in the 16th century; in today's municipal area this applies to Weyer Castle, Karlsberg Castle, Stadlhof Castle, Niederdorf Castle and Kölnhof Castle. But the estate authorities gradually moved to Klagenfurt.

 

The dealers and trades remained in St. Veit. As early as 1362, Rudolf the Founder gave the city a meadow market , which still takes place annually today. From 1547 a mayor was elected annually. The country's first paper mill was built here in 1550 . In 1653 the city was granted another market, the “Cold Market”. However, the city's importance as a transport hub and trading center gradually declined because the route via Graz and Trieste became more important as a connection from the Adriatic to the Danube countries at the expense of the older connection via St. Veit and Tarvisio.

 

Even though Klagenfurt had become the seat of the estates, St. Veit continued to emphasize its role as a sovereign city. In St. Veit, the ecclesiastical Reformation movement of the 16th century had to contend with more resistance than in the surrounding area due to the Catholic sovereign influence. Around 1600 the citizens were forced to re-Catholicize; the satellite guard, which protected the monstrance at Catholic festivals and processions, became more important. In the 17th century the Franciscans were settled in the former Poor Clares monastery; The Maria Loreto Church was built above the city.

 

In 1399 the city received the right to mine iron from the Hüttenberger Erzberg , which allowed trade and thus the entire city to flourish. In 1578, a modern blast furnace was built by the St. Veitern in the Urtl near Guttaring .

 

The iron industry was promoted in the 18th century. In 1713 and 1715 the plague raged in St. Veit, and in 1747 the town burned down. In 1783, Joseph II abolished the city's trading privileges, which ultimately led to economic decline. The Josephine reforms also led to the end of the regional carving craft; Johann Pacher , Johann Georg Hittinger and their employees equipped many churches in Carinthia from St. Veit in the 18th century.

 

Railway

In 1830 the city only had 1,500 inhabitants, after having had up to 3,000 inhabitants in the Middle Ages. With the construction of the Rudolfsbahn in the 19th century and the beginning of the timber trade, an economic recovery began. The train station was initially built to the south, quite far outside the city, and led to the rapid growth of the Klagenfurt suburb at the end of the 19th century. In 1912 the new main train station was built in the east of St. Veit - in the Friesach suburb - and St. Veit became a “railway town”.

 

From 1850 until the outbreak of war in 1914 there was a permanent garrison in St. Veit, initially consisting of a squadron of lancers, then dragoons and finally hussars. They were initially housed in the city center; from the end of the 19th century in the then abandoned lead white factory in the Klagenfurt suburb.

 

In 1877 the Brothers of Mercy founded the hospital in the Weitensfeld suburb.

 

First and Second World Wars

After the First World War, the SHS state occupied large parts of Carinthia. Italian troops protected St. Veit from irregulars attacking from the south in June 1919. The Völkermarkt district administration was temporarily relocated to the unoccupied St. Veit, as was the seat of the Carinthian state government in the summer of 1919, which was only able to return to Klagenfurt in the late autumn of 1920.

 

National Socialists were active in the St. Veit area long before the annexation to the German Reich ; The future Gauleiter Friedrich Rainer joined the SA here in 1923 . As part of the National Socialists' attempted coup in 1934, around 900 armed men managed to take over the city. Afterwards there was heavy fighting around St. Veit, with 13 dead. During the Second World War, the library of the NSDAP High School was moved from Berlin to Tanzenberg Palace . There was also resistance to National Socialism, particularly among railway workers; Maximilian Zitter and nine other railway workers were executed in 1942.

 

Enlargement of the municipal area

The municipality, established as part of the administrative reforms after the revolution of 1848/49, initially only included the cadastral municipality of St. Veit an der Glan, i.e. the old town with its five suburbs. In 1958 the parish of St. Donat was added. This merger made it easier to supply the Glandorf settlement, which had grown rapidly over the decades on both sides of the border between the municipalities of St. Veit and St. Donat, next to the large marshalling yard and the Funder factory, with the necessary infrastructure.

 

In 1962, 12 hectares of land came from the municipality of St. Georgen am Längensee to the municipality of St. Veit; Due to the Glan regulation, the affected area (today the area around the house at Flussgasse 150) was only accessible from the St. Veiter area.

 

In 1972, the community of Hörzendorf , in which a central town was never able to emerge, was annexed to St. Veit. Among other things, the parish and school towns of Hörzendorf and Projern as well as Schloss Tanzenberg with its high school came to St. Veit. In 1973 a small part of the community of St. Peter am Bichl came to St. Veit. Through all of these expansions, numerous small villages were added to the municipality; The area of ​​the municipality of St. Veit increased fivefold within 15 years, but the number of inhabitants only grew by around a fifth due to the incorporations.

 

Present

At the turn of the millennium, the city initially tried to position itself as a “flower city”. Accordingly, the flower hall and flower hotel were built. On the other hand, an industrial center was built on the southern edge of the community, near Blintendorf. The settlement of companies such as Kyoto Solar and Greenonetec helped St. Veit gain a reputation as a “sunny city”.

 

A major challenge for the community is to maintain sufficient customer frequency for the shops in the picturesque old town despite the construction of numerous supermarkets, specialty stores and shopping centers on the outskirts of the city.

 

Population

According to the 2001 census [8] , St. Veit had 12,839 inhabitants, of which 92.5% were Austrian, 2.3% Yugoslavian and 2.2% Bosnian citizens.

 

74.0% of the population were Roman Catholic and 8.6% were Protestant ; 4.3% were of Islamic faith; Jehovah's Witnesses have a Kingdom Hall in St. Veit. 10.2% of the residents had no religious belief.

 

Old Town

The old town, measuring around 380 × 200 m, is surrounded by the largely preserved city wall . The houses in the old town almost all have medieval building cores; Many of the town houses around the two town squares have arcaded courtyards.

On the approximately 200 by 30 m main square there is the late Gothic town hall (a three-story, six-axis building with a keel arch portal, elaborately designed facade and arcade courtyard), a plague column (1715/16) and two fountains ( Vogelweide fountain and Schüsselbrunnen).

The Catholic parish church , first mentioned in documents in 1131, is a large choir tower church, late Romanesque in its basic features and late Gothic in its current form. The current exterior is the result of a major restoration following a fire in 1829. On the west wall there are several grave monuments from the 15th to 18th centuries. [9] The Karner St. Michael south of the town parish church at the former cemetery is essentially a Romanesque rotunda from the 13th century (mentioned in documents in 1275 and 1359) and was previously used as an ossuary . It has served as a war memorial since 1930.

The so-called Herzogsburg , actually a former princely armory, is used for cultural events (concerts, openings, theater).

 

Other urban areas

The former community hospital with the profaned hospital church , first mentioned in a document in 1321, is located to the west outside the old town in front of the former Villacher Gate.

The monastery church of Our Lady, southwest of the former community hospital, was mentioned in a document in 1323 as the church of a Poor Clares monastery founded by Konrad von Auffenstein and his wife Diemut. After renovations to the monastery, the church was re-consecrated in 1648 and restored in 1963/64.

The monastery, last owned by the Franciscans, was abolished by Emperor Joseph II in 1768, partially demolished in 1863 and now used for residential purposes. [10]

The Calvary Church of Maria Loretto , mentioned in a document in 1658, stands on a hill northwest of the city center.

The Evangelical Christ Church , a church building built in 1910/12 by Julius Schulte in the late Art Nouveau style with secessionist details and baroque elements.

The Kölnhof and Weyer castles on the north-eastern and eastern outskirts of the city are privately owned and are used as a business location and for residential purposes.

The main station is an elongated, one to two-story building in the late historical style built by Hans Granichstaedten between 1911 and 1913. The representatively designed terminal building has a steep roof, extended towards the main display side, with an ornamental gable and a projecting bell tower with an ornamental cornice and an octagonal lantern attachment. The iron construction platforms date from the construction period.

Rural area of ​​the municipality

In the villages belonging to the municipality there are the parish church of Hörzendorf , the parish church of Projern , St. Donat and the branch churches of Karnberg, St. Andrä and Streimberg; Roman stones and wattle stones are built into some of them.

The mighty Tanzenberg Castle, far to the south of the municipality above Zollfeld, dates back to a Renaissance castle with an older core, was renovated at the beginning of the 20th century and added a neo-Romanesque pillar basilica, and serves as a school building.

The ruins of Karlsberg Castle, hidden in the forest , are the only castle in the former castle ring around the city in today's St. Veiter municipal area.

The castles Niederdorf (Renaissance building from the 16th century), Karlsberg (built in the 17th century), and Stadlhof (expanded over an older core around 1780) are privately owned and used for residential purposes.

 

Modern architecture

The Ernst Fuchs Palace is a controversially judged hotel building designed by Ernst Fuchs .

Industrial architecture FUNDER Plant 3 by Coop Himmelblau , natural project “Nature must grow”, district of St. Donat

Facade and Fundernovum by Günther Domenig FunderMax Plant II in the Glandorf district

 

Museums

Museum : The Museum of Transport and Urban History on the main square in St. Veit was created in 2003/2004 as a combination of several previous institutions such as. B. the city museum in the castle (founded in 1886), the satellite museum in the former community hospital and the transport museum (founded in 1982) in the town hall and then in the former housekeeping school (from 1987). The St. Veit Museum is run jointly by the St. Veit Transport Museum Association and the municipality of St. Veit. It presents over 3,000 exhibits on transport history, postal and telecommunications systems and the city's history on an area of ​​1,000 m² on three floors. It is closed from November 1st to March 30th.

The museum heating house of the nostalgic railways in Carinthia (NBiK) is located at St. Veiter Westbahnhof .

Regular events

Vitusmarkt since 1170

St. Veiter Wiesenmarkt since 1362 – one of the largest and oldest folk festivals in Austria

Cold market since 1653

Easter market since 1844

Trigonale since 2003 – festival of “early” music

St. Veiter Literature Days (annually in November)

Economy and infrastructure

Resident companies

FunderMax 's wood panel production is located in St. Veit an der Glan.

The headquarters of the watch manufacturer Jacques Lemans , which, among other things, also exclusively produces watches for Formula 1 . Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone was in St. Veit to sign the contract with Jacques Lemans .

In the St. Veit/Glan industrial park, the focus on the solar industry has developed around the leading companies located there . Companies in the industrial park (selection):

Druck Carinthia GmbH, a company of the Styria Media Group

General Solar Systems GmbH

GREENoneTEC Solarindustrie GmbH

KIOTO Photovoltaics GmbH

impress decor Austria GmbH

“Sunny City” St. Veit an der Glan

The Sonnenstadt St. Veit project began in St. Veit in 2010 . The city's policy vision was for St. Veit to achieve complete energy self-sufficiency through renewable energy by 2020 . In order to achieve this ambitious goal, construction began in 2010 on the largest photovoltaic power plant in Austria with an output of 1,500 KWp and an annual production of around 1.5 million kilowatt hours . The investment amount for this pilot project was estimated at 6.8 million euros. By 2013, a total photovoltaic area with an output of more than three megawatts peak was created in the urban area.

 

Coat of arms

The use of a seal for St. Veit has been documented since 1269 (mentioned on May 15, 1279), and is preserved in a document dated October 3, 1281. While in this version the city's patron saint is only depicted in a two-line inscription, a seal with the bust of the saint in an archway flanked by a pair of towers was used just a few years later. From the 16th century onwards, the depictions showed the city patron sitting in a cauldron with his hands folded, but in 1900 they returned to the old depiction from the late 13th century, which the city community formally accepted by resolution of the local council on July 4, 1961 .

 

The official blazon of the city's coat of arms is as follows:

 

“In the blue shield there is an archway flanked by two silver, black roughened (gridded), at the top with a double Romanesque tower with a simple water snake cornice in the middle and set with a golden ball, which has the bust of St. Vitus in a red surplice, white Shirt with golden (yellow) stole and golden halo encircles. The saint holds a large palm branch in his right hand, while his left hand is raised in blessing. Above the black, roughened (barred) archway, which has the inscription S. Vitus and is decorated with a gold ball, there are two gold stars.”

The flag is white-blue-yellow with an incorporated coat of arms.

 

Personalities

Sons and Daughters

Josef Wernhammer (1790–1855), Austrian innkeeper and property owner as well as politician

Albert Jakob Tonitz (1811–1873), lived and died in St. Veit, lawyer, composer and music writer

August Prinzhofer (1817–1885), grew up in St. Veit, worked as a painter and lithographer in Vienna and Graz

Wilhelm Prinzhofer (1825–1889), Austrian merchant and politician

Josef Lemisch (1862–1918), grew up in St. Veit, worked as a politician (member of the Carinthian state parliament; deputy state governor) in Klagenfurt

Arthur Lemisch (1865–1953), grew up in St. Veit, lived here at Kölnhof Castle; Politician (1918–1921 state administrator and 1927–1931 state governor of Carinthia)

Sebastian Weberitsch (1870–1946), grew up in St. Veit, worked as a doctor and writer (described his childhood in St. Veit in detail in his main work) in Bolzano and Baden near Vienna

Richard Knaus (1889–1974), landscape and portrait painter

Hermann Knaus (1892–1970), grew up in St. Veit, worked as a gynecologist (co-developer of the Knaus-Ogino calendar method) in Graz and Prague

Martin Rom (1895–1970), grew up in St. Veit, politician (SPÖ National Council member, mayor of St. Veit)

Ottilie Schellander (1897–1967), head nurse in the infirmary and insane asylum of the Carinthian State Hospital in Klagenfurt and participant in euthanasia

Friedrich Rainer (1903–1947), grew up in St. Veit, politician (co-founder of the NSDAP local group St. Veit; Gauleiter of Salzburg and Carinthia in the Third Reich)

Karl Paul Gebhardt (1905–1941), grew up in St. Veit; Politician (NSDAP Reich Staff Representative)

Heinz Lienhard (1922–1999), born and raised in St. Veit, worked here as a poet

Stanislaus Hafner (1916–2006), Slavic scholar

Herwig Hofer (1940–2013), grew up in St. Veit, worked from here as a politician (ÖVP; city council; member of the Federal Council, member of the state parliament)

Karl Garnitschnig (* 1941), works as an educator, psychotherapist and educational theorist in Vienna

Heinz Trixner (* 1941), works as an actor and speaker in Vienna, Salzburg, Germany and Switzerland

Libgart Schwarz (* 1941), works as an actress in Berlin and Vienna; Ex-wife Peter Handkes

Karl Starzacher (* 1945), grew up in Germany, was active as a politician there (SPD; President of the Hesse State Parliament and Minister of Finance)

Elisabeth List (1946–2019), philosopher

Gunter Weiß (* 1946), mathematician and university professor

Wolfgang Puck (* 1949), grew up in St. Veit, active as a chef and catering entrepreneur in the USA

Gerhard Mock (* 1953), grew up in St. Veit, worked here as a politician (SPÖ; member of the state parliament; 1988–2020 mayor of St. Veit)

Dagmar Obernosterer (* 1959), who grew up in St. Veit, works here as a songwriter

Antonia Gössinger (* 1958), works as a journalist from Liebenfels (editor-in-chief of the Kleine Zeitung)

Harry Stampfer (* 1961), drummer and keyboardist

Franz Wohlfahrt (* 1964), grew up in St. Veit, football player in Vienna and Germany (ÖFB national team goalkeeper, DFB Cup winner)

Bernhard Loibner (* 1965), composer and musician in Vienna

Arnulf Prasch (* 1965), grew up in Passering, active as an ORF radio and television presenter from Villach

Manfred Krassnitzer (* 1968) was active as a football referee throughout Austria

Michaela Kohlweiß (* 1973), state police director of Carinthia

Andy Kainz (* 1974), professional dancer

Markus Schauta (* 1976), Middle East journalist and author

Sven Klimbacher (* 1981), ice hockey player

Johannes Kirisits (* 1985), ice hockey player in Klagenfurt

Manuel Kerhe (* 1987), football player (Bundesliga) in Carinthia and Austria

Magdalena Lauritsch (* 1988), Austrian film director and screenwriter

Alexander Payer (* 1990), snowboarder

Magdalena Lobnig (* 1990), works from Völkermarkt as a rowing athlete (European Championship and World Cup medalist)

Matthias Mayer (* 1990), works as a ski racer from Afritz am See (Olympic champion 2014, 2018 and 2022)

Ina Meschik (* 1990), snowboarder

Michael Novak (* 1990), professional footballer

Marco Haller (* 1991), works from Klagenfurt as a cyclist (multiple Austrian champion)

Adam Lukas (* 1991), film composer

Martin Hinteregger (* 1992), grew up in Albeck, football player in Germany and defender in the ÖFB national team

Adrian Pertl (* 1996), active as a ski racer from Ebene Reichenau

Mario Leitner (* 1997), canoeist

Adis Jasic (* 2003), football player

with the

Michael Gothard Christalnick (1530/40–1595), Protestant preacher and historiographer, preached and died in St. Veit

Johann Mathias von Koller (1727/28–1805), moved to St. Veit as a young adult; Iron dealer and industrialist, mayor of St. Veit

Franz Prettner (1843–1915), Austrian lawyer and politician, mayor of Sankt Veit from 1885 to 1891

Simerl Krapfenbäck (1785–1809), born in Möderndorf, grew up in St. Veit; Robber, social rebel

Gerhard Glawischnig (1906–1995), born in Kreuth near Rattendorf, worked as a dialect poet and Protestant pastor in St. Veit and Villach

Käthe Kainz (1913–1996), born in St. Pölten; politically active from St. Veit from 1947 (SPÖ; Federal Council member)

Hans Sima (1918–2006), born in the Kanal Valley; grew up and buried in St. Veit, politician (SPÖ, 1965–1974 governor of Carinthia)

Dieter Kalt senior (* 1941 in Klagenfurt), district captain in St. Veit 1982–2006

Peter Legat (* 1958 in Klagenfurt), musician, founder of Count Basic

The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced many modern legal systems. Roman history can be divided into the following periods:

 

Pre-historical and early Rome, covering Rome's earliest inhabitants and the legend of its founding by Romulus

The period of Etruscan dominance and the regal period, in which, according to tradition, Romulus was the first of seven kings

The Roman Republic, which commenced in 509 BC when kings were replaced with rule by elected magistrates. The period was marked by vast expansion of Roman territory. During the 5th century BC, Rome gained regional dominance in Latium. With the Punic Wars from 264 to 146 BC, ancient Rome gained dominance over the Western Mediterranean, displacing Carthage as the dominant regional power.

The Roman Empire followed the Republic, which waned with the rise of Julius Caesar, and by all measures concluded after a period of civil war and the victory of Caesar's adopted son, Octavian, in 27 BC over Mark Antony.

The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 after the city was conquered by the Ostrogothic Kingdom. Consequently Rome's power declined, and it eventually became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, as the Duchy of Rome, from the 6th to 8th centuries. At this time, the city was reduced to a fraction of its former size, being sacked several times in the 5th to 6th centuries, even temporarily depopulated entirely.

Medieval Rome is characterised by a break with Constantinople and the formation of the Papal States. The Papacy struggled to retain influence in the emerging Holy Roman Empire, and during the saeculum obscurum, the population of Rome fell to as low as 30,000 inhabitants. Following the East–West Schism and the limited success in the Investiture Controversy, the Papacy did gain considerable influence in the High Middle Ages, but with the Avignon Papacy and the Western Schism, the city of Rome was reduced to irrelevance, its population falling below 20,000. Rome's decline into complete irrelevance during the medieval period, with the associated lack of construction activity, assured the survival of very significant ancient Roman material remains in the centre of the city, some abandoned and others continuing in use.

The Roman Renaissance occurred in the 15th century, when Rome replaced Florence as the centre of artistic and cultural influence. The Roman Renaissance was cut short abruptly with the devastation of the city in 1527, but the Papacy reasserted itself in the Counter-Reformation, and the city continued to flourish during the early modern period. Rome was annexed by Napoleon and was part of the First French Empire from 1798 to 1814.

Modern history, the period from the 19th century to the present. Rome came under siege again after the Allied invasion of Italy and was bombed several times. It was declared an open city on 14 August 1943. Rome became the capital of the Italian Republic (established in 1946). With a population of 4.4 million (as of 2015; 2.9 million within city limits), it is the largest city in Italy. It is among the largest urban areas of the European Union and classified as a global city.

 

Attempts have been made to find a linguistic root for the name Rome. Possibilities include derivation from the Greek Rhṓmē (Ῥώμη), meaning "bravery" or "courage"; Compare also Rumon, former name of the Tiber River. Its further etymology remains unknown, as with most Etruscan words. Thomas G. Tucker's Concise Etymological Dictionary of Latin (1931) suggests that the name is most probably from *urobsma (cf. urbs, robur) and otherwise, "but less likely" from *urosma "hill" (cf. Skt. varsman- "height, point," Old Slavonic врьхъ "top, summit", Russ. верх "top; upward direction", Lith. virsus "upper").

 

Rome timeline

753 BCAccording to legend, Romulus founds Rome.

753–509 BCRule of the seven Kings of Rome.

509 BCCreation of the Republic.

390 BCThe Gauls invade Rome. Rome sacked.

264–146 BCPunic Wars.

146–44 BCSocial and Civil Wars. Emergence of Marius, Sulla, Pompey and Caesar.

44 BCJulius Caesar assassinated.

 

There is archaeological evidence of human occupation of the Rome area from at least 5,000 years, but the dense layer of much younger debris obscures Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites. The evidence suggesting the city's ancient foundation is also obscured by the legend of Rome's beginning involving Romulus and Remus.

 

The traditional date for the founding of Rome is 21 April 753 BC, following M. Terentius Varro, and the city and surrounding region of Latium has continued to be inhabited with little interruption since around that time. Excavations made in 2014 have revealed a wall built long before the city's official founding year. Archaeologists uncovered a stone wall and pieces of pottery dating to the 9th century BC and the beginning of the 8th century BC, and there is evidence of people arriving on the Palatine hill as early as the 10th century BC.

 

The site of Sant'Omobono Area is crucial for understanding the related processes of monumentalisation, urbanisation, and state formation in Rome in the late Archaic period. The Sant'Omobono temple site dates to 7th–6th century BC, making these the oldest known temple remains in Rome.

 

The city's name was long credited to the legendary culture hero Romulus. It was said that Romulus and his twin brother Remus were the offspring of the rape of an Alban princess by the war god Mars and, via their mother, were further descended from the Trojan prince Aeneas, supposed son of the Greek love goddess Aphrodite. Exposed on the Tiber, they were suckled by a she-wolf and raised by a shepherd and his wife. Avenging themselves on their usurping grand-uncle and restoring their grandfather Numitor to Alba Longa's throne, they were ordered or decided to settle the hills around Rome's later Forum Boarium, an important river port connected in Roman myth with Hercules's tenth labour, capturing the cattle of Geryon.

 

Disputing some point of the founding or its related auguries, Remus was murdered by Romulus or one of his supporters. Romulus then established a walled and roughly square settlement, whose sacred boundary and gates were established by a ploughing ritual. Romulus then declared the town an asylum, permitted men of all classes to come to Rome as citizens, including criminals, runaway slaves, and freemen without distinction. To provide his citizens with wives, Romulus invited the neighbouring tribes to a festival in Rome where the Romans abducted many of their young women. After the ensuing war with the Sabines, Romulus shared Rome's kingship with the Sabine king Titus Tatius. Romulus selected 100 of the most noble men to form the Roman Senate, initially serving as his advisory council. These men he called fathers (Latin: patres), and their descendants became the patricians. He created three centuries of equites: Ramnes (meaning Romans), Tities (after the Sabine king), and Luceres (Etruscans). He also divided the general populace into thirty curiae, named after thirty of the Sabine women who had intervened to end the war between Romulus and Tatius. The curiae formed the voting units in the Comitia Curiata.

 

Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill and surrounding hills approximately 30 km (19 mi) from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the south side of the Tiber. The Quirinal Hill was probably an outpost for the Sabines, another Italic-speaking people. At this location, the Tiber forms a Z-shaped curve that contains an island where the river can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a crossroads of traffic following the river valley and of traders travelling north and south on the west side of the peninsula.

 

Archaeological finds have confirmed that there were two fortified settlements in the 8th century BC, in the area of the future Rome: Rumi on the Palatine Hill, and Titientes on the Quirinal Hill, backed by the Luceres living in the nearby woods. These were simply three of numerous Italic-speaking communities that existed in Latium, a plain on the Italian peninsula, by the 1st millennium BC. The origins of the Italic peoples lie in prehistory and are therefore not precisely known, but their Indo-European languages migrated from the east in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC.

 

According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, many Roman historians—including Cato and Sempronius—considered the Italian aborigines to have been prehistoric Greek colonists. The Romans then considered themselves a mix of these people, the Albans, and the other Latins, considered a blend of Pelasgians, Arcadians, Epeans, and refugee Trojans. Over time, the Etruscans and other ancient Italic peoples were admitted as citizens as well. The Sabines—considered to be Gaulish along with the other Umbri peoples of central Italy— were first mentioned in Dionysius's account for having captured the city of Lista by surprise, which was regarded as the mother-city of the Aborigines.

 

The Italic speakers in the area included Latins (in the west), Sabines (in the upper valley of the Tiber), Umbrians (in the north-east), Samnites (in the South), Oscans, and others. In the 8th century BC, they shared the peninsula with two other major ethnic groups: the Etruscans in the North and the Greeks in the south.

 

The Etruscans (Etrusci or Tusci in Latin) are attested north of Rome in Etruria (modern northern Lazio, Tuscany and part of Umbria). They founded cities such as Tarquinia, Veii, and Volterra and deeply influenced Roman culture, as clearly shown by the Etruscan origin of some of the mythical Roman kings. Historians have no literature, nor texts of religion or philosophy; therefore, much of what is known about this civilisation is derived from grave goods and tomb findings.

 

The Greeks had founded many colonies in Southern Italy between 750 and 550 BC (which the Romans later called Magna Graecia), such as Cumae, Naples, Reggio Calabria, Crotone, Sybaris, and Taranto, as well as in the eastern two-thirds of Sicily.

 

After 650 BC, the Etruscans became dominant in Italy and expanded into north-central Italy. Roman tradition claimed that Rome had been under the control of seven kings from 753 to 509 BC beginning with the mythical Romulus who was said to have founded the city of Rome along with his brother Remus. The last three kings were said to be Etruscan (at least partially)—namely Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus. (Priscus is said by the ancient literary sources to be the son of a Greek refugee and an Etruscan mother.) Their names refer to the Etruscan town of Tarquinia.

 

Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and others claim that Rome was ruled during its first centuries by a succession of seven kings. The traditional chronology, as codified by Varro, allots 243 years for their reigns, an average of almost 35 years, which has been generally discounted by modern scholarship since the work of Barthold Georg Niebuhr. The Gauls destroyed much of Rome's historical records when they sacked the city after the Battle of the Allia in 390 BC (according to Polybius, the battle occurred in 387/386) and what was left was eventually lost to time or theft. With no contemporary records of the kingdom existing, all accounts of the kings must be carefully questioned. The list of kings is also of dubious historical value, though the last-named kings may be historical figures. It is believed by some historians (again, this is disputed) that Rome was under the influence of the Etruscans for about a century. During this period, a bridge was built called the Pons Sublicius to replace the Tiber ford, and the Cloaca Maxima was also built; the Etruscans are said to have been great engineers of this type of structure. From a cultural and technical point of view, Etruscans had arguably the second-greatest impact on Roman development, only surpassed by the Greeks.

 

Expanding further south, the Etruscans came into direct contact with the Greeks and initially had success in conflicts with the Greek colonists; after which, Etruria went into a decline. Taking advantage of this, Rome rebelled and gained independence from the Etruscans around 500 BC. It also abandoned monarchy in favour of a republican system based on a Senate, composed of the nobles of the city, along with popular assemblies which ensured political participation for most of the freeborn men and elected magistrates annually.

 

The Etruscans left a lasting influence on Rome. The Romans learned to build temples from them, and the Etruscans may have introduced the worship of a triad of gods—Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter—from the Etruscan gods: Uni, Menrva, and Tinia. However, the influence of Etruscan people in the development of Rome is often overstated. Rome was primarily a Latin city. It never became fully Etruscan. Also, evidence shows that Romans were heavily influenced by the Greek cities in the South, mainly through trade.

 

The commonly held stories of the early part of the Republic (before roughly 300 BC, when Old Latin inscriptions and Greek histories about Rome provide more concrete evidence of events) are generally considered to be legendary, their historicity being a topic of debate among classicists. The Roman Republic traditionally dates from 509 BC to 27 BC. After 500 BC, Rome is said to have joined with the Latin cities in defence against incursions by the Sabines. Winning the Battle of Lake Regillus in 493 BC, Rome established again the supremacy over the Latin countries it had lost after the fall of the monarchy. After a lengthy series of struggles, this supremacy became fixed in 393, when the Romans finally subdued the Volsci and Aequi. In 394 BC, they also conquered the menacing Etruscan neighbour of Veii. The Etruscan power was now limited to Etruria itself, and Rome was the dominant city in Latium.

 

A formal treaty was agreed with the city-state of Carthage in 509 BC which defined the spheres of influence of each city and regulated trade between them.

 

Rome's early enemies were the neighbouring hill tribes of the Volscians, the Aequi, and of course the Etruscans. As years passed and military successes increased Roman territory, new adversaries appeared. The fiercest were the Gauls, a loose collective of peoples who controlled much of Northern Europe including what is modern North and Central-East Italy.

 

In 387 BC, Rome was sacked and burned by the Senones coming from eastern Italy and led by Brennus, who had successfully defeated the Roman army at the Battle of the Allia in Etruria. Multiple contemporary records suggest that the Senones hoped to punish Rome for violating its diplomatic neutrality in Etruria. The Senones marched 130 kilometres (81 mi) to Rome without harming the surrounding countryside; once they had sacked the city, the Senones withdrew from Rome. Brennus was defeated by the dictator Furius Camillus at Tusculum soon afterwards.

 

After that, Rome hastily rebuilt its buildings and went on the offensive, conquering the Etruscans and seizing territory from the Gauls in the north. After 345 BC, Rome pushed south against other Latins. Their main enemy in this quadrant were the fierce Samnites, who outsmarted and trapped the legions in 321 BC at the Battle of Caudine Forks. In spite of these and other temporary setbacks, the Romans advanced steadily. By 290 BC, Rome controlled over half of the Italian peninsula. In the 3rd century BC, Rome brought the Greek poleis in the south under its control as well.

 

Amidst the never-ending wars (from the beginning of the Republic up to the Principate, the doors of the temple of Janus were closed only twice—when they were open it meant that Rome was at war), Rome had to face a severe major social crisis, the Conflict of the Orders, a political struggle between the Plebeians (commoners) and Patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic, in which the Plebeians sought political equality with the Patricians. It played a major role in the development of the Constitution of the Roman Republic. It began in 494 BC, when, while Rome was at war with two neighbouring tribes, the Plebeians all left the city (the first Plebeian Secession). The result of this first secession was the creation of the office of Plebeian Tribune, and with it the first acquisition of real power by the Plebeians.

 

According to tradition, Rome became a republic in 509 BC. However, it took a few centuries for Rome to become the great city of popular imagination. By the 3rd century BC, Rome had become the pre-eminent city of the Italian peninsula. During the Punic Wars between Rome and the great Mediterranean empire of Carthage (264–146 BC), Rome's stature increased further as it became the capital of an overseas empire for the first time. Beginning in the 2nd century BC, Rome went through a significant population expansion as Italian farmers, driven from their ancestral farmlands by the advent of massive, slave-operated farms called latifundia, flocked to the city in great numbers. The victory over Carthage in the First Punic War brought the first two provinces outside the Italian peninsula, Sicily and Sardinia. Parts of Spain (Hispania) followed, and in the beginning of the 2nd century the Romans got involved in the affairs of the Greek world. By then all Hellenistic kingdoms and the Greek city-states were in decline, exhausted from endless civil wars and relying on mercenary troops.

 

The Romans looked upon the Greek civilisation with great admiration. The Greeks saw Rome as a useful ally in their civil strifes, and it was not long before the Roman legions were invited to intervene in Greece. In less than 50 years the whole of mainland Greece was subdued. The Roman legions crushed the Macedonian phalanx twice, in 197 and 168 BC; in 146 BC the Roman consul Lucius Mummius razed Corinth, marking the end of free Greece. The same year Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, the son of Scipio Africanus, destroyed the city of Carthage, making it a Roman province.

 

In the following years, Rome continued its conquests in Spain with Tiberius Gracchus, and it set foot in Asia, when the last king of Pergamum gave his kingdom to the Roman people. The end of the 2nd century brought another threat, when a great host of Germanic peoples, namely Cimbri and Teutones, crossed the river Rhone and moved to Italy. Gaius Marius was consul five consecutive times (seven total), and won two decisive battles in 102 and 101 BC. He also reformed the Roman army, giving it such a good reorganisation that it remained unchanged for centuries.

 

The first thirty years of the last century BC were characterised by serious internal problems that threatened the existence of the Republic. The Social War, between Rome and its allies, and the Servile Wars (slave uprisings) were hard conflicts, all within Italy, and forced the Romans to change their policy with regards to their allies and subjects. By then Rome had become an extensive power, with great wealth which derived from the conquered people (as tribute, food or manpower, i.e. slaves). The allies of Rome felt bitter since they had fought by the side of the Romans, and yet they were not citizens and shared little in the rewards. Although they lost the war, they finally got what they asked, and by the beginning of the 1st century AD practically all free inhabitants of Italy were Roman citizens.

 

However, the growth of the Imperium Romanum (Roman power) created new problems, and new demands, that the old political system of the Republic, with its annually elected magistrates and its sharing of power, could not solve. Sulla's civil war and his later dictatorship, the extraordinary commands of Pompey Magnus, and the first triumvirate made that clear. In January 49 BC, Julius Caesar the conqueror of Gaul, crossed the Rubicon with his legions, occupying Rome and beginning a civil war with Pompey. In the following years, he vanquished his opponents, and ruled Rome for four years. After his assassination in 44 BC, the Senate tried to reestablish the Republic, but its champions, Marcus Junius Brutus (descendant of the founder of the republic) and Gaius Cassius Longinus were defeated by Caesar's lieutenant Marcus Antonius and Caesar's nephew, Octavian.

 

The years 44–31 BC mark the struggle for power between Marcus Antonius and Octavian (later known as Augustus). Finally, on 2 September 31 BC, in the Greek promontory of Actium, the final battle took place in the sea. Octavian was victorious, and became the sole ruler of Rome (and its empire). That date marks the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Principate.

 

Rome timeline

44 BC – AD 14Augustus establishes the Empire

AD 64Great Fire of Rome during Nero's rule

69–96Flavian dynasty; building of the Colosseum

3rd centuryCrisis of the Third Century; building of the Baths of Caracalla and the Aurelian Walls

284–337Diocletian and Constantine; building of the first Christian basilicas; Battle of Milvian Bridge; Rome is replaced by Constantinople as the capital of the Empire

395Definitive separation of Western and Eastern Roman Empire

410The Goths of Alaric sack Rome

455The Vandals of Gaiseric sack Rome

476Fall of the west empire and deposition of the final emperor Romulus Augustus

6th centuryGothic War (535–554): The Goths cut off the aqueducts in the siege of 537, an act which historians traditionally regard as the beginning of the Middle Ages in Italy

608Emperor Phocas donates the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV, converting it into a Christian church; Column of Phocas (the last addition made to the Forum Romanum) is erected

630The Curia Julia (vacant since the disappearance of the Roman Senate) is transformed into the basilica of Sant'Adriano al Foro

663Constans II visits Rome for twelve days—the only emperor to set foot in Rome for two centuries. He strips buildings of their ornaments and bronze to be carried back to Constantinople

751Lombard conquest of the Exarchate of Ravenna; the Duchy of Rome is now completely cut off from the empire

754Alliance with the Franks; Pepin the Younger, King of the Franks, declared Patrician of the Romans, invades Italy; establishment of the Papal States

 

Life in Rome; animation in Latin with English subtitles

By the end of the Republic, the city of Rome had achieved a grandeur befitting the capital of an empire dominating the whole of the Mediterranean. It was, at the time, the largest city in the world. Estimates of its peak population range from 450,000 to over 3.5 million people with estimates of 1 to 2 million being most popular with historians. This grandeur increased under Augustus, who completed Caesar's projects and added many of his own, such as the Forum of Augustus and the Ara Pacis. He is said to have remarked that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble (Urbem latericium invenit, marmoream reliquit). Augustus's successors sought to emulate his success in part by adding their own contributions to the city. In AD 64, during the reign of Nero, the Great Fire of Rome left much of the city destroyed, but in many ways it was used as an excuse for new development.

 

Rome was a subsidised city at the time, with roughly 15 to 25 percent of its grain supply being paid by the central government. Commerce and industry played a smaller role compared to that of other cities like Alexandria. This meant that Rome had to depend upon goods and production from other parts of the Empire to sustain such a large population. This was mostly paid by taxes that were levied by the Roman government. If it had not been subsidised, Rome would have been significantly smaller.

 

Rome's population declined after its apex in the 2nd century. At the end of that century, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the Antonine Plague killed 2,000 people a day. Marcus Aurelius died in 180, his reign being the last of the "Five Good Emperors" and Pax Romana. His son Commodus, who had been co-emperor since AD 177, assumed full imperial power, which is generally associated with the beginning of the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Rome's population was only a fraction of its peak when the Aurelian Wall was completed in AD 273 (in that year its population was only around 500,000).

 

Starting in the early 3rd century, matters changed. The "Crisis of the Third Century" defines the disasters and political troubles for the Empire, which nearly collapsed. The new feeling of danger and the menace of barbarian invasions was clearly shown by the decision of Emperor Aurelian, who at year 273 finished encircling the capital itself with a massive wall which had a perimeter that measured close to 20 km (12 mi). Rome formally remained capital of the empire, but emperors spent less and less time there. At the end of 3rd century Diocletian's political reforms, Rome was deprived of its traditional role of administrative capital of the Empire. Later, western emperors ruled from Milan or Ravenna, or cities in Gaul. In 330, Constantine I established a second capital at Constantinople.

 

Christianity reached Rome during the 1st century AD. For the first two centuries of the Christian era, Imperial authorities largely viewed Christianity simply as a Jewish sect rather than a distinct religion. No emperor issued general laws against the faith or its Church, and persecutions, such as they were, were carried out under the authority of local government officials. A surviving letter from Pliny the Younger, governor of Bythinia, to the emperor Trajan describes his persecution and executions of Christians; Trajan notably responded that Pliny should not seek out Christians nor heed anonymous denunciations, but only punish open Christians who refused to recant.

 

Suetonius mentions in passing that during the reign of Nero "punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition" (superstitionis novae ac maleficae). He gives no reason for the punishment. Tacitus reports that after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, some among the population held Nero responsible and that the emperor attempted to deflect blame onto the Christians. The war against the Jews during Nero's reign, which so destabilised the empire that it led to civil war and Nero's suicide, provided an additional rationale for suppression of this 'Jewish' sect.

 

Diocletian undertook what was to be the most severe and last major persecution of Christians, lasting from 303 to 311. Christianity had become too widespread to suppress, and in 313, the Edict of Milan made tolerance the official policy. Constantine I (sole ruler 324–337) became the first Christian emperor, and in 380 Theodosius I established Christianity as the official religion.

 

Under Theodosius, visits to the pagan temples were forbidden, the eternal fire in the Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum extinguished, the Vestal Virgins disbanded, auspices and witchcraft punished. Theodosius refused to restore the Altar of Victory in the Senate House, as asked by remaining pagan Senators.

 

The Empire's conversion to Christianity made the Bishop of Rome (later called the Pope) the senior religious figure in the Western Empire, as officially stated in 380 by the Edict of Thessalonica. In spite of its increasingly marginal role in the Empire, Rome retained its historic prestige, and this period saw the last wave of construction activity: Constantine's predecessor Maxentius built buildings such as its basilica in the Forum, Constantine himself erected the Arch of Constantine to celebrate his victory over Maxentius, and Diocletian built the greatest baths of all. Constantine was also the first patron of official Christian buildings in the city. He donated the Lateran Palace to the Pope, and built the first great basilica, the old St. Peter's Basilica.

 

Still Rome remained one of the strongholds of paganism, led by the aristocrats and senators. However, the new walls did not stop the city being sacked first by Alaric on 24 August 410, by Geiseric on 2 June 455, and even by general Ricimer's unpaid Roman troops (largely composed of barbarians) on 11 July 472. This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to an enemy. The previous sack of Rome had been accomplished by the Gauls under their leader Brennus in 387 BC. The sacking of 410 is seen as a major landmark in the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. St. Jerome, living in Bethlehem at the time, wrote that "The City which had taken the whole world was itself taken." These sackings of the city astonished all the Roman world. In any case, the damage caused by the sackings may have been overestimated. The population already started to decline from the late 4th century onward, although around the middle of the fifth century it seems that Rome continued to be the most populous city of the two parts of the Empire, with a population of no fewer than 650,000 inhabitants. The decline greatly accelerated following the capture of Africa Proconsularis by the Vandals. Many inhabitants now fled as the city no longer could be supplied with grain from Africa from the mid-5th century onward.

 

At the end of the 6th century Rome's population had reduced to around 30,000. Many monuments were being destroyed by the citizens themselves, who stripped stones from closed temples and other precious buildings, and even burned statues to make lime for their personal use. In addition, most of the increasing number of churches were built in this way. For example, the first Saint Peter's Basilica was erected using spoils from the abandoned Circus of Nero. This architectural cannibalism was a constant feature of Roman life until the Renaissance. From the 4th century, imperial edicts against stripping of stones and especially marble were common, but the need for their repetition shows that they were ineffective. Sometimes new churches were created by simply taking advantage of early Pagan temples, while sometimes changing the Pagan god or hero to a corresponding Christian saint or martyr. In this way, the Temple of Romulus and Remus became the basilica of the twin saints Cosmas and Damian. Later, the Pantheon, Temple of All Gods, became the church of All Martyrs.

 

Porta San Paolo, a gate in the Aurelian Walls, built between AD 271 and AD 275. During the Gothic Wars of the mid-6th century, Rome was besieged several times by Eastern Roman and Ostrogoth armies. Ostrogoths of Totila entered through this gate in 549, because of the treason of the Isaurian garrison.

 

In 480, the last Western Roman emperor, Julius Nepos, was murdered and a Roman general of barbarian origin, Odoacer, declared allegiance to Eastern Roman emperor Zeno. Despite owing nominal allegiance to Constantinople, Odoacer and later the Ostrogoths continued, like the last emperors, to rule Italy as a virtually independent realm from Ravenna. Meanwhile, the Senate, even though long since stripped of wider powers, continued to administer Rome itself, with the Pope usually coming from a senatorial family. This situation continued until Theodahad murdered Amalasuntha, a pro-imperial Gothic queen, and usurped the power in 535. The Eastern Roman emperor, Justinian I (reigned 527–565), used this as a pretext to send forces to Italy under his famed general Belisarius, recapturing the city next year, on 9 December AD 536. In 537–538, the Eastern Romans successfully defended the city in a year-long siege against the Ostrogothic army, and eventually took Ravenna, too.

 

Gothic resistance revived however, and on 17 December 546, the Ostrogoths under Totila recaptured and sacked Rome. Belisarius soon recovered the city, but the Ostrogoths retook it in 549. Belisarius was replaced by Narses, who captured Rome from the Ostrogoths for good in 552, ending the so-called Gothic Wars which had devastated much of Italy. The continual war around Rome in the 530s and 540s left it in a state of total disrepair – near-abandoned and desolate with much of its lower-lying parts turned into unhealthy marshes as the drainage systems were neglected and the Tiber's embankments fell into disrepair in the course of the latter half of the 6th century. Here, malaria developed. The aqueducts, except for one, were not repaired. The population, without imports of grain and oil from Sicily, shrank to less than 50,000 concentrated near the Tiber and around the Campus Martius, abandoning those districts without water supply. There is a legend, significant though untrue, that there was a moment where no one remained living in Rome.

 

Justinian I provided grants for the maintenance of public buildings, aqueducts and bridges—though, being mostly drawn from an Italy dramatically impoverished by the recent wars, these were not always sufficient. He also styled himself the patron of its remaining scholars, orators, physicians and lawyers in the stated hope that eventually more youths would seek a better education. After the wars, the Senate was theoretically restored, but under the supervision of the urban prefect and other officials appointed by, and responsible to, the Eastern Roman authorities in Ravenna.

 

However, the Pope was now one of the leading religious figures in the entire Byzantine Roman Empire and effectively more powerful locally than either the remaining senators or local Eastern Roman (Byzantine) officials. In practice, local power in Rome devolved to the Pope and, over the next few decades, both much of the remaining possessions of the senatorial aristocracy and the local Byzantine Roman administration in Rome were absorbed by the Church.

 

The reign of Justinian's nephew and successor Justin II (reigned 565–578) was marked from the Italian point of view by the invasion of the Lombards under Alboin (568). In capturing the regions of Benevento, Lombardy, Piedmont, Spoleto and Tuscany, the invaders effectively restricted Imperial authority to small islands of land surrounding a number of coastal cities, including Ravenna, Naples, Rome and the area of the future Venice. The one inland city continuing under Eastern Roman control was Perugia, which provided a repeatedly threatened overland link between Rome and Ravenna. In 578 and again in 580, the Senate, in some of its last recorded acts, had to ask for the support of Tiberius II Constantine (reigned 578–582) against the approaching Dukes, Faroald I of Spoleto and Zotto of Benevento.

 

Maurice (reigned 582–602) added a new factor in the continuing conflict by creating an alliance with Childebert II of Austrasia (reigned 575–595). The armies of the Frankish King invaded the Lombard territories in 584, 585, 588 and 590. Rome had suffered badly from a disastrous flood of the Tiber in 589, followed by a plague in 590. The latter is notable for the legend of the angel seen, while the newly elected Pope Gregory I (term 590–604) was passing in procession by Hadrian's Tomb, to hover over the building and to sheathe his flaming sword as a sign that the pestilence was about to cease. The city was safe from capture at least.

 

Agilulf, however, the new Lombard King (reigned 591 to c. 616), managed to secure peace with Childebert, reorganised his territories and resumed activities against both Naples and Rome by 592. With the Emperor preoccupied with wars in the eastern borders and the various succeeding Exarchs unable to secure Rome from invasion, Gregory took personal initiative in starting negotiations for a peace treaty. This was completed in the autumn of 598—later recognised by Maurice—lasting until the end of his reign.

 

The position of the Bishop of Rome was further strengthened under the usurper Phocas (reigned 602–610). Phocas recognised his primacy over that of the Patriarch of Constantinople and even decreed Pope Boniface III (607) to be "the head of all the Churches". Phocas's reign saw the erection of the last imperial monument in the Roman Forum, the column bearing his name. He also gave the Pope the Pantheon, at the time closed for centuries, and thus probably saved it from destruction.

 

During the 7th century, an influx of both Byzantine Roman officials and churchmen from elsewhere in the empire made both the local lay aristocracy and Church leadership largely Greek speaking. The population of Rome, a magnet for pilgrims, may have increased to 90,000. Eleven of thirteen popes between 678 and 752 were of Greek or Syrian descent. However, the strong Byzantine Roman cultural influence did not always lead to political harmony between Rome and Constantinople. In the controversy over Monothelitism, popes found themselves under severe pressure (sometimes amounting to physical force) when they failed to keep in step with Constantinople's shifting theological positions. In 653, Pope Martin I was deported to Constantinople and, after a show trial, exiled to the Crimea, where he died.

 

Then, in 663, Rome had its first imperial visit for two centuries, by Constans II—its worst disaster since the Gothic Wars when the Emperor proceeded to strip Rome of metal, including that from buildings and statues, to provide armament materials for use against the Saracens. However, for the next half century, despite further tensions, Rome and the Papacy continued to prefer continued Byzantine Roman rule: in part because the alternative was Lombard rule, and in part because Rome's food was largely coming from Papal estates elsewhere in the Empire, particularly Sicily.

 

Rome Timeline

772The Lombards briefly conquer Rome but Charlemagne liberates the city a year later.

800Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter's Basilica.

846The Saracens sack St. Peter.

852Building of the Leonine Walls.

962Otto I crowned Emperor by Pope John XII

1000Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester II.

1084The Normans sack Rome.

1144Creation of the commune of Rome.

1300First Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII.

1303Foundation of the Roman University.

1309Pope Clement V moves the Holy Seat to Avignon.

1347Cola di Rienzo proclaims himself tribune.

1377Pope Gregory XI moves the Holy Seat back to Rome.

Break with Constantinople and formation of the Papal States

Further information: Duchy of Rome and Papal States

In 727, Pope Gregory II refused to accept the decrees of Emperor Leo III, which promoted the Emperor's iconoclasm. Leo reacted first by trying in vain to abduct the Pontiff, and then by sending a force of Ravennate troops under the command of the Exarch Paulus, but they were pushed back by the Lombards of Tuscia and Benevento. Byzantine general Eutychius sent west by the Emperor successfully captured Rome and restored it as a part of the empire in 728.

 

On 1 November 731, a council was called in St. Peter's by Gregory III to excommunicate the iconoclasts. The Emperor responded by confiscating large Papal estates in Sicily and Calabria and transferring areas previously ecclesiastically under the Pope to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Despite the tensions Gregory III never discontinued his support to the imperial efforts against external threats.

 

In this period the Lombard kingdom revived under the leadership of King Liutprand. In 730, he razed the countryside of Rome to punish the Pope, who had supported Duke Transamund II of Spoleto. Though still protected by his massive walls, the Pope could do little against the Lombard king, who managed to ally himself with the Byzantines. Other protectors were now needed. Gregory III was the first Pope to ask for concrete help from the Frankish Kingdom, then under the command of Charles Martel (739).

 

Liutprand's successor Aistulf was even more aggressive. He conquered Ferrara and Ravenna, ending the Exarchate of Ravenna. Rome seemed his next victim. In 754, Pope Stephen II went to France to name Pippin the Younger, king of the Franks, as patricius Romanorum, i.e. protector of Rome. In the August of that year the King and Pope together crossed back the Alps and defeated Aistulf at Pavia. When Pippin went back to St. Denis however, Aistulf did not keep his promises, and in 756 besieged Rome for 56 days. The Lombards returned north when they heard news of Pippin again moving to Italy. This time he agreed to give the Pope the promised territories, and the Papal States were born.

 

In 771 the new King of the Lombards, Desiderius, devised a plot to conquer Rome and seize Pope Stephen III during a feigned pilgrimage within its walls. His main ally was one Paulus Afiarta, chief of the Lombard party within the city. He conquered Rome in 772 but angered Charlemagne. However the plan failed, and Stephen's successor, Pope Hadrian I called Charlemagne against Desiderius, who was finally defeated in 773. The Lombard Kingdom was no more, and now Rome entered into the orbit of a new, greater political institution.

 

Numerous remains from this period, along with a museum devoted to Medieval Rome, can be seen at Crypta Balbi in Rome.

 

On 25 April 799 the new Pope, Leo III, led the traditional procession from the Lateran to the Church of San Lorenzo in Lucina along the Via Flaminia (now Via del Corso). Two nobles (followers of his predecessor Hadrian) who disliked the weakness of the Pope with regards to Charlemagne, attacked the processional train and delivered a life-threatening wound to the Pope. Leo fled to the King of the Franks, and in November, 800, the King entered Rome with a strong army and a number of French bishops. He declared a judicial trial to decide if Leo III were to remain Pope, or if the deposers' claims had reasons to be upheld. This trial, however, was only a part of a well thought out chain of events which ultimately surprised the world. The Pope was declared legitimate and the attempters subsequently exiled. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter's Basilica.

 

This act forever severed the loyalty of Rome from its imperial progenitor, Constantinople. It created instead a rival empire which, after a long series of conquests by Charlemagne, now encompassed most of the Christian Western territories.

 

Following the death of Charlemagne, the lack of a figure with equal prestige led the new institution into disagreement. At the same time the universal church of Rome had to face emergence of the lay interests of the City itself, spurred on by the conviction that the Roman people, though impoverished and abased, had again the right to elect the Western Emperor. The famous counterfeit document called the Donation of Constantine, prepared by the Papal notaries, guaranteed to the Pope a dominion stretching from Ravenna to Gaeta. This nominally included the suzerainty over Rome, but this was often highly disputed, and as the centuries passed, only the strongest Popes were to be able to assert it. The main element of weakness of the Papacy within the walls of the city was the continued necessity of the election of new popes, in which the emerging noble families soon managed to insert a leading role for themselves. The neighbouring powers, namely the Duchy of Spoleto and Toscana, and later the Emperors, learned how to take their own advantage of this internal weakness, playing the role of arbiters among the contestants.

 

Rome was indeed prey of anarchy in this age. The lowest point was touched in 897, when a raging crowd exhumed the corpse of a dead pope, Formosus, and put it on trial.

 

From 1048 to 1257, the papacy experienced increasing conflict with the leaders and churches of the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The latter culminated in the East-West Schism, dividing the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1257 to 1377, the pope, though the bishop of Rome, resided in Viterbo, Orvieto, and Perugia, and then Avignon. The return of the popes to Rome after the Avignon Papacy was followed by the Western Schism: the division of the western church between two, and for a time three, competing papal claimants.

 

In this period the renovated Church was again attracting pilgrims and prelates from all the Christian world, and money with them: even with a population of only 30,000, Rome was again becoming a city of consumers dependent upon the presence of a governmental bureaucracy. In the meantime, Italian cities were acquiring increasing autonomy, mainly led by new families which were replacing the old aristocracy with a new class formed by entrepreneurs, traders and merchants. After the sack of Rome by the Normans in 1084, the rebuilding of the city was supported by powerful families such as the Frangipane family and the Pierleoni family, whose wealth came from commerce and banking rather than landholdings. Inspired by neighbouring cities like Tivoli and Viterbo, Rome's people began to consider adopting a communal status and gaining a substantial amount of freedom from papal authority.

 

Led by Giordano Pierleoni, the Romans rebelled against the aristocracy and Church rule in 1143. The Senate and the Roman Republic, the Commune of Rome, were born again. Through the inflammatory words of preacher Arnaldo da Brescia, an idealistic, fierce opponent of ecclesiastical property and church interference in temporal affairs, the revolt that led to the creation of the Commune of Rome continued until it was put down in 1155, though it left its mark on the civil government of the Eternal City for centuries. 12th-century Rome, however, had little in common with the empire which had ruled over the Mediterranean some 700 years before, and soon the new Senate had to work hard to survive, choosing an ambiguous policy of shifting its support from the Pope to the Holy Roman Empire and vice versa as the political situation required. At Monteporzio, in 1167, during one of these shifts, in the war with Tusculum, Roman troops were defeated by the imperial forces of Frederick Barbarossa. Luckily, the winning enemies were soon dispersed by a plague and Rome was saved.

 

In 1188 the new communal government was finally recognised by Pope Clement III. The Pope had to make large cash payments to the communal officials, while the 56 senators became papal vassals. The Senate always had problems in the accomplishment of its function, and various changes were tried. Often a single Senator was in charge. This sometimes led to tyrannies, which did not help the stability of the newborn organism.

 

In 1204 the streets of Rome were again in flames when the struggle between Pope Innocent III's family and its rivals, the powerful Orsini family, led to riots in the city. Many ancient buildings were then destroyed by machines used by the rival bands to besiege their enemies in the innumerable towers and strongholds which were a hallmark of the Middle Age Italian towns.

 

The struggle between the Popes and the emperor Frederick II, also king of Naples and Sicily, saw Rome support the Ghibellines. To repay his loyalty, Frederick sent to the commune the Carroccio he had won from the Lombards at the battle of Cortenuova in 1234, and which was exposed in the Campidoglio.

 

In that year, during another revolt against the Pope, the Romans headed by senator Luca Savelli sacked the Lateran. Savelli was the father of Honorius IV, but in that age family ties often did not determine one's allegiance.

 

Rome was never to evolve into an autonomous, stable reign, as happened to other communes like Florence, Siena or Milan. The endless struggles between noble families (Savelli, Orsini, Colonna, Annibaldi), the ambiguous position of the Popes, the haughtiness of a population which never abandoned the dreams of their splendid past but, at the same time, thought only of immediate advantage, and the weakness of the republican institutions always deprived the city of this possibility.

 

In an attempt to imitate more successful communes, in 1252 the people elected a foreign Senator, the Bolognese Brancaleone degli Andalò. In order to bring peace in the city he suppressed the most powerful nobles (destroying some 140 towers), reorganised the working classes and issued a code of laws inspired by those of northern Italy. Brancaleone was a tough figure, but died in 1258 with almost nothing of his reforms turned into reality. Five years later Charles I of Anjou, then king of Naples, was elected Senator. He entered the city only in 1265, but soon his presence was needed to face Conradin, the Hohenstaufen's heir who was coming to claim his family's rights over southern Italy, and left the city. After June 1265 Rome was again a democratic republic, electing Henry of Castile as senator. But Conradin and the Ghibelline party were crushed in the Battle of Tagliacozzo (1268), and therefore Rome fell again in the hands of Charles.

 

Nicholas III, a member of Orsini family, was elected in 1277 and moved the seat of the Popes from the Lateran to the more defensible Vatican. He also ordered that no foreigner could become senator of Rome. Being a Roman himself, he had himself elected senator by the people. With this move, the city began again to side for the papal party. In 1285 Charles was again Senator, but the Sicilian Vespers reduced his charisma, and the city was thenceforth free from his authority. The next senator was again a Roman, and again a pope, Honorius IV of the Savelli.

 

The successor to Celestine V was a Roman of the Caetani family, Boniface VIII. Entangled in a local feud against the traditional rivals of his family, the Colonna, at the same time he struggled to assure the universal supremacy of the Holy See. In 1300 he launched the first Jubilee and in 1303 founded the first University of Rome. The Jubilee was an important move for Rome, as it further increased its international prestige and, most of all, the city's economy was boosted by the flow of pilgrims. Boniface died in 1303 after the humiliation of the Schiaffo di Anagni ("Slap of Anagni"), which signalled instead the rule of the King of France over the Papacy and marked another period of decline for Rome.

 

Boniface's successor, Clement V, never entered the city, starting the so-called "Avignon captivity", the absence of the Popes from their Roman seat in favour of Avignon, which would last for more than 70 years. This situation brought the independence of the local powers, but these were revealed to be largely unstable; and the lack of the holy revenues caused a deep decay of Rome. For more than a century Rome had no new major buildings. Furthermore, many of the monuments of the city, including the main churches, began to fall into ruin.

 

Cola di Rienzo stormed the Capitoline Hill in 1347 to create a new Roman Republic. Though short-lived, his attempt is recorded by a 19th-century statue near the ramped Cordonata leading to Michelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio.

In spite of its decline and the absence of the Pope, Rome had not lost its spiritual prestige: in 1341 the famous poet Petrarca came to the city to be crowned as Poet laureate in Capitoline Hill. Noblemen and poor people at one time demanded with one voice the return of the Pope. Among the many ambassadors that in this period took their way to Avignon, emerged the bizarre but eloquent figure of Cola di Rienzo. As his personal power among the people increased by time, on 20 May 1347 he conquered the Capitoline at the head of an enthusiastic crowd. The period of his power, though very short-lived, aspired to the prestige of Ancient Rome. Now in possession of dictatorial powers, he took the title of "tribune", referring to the pleb's magistracy of the Roman Republic. Cola also considered himself at an equal status of that of the Holy Roman Emperor. On 1 August, he conferred Roman citizenship on all the Italian cities, and even prepared for the election of a Roman emperor of Italy. It was too much: the Pope denounced him as heretic, criminal and pagan, the populace had begun to be disenchanted with him, while the nobles had always hated him. On 15 December, he was forced to flee.

 

In August 1354, Cola was again a protagonist, when Cardinal Gil Alvarez De Albornoz entrusted him with the role of "senator of Rome" in his programme of reassuring the Pope's rule in the Papal States. In October the tyrannical Cola, who had become again very unpopular for his delirious behaviour and heavy bills, was killed in a riot provoked by the powerful family of the Colonna. In April 1355, Charles IV of Bohemia entered the city for the ritual coronation as Emperor. His visit was very disappointing for the citizens. He had little money, received the crown not from the Pope but from a Cardinal, and moved away after a few days.

 

With the emperor back in his lands, Albornoz could regain a certain control over the city, while remaining in his safe citadel in Montefiascone, in the Northern Lazio. The senators were chosen directly by the Pope from several cities of Italy, but the city was in fact independent. The Senate council included six judges, five notaries, six marshals, several familiars, twenty knights and twenty armed men. Albornoz had heavily suppressed the traditional aristocratic families, and the "democratic" party felt confident enough to start an aggressive policy. In 1362 Rome declared war on Velletri. This move, however, provoked a civil war. The countryside party hired a condottieri band called "Del Cappello" ("Hat"), while the Romans bought the services of German and Hungarian troops, plus a citizen levy of 600 knights and even 22,000 infantry. This was the period in which condottieri bands were active in Italy. Many of the Savelli, Orsini and Annibaldi expelled from Rome became leaders of such military units. The war with Velletri languished, and Rome again gave itself to the new Pope, Urban V, provided Albornoz did not enter the walls.

 

On 16 October 1367, in reply to the prayers of St Brigid and Petrarca, Urban finally visited for the city. During his presence, Charles IV was again crowned in the city (October 1368). In addition, the Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus came in Rome to beg for a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, but in vain. However, Urban did not like the unhealthy air of the city, and on 5 September 1370 he sailed again to Avignon. His successor, Gregory XI, officially set the date of his return to Rome at May 1372, but again the French cardinals and the King stopped him.

 

Only on 17 January 1377, Gregory XI could finally reinstate the Holy See in Rome.

 

The incoherent behaviour of his successor, the Italian Urban VI, provoked in 1378 the Western Schism, which impeded any true attempt of improving the conditions of the decaying Rome. The 14th century, with the absence of the popes during the Avignon Papacy, had been a century of neglect and misery for the city of Rome, which dropped to its lowest level of population. With the return of the papacy to Rome repeatedly postponed because of the bad conditions of the city and the lack of control and security, it was first necessary to strengthen the political and doctrinal aspects of the pontiff.

 

When in 1377 Gregory XI was in fact returned to Rome, he found a city in anarchy because of the struggles between the nobility and the popular faction, and in which his power was now more formal than real. There followed four decades of instability, characterised by the local power struggle between the commune and the papacy, and internationally by the great Western Schism, at the end of which was elected Pope, Martin V. He restored order, laying the foundations of its rebirth.

 

In 1433 the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti signed a peace treaty with Florence and Venice. He then sent the condottieri Niccolò Fortebraccio and Francesco Sforza to harass the Papal States, in vengeance for Eugene IV's support to the two former republics.

 

Fortebraccio, supported by the Colonna, occupied Tivoli in October 1433 and ravaged Rome's countryside. Despite the concessions made by Eugene to the Visconti, the Milanese soldiers did not stop their destruction. This led the Romans, on 29 May 1434 to institute a Republican government under the Banderesi. Eugene left the city a few days later, during the night of 4 June.

 

However, the Banderesi proved incapable of governing the city, and their inadequacies and violence soon deprived them of popular support. The city was therefore returned to Eugene by the army of Giovanni Vitelleschi on 26 October 1434. After the death in mysterious circumstances of Vitelleschi, the city came under the control of Ludovico Scarampo, Patriarch of Aquileia. Eugene returned to Rome on 28 September 1443.

 

The latter half of the 15th century saw the seat of the Italian Renaissance move to Rome from Florence. The Papacy wanted to surpass the grandeur of other Italian cities. To this end the popes created increasingly extravagant churches, bridges, town squares and public spaces, including a new Saint Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, Ponte Sisto (the first bridge to be built across the Tiber since antiquity), and Piazza Navona. The Popes were also patrons of the arts engaging such artists as Michelangelo, Perugino, Raphael, Ghirlandaio, Luca Signorelli, Botticelli, and Cosimo Rosselli.

 

Under Pope Nicholas V, who became Pontiff on 19 March 1447, the Renaissance can be said to have begun in Rome, heralding a period in which the city became the centre of Humanism. He was the first Pope to embellish the Roman court with scholars and artists, including Lorenzo Valla and Vespasiano da Bisticci.

 

On 4 September 1449 Nicholas proclaimed a Jubilee for the following year, which saw a great influx of pilgrims from all Europe. The crowd was so large that in December, on Ponte Sant'Angelo, some 200 people died, crushed underfoot or drowned in the River Tiber. Later that year the Plague reappeared in the city, and Nicholas fled.

 

However Nicholas brought stability to the temporal power of the Papacy, a power in which the Emperor was to have no part at all. In this way, the coronation and the marriage of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor on 16 March 1452, was more a civil ceremony. The Papacy now controlled Rome with a strong hand. A plot by Stefano Porcari, whose aim was the restoration of the Republic, was ruthlessly suppressed in January 1453. Porcari was hanged together with the other plotters, Francesco Gabadeo, Pietro de Monterotondo, Battista Sciarra and Angiolo Ronconi, but the Pope gained a treacherous reputation, as when the execution was beginning he was too drunk to confirm the grace he had previously given to Sciarra and Ronconi.

 

Nicholas was also actively involved in Rome's urban renewal, in collaboration with Leon Battista Alberti, including the construction of a new St Peter's Basilica.

 

Nicholas' successor Calixtus III neglected Nicholas's cultural policies, instead devoting himself to his greatest passion, his nephews. The Tuscan Pius II, who took the reins after his death in 1458, was a great Humanist, but did little for Rome. During his reign Lorenzo Valla demonstrated that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery. Pius was the first Pope to use guns, in campaign against the rebel barons Savelli in the neighbourhood of Rome, in 1461. One year later the bringing to Rome of the head of the Apostle St. Andrew produced a great number of pilgrims. The reign of Pope Paul II (1464–1471) was notable only for the reintroduction of the Carnival, which was to become a very popular feast in Rome in the following centuries. In the same year (1468) a plot against the Pope was uncovered, organised by the intellectuals of the Roman Academy founded by Pomponio Leto. The conspirators were sent to Castel Sant'Angelo.

 

More important by far was the Pontificate of Sixtus IV, considered the first Pope-King of Rome. In order to favour his relative Girolamo Riario, he promoted the unsuccessful Congiura dei Pazzi against the Medici of Florence (26 April 1478) and in Rome fought the Colonna and the Orsini. The personal politics of intrigue and war required much money, but in spite of this Sixtus was a true patron of art in the manner of Nicholas V. He reopened the Academy and reorganised the Collegio degli Abbreviatori, and in 1471 began the construction of the Vatican Library, whose first curator was Platina. The Library was officially founded on 15 Jun

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MEDRETE 17-3 includes participants from the Chadian government, U.S. Army Africa, and the 3rd Medical Command Deployment Support in Forest Park, Ga. It is the third in a series of medical readiness training exercises that USARAF is scheduled to facilitate in various countries in Africa. The mutually beneficial exercise offers opportunities for the partnered militaries to share best practices and improve medical treatment processes. (U.S. Army Africa photo by Staff Sgt. Shejal Pulivarti)

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www.huntermuseum.org

 

The Hunter Museum of American Art is an art museum in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The museum's collections include works representing the Hudson River School, 19th century genre painting, American Impressionism, the Ashcan School, early modernism, regionalism, and post-World War II modern and contemporary art.

 

The building itself represents three distinct architectural stages: the original 1904 classical revival mansion designed by Abram Garfield, the son of president James A. Garfield, which has housed the museum since its opening in 1952, a brutalist addition built in 1975, and a 2005 addition designed by Randall Stout which now serves as the entrance to the museum.

 

The museum is situated on an 80-foot (24 m) bluff overlooking the Tennessee River and downtown Chattanooga. The Faxon House, built in 1904, was built where a Confederate battery had been emplaced. Once a prestigious address for Victorian houses, the area is now home to the Bluff View Art District. The museum sits on a bluff that overlooks the Walnut Street Bridge. The Ruth S. and A. William Holmberg Pedestrian Bridge provides a pedestrian-friendly connection to the nearby Walnut Street Bridge and riverfront attractions.

 

The Hunter Museum is named after George Hunter, who inherited the Coca-Cola Bottling empire from his uncle Benjamin Thomas. Thomas was one of the entrepreneurs who created Chattanooga's Coca-Cola bottling empire. Their nephew, George Hunter, later joined Anne Thomas to create a philanthropic organization in Hunter's memory named the Benwood Foundation. The foundation's mission was to "promote religious, charitable, scientific, literary and educational activities for the advancement or well being of mankind". The centerpiece of the Benwood Foundation's gifts to the community of Chattanooga is the Hunter Museum of American Art, originally known as the Ross Faxon House.

 

In 2002 the Hunter Museum of American Art partnered with the City of Chattanooga, the Tennessee Aquarium and the Creative Discovery Museum to finish the 21st Century Waterfront Plan. The Hunter Museum portion of the project included a $22 million expansion and renovation, designed by Randall Stout that was completed in 2005. The project included 28,000 square feet of new construction, 34,000 square feet of renovation, a new entrance, a temporary exhibition space, restoration of the mansion, the creation of an outdoor sculpture and a complete reinstallation of the Museum's permanent collection.

 

The Hunter Museum of American Art includes 100 years of architectures and the most complete collection of American art in the Southeast. The museum also travels nationally for exhibits and curated shows. The collection spans from the colonial period to present day and covers a wide variety of media including painting, sculpture, contemporary studio glass, and crafts.

 

In 2006 the museum received national recognition from the Innovative Design in Engineering and Architecture with Structural Steels awards program. The award recognizes outstanding achievements in engineering and architecture on structural steel projects around the country. The Hunter Museum project earned Merit Award recognition in the category of Projects $15–$75 million.

 

In June 2015, the Hunter Museum of Art announced on their official website that they had chosen a new executive director, Virginia Ann Sharber.

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UNTITLED #8, 9, 28, 17, 21, 30 (FROM THE

"INAUGURATION" SERIES) - 2009

 

Catherine Opie, American, b. Sandusky, Ohio, 1961

 

Catherine Opie's photographs include a series of portraits and American urban landscapes, ranging in format from large-scale color works to smaller black-and-white prints. Moving from the territory of the body to the framework of the city, Opie's various photographic series are linked together by a conceptual framework of cultural portraiture. Catherine Opie's Inauguration series continues her exploration of documentary photography and examines the historic significance of the inauguration of President Barack Obama. These photographs capture this moment in American history and reveal not only its glory but also the aftermath which is not revealed in the media.

 

The "Untitled" Series (Jan 20th, 2009) captures the aftermath of the half-million-strong gathering on the National Mall that witnessed the first inauguration of Barack Obama on January 20, 2009. A JumboTron live video feed of Barack and Michelle Obama waving to the crowd occupies the upper left of the photograph. Tall scaffolding holds aloft lighting and speakers, and vertically bisects the image. A stationary truck supports a JumboTron and waits, ready to transport the temporary broadcasting equipment and crowd barriers. Surrounding the JumboTron are the last of the people gathered to watch the historic occasion, their backs almost universally turned away from the photographer’s lens. They are uniform in layers of clothing to protect against the cold temperatures, evidenced by the rows of bare trees on either side of the image. The Capitol building is in the middle distance, pale against a wintry blue sky. The temporary nature of the gathering is suggested by the trash strewn across the ground, camp chairs, and a discarded wooden crate.

 

Untitled, #1 (Jan 20th, 2009) is part of a series of one hundred photographs Catherine Opie took over three days at the 2009 presidential inauguration. The Inauguration series includes portraits of individuals and groups, details of Washington, D.C., and the event preparations. The photographer took the images with a medium-format Hasselblad H2 digital camera. This photograph is about the size of an opened broadsheet newspaper, yet it documents a moment that official press images often overlook—the aftermath of large political events. Time is an important quality of the work. The term of presidency is of a set length, the crowd and its debris are temporary, and the moment Opie captures is fleeting yet iconic. The new president’s wave to the crowd is, at the beginning of his term, still buoyant and hopeful.

  

The mantra of Obama’s first election campaign was one of hope and change, and the jubilant crowd was large enough to necessitate the deployment of multiple JumboTrons. This image explores another side of being part of this community of celebrants, almost anticlimactic in their dissipated state. Opie’s photograph highlights the act of image making and the transmission of images as a political tool across the ages. The live feed of the Obamas stands in for a presence too far away for these people to witness with their naked eyes. This idea is extended to us, the viewers of her photograph. The image is taken from eye level to suggest our own inclusion in the historic inauguration of America’s first black president. It also suggests a connection to the community gathered on the National Mall, a site that has hosted many previous political events.

  

Emerging in the 1990s, Opie established an artistic voice through photographic series that investigate individual and group identities. Inauguration forms part of Opie’s wider engagement with American politics and collective action, as captured in her photographs of Tea Party rallies, Boy Scout gatherings, and antiwar marches. This series is also part of a broad tradition of documentary photography of the American landscape and its people. It is in direct dialogue with William Eggleston’s 1976 Election Eve, which charted the hours before the election of President Jimmy Carter, and Robert Frank’s photographs of the 1956 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Just fifty years after the 1956 convention, Obama, then an Illinois senator, would make a key speech at the 2006 Democratic National Convention.

 

collections.currier.org/objects-1/info/14131?sort=0

 

learninglab.si.edu/search/?f%5B_types%5D%5B%5D=resource&a...

 

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Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860-1960 hirshhorn.si.edu.

Dates: Through April 20, 2025.

 

"The Hirshhorn’s not like other museums in town. You’ll rarely see a run of masterpieces to match an art history textbook like you’ll find at the National Gallery of Art. The Hirshhorn doesn’t trumpet the work of its namesake founder, the way that the Phillips Collection builds exhibitions around the vision of Duncan Phillips. And the Hirshhorn isn’t a crystal-cool stage for a handful of elite artists, a la Glenstone.

No doubt, the Joseph H. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has a collection that can stand up to any of them. His gift to the Smithsonian Institution in 1966 comprised almost 6,000 paintings and sculptures by the 19th and 20th centuries’ most vital artists — a figure that doubled with a bequest of his remaining works upon his death in 1981.

But rarely is very much of it on view. Especially over the past decade or so, the museum has learned to love its Gordon Bunshaft-designed building, mounting ambitious installations that sometimes take up an entire minor arc of the Brutalist doughnut.

 

So the museum’s 50th anniversary this year is an opportunity to step back and see the collection in its original light. A chance to look back on the collection’s most important pictures, perhaps a moment to highlight new scholarship in art history or achievements in conservation. But the Hirshhorn’s not like other museums in town — and for its 50th birthday, the museum is throwing a bash.

 

“Revolutions: Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860-1960” is a delightful romp through the permanent collection, featuring a gobsmacking number of artworks. The first of three planned anniversary exhibitions, this one focuses on modernism in all its lights, exploring the period through a truly maximalist presentation of paintings and sculpture. Better than a greatest-hits exhibition, “Revolutions” remixes the museum’s best B-sides and rarities, while still making a case about the long 20th century in art.

 

From Grandma Moses to Rashid Johnson, “Revolutions” spans a ludicrous range of painters. Right from the start, the show dials up the contrasts: The first works to greet viewers are a stately 1884 portrait by society painter John Singer Sargent hanging next to an electric 2020 portrait by Ghanaian star Amoako Boafo. Roughly speaking, these works could serve as chronological capstones for the Hirshhorn’s collection. But there’s something else to this pairing: It’s an unlikely diptych that tees up the push-and-pull between figuration and abstraction that defines the collection — and the century.

Curated by the Hirshhorn’s Marina Isgro and Betsy Johnson, “Revolutions” is chockablock with artworks. More than 200 paintings, sculptures and drawings — with the odd photograph thrown in, and a plan to rotate some artworks — trace the flow of ideas from early modernism to the postwar era. That’s a ton of work: For comparison, when the museum mounted a collection show in 2016, it included some 75 pieces.

 

The first gallery alone showcases a couple dozen works, including a salon-style hang of portraits by the likes of Édouard Vuillard, Thomas Eakins and Mary Cassatt. The show is chronological-ish, with contemporary works (like Boafo’s “Cobalt Blue Dress”) sprinkled throughout to break the very light logic of the show’s organization. The rooms have themes, but these are subordinate to the show’s overall flow, which focuses on pairings and dialogues. Artworks wink at one another from across decades and continents, like the geometric Lakota beadwork painting by Dyani White Hawk from 2022 hanging amid constructivist compositions by László Moholy-Nagy and Nadia Léger originally made a century earlier.

 

Contemporary selections such as Boafo and White Hawk emphasize and sometimes upend ideas in the collection. They’re just infrequent enough in “Revolutions” that they pop like exclamation points. Loie Hollowell’s three-dimensional painting “Boob Wheel” (2019) is an abstraction of the figure rooted in the artist’s own pregnancy, adding a maternal element (and a shade of sex) to the gallery. Nathaniel Mary Quinn’s “Literacy Lab” (2019), a multimedia piece that looks like three different drawings for an “exquisite corpse” — in fact, it’s just a single composition — holds its own alongside two cubist paintings by Picasso.

 

While it’s a busy painting show, sculpture takes center stage in “Revolutions,” part of a concerted effort to put more shine on the museum’s sculptural holdings, including the magnificent bronzes in the sculpture garden (currently undergoing a renovation). For the exhibit, the Hirshhorn has revived the light well, a vintage solution for displaying sculpture by placing works on an elevated podium under even, suspended lighting. These retro displays put a spotlight on works by Barbara Hepworth, Jean Arp, Max Ernst and more — smaller sculptures that are easy to overlook in any setting. One of the most magical groupings in the show is a wall-size vitrine that features delicate suprematist marionettes by Aleksandra Exster, futurist flower sculptures by Giacomo Balla and a peerless dada painting by Sonia Delaunay.

 

Isgro and Johnson find a few chances within the permanent collection to rattle long-standing dogma in art history: for example, by hanging a 1945 painting by the mercurial and long-overlooked artist Janet Sobel that predates the remarkably similar 1949 piece by Jackson Pollock nearby. Throughout the show, the curators elevate marginalized voices without being pedantic about it. Mid-century works by Haitian artists Rigaud Benoit, Hector Hyppolite and Castera Bazile occupy the same kind of space as Willem de Kooning.

 

In some ways, the Hirshhorn of “Revolutions” is the one I want to visit over and over. There is far too much great work from the 20th century locked away in the vaults of collections like this one. Fernand Léger’s “Nude on a Red Background” (1927) should never be put out of sight. And why condemn Balla’s futurist flowers to wither in the dark? Yet dynamic new artworks such as Torkwase Dyson’s “Bird and Lava #4” (2021) and Flora Yukhnovich’s “Lipstick, Lip Gloss, Hickeys Too” (2022), shown in context with the entire collection, make the case that the central ideas animating the 20th century still have juice. History never ends and all that, but Isgro and Johnson are pressing a more specific point, that the Hirshhorn museum continues to trace the loops and echoes of the many modernisms Joseph Hirshhorn followed from the start.

 

Maybe the most surprising moment comes at the very beginning. Looking at the Boafo-Sargent pairing by the entrance, to the right and almost behind the viewer stands Constantin Brancusi’s “Torso of a Young Man” (1924). A Futurist Manifesto-grade sculpture with this mega-wattage would normally hold pride of place in any collection. Here, it’s presented in an ambiguous position: possibly an anchor, possibly an afterthought. It’s as if to say the museum is still investigating what the 20th century means and how the pieces fit together, a project with no end in sight.

 

www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/04/10/hirshhorn-revo...

Includes credit card holder

Includes running commentary by yours truly.

 

Gentle hint to my friends: Flickr accepts video files of up to about 90 seconds. Just sayin'.

Sutton Panoramic camera with water-filled lens, about 1861. Includes a Silvy roll-holder back and a water-filled integral spirit level. No manufacturer's plate but probably Thomas Ross of London.

 

Info from the Science Museum London:

Thomas Sutton (1819-1875) graduated twenty-seventh Wrangler at Cambridge University in 1846. The following year he moved to Jersey where he opened a well-known photographic studio under the patronage of Prince Albert. In 1856 he founded the magazine Photographic Notes. Apart from his liquid lens, Sutton invented the first reflex camera in 1861 and also worked on the development of dry photographic plates, an innovation often associated with Richard Leach Maddox. He returned to England in 1874 and died at Pwllheli in Wales in the following year.

 

For his panoramic lens, Sutton was initially inspired by one of the ‘snowstorm’ souvenirs popular with the Victorian tourist. With one brought home from Paris, he observed how images were projected onto the curved glass surface by light passing through the water-filled sphere. This led to his discovery that a sphere of glass filled with water could be made into a wide-angle lens.

 

In order to make it more suited to photography, Sutton introduced into the centre of his lens a butterfly-shaped diaphragm to equalize the exposure over the whole angular field. The field of view could be up to 120°, but was reduced somewhat to cut down on distortion caused by spherical and chromatic aberrations.

 

The London camera maker, Frederick Cox, began the manufacture of Sutton’s lens and a camera for use with it in January 1860. By November Cox was advertising the camera as being available in four sizes, of which the most expensive, using curved photographic plates of 6 × 15 inches, cost £26. However, the manufacture of the water-filled lenses gave Cox many difficulties and he sold very few cameras, perhaps not more than half a dozen.

 

In January 1861 Sutton announced that the manufacture of his lens would be taken over by Thomas Ross, one of the earliest members of the Royal Photographic Society, operating at that time from the Featherstone Buildings in High Holborn. Ross had his first panoramic camera ready by the beginning of May 1861, with a considerably improved lens.

 

Ross purchased Sutton’s lens patent from him in August and by November was advertising the camera in a total of three different sizes. He was evidently proud of his achievement, choosing to describe the camera in a lecture to the Royal Photographic Society on the 3rd December, but his sales may not have been much better than Cox’s. The London firm of Bland & Co subsequently advertised the camera and kit, but they ceased business in 1864, when their entire stock of photographic material and optical and meteorological instruments was taken over by Negretti and Zambra.

 

The panoramic camera in the Museum’s collection is signed ‘Sutton’s Patent Panoramic Lens, made by T. ROSS, London. N1 234’. Apart from its curved back, with curved focusing screen, plate holder and glass plate, it is essentially just a conventional mahogany box camera, 250 × 270 × 210 mm in size. This was the smallest in Ross’s range and sold for £22.

 

The lens is fitted with a central stop of f12 and the shutter is of a very simple construction, consisting of a mahogany flap that hinges in front of the lens. Focusing is by means of a screw situated at the back, and there are spirit levels to ensure that the camera is horizontal. The kit supplied by Ross included a tripod and carrying case, curved sensitizing baths and twelve glass plates. Panoramic prints on paper were made from the glass negatives by using a curved printing frame.

 

One of Ross’s first customers was Camille Silvy, aristocrat, diplomat and keen amateur photographer turned professional. While on diplomatic service in London in 1859, Silvy bought a grand house in Porchester Terrace which he turned into a fashionable portrait studio, becoming one of the most sought-after society photographers. Cecil Beaton gave him the title the ‘Gainsborough of commercial photographers’ and high society vied to be among his sitters.

 

Silvy was noted for his use of innovative techniques, not just in portrait work but in landscape photography. One technique that he exploited was to combine different negatives for the sky and the ground in the creation of artistic scenes. Panoramic photography was therefore a natural choice for him to experiment with.

 

Although little is currently known about the work Silvy undertook, he must have viewed it as having some promise, since in 1867 he patented a roll film holder for the Ross camera, an example of which is preserved in the collections of the National Museum of Science and Industry. By using roll film he would have been able to circumvent many of the problems inherent in curved glass plates and thus open up fully the creative possibilities that Sutton’s panoramic lens had to offer.

More from Friday night's LDN Wrestling event at the Shoreham Centre.

Facilities include a large, heated swimming pool, tennis courts, and a music pavilion, together with an archery range.

Color Photo Bill Kelsey

Includes Notebooking & Lapbooking sections plus more! Downloads available @ www.christianhomeschoolhub.com/pt/Ancient-Egypt-Teaching-...

This unit on Ancient Egypt includes information on Egyptian history, time periods, beliefs around the afterlife, mummification, pharaohs, Book of the Dead, hieroglyphics, gods and goddesses and related vocabulary.

 

Work pages for students include reading comprehension, map work, timeline and diagram creation, research and summation, poetry, pyramid model building and more.

 

Also included: Egyptian graphics to use in your classroom!

a 22 degree ice halo in this cloud this afternoon.

Seafood includes rawns, mussell, calamari, crunchy fried clams in a garlic sauce served with broccoli, cauliflower, carrot and snow peas. $14.90

 

Crown Thai Restaurant,

Globe Lane (near Myers back entrance), Wollongong NSW 2500

Phone: (02) 4227 1177

Fax: (02) 4227 1766

 

s9600_2007_0228_181520

includes upcoming

aspen, colorado

1990

 

the embattled ritz-carlton project

 

set includes photographs of the controversial ritz-carlton project, a lightning rod at the time in the "spirited public debate" between pro-growth aspenites and no-growth opponents.

 

the ritz-carlton project is mentioned in the cover story for the new york times magazine (january 21, 1990):

www.nytimes.com/1990/01/21/magazine/aspen-the-call-of-the...

 

part of an archival project, featuring the photographs of nick dewolf

 

© the Nick DeWolf Foundation

Image-use requests are welcome via flickrmail or nickdewolfphotoarchive [at] gmail [dot] com

Our stocklist includes Suzuki DF100 Outboard 100hp; you can now order Suzuki DF100 Outboard 100hp online for as little as 6500 GBP.For more New Outboards and other marine products please visit avondale-marine.com. We ship around the World.

 

More from Friday at the Goodwood Revival

The Lidl Run Kildare Events 2013 were held at the Curragh Racecourse, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland on Sunday 12th May 2013. There were three events: a 10KM, a half marathon, and a full marathon. This is a selection of photographs which includes all events. The photographs are taken from the start and finish of the marathon, the finish of the 10KM, and the finish of the half marathon. Due to the large numbers participating we did not manage to photograph everyone - which was not helped by the weather. Congratulations to Jo Cawley and her RunKildare crew for another great event. The weather didn't dampen the spirits of the many happy participants.

 

Electronic timing was provided by Red Tag Timing [www.redtagtiming.com/]

 

Overall Race Summary

Participants: There were approximately 3,000 participants over the 3 race events - there were runners, joggers, and walkers participating.

Weather: A cold breezy morning with heavy rain at the start. The weather dried up for the 10KM and the Half Marathon races

Course: This is an undulating course with some good flat stretches on the Curragh.

  

Viewing this on a smartphone device?

If you are viewing this Flickr set on a smartphone and you want to see the larger version(s) of this photograph then: scroll down to the bottom of this description under the photograph and click the "View info about this photo..." link. You will be brought to a new page and you should click the link "View All Sizes".

 

Some Useful Links

GPS Garmin Trace of the Kildare Marathon Route: connect.garmin.com/activity/175709313

Homepage of the Lidl Run Kildare Event: www.kildaremarathon.ie/index.html

Facebook Group page of the Lidl Run Kildare Event: www.facebook.com/RunKildare

Boards.ie Athletics Discussion Board pages about the race series: www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056815306

Our photographs from Run Kildare 2012: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157629707887620/

Our photographs from Run Kildare 2011: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157626725200956/

A small selection of photographs from Run Kildare 2010: www.flickr.com/photos/peterm7/sets/72157623899845567/ (first event)

 

Can I use the photograph with the watermark?

Yes! Absolutely - you can post this photograph to your social networks, blogs, micro-blogging, etc.

 

How can I get a full resolution, no watermark, copy of these photographs?

 

All of the photographs here on this Flickr set have a visible watermark embedded in them. All of the photographs posted here on this Flickr set are available, free, at no cost, at full resolution WITHOUT watermark. We take these photographs as a hobby and as a contribution to the running community in Ireland. We do not know of any other photographers who operate such a policy. Our only "cost" is our request that if you are using these images: (1) on social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, Twitter,LinkedIn, Google+, etc or (2) other websites, web multimedia, commercial/promotional material that you provide a link back to our Flickr page to attribute us. This also extends the use of these images for Facebook profile pictures. In these cases please make a separate wall or blog post with a link to our Flickr page. If you do not know how this should be done for Facebook or other social media please email us and we will be happy to help suggest how to link to us.

 

Please email petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com with the links to the photographs you would like to obtain a full resolution copy of. We also ask race organisers, media, etc to ask for permission before use of our images for flyers, posters, etc. We reserve the right to refuse a request.

 

In summary please remember - all we ask is for you to link back to our Flickr set or Flickr pages. Taking the photographs and preparing them for online posting does take a significant effort. We are not posting photographs to Flickr for commercial reasons. If you really like what we do please spread the link around, send us an email, leave a comment beside the photographs, send us a Flickr email, etc.

 

If you would like to contribute something for your photograph(s)?

Some people offer payment for our photographs. We do not charge for these photographs. We take these photographs as our contribution to the running community in Ireland. If you feel that the photograph(s) you request are good enough that you would pay for their purchase from other photographic providers we would suggest that you can provide a donation to any of the great charities in Ireland who do work for Cancer Care or Cancer Research in Ireland.

 

I ran in the race - but my photograph doesn't appear here in your Flickr set! What gives?

 

As mentioned above we take these photographs as a hobby and as a voluntary contribution to the running community in Ireland. Very often we have actually ran in the same race and then switched to photographer mode after we finished the race. Consequently, we feel that we have no obligations to capture a photograph of every participant in the race. However, we do try our very best to capture as many participants as possible. But this is sometimes not possible for a variety of reasons:

 

     ►You were hidden behind another participant as you passed our camera

     ►Weather or lighting conditions meant that we had some photographs with blurry content which we did not upload to our Flickr set

     ►There were too many people - some races attract thousands of participants and as amateur photographs we cannot hope to capture photographs of everyone

     ►We simply missed you - sorry about that - we did our best!

  

You can email us petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com to enquire if we have a photograph of you which didn't make the final Flickr selection for the race. But we cannot promise that there will be photograph there. As alternatives we advise you to contact the race organisers to enquire if there were (1) other photographs taking photographs at the race event or if (2) there were professional commercial sports photographers taking photographs which might have some photographs of you available for purchase. You might find some links for further information above.

 

Don't like your photograph here?

That's OK! We understand!

 

If, for any reason, you are not happy or comfortable with your picture appearing here in this photoset on Flickr then please email us at petermooney78 AT gmail DOT com and we will remove it as soon as possible. We give careful consideration to each photograph before uploading.

 

I want to tell people about these great photographs!

Great! Thank you! The best link to spread the word around is probably www.flickr.com/peterm7/sets

   

More from Saturday's trip to Silverstone for the World Rallycross event. Clearly the venue for a stag do.

Includes unnecessary quotation marks.

Includes Wakefields new Enviro200s and Leeds Park & Ride

Royton St. - includes small plan. Image 5

GB127.M126/2/3/6

The Lapwings were showing well by the River Adur in this afternoon's sunshine.

Last year, Microsoft created a program for enthusiasts to help test out new builds of Windows 10. The program, called Windows Insider, has been a huge success for the company and at last report, had more than 7 million participants.

  

Because of the success of the program, the...

 

www.solutionssquad.com/blog/microsoft-expands-insider-pro...

I just received recently an AF-Nikkor 1:2 f=35mm lens to complete a small kit around my Nikon F4 year 1989 (see below for details). The kit is now includes 3 very classical AF-Nikkor lenses of the same period of the Nikon F4 camera body, including the standard 1.4/50mm, the 1.8/85mm and now the 2/35mm. The choice of fixed-focal lenses instead of zooms was already in 1989 a bit old-fashioned. However many photographers preferred still the homogenous rendering of a photo series done with a single focal lens. Generally speaking, a 35mm focal is a charming moderate wide-angle, very easy to use and particularly adapted for architectural and street-photography.

 

The AF-Nikkor 1:2 f=35mm is not a rare lens. However, when looking on eBay there was not tens of them available. I bought a good one form a Belgian seller at a normal price (180€). The lens is in very good mechanical and optical condition and came with the rear and front caps. I sourced the dedicated Nikon HN-3 shade hood separately for 10€ but here I preferred (only for the look!) to use a rectangular Minolta D54KC designed for the MC-Rokkor 1:2.8 f=35mm.

 

For testing the lens, I loaded my Nikon F4 with a Rollei RPX 400 which is the former formula of the Agfa APX 400. The film cartridge is DX-coded and I did not modify the nominal DX-coded 400 ISO sensitivity.

The AF Nikkor lens 1:2 f=35mm was equipped for the whole session with a generic 52mm screw-on yellow filter. The light metering was done through tteh lens (TTL) either in the matrix or the spot metering of the Nikon F4 used in the "A" aperture-priority auto mode or the manual mode. The weather was very clear and a bit cold (-1°C outside).

 

La Part-Dieu***, January 12, 2024

69003 Lyon

France

 

----

 

***(Wiki) La Part-Dieu (French: [la paʁdjø]) is a quarter in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon, France. It is the second-largest tertiary district in France, after La Défense in Paris. The area also contains Lyon's primary railway station, Lyon-Part-Dieu.

 

This urban centre also provides major entertainment and cultural facilities, including one of the largest urban shopping malls in Europe, 800 shops, Paul Bocuse indoor food market, café terraces, the Auditorium concert hall, Bourse du Travail theatre, Municipal Library, Departmental Archives and Fort Montluc. It contains several High-rise buildings, including the Tour Incity (202 m (663 ft)), the Tour To-Lyon (171 m (561 ft)) and the Tour Part-Dieu (164 m (538 ft)).

 

The central business district is currently undergoing major renovation and construction works, according to a revitalization project totalling €2.5 billion between public and private investments.

 

--------

 

I did not use my Nikon SB-26 flashlight for any views in this session. After completion the film was rewound and processed using 350 mL of Adox Adonal (Agfa Rodinal) developer prepared at the dilution 1+25 for 12min at 20°C.

 

Digitizing was made using a Sony A7 camera (ILCE-7, 24MP) held on a Minolta Auto Bellows with the Minolta slide duplication accessory and Minolta Macro Bellow lens 1:3.5 f=50mm. The light source was a LED panel CineStill Cine-lite.

 

The RAW files obtained were inverted within the latest version available of Adobe Lightroom Classic (version 14.1.1) and edited to the final jpeg pictures without intermediate file. They are presented either as printer files with a frame or the full size JPEG's together with some documentary smartphone color pictures.

 

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

 

About the camera :

 

Maybe it would have been better not to ask for this question: « what’s new do you have at the moment?» to my local photo store, because Christine grab underneath the counter, stating « I have that … » . What a beast ! A Nikon F4 in the exact state of the Nikon brochure year 1990, presented with the standard AF Nikkor 1:1.4 f=50mm. I was already hooked by the machine. After two days, I decided to buy it even with some little common issues found on early Nikon F4 (see below), fortunately not affecting the whole, numberous functions of this incredibly complex professional SLR of the year 1990’s.

 

Nikon F4 came to the market on September 1988 starting with the serial number 2.000.000. Fully manufactured in Japan (modules came from 3 different Nikon factories) the F4's were assembled in Mito, Ibaraki (North to Tokyo) Nikon plant (no more in the mother factory of Tokyo Oi like the Nikon’s F). When I lived in Tokyo in 1990-1991, Nikon F4 was the top-of-the-line of Nikon SLR camera’s. I saw it in particular in Shinjuku Bic Camera store when I bought there, in December 1990 my Nikonos V.

 

Nikon F4 incorporates many astonishing engineering features as the double vertical-travel curtain shutter capable of the 1/8000s. Compared to the Nikon F3, the F4 was an AF SLR operated by a CCD sensor (200 photo sites). The film is automatically loaded, advanced with to top speed of 5,7 frame/s !! With the MB-21 power grip (F4s version). The F4 is a very heavy camera (1.7kg with the AF Nikkor 1.4/50mm), incredibly tough and well constructed. This exemplary is devoid of any scratches or marks, and in a condition proving that it was not used for hard professional appliances, for those it was however intended. The camera has still it original Nikon neck strap, the original user manual in French. The lens is protected by a Cokin (Franc) Skylight 1A 52mm filter and the original Nikon front cap. The two small LCD displays (one on the F4 body, one in the DP-20 finder) are both affected by the classical syndrome of « bleeding ». Fortunately, all information could still be read. One says that 70% of the early Nikon F4 suffer from this problem but also found on other models.

 

According its serial number and the production rate of about 5000 units/month, this Nikon F4s was probably manufactured in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan in May 1989.

The camera was exported abroad thereafter attested by the presence of the golden oval little sticker("Passed" on the DP-20 viewfinder. In order to certify the quality production, two Japanese organizations, the Japan Camera Industry Institute (JCII) and the Japan Machinery Design Center (JMDC), joined forces to verify and mark the conformity of products for the foreign market. This is how, between the 1950s and 1980s, this famous little gold sticker was affixed, with the legendary "Passed", meaning that the device had been checked. Finally, when we say that the device had been checked, the production line had been checked because each device could not be checked individually.

 

____________

 

About the flash :

 

I received from a German seller for 50€ this Nikon Speedlight electronic flash SB-26 that was, at the time of Nikon F4, the most powerful dedicated Nikon flash (Guide Number 36 at full power and 100 ISO).

 

The SB-26 communicates with the Nikon F4 body (and many other Nikon camera's) and can be operated in many different modes including TTL real-time metering with automatic equilibration of the ambient light using the 5-zone matrix metering done by the DP-20 photometric viewer as well in the center-weighted mode. Other possibilities include the normal TTL mode, an Auto mode using the own sensor of the flash and a manual mode with 7 power levels.

 

The flash head can cover the optical field from super-wide angle lenses 18-20mm, wide-angle lenses 28mm and 35mm, normal lenses 50mm, and long-focal lenses at 70mm and 85mm. The head can be rotated according two axis for indirect lightening. In addition, the SB-26 has a special focusing aid for the Nikon F4 autofocus system, projecting in the the darkness a red focusing image. SB-23 flash can be also used as master or slave flash in a coordinated flash system.

 

The flash requires 4 AA alkaline cells for approximately 100 lights at full power and much more with energy recycling at lower power levels.

 

The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced many modern legal systems. Roman history can be divided into the following periods:

 

Pre-historical and early Rome, covering Rome's earliest inhabitants and the legend of its founding by Romulus

The period of Etruscan dominance and the regal period, in which, according to tradition, Romulus was the first of seven kings

The Roman Republic, which commenced in 509 BC when kings were replaced with rule by elected magistrates. The period was marked by vast expansion of Roman territory. During the 5th century BC, Rome gained regional dominance in Latium. With the Punic Wars from 264 to 146 BC, ancient Rome gained dominance over the Western Mediterranean, displacing Carthage as the dominant regional power.

The Roman Empire followed the Republic, which waned with the rise of Julius Caesar, and by all measures concluded after a period of civil war and the victory of Caesar's adopted son, Octavian, in 27 BC over Mark Antony.

The Western Roman Empire collapsed in 476 after the city was conquered by the Ostrogothic Kingdom. Consequently Rome's power declined, and it eventually became part of the Eastern Roman Empire, as the Duchy of Rome, from the 6th to 8th centuries. At this time, the city was reduced to a fraction of its former size, being sacked several times in the 5th to 6th centuries, even temporarily depopulated entirely.

Medieval Rome is characterised by a break with Constantinople and the formation of the Papal States. The Papacy struggled to retain influence in the emerging Holy Roman Empire, and during the saeculum obscurum, the population of Rome fell to as low as 30,000 inhabitants. Following the East–West Schism and the limited success in the Investiture Controversy, the Papacy did gain considerable influence in the High Middle Ages, but with the Avignon Papacy and the Western Schism, the city of Rome was reduced to irrelevance, its population falling below 20,000. Rome's decline into complete irrelevance during the medieval period, with the associated lack of construction activity, assured the survival of very significant ancient Roman material remains in the centre of the city, some abandoned and others continuing in use.

The Roman Renaissance occurred in the 15th century, when Rome replaced Florence as the centre of artistic and cultural influence. The Roman Renaissance was cut short abruptly with the devastation of the city in 1527, but the Papacy reasserted itself in the Counter-Reformation, and the city continued to flourish during the early modern period. Rome was annexed by Napoleon and was part of the First French Empire from 1798 to 1814.

Modern history, the period from the 19th century to the present. Rome came under siege again after the Allied invasion of Italy and was bombed several times. It was declared an open city on 14 August 1943. Rome became the capital of the Italian Republic (established in 1946). With a population of 4.4 million (as of 2015; 2.9 million within city limits), it is the largest city in Italy. It is among the largest urban areas of the European Union and classified as a global city.

 

Attempts have been made to find a linguistic root for the name Rome. Possibilities include derivation from the Greek Rhṓmē (Ῥώμη), meaning "bravery" or "courage"; Compare also Rumon, former name of the Tiber River. Its further etymology remains unknown, as with most Etruscan words. Thomas G. Tucker's Concise Etymological Dictionary of Latin (1931) suggests that the name is most probably from *urobsma (cf. urbs, robur) and otherwise, "but less likely" from *urosma "hill" (cf. Skt. varsman- "height, point," Old Slavonic врьхъ "top, summit", Russ. верх "top; upward direction", Lith. virsus "upper").

 

Rome timeline

753 BCAccording to legend, Romulus founds Rome.

753–509 BCRule of the seven Kings of Rome.

509 BCCreation of the Republic.

390 BCThe Gauls invade Rome. Rome sacked.

264–146 BCPunic Wars.

146–44 BCSocial and Civil Wars. Emergence of Marius, Sulla, Pompey and Caesar.

44 BCJulius Caesar assassinated.

 

There is archaeological evidence of human occupation of the Rome area from at least 5,000 years, but the dense layer of much younger debris obscures Palaeolithic and Neolithic sites. The evidence suggesting the city's ancient foundation is also obscured by the legend of Rome's beginning involving Romulus and Remus.

 

The traditional date for the founding of Rome is 21 April 753 BC, following M. Terentius Varro, and the city and surrounding region of Latium has continued to be inhabited with little interruption since around that time. Excavations made in 2014 have revealed a wall built long before the city's official founding year. Archaeologists uncovered a stone wall and pieces of pottery dating to the 9th century BC and the beginning of the 8th century BC, and there is evidence of people arriving on the Palatine hill as early as the 10th century BC.

 

The site of Sant'Omobono Area is crucial for understanding the related processes of monumentalisation, urbanisation, and state formation in Rome in the late Archaic period. The Sant'Omobono temple site dates to 7th–6th century BC, making these the oldest known temple remains in Rome.

 

The city's name was long credited to the legendary culture hero Romulus. It was said that Romulus and his twin brother Remus were the offspring of the rape of an Alban princess by the war god Mars and, via their mother, were further descended from the Trojan prince Aeneas, supposed son of the Greek love goddess Aphrodite. Exposed on the Tiber, they were suckled by a she-wolf and raised by a shepherd and his wife. Avenging themselves on their usurping grand-uncle and restoring their grandfather Numitor to Alba Longa's throne, they were ordered or decided to settle the hills around Rome's later Forum Boarium, an important river port connected in Roman myth with Hercules's tenth labour, capturing the cattle of Geryon.

 

Disputing some point of the founding or its related auguries, Remus was murdered by Romulus or one of his supporters. Romulus then established a walled and roughly square settlement, whose sacred boundary and gates were established by a ploughing ritual. Romulus then declared the town an asylum, permitted men of all classes to come to Rome as citizens, including criminals, runaway slaves, and freemen without distinction. To provide his citizens with wives, Romulus invited the neighbouring tribes to a festival in Rome where the Romans abducted many of their young women. After the ensuing war with the Sabines, Romulus shared Rome's kingship with the Sabine king Titus Tatius. Romulus selected 100 of the most noble men to form the Roman Senate, initially serving as his advisory council. These men he called fathers (Latin: patres), and their descendants became the patricians. He created three centuries of equites: Ramnes (meaning Romans), Tities (after the Sabine king), and Luceres (Etruscans). He also divided the general populace into thirty curiae, named after thirty of the Sabine women who had intervened to end the war between Romulus and Tatius. The curiae formed the voting units in the Comitia Curiata.

 

Rome grew from pastoral settlements on the Palatine Hill and surrounding hills approximately 30 km (19 mi) from the Tyrrhenian Sea on the south side of the Tiber. The Quirinal Hill was probably an outpost for the Sabines, another Italic-speaking people. At this location, the Tiber forms a Z-shaped curve that contains an island where the river can be forded. Because of the river and the ford, Rome was at a crossroads of traffic following the river valley and of traders travelling north and south on the west side of the peninsula.

 

Archaeological finds have confirmed that there were two fortified settlements in the 8th century BC, in the area of the future Rome: Rumi on the Palatine Hill, and Titientes on the Quirinal Hill, backed by the Luceres living in the nearby woods. These were simply three of numerous Italic-speaking communities that existed in Latium, a plain on the Italian peninsula, by the 1st millennium BC. The origins of the Italic peoples lie in prehistory and are therefore not precisely known, but their Indo-European languages migrated from the east in the second half of the 2nd millennium BC.

 

According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, many Roman historians—including Cato and Sempronius—considered the Italian aborigines to have been prehistoric Greek colonists. The Romans then considered themselves a mix of these people, the Albans, and the other Latins, considered a blend of Pelasgians, Arcadians, Epeans, and refugee Trojans. Over time, the Etruscans and other ancient Italic peoples were admitted as citizens as well. The Sabines—considered to be Gaulish along with the other Umbri peoples of central Italy— were first mentioned in Dionysius's account for having captured the city of Lista by surprise, which was regarded as the mother-city of the Aborigines.

 

The Italic speakers in the area included Latins (in the west), Sabines (in the upper valley of the Tiber), Umbrians (in the north-east), Samnites (in the South), Oscans, and others. In the 8th century BC, they shared the peninsula with two other major ethnic groups: the Etruscans in the North and the Greeks in the south.

 

The Etruscans (Etrusci or Tusci in Latin) are attested north of Rome in Etruria (modern northern Lazio, Tuscany and part of Umbria). They founded cities such as Tarquinia, Veii, and Volterra and deeply influenced Roman culture, as clearly shown by the Etruscan origin of some of the mythical Roman kings. Historians have no literature, nor texts of religion or philosophy; therefore, much of what is known about this civilisation is derived from grave goods and tomb findings.

 

The Greeks had founded many colonies in Southern Italy between 750 and 550 BC (which the Romans later called Magna Graecia), such as Cumae, Naples, Reggio Calabria, Crotone, Sybaris, and Taranto, as well as in the eastern two-thirds of Sicily.

 

After 650 BC, the Etruscans became dominant in Italy and expanded into north-central Italy. Roman tradition claimed that Rome had been under the control of seven kings from 753 to 509 BC beginning with the mythical Romulus who was said to have founded the city of Rome along with his brother Remus. The last three kings were said to be Etruscan (at least partially)—namely Tarquinius Priscus, Servius Tullius and Tarquinius Superbus. (Priscus is said by the ancient literary sources to be the son of a Greek refugee and an Etruscan mother.) Their names refer to the Etruscan town of Tarquinia.

 

Livy, Plutarch, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and others claim that Rome was ruled during its first centuries by a succession of seven kings. The traditional chronology, as codified by Varro, allots 243 years for their reigns, an average of almost 35 years, which has been generally discounted by modern scholarship since the work of Barthold Georg Niebuhr. The Gauls destroyed much of Rome's historical records when they sacked the city after the Battle of the Allia in 390 BC (according to Polybius, the battle occurred in 387/386) and what was left was eventually lost to time or theft. With no contemporary records of the kingdom existing, all accounts of the kings must be carefully questioned. The list of kings is also of dubious historical value, though the last-named kings may be historical figures. It is believed by some historians (again, this is disputed) that Rome was under the influence of the Etruscans for about a century. During this period, a bridge was built called the Pons Sublicius to replace the Tiber ford, and the Cloaca Maxima was also built; the Etruscans are said to have been great engineers of this type of structure. From a cultural and technical point of view, Etruscans had arguably the second-greatest impact on Roman development, only surpassed by the Greeks.

 

Expanding further south, the Etruscans came into direct contact with the Greeks and initially had success in conflicts with the Greek colonists; after which, Etruria went into a decline. Taking advantage of this, Rome rebelled and gained independence from the Etruscans around 500 BC. It also abandoned monarchy in favour of a republican system based on a Senate, composed of the nobles of the city, along with popular assemblies which ensured political participation for most of the freeborn men and elected magistrates annually.

 

The Etruscans left a lasting influence on Rome. The Romans learned to build temples from them, and the Etruscans may have introduced the worship of a triad of gods—Juno, Minerva, and Jupiter—from the Etruscan gods: Uni, Menrva, and Tinia. However, the influence of Etruscan people in the development of Rome is often overstated. Rome was primarily a Latin city. It never became fully Etruscan. Also, evidence shows that Romans were heavily influenced by the Greek cities in the South, mainly through trade.

 

The commonly held stories of the early part of the Republic (before roughly 300 BC, when Old Latin inscriptions and Greek histories about Rome provide more concrete evidence of events) are generally considered to be legendary, their historicity being a topic of debate among classicists. The Roman Republic traditionally dates from 509 BC to 27 BC. After 500 BC, Rome is said to have joined with the Latin cities in defence against incursions by the Sabines. Winning the Battle of Lake Regillus in 493 BC, Rome established again the supremacy over the Latin countries it had lost after the fall of the monarchy. After a lengthy series of struggles, this supremacy became fixed in 393, when the Romans finally subdued the Volsci and Aequi. In 394 BC, they also conquered the menacing Etruscan neighbour of Veii. The Etruscan power was now limited to Etruria itself, and Rome was the dominant city in Latium.

 

A formal treaty was agreed with the city-state of Carthage in 509 BC which defined the spheres of influence of each city and regulated trade between them.

 

Rome's early enemies were the neighbouring hill tribes of the Volscians, the Aequi, and of course the Etruscans. As years passed and military successes increased Roman territory, new adversaries appeared. The fiercest were the Gauls, a loose collective of peoples who controlled much of Northern Europe including what is modern North and Central-East Italy.

 

In 387 BC, Rome was sacked and burned by the Senones coming from eastern Italy and led by Brennus, who had successfully defeated the Roman army at the Battle of the Allia in Etruria. Multiple contemporary records suggest that the Senones hoped to punish Rome for violating its diplomatic neutrality in Etruria. The Senones marched 130 kilometres (81 mi) to Rome without harming the surrounding countryside; once they had sacked the city, the Senones withdrew from Rome. Brennus was defeated by the dictator Furius Camillus at Tusculum soon afterwards.

 

After that, Rome hastily rebuilt its buildings and went on the offensive, conquering the Etruscans and seizing territory from the Gauls in the north. After 345 BC, Rome pushed south against other Latins. Their main enemy in this quadrant were the fierce Samnites, who outsmarted and trapped the legions in 321 BC at the Battle of Caudine Forks. In spite of these and other temporary setbacks, the Romans advanced steadily. By 290 BC, Rome controlled over half of the Italian peninsula. In the 3rd century BC, Rome brought the Greek poleis in the south under its control as well.

 

Amidst the never-ending wars (from the beginning of the Republic up to the Principate, the doors of the temple of Janus were closed only twice—when they were open it meant that Rome was at war), Rome had to face a severe major social crisis, the Conflict of the Orders, a political struggle between the Plebeians (commoners) and Patricians (aristocrats) of the ancient Roman Republic, in which the Plebeians sought political equality with the Patricians. It played a major role in the development of the Constitution of the Roman Republic. It began in 494 BC, when, while Rome was at war with two neighbouring tribes, the Plebeians all left the city (the first Plebeian Secession). The result of this first secession was the creation of the office of Plebeian Tribune, and with it the first acquisition of real power by the Plebeians.

 

According to tradition, Rome became a republic in 509 BC. However, it took a few centuries for Rome to become the great city of popular imagination. By the 3rd century BC, Rome had become the pre-eminent city of the Italian peninsula. During the Punic Wars between Rome and the great Mediterranean empire of Carthage (264–146 BC), Rome's stature increased further as it became the capital of an overseas empire for the first time. Beginning in the 2nd century BC, Rome went through a significant population expansion as Italian farmers, driven from their ancestral farmlands by the advent of massive, slave-operated farms called latifundia, flocked to the city in great numbers. The victory over Carthage in the First Punic War brought the first two provinces outside the Italian peninsula, Sicily and Sardinia. Parts of Spain (Hispania) followed, and in the beginning of the 2nd century the Romans got involved in the affairs of the Greek world. By then all Hellenistic kingdoms and the Greek city-states were in decline, exhausted from endless civil wars and relying on mercenary troops.

 

The Romans looked upon the Greek civilisation with great admiration. The Greeks saw Rome as a useful ally in their civil strifes, and it was not long before the Roman legions were invited to intervene in Greece. In less than 50 years the whole of mainland Greece was subdued. The Roman legions crushed the Macedonian phalanx twice, in 197 and 168 BC; in 146 BC the Roman consul Lucius Mummius razed Corinth, marking the end of free Greece. The same year Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, the son of Scipio Africanus, destroyed the city of Carthage, making it a Roman province.

 

In the following years, Rome continued its conquests in Spain with Tiberius Gracchus, and it set foot in Asia, when the last king of Pergamum gave his kingdom to the Roman people. The end of the 2nd century brought another threat, when a great host of Germanic peoples, namely Cimbri and Teutones, crossed the river Rhone and moved to Italy. Gaius Marius was consul five consecutive times (seven total), and won two decisive battles in 102 and 101 BC. He also reformed the Roman army, giving it such a good reorganisation that it remained unchanged for centuries.

 

The first thirty years of the last century BC were characterised by serious internal problems that threatened the existence of the Republic. The Social War, between Rome and its allies, and the Servile Wars (slave uprisings) were hard conflicts, all within Italy, and forced the Romans to change their policy with regards to their allies and subjects. By then Rome had become an extensive power, with great wealth which derived from the conquered people (as tribute, food or manpower, i.e. slaves). The allies of Rome felt bitter since they had fought by the side of the Romans, and yet they were not citizens and shared little in the rewards. Although they lost the war, they finally got what they asked, and by the beginning of the 1st century AD practically all free inhabitants of Italy were Roman citizens.

 

However, the growth of the Imperium Romanum (Roman power) created new problems, and new demands, that the old political system of the Republic, with its annually elected magistrates and its sharing of power, could not solve. Sulla's civil war and his later dictatorship, the extraordinary commands of Pompey Magnus, and the first triumvirate made that clear. In January 49 BC, Julius Caesar the conqueror of Gaul, crossed the Rubicon with his legions, occupying Rome and beginning a civil war with Pompey. In the following years, he vanquished his opponents, and ruled Rome for four years. After his assassination in 44 BC, the Senate tried to reestablish the Republic, but its champions, Marcus Junius Brutus (descendant of the founder of the republic) and Gaius Cassius Longinus were defeated by Caesar's lieutenant Marcus Antonius and Caesar's nephew, Octavian.

 

The years 44–31 BC mark the struggle for power between Marcus Antonius and Octavian (later known as Augustus). Finally, on 2 September 31 BC, in the Greek promontory of Actium, the final battle took place in the sea. Octavian was victorious, and became the sole ruler of Rome (and its empire). That date marks the end of the Republic and the beginning of the Principate.

 

Rome timeline

44 BC – AD 14Augustus establishes the Empire

AD 64Great Fire of Rome during Nero's rule

69–96Flavian dynasty; building of the Colosseum

3rd centuryCrisis of the Third Century; building of the Baths of Caracalla and the Aurelian Walls

284–337Diocletian and Constantine; building of the first Christian basilicas; Battle of Milvian Bridge; Rome is replaced by Constantinople as the capital of the Empire

395Definitive separation of Western and Eastern Roman Empire

410The Goths of Alaric sack Rome

455The Vandals of Gaiseric sack Rome

476Fall of the west empire and deposition of the final emperor Romulus Augustus

6th centuryGothic War (535–554): The Goths cut off the aqueducts in the siege of 537, an act which historians traditionally regard as the beginning of the Middle Ages in Italy

608Emperor Phocas donates the Pantheon to Pope Boniface IV, converting it into a Christian church; Column of Phocas (the last addition made to the Forum Romanum) is erected

630The Curia Julia (vacant since the disappearance of the Roman Senate) is transformed into the basilica of Sant'Adriano al Foro

663Constans II visits Rome for twelve days—the only emperor to set foot in Rome for two centuries. He strips buildings of their ornaments and bronze to be carried back to Constantinople

751Lombard conquest of the Exarchate of Ravenna; the Duchy of Rome is now completely cut off from the empire

754Alliance with the Franks; Pepin the Younger, King of the Franks, declared Patrician of the Romans, invades Italy; establishment of the Papal States

 

Life in Rome; animation in Latin with English subtitles

By the end of the Republic, the city of Rome had achieved a grandeur befitting the capital of an empire dominating the whole of the Mediterranean. It was, at the time, the largest city in the world. Estimates of its peak population range from 450,000 to over 3.5 million people with estimates of 1 to 2 million being most popular with historians. This grandeur increased under Augustus, who completed Caesar's projects and added many of his own, such as the Forum of Augustus and the Ara Pacis. He is said to have remarked that he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble (Urbem latericium invenit, marmoream reliquit). Augustus's successors sought to emulate his success in part by adding their own contributions to the city. In AD 64, during the reign of Nero, the Great Fire of Rome left much of the city destroyed, but in many ways it was used as an excuse for new development.

 

Rome was a subsidised city at the time, with roughly 15 to 25 percent of its grain supply being paid by the central government. Commerce and industry played a smaller role compared to that of other cities like Alexandria. This meant that Rome had to depend upon goods and production from other parts of the Empire to sustain such a large population. This was mostly paid by taxes that were levied by the Roman government. If it had not been subsidised, Rome would have been significantly smaller.

 

Rome's population declined after its apex in the 2nd century. At the end of that century, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the Antonine Plague killed 2,000 people a day. Marcus Aurelius died in 180, his reign being the last of the "Five Good Emperors" and Pax Romana. His son Commodus, who had been co-emperor since AD 177, assumed full imperial power, which is generally associated with the beginning of the decline of the Western Roman Empire. Rome's population was only a fraction of its peak when the Aurelian Wall was completed in AD 273 (in that year its population was only around 500,000).

 

Starting in the early 3rd century, matters changed. The "Crisis of the Third Century" defines the disasters and political troubles for the Empire, which nearly collapsed. The new feeling of danger and the menace of barbarian invasions was clearly shown by the decision of Emperor Aurelian, who at year 273 finished encircling the capital itself with a massive wall which had a perimeter that measured close to 20 km (12 mi). Rome formally remained capital of the empire, but emperors spent less and less time there. At the end of 3rd century Diocletian's political reforms, Rome was deprived of its traditional role of administrative capital of the Empire. Later, western emperors ruled from Milan or Ravenna, or cities in Gaul. In 330, Constantine I established a second capital at Constantinople.

 

Christianity reached Rome during the 1st century AD. For the first two centuries of the Christian era, Imperial authorities largely viewed Christianity simply as a Jewish sect rather than a distinct religion. No emperor issued general laws against the faith or its Church, and persecutions, such as they were, were carried out under the authority of local government officials. A surviving letter from Pliny the Younger, governor of Bythinia, to the emperor Trajan describes his persecution and executions of Christians; Trajan notably responded that Pliny should not seek out Christians nor heed anonymous denunciations, but only punish open Christians who refused to recant.

 

Suetonius mentions in passing that during the reign of Nero "punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition" (superstitionis novae ac maleficae). He gives no reason for the punishment. Tacitus reports that after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64, some among the population held Nero responsible and that the emperor attempted to deflect blame onto the Christians. The war against the Jews during Nero's reign, which so destabilised the empire that it led to civil war and Nero's suicide, provided an additional rationale for suppression of this 'Jewish' sect.

 

Diocletian undertook what was to be the most severe and last major persecution of Christians, lasting from 303 to 311. Christianity had become too widespread to suppress, and in 313, the Edict of Milan made tolerance the official policy. Constantine I (sole ruler 324–337) became the first Christian emperor, and in 380 Theodosius I established Christianity as the official religion.

 

Under Theodosius, visits to the pagan temples were forbidden, the eternal fire in the Temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum extinguished, the Vestal Virgins disbanded, auspices and witchcraft punished. Theodosius refused to restore the Altar of Victory in the Senate House, as asked by remaining pagan Senators.

 

The Empire's conversion to Christianity made the Bishop of Rome (later called the Pope) the senior religious figure in the Western Empire, as officially stated in 380 by the Edict of Thessalonica. In spite of its increasingly marginal role in the Empire, Rome retained its historic prestige, and this period saw the last wave of construction activity: Constantine's predecessor Maxentius built buildings such as its basilica in the Forum, Constantine himself erected the Arch of Constantine to celebrate his victory over Maxentius, and Diocletian built the greatest baths of all. Constantine was also the first patron of official Christian buildings in the city. He donated the Lateran Palace to the Pope, and built the first great basilica, the old St. Peter's Basilica.

 

Still Rome remained one of the strongholds of paganism, led by the aristocrats and senators. However, the new walls did not stop the city being sacked first by Alaric on 24 August 410, by Geiseric on 2 June 455, and even by general Ricimer's unpaid Roman troops (largely composed of barbarians) on 11 July 472. This was the first time in almost 800 years that Rome had fallen to an enemy. The previous sack of Rome had been accomplished by the Gauls under their leader Brennus in 387 BC. The sacking of 410 is seen as a major landmark in the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire. St. Jerome, living in Bethlehem at the time, wrote that "The City which had taken the whole world was itself taken." These sackings of the city astonished all the Roman world. In any case, the damage caused by the sackings may have been overestimated. The population already started to decline from the late 4th century onward, although around the middle of the fifth century it seems that Rome continued to be the most populous city of the two parts of the Empire, with a population of no fewer than 650,000 inhabitants. The decline greatly accelerated following the capture of Africa Proconsularis by the Vandals. Many inhabitants now fled as the city no longer could be supplied with grain from Africa from the mid-5th century onward.

 

At the end of the 6th century Rome's population had reduced to around 30,000. Many monuments were being destroyed by the citizens themselves, who stripped stones from closed temples and other precious buildings, and even burned statues to make lime for their personal use. In addition, most of the increasing number of churches were built in this way. For example, the first Saint Peter's Basilica was erected using spoils from the abandoned Circus of Nero. This architectural cannibalism was a constant feature of Roman life until the Renaissance. From the 4th century, imperial edicts against stripping of stones and especially marble were common, but the need for their repetition shows that they were ineffective. Sometimes new churches were created by simply taking advantage of early Pagan temples, while sometimes changing the Pagan god or hero to a corresponding Christian saint or martyr. In this way, the Temple of Romulus and Remus became the basilica of the twin saints Cosmas and Damian. Later, the Pantheon, Temple of All Gods, became the church of All Martyrs.

 

Porta San Paolo, a gate in the Aurelian Walls, built between AD 271 and AD 275. During the Gothic Wars of the mid-6th century, Rome was besieged several times by Eastern Roman and Ostrogoth armies. Ostrogoths of Totila entered through this gate in 549, because of the treason of the Isaurian garrison.

 

In 480, the last Western Roman emperor, Julius Nepos, was murdered and a Roman general of barbarian origin, Odoacer, declared allegiance to Eastern Roman emperor Zeno. Despite owing nominal allegiance to Constantinople, Odoacer and later the Ostrogoths continued, like the last emperors, to rule Italy as a virtually independent realm from Ravenna. Meanwhile, the Senate, even though long since stripped of wider powers, continued to administer Rome itself, with the Pope usually coming from a senatorial family. This situation continued until Theodahad murdered Amalasuntha, a pro-imperial Gothic queen, and usurped the power in 535. The Eastern Roman emperor, Justinian I (reigned 527–565), used this as a pretext to send forces to Italy under his famed general Belisarius, recapturing the city next year, on 9 December AD 536. In 537–538, the Eastern Romans successfully defended the city in a year-long siege against the Ostrogothic army, and eventually took Ravenna, too.

 

Gothic resistance revived however, and on 17 December 546, the Ostrogoths under Totila recaptured and sacked Rome. Belisarius soon recovered the city, but the Ostrogoths retook it in 549. Belisarius was replaced by Narses, who captured Rome from the Ostrogoths for good in 552, ending the so-called Gothic Wars which had devastated much of Italy. The continual war around Rome in the 530s and 540s left it in a state of total disrepair – near-abandoned and desolate with much of its lower-lying parts turned into unhealthy marshes as the drainage systems were neglected and the Tiber's embankments fell into disrepair in the course of the latter half of the 6th century. Here, malaria developed. The aqueducts, except for one, were not repaired. The population, without imports of grain and oil from Sicily, shrank to less than 50,000 concentrated near the Tiber and around the Campus Martius, abandoning those districts without water supply. There is a legend, significant though untrue, that there was a moment where no one remained living in Rome.

 

Justinian I provided grants for the maintenance of public buildings, aqueducts and bridges—though, being mostly drawn from an Italy dramatically impoverished by the recent wars, these were not always sufficient. He also styled himself the patron of its remaining scholars, orators, physicians and lawyers in the stated hope that eventually more youths would seek a better education. After the wars, the Senate was theoretically restored, but under the supervision of the urban prefect and other officials appointed by, and responsible to, the Eastern Roman authorities in Ravenna.

 

However, the Pope was now one of the leading religious figures in the entire Byzantine Roman Empire and effectively more powerful locally than either the remaining senators or local Eastern Roman (Byzantine) officials. In practice, local power in Rome devolved to the Pope and, over the next few decades, both much of the remaining possessions of the senatorial aristocracy and the local Byzantine Roman administration in Rome were absorbed by the Church.

 

The reign of Justinian's nephew and successor Justin II (reigned 565–578) was marked from the Italian point of view by the invasion of the Lombards under Alboin (568). In capturing the regions of Benevento, Lombardy, Piedmont, Spoleto and Tuscany, the invaders effectively restricted Imperial authority to small islands of land surrounding a number of coastal cities, including Ravenna, Naples, Rome and the area of the future Venice. The one inland city continuing under Eastern Roman control was Perugia, which provided a repeatedly threatened overland link between Rome and Ravenna. In 578 and again in 580, the Senate, in some of its last recorded acts, had to ask for the support of Tiberius II Constantine (reigned 578–582) against the approaching Dukes, Faroald I of Spoleto and Zotto of Benevento.

 

Maurice (reigned 582–602) added a new factor in the continuing conflict by creating an alliance with Childebert II of Austrasia (reigned 575–595). The armies of the Frankish King invaded the Lombard territories in 584, 585, 588 and 590. Rome had suffered badly from a disastrous flood of the Tiber in 589, followed by a plague in 590. The latter is notable for the legend of the angel seen, while the newly elected Pope Gregory I (term 590–604) was passing in procession by Hadrian's Tomb, to hover over the building and to sheathe his flaming sword as a sign that the pestilence was about to cease. The city was safe from capture at least.

 

Agilulf, however, the new Lombard King (reigned 591 to c. 616), managed to secure peace with Childebert, reorganised his territories and resumed activities against both Naples and Rome by 592. With the Emperor preoccupied with wars in the eastern borders and the various succeeding Exarchs unable to secure Rome from invasion, Gregory took personal initiative in starting negotiations for a peace treaty. This was completed in the autumn of 598—later recognised by Maurice—lasting until the end of his reign.

 

The position of the Bishop of Rome was further strengthened under the usurper Phocas (reigned 602–610). Phocas recognised his primacy over that of the Patriarch of Constantinople and even decreed Pope Boniface III (607) to be "the head of all the Churches". Phocas's reign saw the erection of the last imperial monument in the Roman Forum, the column bearing his name. He also gave the Pope the Pantheon, at the time closed for centuries, and thus probably saved it from destruction.

 

During the 7th century, an influx of both Byzantine Roman officials and churchmen from elsewhere in the empire made both the local lay aristocracy and Church leadership largely Greek speaking. The population of Rome, a magnet for pilgrims, may have increased to 90,000. Eleven of thirteen popes between 678 and 752 were of Greek or Syrian descent. However, the strong Byzantine Roman cultural influence did not always lead to political harmony between Rome and Constantinople. In the controversy over Monothelitism, popes found themselves under severe pressure (sometimes amounting to physical force) when they failed to keep in step with Constantinople's shifting theological positions. In 653, Pope Martin I was deported to Constantinople and, after a show trial, exiled to the Crimea, where he died.

 

Then, in 663, Rome had its first imperial visit for two centuries, by Constans II—its worst disaster since the Gothic Wars when the Emperor proceeded to strip Rome of metal, including that from buildings and statues, to provide armament materials for use against the Saracens. However, for the next half century, despite further tensions, Rome and the Papacy continued to prefer continued Byzantine Roman rule: in part because the alternative was Lombard rule, and in part because Rome's food was largely coming from Papal estates elsewhere in the Empire, particularly Sicily.

 

Rome Timeline

772The Lombards briefly conquer Rome but Charlemagne liberates the city a year later.

800Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter's Basilica.

846The Saracens sack St. Peter.

852Building of the Leonine Walls.

962Otto I crowned Emperor by Pope John XII

1000Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester II.

1084The Normans sack Rome.

1144Creation of the commune of Rome.

1300First Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII.

1303Foundation of the Roman University.

1309Pope Clement V moves the Holy Seat to Avignon.

1347Cola di Rienzo proclaims himself tribune.

1377Pope Gregory XI moves the Holy Seat back to Rome.

Break with Constantinople and formation of the Papal States

Further information: Duchy of Rome and Papal States

In 727, Pope Gregory II refused to accept the decrees of Emperor Leo III, which promoted the Emperor's iconoclasm. Leo reacted first by trying in vain to abduct the Pontiff, and then by sending a force of Ravennate troops under the command of the Exarch Paulus, but they were pushed back by the Lombards of Tuscia and Benevento. Byzantine general Eutychius sent west by the Emperor successfully captured Rome and restored it as a part of the empire in 728.

 

On 1 November 731, a council was called in St. Peter's by Gregory III to excommunicate the iconoclasts. The Emperor responded by confiscating large Papal estates in Sicily and Calabria and transferring areas previously ecclesiastically under the Pope to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Despite the tensions Gregory III never discontinued his support to the imperial efforts against external threats.

 

In this period the Lombard kingdom revived under the leadership of King Liutprand. In 730, he razed the countryside of Rome to punish the Pope, who had supported Duke Transamund II of Spoleto. Though still protected by his massive walls, the Pope could do little against the Lombard king, who managed to ally himself with the Byzantines. Other protectors were now needed. Gregory III was the first Pope to ask for concrete help from the Frankish Kingdom, then under the command of Charles Martel (739).

 

Liutprand's successor Aistulf was even more aggressive. He conquered Ferrara and Ravenna, ending the Exarchate of Ravenna. Rome seemed his next victim. In 754, Pope Stephen II went to France to name Pippin the Younger, king of the Franks, as patricius Romanorum, i.e. protector of Rome. In the August of that year the King and Pope together crossed back the Alps and defeated Aistulf at Pavia. When Pippin went back to St. Denis however, Aistulf did not keep his promises, and in 756 besieged Rome for 56 days. The Lombards returned north when they heard news of Pippin again moving to Italy. This time he agreed to give the Pope the promised territories, and the Papal States were born.

 

In 771 the new King of the Lombards, Desiderius, devised a plot to conquer Rome and seize Pope Stephen III during a feigned pilgrimage within its walls. His main ally was one Paulus Afiarta, chief of the Lombard party within the city. He conquered Rome in 772 but angered Charlemagne. However the plan failed, and Stephen's successor, Pope Hadrian I called Charlemagne against Desiderius, who was finally defeated in 773. The Lombard Kingdom was no more, and now Rome entered into the orbit of a new, greater political institution.

 

Numerous remains from this period, along with a museum devoted to Medieval Rome, can be seen at Crypta Balbi in Rome.

 

On 25 April 799 the new Pope, Leo III, led the traditional procession from the Lateran to the Church of San Lorenzo in Lucina along the Via Flaminia (now Via del Corso). Two nobles (followers of his predecessor Hadrian) who disliked the weakness of the Pope with regards to Charlemagne, attacked the processional train and delivered a life-threatening wound to the Pope. Leo fled to the King of the Franks, and in November, 800, the King entered Rome with a strong army and a number of French bishops. He declared a judicial trial to decide if Leo III were to remain Pope, or if the deposers' claims had reasons to be upheld. This trial, however, was only a part of a well thought out chain of events which ultimately surprised the world. The Pope was declared legitimate and the attempters subsequently exiled. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor in St. Peter's Basilica.

 

This act forever severed the loyalty of Rome from its imperial progenitor, Constantinople. It created instead a rival empire which, after a long series of conquests by Charlemagne, now encompassed most of the Christian Western territories.

 

Following the death of Charlemagne, the lack of a figure with equal prestige led the new institution into disagreement. At the same time the universal church of Rome had to face emergence of the lay interests of the City itself, spurred on by the conviction that the Roman people, though impoverished and abased, had again the right to elect the Western Emperor. The famous counterfeit document called the Donation of Constantine, prepared by the Papal notaries, guaranteed to the Pope a dominion stretching from Ravenna to Gaeta. This nominally included the suzerainty over Rome, but this was often highly disputed, and as the centuries passed, only the strongest Popes were to be able to assert it. The main element of weakness of the Papacy within the walls of the city was the continued necessity of the election of new popes, in which the emerging noble families soon managed to insert a leading role for themselves. The neighbouring powers, namely the Duchy of Spoleto and Toscana, and later the Emperors, learned how to take their own advantage of this internal weakness, playing the role of arbiters among the contestants.

 

Rome was indeed prey of anarchy in this age. The lowest point was touched in 897, when a raging crowd exhumed the corpse of a dead pope, Formosus, and put it on trial.

 

From 1048 to 1257, the papacy experienced increasing conflict with the leaders and churches of the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The latter culminated in the East-West Schism, dividing the Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church. From 1257 to 1377, the pope, though the bishop of Rome, resided in Viterbo, Orvieto, and Perugia, and then Avignon. The return of the popes to Rome after the Avignon Papacy was followed by the Western Schism: the division of the western church between two, and for a time three, competing papal claimants.

 

In this period the renovated Church was again attracting pilgrims and prelates from all the Christian world, and money with them: even with a population of only 30,000, Rome was again becoming a city of consumers dependent upon the presence of a governmental bureaucracy. In the meantime, Italian cities were acquiring increasing autonomy, mainly led by new families which were replacing the old aristocracy with a new class formed by entrepreneurs, traders and merchants. After the sack of Rome by the Normans in 1084, the rebuilding of the city was supported by powerful families such as the Frangipane family and the Pierleoni family, whose wealth came from commerce and banking rather than landholdings. Inspired by neighbouring cities like Tivoli and Viterbo, Rome's people began to consider adopting a communal status and gaining a substantial amount of freedom from papal authority.

 

Led by Giordano Pierleoni, the Romans rebelled against the aristocracy and Church rule in 1143. The Senate and the Roman Republic, the Commune of Rome, were born again. Through the inflammatory words of preacher Arnaldo da Brescia, an idealistic, fierce opponent of ecclesiastical property and church interference in temporal affairs, the revolt that led to the creation of the Commune of Rome continued until it was put down in 1155, though it left its mark on the civil government of the Eternal City for centuries. 12th-century Rome, however, had little in common with the empire which had ruled over the Mediterranean some 700 years before, and soon the new Senate had to work hard to survive, choosing an ambiguous policy of shifting its support from the Pope to the Holy Roman Empire and vice versa as the political situation required. At Monteporzio, in 1167, during one of these shifts, in the war with Tusculum, Roman troops were defeated by the imperial forces of Frederick Barbarossa. Luckily, the winning enemies were soon dispersed by a plague and Rome was saved.

 

In 1188 the new communal government was finally recognised by Pope Clement III. The Pope had to make large cash payments to the communal officials, while the 56 senators became papal vassals. The Senate always had problems in the accomplishment of its function, and various changes were tried. Often a single Senator was in charge. This sometimes led to tyrannies, which did not help the stability of the newborn organism.

 

In 1204 the streets of Rome were again in flames when the struggle between Pope Innocent III's family and its rivals, the powerful Orsini family, led to riots in the city. Many ancient buildings were then destroyed by machines used by the rival bands to besiege their enemies in the innumerable towers and strongholds which were a hallmark of the Middle Age Italian towns.

 

The struggle between the Popes and the emperor Frederick II, also king of Naples and Sicily, saw Rome support the Ghibellines. To repay his loyalty, Frederick sent to the commune the Carroccio he had won from the Lombards at the battle of Cortenuova in 1234, and which was exposed in the Campidoglio.

 

In that year, during another revolt against the Pope, the Romans headed by senator Luca Savelli sacked the Lateran. Savelli was the father of Honorius IV, but in that age family ties often did not determine one's allegiance.

 

Rome was never to evolve into an autonomous, stable reign, as happened to other communes like Florence, Siena or Milan. The endless struggles between noble families (Savelli, Orsini, Colonna, Annibaldi), the ambiguous position of the Popes, the haughtiness of a population which never abandoned the dreams of their splendid past but, at the same time, thought only of immediate advantage, and the weakness of the republican institutions always deprived the city of this possibility.

 

In an attempt to imitate more successful communes, in 1252 the people elected a foreign Senator, the Bolognese Brancaleone degli Andalò. In order to bring peace in the city he suppressed the most powerful nobles (destroying some 140 towers), reorganised the working classes and issued a code of laws inspired by those of northern Italy. Brancaleone was a tough figure, but died in 1258 with almost nothing of his reforms turned into reality. Five years later Charles I of Anjou, then king of Naples, was elected Senator. He entered the city only in 1265, but soon his presence was needed to face Conradin, the Hohenstaufen's heir who was coming to claim his family's rights over southern Italy, and left the city. After June 1265 Rome was again a democratic republic, electing Henry of Castile as senator. But Conradin and the Ghibelline party were crushed in the Battle of Tagliacozzo (1268), and therefore Rome fell again in the hands of Charles.

 

Nicholas III, a member of Orsini family, was elected in 1277 and moved the seat of the Popes from the Lateran to the more defensible Vatican. He also ordered that no foreigner could become senator of Rome. Being a Roman himself, he had himself elected senator by the people. With this move, the city began again to side for the papal party. In 1285 Charles was again Senator, but the Sicilian Vespers reduced his charisma, and the city was thenceforth free from his authority. The next senator was again a Roman, and again a pope, Honorius IV of the Savelli.

 

The successor to Celestine V was a Roman of the Caetani family, Boniface VIII. Entangled in a local feud against the traditional rivals of his family, the Colonna, at the same time he struggled to assure the universal supremacy of the Holy See. In 1300 he launched the first Jubilee and in 1303 founded the first University of Rome. The Jubilee was an important move for Rome, as it further increased its international prestige and, most of all, the city's economy was boosted by the flow of pilgrims. Boniface died in 1303 after the humiliation of the Schiaffo di Anagni ("Slap of Anagni"), which signalled instead the rule of the King of France over the Papacy and marked another period of decline for Rome.

 

Boniface's successor, Clement V, never entered the city, starting the so-called "Avignon captivity", the absence of the Popes from their Roman seat in favour of Avignon, which would last for more than 70 years. This situation brought the independence of the local powers, but these were revealed to be largely unstable; and the lack of the holy revenues caused a deep decay of Rome. For more than a century Rome had no new major buildings. Furthermore, many of the monuments of the city, including the main churches, began to fall into ruin.

 

Cola di Rienzo stormed the Capitoline Hill in 1347 to create a new Roman Republic. Though short-lived, his attempt is recorded by a 19th-century statue near the ramped Cordonata leading to Michelangelo's Piazza del Campidoglio.

In spite of its decline and the absence of the Pope, Rome had not lost its spiritual prestige: in 1341 the famous poet Petrarca came to the city to be crowned as Poet laureate in Capitoline Hill. Noblemen and poor people at one time demanded with one voice the return of the Pope. Among the many ambassadors that in this period took their way to Avignon, emerged the bizarre but eloquent figure of Cola di Rienzo. As his personal power among the people increased by time, on 20 May 1347 he conquered the Capitoline at the head of an enthusiastic crowd. The period of his power, though very short-lived, aspired to the prestige of Ancient Rome. Now in possession of dictatorial powers, he took the title of "tribune", referring to the pleb's magistracy of the Roman Republic. Cola also considered himself at an equal status of that of the Holy Roman Emperor. On 1 August, he conferred Roman citizenship on all the Italian cities, and even prepared for the election of a Roman emperor of Italy. It was too much: the Pope denounced him as heretic, criminal and pagan, the populace had begun to be disenchanted with him, while the nobles had always hated him. On 15 December, he was forced to flee.

 

In August 1354, Cola was again a protagonist, when Cardinal Gil Alvarez De Albornoz entrusted him with the role of "senator of Rome" in his programme of reassuring the Pope's rule in the Papal States. In October the tyrannical Cola, who had become again very unpopular for his delirious behaviour and heavy bills, was killed in a riot provoked by the powerful family of the Colonna. In April 1355, Charles IV of Bohemia entered the city for the ritual coronation as Emperor. His visit was very disappointing for the citizens. He had little money, received the crown not from the Pope but from a Cardinal, and moved away after a few days.

 

With the emperor back in his lands, Albornoz could regain a certain control over the city, while remaining in his safe citadel in Montefiascone, in the Northern Lazio. The senators were chosen directly by the Pope from several cities of Italy, but the city was in fact independent. The Senate council included six judges, five notaries, six marshals, several familiars, twenty knights and twenty armed men. Albornoz had heavily suppressed the traditional aristocratic families, and the "democratic" party felt confident enough to start an aggressive policy. In 1362 Rome declared war on Velletri. This move, however, provoked a civil war. The countryside party hired a condottieri band called "Del Cappello" ("Hat"), while the Romans bought the services of German and Hungarian troops, plus a citizen levy of 600 knights and even 22,000 infantry. This was the period in which condottieri bands were active in Italy. Many of the Savelli, Orsini and Annibaldi expelled from Rome became leaders of such military units. The war with Velletri languished, and Rome again gave itself to the new Pope, Urban V, provided Albornoz did not enter the walls.

 

On 16 October 1367, in reply to the prayers of St Brigid and Petrarca, Urban finally visited for the city. During his presence, Charles IV was again crowned in the city (October 1368). In addition, the Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus came in Rome to beg for a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, but in vain. However, Urban did not like the unhealthy air of the city, and on 5 September 1370 he sailed again to Avignon. His successor, Gregory XI, officially set the date of his return to Rome at May 1372, but again the French cardinals and the King stopped him.

 

Only on 17 January 1377, Gregory XI could finally reinstate the Holy See in Rome.

 

The incoherent behaviour of his successor, the Italian Urban VI, provoked in 1378 the Western Schism, which impeded any true attempt of improving the conditions of the decaying Rome. The 14th century, with the absence of the popes during the Avignon Papacy, had been a century of neglect and misery for the city of Rome, which dropped to its lowest level of population. With the return of the papacy to Rome repeatedly postponed because of the bad conditions of the city and the lack of control and security, it was first necessary to strengthen the political and doctrinal aspects of the pontiff.

 

When in 1377 Gregory XI was in fact returned to Rome, he found a city in anarchy because of the struggles between the nobility and the popular faction, and in which his power was now more formal than real. There followed four decades of instability, characterised by the local power struggle between the commune and the papacy, and internationally by the great Western Schism, at the end of which was elected Pope, Martin V. He restored order, laying the foundations of its rebirth.

 

In 1433 the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti signed a peace treaty with Florence and Venice. He then sent the condottieri Niccolò Fortebraccio and Francesco Sforza to harass the Papal States, in vengeance for Eugene IV's support to the two former republics.

 

Fortebraccio, supported by the Colonna, occupied Tivoli in October 1433 and ravaged Rome's countryside. Despite the concessions made by Eugene to the Visconti, the Milanese soldiers did not stop their destruction. This led the Romans, on 29 May 1434 to institute a Republican government under the Banderesi. Eugene left the city a few days later, during the night of 4 June.

 

However, the Banderesi proved incapable of governing the city, and their inadequacies and violence soon deprived them of popular support. The city was therefore returned to Eugene by the army of Giovanni Vitelleschi on 26 October 1434. After the death in mysterious circumstances of Vitelleschi, the city came under the control of Ludovico Scarampo, Patriarch of Aquileia. Eugene returned to Rome on 28 September 1443.

 

The latter half of the 15th century saw the seat of the Italian Renaissance move to Rome from Florence. The Papacy wanted to surpass the grandeur of other Italian cities. To this end the popes created increasingly extravagant churches, bridges, town squares and public spaces, including a new Saint Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, Ponte Sisto (the first bridge to be built across the Tiber since antiquity), and Piazza Navona. The Popes were also patrons of the arts engaging such artists as Michelangelo, Perugino, Raphael, Ghirlandaio, Luca Signorelli, Botticelli, and Cosimo Rosselli.

 

Under Pope Nicholas V, who became Pontiff on 19 March 1447, the Renaissance can be said to have begun in Rome, heralding a period in which the city became the centre of Humanism. He was the first Pope to embellish the Roman court with scholars and artists, including Lorenzo Valla and Vespasiano da Bisticci.

 

On 4 September 1449 Nicholas proclaimed a Jubilee for the following year, which saw a great influx of pilgrims from all Europe. The crowd was so large that in December, on Ponte Sant'Angelo, some 200 people died, crushed underfoot or drowned in the River Tiber. Later that year the Plague reappeared in the city, and Nicholas fled.

 

However Nicholas brought stability to the temporal power of the Papacy, a power in which the Emperor was to have no part at all. In this way, the coronation and the marriage of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor on 16 March 1452, was more a civil ceremony. The Papacy now controlled Rome with a strong hand. A plot by Stefano Porcari, whose aim was the restoration of the Republic, was ruthlessly suppressed in January 1453. Porcari was hanged together with the other plotters, Francesco Gabadeo, Pietro de Monterotondo, Battista Sciarra and Angiolo Ronconi, but the Pope gained a treacherous reputation, as when the execution was beginning he was too drunk to confirm the grace he had previously given to Sciarra and Ronconi.

 

Nicholas was also actively involved in Rome's urban renewal, in collaboration with Leon Battista Alberti, including the construction of a new St Peter's Basilica.

 

Nicholas' successor Calixtus III neglected Nicholas's cultural policies, instead devoting himself to his greatest passion, his nephews. The Tuscan Pius II, who took the reins after his death in 1458, was a great Humanist, but did little for Rome. During his reign Lorenzo Valla demonstrated that the Donation of Constantine was a forgery. Pius was the first Pope to use guns, in campaign against the rebel barons Savelli in the neighbourhood of Rome, in 1461. One year later the bringing to Rome of the head of the Apostle St. Andrew produced a great number of pilgrims. The reign of Pope Paul II (1464–1471) was notable only for the reintroduction of the Carnival, which was to become a very popular feast in Rome in the following centuries. In the same year (1468) a plot against the Pope was uncovered, organised by the intellectuals of the Roman Academy founded by Pomponio Leto. The conspirators were sent to Castel Sant'Angelo.

 

More important by far was the Pontificate of Sixtus IV, considered the first Pope-King of Rome. In order to favour his relative Girolamo Riario, he promoted the unsuccessful Congiura dei Pazzi against the Medici of Florence (26 April 1478) and in Rome fought the Colonna and the Orsini. The personal politics of intrigue and war required much money, but in spite of this Sixtus was a true patron of art in the manner of Nicholas V. He reopened the Academy and reorganised the Collegio degli Abbreviatori, and in 1471 began the construction of the Vatican Library, whose first curator was Platina. The Library was officially founded on 15 Jun

**Include watermark in all uses of this photo

I just received recently an AF-Nikkor 1:2 f=35mm lens to complete a small kit around my Nikon F4 year 1989 (see below for details). The kit is now includes 3 very classical AF-Nikkor lenses of the same period of the Nikon F4 camera body, including the standard 1.4/50mm, the 1.8/85mm and now the 2/35mm. The choice of fixed-focal lenses instead of zooms was already in 1989 a bit old-fashioned. However many photographers preferred still the homogenous rendering of a photo series done with a single focal lens. Generally speaking, a 35mm focal is a charming moderate wide-angle, very easy to use and particularly adapted for architectural and street-photography.

 

The AF-Nikkor 1:2 f=35mm is not a rare lens. However, when looking on eBay there was not tens of them available. I bought a good one form a Belgian seller at a normal price (180€). The lens is in very good mechanical and optical condition and came with the rear and front caps. I sourced the dedicated Nikon HN-3 shade hood separately for 10€ but here I preferred (only for the look!) to use a rectangular Minolta D54KC designed for the MC-Rokkor 1:2.8 f=35mm.

 

For testing the lens, I loaded my Nikon F4 with a Rollei RPX 400 which is the former formula of the Agfa APX 400. The film cartridge is DX-coded and I did not modify the nominal DX-coded 400 ISO sensitivity.

The AF Nikkor lens 1:2 f=35mm was equipped for the whole session with a generic 52mm screw-on yellow filter. The light metering was done through tteh lens (TTL) either in the matrix or the spot metering of the Nikon F4 used in the "A" aperture-priority auto mode or the manual mode. The weather was very clear and a bit cold (-1°C outside).

 

La Part-Dieu***, January 12, 2024

69003 Lyon

France

 

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***(Wiki) La Part-Dieu (French: [la paʁdjø]) is a quarter in the 3rd arrondissement of Lyon, France. It is the second-largest tertiary district in France, after La Défense in Paris. The area also contains Lyon's primary railway station, Lyon-Part-Dieu.

 

This urban centre also provides major entertainment and cultural facilities, including one of the largest urban shopping malls in Europe, 800 shops, Paul Bocuse indoor food market, café terraces, the Auditorium concert hall, Bourse du Travail theatre, Municipal Library, Departmental Archives and Fort Montluc. It contains several High-rise buildings, including the Tour Incity (202 m (663 ft)), the Tour To-Lyon (171 m (561 ft)) and the Tour Part-Dieu (164 m (538 ft)).

 

The central business district is currently undergoing major renovation and construction works, according to a revitalization project totalling €2.5 billion between public and private investments.

 

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I did not use my Nikon SB-26 flashlight for any views in this session. After completion the film was rewound and processed using 350 mL of Adox Adonal (Agfa Rodinal) developer prepared at the dilution 1+25 for 12min at 20°C.

 

Digitizing was made using a Sony A7 camera (ILCE-7, 24MP) held on a Minolta Auto Bellows with the Minolta slide duplication accessory and Minolta Macro Bellow lens 1:3.5 f=50mm. The light source was a LED panel CineStill Cine-lite.

 

The RAW files obtained were inverted within the latest version available of Adobe Lightroom Classic (version 14.1.1) and edited to the final jpeg pictures without intermediate file. They are presented either as printer files with a frame or the full size JPEG's together with some documentary smartphone color pictures.

 

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About the camera :

 

Maybe it would have been better not to ask for this question: « what’s new do you have at the moment?» to my local photo store, because Christine grab underneath the counter, stating « I have that … » . What a beast ! A Nikon F4 in the exact state of the Nikon brochure year 1990, presented with the standard AF Nikkor 1:1.4 f=50mm. I was already hooked by the machine. After two days, I decided to buy it even with some little common issues found on early Nikon F4 (see below), fortunately not affecting the whole, numberous functions of this incredibly complex professional SLR of the year 1990’s.

 

Nikon F4 came to the market on September 1988 starting with the serial number 2.000.000. Fully manufactured in Japan (modules came from 3 different Nikon factories) the F4's were assembled in Mito, Ibaraki (North to Tokyo) Nikon plant (no more in the mother factory of Tokyo Oi like the Nikon’s F). When I lived in Tokyo in 1990-1991, Nikon F4 was the top-of-the-line of Nikon SLR camera’s. I saw it in particular in Shinjuku Bic Camera store when I bought there, in December 1990 my Nikonos V.

 

Nikon F4 incorporates many astonishing engineering features as the double vertical-travel curtain shutter capable of the 1/8000s. Compared to the Nikon F3, the F4 was an AF SLR operated by a CCD sensor (200 photo sites). The film is automatically loaded, advanced with to top speed of 5,7 frame/s !! With the MB-21 power grip (F4s version). The F4 is a very heavy camera (1.7kg with the AF Nikkor 1.4/50mm), incredibly tough and well constructed. This exemplary is devoid of any scratches or marks, and in a condition proving that it was not used for hard professional appliances, for those it was however intended. The camera has still it original Nikon neck strap, the original user manual in French. The lens is protected by a Cokin (Franc) Skylight 1A 52mm filter and the original Nikon front cap. The two small LCD displays (one on the F4 body, one in the DP-20 finder) are both affected by the classical syndrome of « bleeding ». Fortunately, all information could still be read. One says that 70% of the early Nikon F4 suffer from this problem but also found on other models.

 

According its serial number and the production rate of about 5000 units/month, this Nikon F4s was probably manufactured in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan in May 1989.

The camera was exported abroad thereafter attested by the presence of the golden oval little sticker("Passed" on the DP-20 viewfinder. In order to certify the quality production, two Japanese organizations, the Japan Camera Industry Institute (JCII) and the Japan Machinery Design Center (JMDC), joined forces to verify and mark the conformity of products for the foreign market. This is how, between the 1950s and 1980s, this famous little gold sticker was affixed, with the legendary "Passed", meaning that the device had been checked. Finally, when we say that the device had been checked, the production line had been checked because each device could not be checked individually.

 

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About the flash :

 

I received from a German seller for 50€ this Nikon Speedlight electronic flash SB-26 that was, at the time of Nikon F4, the most powerful dedicated Nikon flash (Guide Number 36 at full power and 100 ISO).

 

The SB-26 communicates with the Nikon F4 body (and many other Nikon camera's) and can be operated in many different modes including TTL real-time metering with automatic equilibration of the ambient light using the 5-zone matrix metering done by the DP-20 photometric viewer as well in the center-weighted mode. Other possibilities include the normal TTL mode, an Auto mode using the own sensor of the flash and a manual mode with 7 power levels.

 

The flash head can cover the optical field from super-wide angle lenses 18-20mm, wide-angle lenses 28mm and 35mm, normal lenses 50mm, and long-focal lenses at 70mm and 85mm. The head can be rotated according two axis for indirect lightening. In addition, the SB-26 has a special focusing aid for the Nikon F4 autofocus system, projecting in the the darkness a red focusing image. SB-23 flash can be also used as master or slave flash in a coordinated flash system.

 

The flash requires 4 AA alkaline cells for approximately 100 lights at full power and much more with energy recycling at lower power levels.

 

The gardens include some glasshouses of architectural importance, such as the Palm House and the Curvilinear Range.

The Curvilinear Range was completed in 1848 by Richard Turner, an Irish iron-founder and pioneer in the constructional use of wrought iron; it was extended in the late 1860s. This structure, and the nearby Palm House (built 1884), have been restored (using some surplus contemporary structural ironwork from Kew Gardens) and this work attracted the Europa Nostra award for excellence in conservation architecture.

Our Services Include:

 

• Perfomance exhaust, accessories, and tuning.

 

• Regular Maintenance and Diagnostic.

 

• Dyno (dynamometer) tuning.

 

• Installation of performance exhaust, Fabspeed, Quicksilver, Tubi, and Vivid Racing Parts.

 

• Restoration.

 

• PPI (pre purchase inspections).

 

• Cosmetic repairs/work including dent repair, wheel repair, paint touch ups, window tint, and 3M Clear bra installs.

 

• Race preparation, tuning, and instruction.

 

Racing:

 

Our involvement in racing allows us to provide a great service for your next outing. We provide race tuning and support, track instruction, and PCA track day inspections.

 

To schedule an appointment or discuss your needs please contact

  

Steve Ott:

steveo@driversource.com

 

Visit our website:

www.driversource.com

Santa Chiara is a religious complex in Naples, Italy, that includes the church of Santa Chiara, a monastery, tombs and an archeological museum. The basilica church of Santa Chiara faces Via Benedetto Croce, which is the easternmost leg of Via Spaccanapoli. The church facade of Santa Chiara is diagonally across from the church of Gesù Nuovo.

 

Architecture

The double monastic complex was built in 1313–1340 by Queen Sancha of Majorca and her husband King Robert of Naples, who is also buried in the complex.[1] The original church was in Gotico Angioiano style, but was decorated in the 17th century in Baroque style by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro. After the edifice was partially destroyed by a fire after the Allied bombings during World War II, it was brought back to the alleged original state by a disputed restoration, which was completed in 1953.

 

The large rectangular building is 110.5 m long inside the walls, and 33 m wide. The walls of the nave are 47.5 m tall, and the nave itself is 82 m long. There are nine lateral chapels on each side of the nave, the roofs of the chapels are vaulted, and they support the gallery that runs the length of the nave. Above the gallery are the lancet windows of the clerestory. An unusual feature of the building is that the lateral chapels are absorbed into the body of the church, giving Santa Chiara its distinctive rectangular appearance. Another unusual feature of the building is the fact that the church does not have an apse, after the lateral chapels there is a section of the church with the high altar in the centre, flanked by the rectangular friars’ choirs on either side. Behind the altar is the tomb of King Robert, behind that is a wall separating the main body of the church from the nuns' choir.[1]

 

The wall between the nave of the church and the retrochoir is penetrated by three screened grilles through which the nuns could observe the mass, while being invisible to anybody in the nave. There are also four windows in the wall which mirror the four windows on the exterior of the church. There is a large stained glass lancet window above the altar. Above this is a triangular pattern are three rose windows. At the apex of the point of the roof, above the level of the wooden beams of the ceiling is a fourth, smaller, rose window. The nuns choir is different in plan from the main body of the church, with two large piers supported by rib vaults dividing the space into three sections. Santa Chiara was the largest Clarissan church ever built and it was the first Clarissan church built where the nuns in their choir would have been able to view the performance of Mass.[1]

 

The bell tower, separated from the main edifice, was begun in 1328 but was completed only in Renaissance times.

 

Interior

 

Tomb of Robert of Anjou

Behind the main altar is the tomb of King Robert of Anjou, which was sculpted by Pacio and Giovanni Bertini in 1343.[2] In the side chapels are the tombs of the Bourbon king of Naples, Francis II and his consort Maria Sophie of Bavaria, as well as those of Queen Maria Christina of Savoy and of the national hero Salvo D'Acquisto (a carabiniere who sacrificed his life to save the lives of 22 civilian hostages during the Nazi occupation). The church was used, even before it was formally completed, to hold the relics of Saint Louis of Toulouse, elder brother of King Robert. One of these relics was the brain of St. Louis, in an ornate reliquary decorated with a crown Queen Sancha had donated in memory of her brother-in-law.[3]

 

Initially, the interior had a Gothic style, but reconstruction from 1742 to 1762 by Domenico Vaccaro, Gaetano Buonocore, and Giovanni del Gaizo, refurbished the interior in a Baroque style. The stuccoed ceiling was frescoed by a team of artists, including Francesco De Mura, Giuseppe Bonito, Sebastiano Conca, and Paolo de Maio. The floor was paved with a design by Ferdinando Fuga. Unfortunately much of the interior decoration was destroyed in the aerial bombardment of 1943.

 

On the counterfacade is the tomb of Antonio Penna, by Antonio Baboccio. In the Chapel of the Sacred Heart is the tomb of Raimondo de' Cabanni.

 

In the sixth chapel to the left, are 14th-century bas reliefs depicting the Martyrdom of the wife of Massenzio, while the seventh has a tomb of Louis, a son of Charles, Duke of Durazzo, another 14th-century work by the Florentine Pacio Bertini.

 

To the right of the presbytery is access to the Baroque sacristy with frescoes from 1692. Through the sacristy, one can reach the Choir of the Nuns. The choir houses fragments of frescoes depicting Biblical Stories by Giotto.

 

Majolica Cloister

 

Cloister

The cloister of the Clarisses is known for the unique addition of majolica tiles, added in 1742 by Domenico Antonio Vaccaro in Rococò style. The brash color floral decoration makes this cloister, with octagonal columns in pergola-like structure, likely unique and would seem to clash with the introspective world of cloistered nuns. The cloister arcades are also decorated by frescoes, now much degraded.

 

Museum

The museum houses information on the history of the church, archaeological findings and materials remaining after the fire that destroyed part of the church in 1943. It also has a collection of baroque presepi (nativity scenes).

MotoAmerica motorcycle racing at NJMP in September 2019 - Classes include EBC Superbike, Stock 1000, Supersport, Twins and the Liqui Moly Junior Cup

More from the 82nd Member's Meeting, Goodwood

Includes:

 

Mickey Rodent!

Howdy Dooit!

Includes:

( 1 ) Ascent Vaporizer

( 2 ) Glass Mouthpiece

( 2 ) Internal Glass Stems

( 2 ) Glass Oil Jars

( 1 ) Stir Stick

( 1 ) Carrying Pouch

( 3 ) Replacement Screens

( 1 ) Battery Charger

( 1 ) Instruction Manual

  

potterest.com/pin/davinci-ascent-wax-dry-herb-vaporizer-p...

Action from the Brighton Speed Trials on Madeira Drive - Arguable the World's Oldest Motor race, which began in 1905.

Khiva (Uzbek: Xiva/Хива, خىۋا; Persian: خیوه‎‎, Xīveh; Russian: Хива; alternative or historical names include Khorasam, Khoresm, Khwarezm, Khwarizm, Khwarazm, Chorezm, and Persian: خوارزم‎‎) is a city of approximately 50,000 people located in Xorazm Region, Uzbekistan. According to archaeological data, the city was established in the beginning of the Christian era.[1] It is the former capital of Khwarezmia and the Khanate of Khiva. Itchan Kala in Khiva was the first site in Uzbekistan to be inscribed in the World Heritage List (1991)

Khiva is split into two parts. The outer town, called Dichan Kala, was formerly protected by a wall with 11 gates. The inner town, or Itchan Kala, is encircled by brick walls, whose foundations are believed to have been laid in the 10th century. Present-day crenellated walls date back to the late 17th century and attain the height of 10 meters.

 

The large blue tower in the central city square was supposed to be a minaret, but the Khan died and the succeeding Khan did not complete it.

 

The old town retains more than 50 historic monuments and 250 old houses, mostly dating from the 18th or the 19th centuries. Djuma Mosque, for instance, was established in the 10th century and rebuilt in 1788-89, although its celebrated hypostyle hall still retains 112 columns taken from ancient structures.

  

Includes three tops, Floral, beige and hot pink

17.00

Action from today's Point to Point races at Parham. Challenging conditions - extremely windy, with occasional squally showers.

It was an open day at the High Salvington Windmill, with a gathering of classic cars. The ground flour used to come down these chutes in to sacks placed below.

A flypast by a Little Egret

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Documents published without copyright notice in the United States before January 1st, 1978 are in public domain in that country.[1]

 

They are also in public domain in the European Union, where the "shorter term" rule applies to foreign works, and foreign documents which are already in public domain in their home country are not further protected.[2]

 

The advertising material inserted by a company in a magazine usually does not have a copyright notice. It is sincerely believed by the Camera-wiki members who discussed this question that the copyright notice which might appear on the magazine itself, on behalf of its publisher, does not extend to the advertisements, on which the publishing company owns no right and which would be the property of the advertising company if it wanted to claim its rights.

 

[1] Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States, 1 January 2007, by Peter B. Hirtle.

 

[2] Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29 October 1993 harmonizing the term of protection of copyright and certain related rights.

 

Further reading on US copyright law: Circular 1:Copyright Basics (1.1Mb PDF) from United States Copyright office

 

PM Netanyahu gives statement welcoming the EU decision to include Hezbollah on its list of Terrorist Organizations

 

ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו נושא הצהרה לעיתונות בעקבות החלטת האיחוד האירופי בנוגע לארגון חיזבאללה

Photo by Kobi Gideon / GPO

One of a pair of new door cards, which are faithful recreations of the originals. My tatty old ones were not.

Two piece Hekman Furniture office set includes executive desk and lateral file

 

Executive Office Desk, 72 inches x 36 inches, 7 drawers (2 larger lower drawers have hardware to use as a lateral file), 3 pullout leaves for additional work area, center drawer front panel, drops down and can be used to stow a computer keyboard, cutouts on sides of desk to route various cords and cables, lockable

 

Lateral File/Credenza, 38 inches x 22 inches, 4 drawers (lower drawer has hardware to use as a lateral file), matches desk.

 

$400

 

pick up

Includes a freight door.