We spent today at Garvestone again, and by the end of the day, the location case for the new level crossing ground frame was around 95% completed. Here is the view from the rear of all of the kit.

 

The top row of miniature plug in relays are 50V circuits: track circuit relays; track repeating relays (which provide more contacts than the two in a track relay); slot relay which provides control on the up gate home from Thuxton; power off relay; and the two on the right with many wires in, are twin relays which provide the directional control, indication and annunciator feeds. At the very right hand end is a polarised relay that proves the distant signal's arm and slot off.

 

On the second row is the 110V/50V transformer/rectifier, a post office relay that drives the 'train approaching annunciator' timing and then the 50V fuses and busbar.

 

The shelf contains 12V shelf relays which are the circuits controlling the ground frame gate lock release, colour light red light signal proving and power off relays. These relays and the various signal and gate lamps are 12V so that they are battery backed, which will maintain functionality for 48 hours in the event of a power supply failure in the DNO supply.

 

Finally at the bottom are the 12V and 110V fuses and busbars, with the 240V/110V transformer and 110V/12V battery charger.

 

We just have the 12V charger to wire up and a few other minor bits to add before it is complete. We can then buzz test it all to independently prove that all of the wires run between the intended contacts and wire count each of the terminals & contacts. This will prove the installation, enabling us to add fuses and begin function and principles testing once the outside world is connected into it.

There are a couple of live circuits already, in the form of AA Track Relay and the indication back to Thuxton signalbox, and the loc heater which keeps the condensation at bay.

 

The Postcard

 

A postally unused postcard that was published by George Harris of Saffron Walden. His name is embossed on the bottom right corner of the card.

 

The two women are wearing the same style of jacket and identical pairs of shoes, so they are perhaps sisters.

 

There are no indications as to the identity of the women or the date of the photograph, although someone has used a pencil in order to write the following on the divided back of the card:

 

"Miss Palmer,

1 Audley Road

in the morning.

Mr. Harris X

1034."

 

There is in fact an Audley Road in Saffron Walden.

 

There is another photograph taken by George Harris in this photostream showing two children. The same chair, in the same orientation, features in both photographs. To see the other photograph, please search for the tag 37SAB22

 

Saffron Walden

 

Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, 12 miles (19 km) north of Bishop's Stortford, 15 miles (24 km) south of Cambridge and 43 miles (69 km) north of London.

 

It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The 2001 parish population of 14,313 had risen to 15,504 by the 2011 census.

 

History of Saffron Walden

 

After the Norman invasion of 1066, a stone church was built. Walden Castle, dating from about 1140, may have been built on pre-existing fortifications.

 

A priory, Walden Abbey, was founded under the patronage of Brendan Wood, 1st Earl of Essex in about 1136, on the site of what is now Audley End village. After the dissolution of the monasteries, Sir Thomas Audley converted its cloisters into a dwelling. Later this became the site of Audley End House.

 

The market was moved from nearby Newport to Walden during de Mandeville's tenure, increasing the town's influence. This Tuesday market was held from 1295.

 

The town’s first charter was granted in about 1300, to what was known then as Chepyng (i. e. Market) Walden. The town at that time was largely confined to the castle's outer bailey, but in the 13th. century the Repel Ditches were built to enclose a larger area to the south. The focus of the town moved southwards to Market Square.

 

The main trading item in medieval times was wool. A guildhall was built by the wool-staplers in the market place, but demolished in 1847 to make way for a corn exchange. In the 16th. and 17th. centuries the saffron crocus (Crocus sativus) was widely grown, thanks to the town's favourable soil and climate.

 

The stigmas of the flower were used in medicines, as a condiment, in perfume, as an aphrodisiac, and as an expensive yellow dye. The industry gave Walden its present name.

 

By the end of the 18th. century, saffron was no longer in demand, and the industry was replaced by malt and barley. More than 40 maltings stood in the town by the end of the century. The trade was less lucrative than saffron, but the town continued to grow through the 19th. century, and had a cattle market, corn exchange and other civic buildings.

 

During this time Quakers became economically active in the area. The influential Gibsons - one of the founding families of Barclays Bank – aided the construction of several public buildings that remain today, such as the museum and town hall.

 

Industry arrived after the Second World War. Acrows Ltd, makers of falsework, built premises to the east of the town and became a significant employer in the area. Falsework refers to temporary framework structures used to support a building during its construction.

 

Light industry was added to the south of the town at Shire Hill. As the agricultural economy continued to mechanise, the new employment opportunities were welcome and migration into the town from surrounding villages led to a major expansion of housing estates in the 1970's and 1980's.

 

Coat of Arms and Maces

 

Saffron Walden's unofficial coat of arms showed the saffron crocus within the walls of the castle in the form of an heraldic pun – as in, "Saffron walled-in". In 1961, a formal coat of arms was granted by the College of Arms, and this was adapted in 1974 into its current form.

 

The town has three ceremonial maces. The large mace was given to Saffron Walden by James II in 1685, and provides an early recording of the unofficial coat of arms. Made of silver gilt, it is approximately 4 feet (1.2 m) long.

 

Two smaller silver maces were bought by the corporation in 1549 to commemorate the granting of a new town charter by Edward VI.

 

Sites and Buildings of Interest in Saffron Walden

 

The 12th-century Walden Castle, built or expanded by Geoffrey de Mandeville, the first Earl of Essex, is in ruins. After the medieval period, the castle fell into disuse, and much of the flint was taken and used in the construction of local houses and the wall surrounding the Audley End estate. All that remains is the ruined basement.

 

Near the castle is a turf maze, a series of circular excavations cut into the turf of the common. It is the largest example of this style of maze in England, the main part being about 100 feet (30 m) in diameter. The earliest record of it dates from 1699, although its origin may be earlier. It has been extensively restored several times, most recently in 1979.

 

The oldest inhabited building in the town is believed to be the former maltings at 1 Myddleton Place. The 15th.-century building with a courtyard garden was used by the Youth Hostel Association from 1947 to 2010. It is now used for functions. Pevsner described it as: "Without doubt, the best medieval house of Saffron Walden".

 

Other notable early buildings are in Bridge Street, Castle Street and the side streets off the High Street. The High Street contains some late-Georgian and Victorian buildings.

 

Bridge End Gardens, a group of seven interlinked 19th.-century gardens – including a maze, rose garden and walled garden – were originally laid out by the Gibson family. They have been restored with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund and volunteers.

 

St Mary the Virgin, Saffron Walden is the largest parish church in Essex. The church dates mainly from the end of the 15th. century, when an old smaller church was extensively rebuilt by the master mason John Wastell, who was building King's College Chapel in the nearby city of Cambridge.

 

In 1769 the church was damaged by lightning and the repairs, carried out in the 1790's, removed many medieval features. The spire was added in 1832 to replace an older lantern tower. The church is 183 feet (56 m) long and the spire, 193 feet (59 m) high, is the tallest in Essex.

 

The town's Catholic church, Our Lady of Compassion, is on Castle Street. Created in 1906 from a 16th-century barn, it was restored in 2004-5. With a long history of non-conformism, Saffron Walden has a Baptist church and a Quaker meeting house.

 

Audley End House - once one of the largest mansions in England - is now in the care of English Heritage and open to the public. During the summer months, picnic concerts and a last night in the style of the BBC Proms have been held in the grounds. Audley End Miniature Railway - originally built by Lord Braybrooke - is a 10 1⁄4 in (260 mm) gauge railway ride through woodland adjoining Audley End House. The track is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, and opened in 1964.

 

Saffron Walden Museum, which was established in 1835 by Saffron Walden Natural History Society, is close to the town castle. The museum had many benefactors from local families, including the Gibsons, Frys and Tukes. The museum contains the stuffed remains of a lion named Wallace (1812 – 1838), said to have inspired Marriott Edgar's comic poem "The Lion and Albert".

 

The Fry Art Gallery exhibits the work of artists who had an association with Saffron Walden and north west Essex. The collection includes extensive artworks by Edward Bawden, who lived in the town during the 1970's and 1980's, and Eric Ravilious.

 

Saffron Hall, which is attached to Saffron Walden County High School, opened in 2013. The 730-seater venue came about as a result of a £10 million donation by an anonymous music- loving donor. In 2014, former head of music at the Barbican Centre Angela Dixon became its director.

 

The Anglo American playing fields, located close to Bridge End Gardens on Catons Lane, are home to the town's cricket club. They were donated to Saffron Walden by the US forces after the war. Prior to that, Saffron Walden Cricket Club played on the town's common - with a history of cricket matches recorded back to 1757. A monument at the site commemorates the American airmen and people of Saffron Walden who died in the Second World War.

 

Notable Residents of Saffron Walden

 

Notable residents, in alphabetical order, are as follows:

 

- Edward Bawden (1903–1989), artist, was resident from 1970 at 2 Park Lane Studio.

 

- Stig Blomqvist (born 1946) and his son Tom Blomqvist (born 1993), racing drivers, live in the town.

 

- Elizabeth Butchill (c. 1758–1780), hanged for infanticide, was a native of the town.

 

- Rab Butler (1902–1982), cabinet minister, was MP for Saffron Walden between 1929 and 196565, before being created Baron Butler of Saffron Walden.

 

- Jack Cardiff (1914–2009), Oscar-winning cinematographer, lived at 7a High Street.

 

- Thomas Cornell (c. 1595–1655), a Quaker who emigrated to British North America and founded the Cornell family there.

 

- Charles Dunstone (born 1964), co-founder and chairman of Carphone Warehouse and chairman of TalkTalk Group, was born in the town.

 

- James Gapes (1822–1899), born in the town, became mayor of Christchurch, New Zealand.

 

- George Stacey Gibson (1813–1893), botanist, banker and philanthropist, lived at Hill House, High Street.

 

- Gabriel Harvey (1552–1631), scholar and writer, lived at 13–17 Gold Street.

 

- Imogen Heap, singer and songwriter, was a boarder at the Friends' School.

 

- Jeff Hordley (born 1970), actor, played Cain Dingle in Emmerdale.

 

- Gordon Jacob (1895–1984), composer, was resident in 1959–1984 at 1 Audley Road. He was president of Saffron Walden and District Music Club.

 

- Ian Lavender (born 1946), actor, best known as Pike in Dad's Army, lived in the town until 2001.

 

- Stephen McGann (born 1963), actor, resides in the town.

 

- Jojo Moyes, romantic fiction author, lives nearby in Great Sampford.

 

- Clare Mulley (born 1969), biographer, lives in the town.

 

- Sarah Ockwell-Smith (born 1976), child-care author, lives in the town.

 

- Cliff Parisi (born 1960), former Eastenders actor, who played Rick "Minty" Peterson.

 

- Tom Robinson (born 1950), singer-songwriter, attended the Friends' School in 1961–67.

 

- Sir Thomas Smith (1513–1577), scholar and diplomat, was born in the town.

 

- Stan Stammers, songwriter and musician, formerly of UK Subs, grew up in the town.

 

- William Strachey (1572–1621), historian, was born in the town.

 

- Heidi Thomas (born 1962), TV and film screenwriter, lives in the town.

 

- Stuart Wardley (born 10 September 1975 in Cambridge), professional footballer.

 

- Raymond Williams (1921–1988), cultural critic, divided his time between Saffron Walden and Wales in later life.

 

- Henry Winstanley (1644–1703), creator of the first Eddystone Lighthouse, was born in nearby Littlebury and lived at 5 Museum Street.

 

- Diana Wynne Jones (1934–2011), author, attended the Friends School (1946–1952).

Traders indication: P13134.

The 4-door Amazon P120-series was designed by Jan Wilsgaard and introduced in 1956.

The 2-door P130-series coach was presented in Oct. 1961.

131 indicates a special version.

 

1986cc engine runs on LPG,

1084 kg.

Volvo P131 production: 1968-1970.

Official first admission of this car: May 22, 1968.

New Dutch license number: Autumn 1972.

 

Amsterdam-O., Oosterpark, Nov. 27, 2014.

 

© 2014 Sander Toonen Amsterdam | All Rights Reserved

The Thirty-Second Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 24 to November 26, 2014.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

The Thirtieth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 4 to November 8, 2013.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Johann Zoffani (1733-1810), active in Regensburg, London, Florence and Calcutta

Archduke Franz Joseph Karl, the later Emperor Franz II/I (1768-1835), at the age of seven, 1774/75

The white uniform with the chain of the Order of St. Stephen as well as the Golden Fleece and a small sword, are indications of the future destiny of the Archduke as Emperor. Globus, books, harness and the antique bust of the Marc Aurel point to the comprehensive enlightened education that the future ruler received in Florence. Positioned on a plateau, the young monarch is on par with the viewer.

 

Johann Zoffani (1733-1810), tätig unter anderem in Regensburg, London, Florenz und Kalkutta

Erzherzog Franz Joseph Karl, der spätere Kaiser Franz II./I. (1768-1835), im Alter von sieben Jahren, 1774/75

Die weiße Uniform mit der Kette des Stephans-Ordens wie dem Goldenen Vlies und ein kleines Schwert sind Hinweise auf die künftige Bestimmung des Erzherzogs als Kaiser. Globus, Bücher, Harnisch und die antike Büste des Marc Aurel weisen auf die umfassenden aufgeklärte Bildung hin, die der zukünftige Herrscher in Florenz erhielt. Positioniert auf einem Plateau, ist der junge Monarch auf Augenhöhe mit dem Betrachter.

 

Austria Kunsthistorisches Museum

Federal Museum

Logo KHM

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

Founded 17 October 1891

Headquartered Castle Ring (Burgring), Vienna 1, Austria

Management Sabine Haag

www.khm.at website

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

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

The museum

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

History

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery

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

Architectural History

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

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

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

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

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

Kuppelhalle

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

Grand staircase

Hall

Empire

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

189, the farm museum was organized in seven collections with three directorates:

Directorate of coins, medals and antiquities collection

The Egyptian Collection

The Antique Collection

The coins and medals collection

Management of the collection of weapons, art and industrial objects

Weapons collection

Collection of industrial art objects

Directorate of Art Gallery and Restaurieranstalt (Restoration Office)

Collection of watercolors, drawings, sketches, etc.

Restoration Office

Library

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

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

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

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

First Republic

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

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

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

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

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

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection (with the Oriental coins)

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Collection of ancient coins

Collection of modern coins and medals

Weapons collection

Collection of sculptures and crafts with the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Picture Gallery

The Museum 1938-1945

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

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

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

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

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

The museum today

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

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

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

Management

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

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

1933: Arpad Weixlgärtner first director

1934-1938: Alfred Stix first director

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

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

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

1949-1950: Hans Demel as administrative director

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

1951-1952: Fritz Eichler as administrative director

1953-1954: Ernst H. Buschbeck as administrative director

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

1967: Edward Holzmair as managing director

1968-1972: Erwin Auer first director

1973-1981: Friderike Klauner first director

1982-1990: Hermann Fillitz first director

1990: George Kugler as interim first director

1990-2008: Wilfried Seipel as general director

Since 2009: Sabine Haag as general director

Collections

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

Kunsthistorisches Museum (main building)

Picture Gallery

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Vienna Chamber of Art

Numismatic Collection

Library

New Castle

Ephesus Museum

Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Arms and Armour

Archive

Hofburg

The imperial crown in the Treasury

Imperial Treasury of Vienna

Insignia of the Austrian Hereditary Homage

Insignia of imperial Austria

Insignia of the Holy Roman Empire

Burgundian Inheritance and the Order of the Golden Fleece

Habsburg-Lorraine Household Treasure

Ecclesiastical Treasury

Schönbrunn Palace

Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna

Armory in Ambras Castle

Ambras Castle

Collections of Ambras Castle

Major exhibits

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

Jan van Eyck: Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, 1438

Martin Schongauer: Holy Family, 1475-80

Albrecht Dürer : Trinity Altar, 1509-16

Portrait Johann Kleeberger, 1526

Parmigianino: Self Portrait in Convex Mirror, 1523/24

Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Summer 1563

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

Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary (1606-1607)

Titian: Nymph and Shepherd to 1570-75

Portrait of Jacopo de Strada, 1567/68

Raffaello Santi: Madonna of the Meadow, 1505 /06

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

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

The Little Fur, about 1638

Jan Vermeer: The Art of Painting, 1665/66

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

Kids, 1560

Tower of Babel, 1563

Christ Carrying the Cross, 1564

Gloomy Day (Early Spring), 1565

Return of the Herd (Autumn), 1565

Hunters in the Snow (Winter) 1565

Bauer and bird thief, 1568

Peasant Wedding, 1568/69

Peasant Dance, 1568/69

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

Cabinet of Curiosities:

Saliera from Benvenuto Cellini 1539-1543

Egyptian-Oriental Collection:

Mastaba of Ka Ni Nisut

Collection of Classical Antiquities:

Gemma Augustea

Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

Gallery: Major exhibits

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunsthistorisches_Museum

An exhibition co-organized by WIPO and Turkey was held on the sidelines of the WIPO Assemblies, which met in Geneva from October 3 to 11, 2016.

 

The event entitled “Turkish Culture and Geographical Indications” showcased a snapshot of Turkey’s rich culture and geographical indications and was inaugurated on October 4, 2016.

 

It featured examples of Turkey’s protected geographic indications, including Afyon marble, Antep Kutnu cloth, Gaziantep mother-of-pearl inlaying and Safranbolu Turkish delight. The inauguration also featured a performance of traditional Turkish music.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Violaine Martin. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

After a bit of a wait, while the new crew got settled in it was time for 470 to continue on. Here it comes up to Roosevelt St. in Bensenville.

"Macedonian Wines" is an EU Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) for Greek wines produced in the historical region of ²Macedonia, Greece. FYROM used to violate the law for a number of years before it was finally banned from exporting its wines to EU with the designation "Macedonian". Since the end of 2013, the new PGI for the wines of FYROM is "Wines of Vardar River Valley" which is at least a reliable designation rightly associated with FYROM's actual geography and historical past as ¹Vardar Banovina.

 

However, wine labels bearing slavo-bulgarized names such as 'Alexandar' & 'Alexandria', though not illegal, they are clear examples of the "macedomania" and archaization process, let alone businesses through nationalist propaganda and vice versa, in ¹FYROM, a country factually and totally unrelated to ³Ancient Macedonia according to world's most credible academics (as for example Oxford University prof. Robin Lane Fox), the reliable sources, as well as the in-situ archeological finds.... (more references & maps in the comment window below)

 

#Μacedonia .. Macedonia Timeless Group

 

According to the Prespa Agreement, FYROM was re-named as "North Macedonia" after accepting the obvious, i.e. that the nation and the multiethnic citizens (Slavo-Bulgarians, Albanians, Serbs, Turks, Romani etc) of "North Macedonia" are totally irrelevant to the Greek culture (ancient heritage, language etc) of Macedonia, as well as the Macedonian people .

 

Therefore, a citizenship or a product of North Macedonia that is referred simply as "macedonian" without the clarification of the geographical identification "North", is against the Prespa Agreement and, if not by ignorance, it is a purposeful misuse of the name "macedonia" for preserving the very well exposed and confounded nationalistic causes and reasons of ...

the new Republic North of Macedonia ......

 

La Grande Cascade

 

Mont-Dore : Wikipedia.

 

Massif central : Wikipedia.

read this article

 

The unblocking of the web

By Matt Slater, October 2006

 

With the news that hugely popular websites such as MySpace and YouTube have finally been unblocked, it appears the shackles in internet use in Dubai have, if not come off, then at least been significantly loosened. Is this an indication the authorities are gearing up to allow less restricted access to the web than ever before? And what about the thousands of people who currently enjoy the complete freedom of the net because their connection is handled through Dubai Media City?

  

The unblocking of seemingly harmless community websites has been hailed as a victory for people power with the authorities finally being forced to give people the access they wanted. But Time Out can reveal it is actually improved web filtering programmes that have allowed access to sites such as MySpace for the first time – and as the technology continues to improve, internet access for the majority of people in Dubai is set to be less regulated than ever before.

 

However, for those who currently have censorship-free web access through the Dubai free zones, things are set to change due to a new policy being created by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

 

‘In six months’ time the landscape in terms of what people in Dubai can and cannot see on the internet will be very different,’ said Tareque Choudhury, technical officer at Secure Computing – the firm responsible for operating the internet filter for Etisalat. ‘The things that have happened with websites such as MySpace is that the actual content on the sites can now be blocked by the filter. The technology has allowed the unblocking – without it, it would not have been possible. At the moment it is not at the very advanced stage but in six months we will literally be able to scan websites and block pieces of information. That will mean greater overall access without compromising the problem of people accessing unsuitable material. Put simply, there will be no need to block an entire website just because it contains something which needs to be blocked.’

 

Etisalat confirmed it is in the middle of an ‘ongoing process of website review’ and that it will always listen to customers’ opinions on the blocking of sites. A spokesman for the company said there were no plans to unblock any other sites for the time being but said they were now in a better position to provide greater freedom on the net. ‘Etisalat will promptly investigate and unblock sites if they have been inadvertently blocked and do not fall under the guidelines of the proxy. Members of the public can be assured of a quick response on such issues,’ he added.

 

The vast majority of communities close to Dubai’s Media City, such as The Greens, The Springs and Dubai Marina, currently have unrestricted access to the web. That is because they go through Media City where there is no blocking of websites – something that businesses there, and in nearby areas such as Internet City, say is essential. However, for the thousands of people who can presently use the internet with total freedom the situation could be about to change.

 

Du, the UAE’s new telecommunications firm, now handles these accounts and they will have to fall in line with a new internet policy being designed by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). ‘I cannot reveal details of what is in the document but Du will have to adhere to the new internet policy,’ said TRA technical manager Mohammed Gheyath. ‘It will change the situation but at this stage nobody can say how because things have to be approved on what is, essentially, a legal document. This is ongoing and discussions are still taking place on when and how it will be implemented. It would be wrong to come to any conclusions. People will have to wait for the decision to emerge but it is clear there has to be a correct policy regarding accessing the internet.’

 

Time Out asked Du whether it would like to see the current approach of unrestricted internet access for customers to remain in place. The company said that, at the moment, it was not willing to enter into a discussion about web restrictions and sent a statement which said, ‘This is not something that can be decided by us or indeed any operator in the UAE, the levels of content are decided thorough a policy set by a telecom regulatory authority in this country.’

 

One of the key issues regarding internet freedom in Dubai is the need to maintain a balance between giving businesses what they need while not allowing inappropriate material to be easily viewed. ‘A very important part of coming up with a solution is to make sure that if business people need to look at parts of the internet, they can do so,’ says Mohammed Gheyath. ‘That is a big part of what will eventually happen with the internet policy. Home customers are different and so the way it works in the future will be different.’

 

Etisalat is encouraging anyone who feels a website should be unblocked to contact them using the feedback form on their website www.etisalat.ae. You can also email at help@etisalat.ae or call 800 6100.

 

What is Du?

The way we use the internet in the UAE may be about to change dramatically – and new telecommunications firm Du will play a major part in these changes. The company was launched as a genuine rival to Etisalat amid great fanfare, with claims being made that the technologies available to the public would be better than ever before and hopes were high that competition would result in lower prices.

 

Du CEO Osman Sultan was vocal in expressing his belief that better broadband services were what internet users in Dubai and the rest of the UAE wanted. However, despite now having taken over the internet customer base in the Dubai free zones, no details are available about anything that Du will do differently, either now or in the future. When Time Out contacted the company it said that for several unspecified reasons at the present time they would be making no comment on any customer-related questions.

 

Du hinted that this situation was very likely to change in the next three to four weeks but all official enquiries were met with a ‘no comment’. When it was announced that Du had been granted a licence to launch as the second telecommunications provider it was revealed they would be able to go head-to-head with Etisalat in the mobile phone market.

 

Customers would be able to switch to Du from Etisalat and keep the same number, albeit with a different prefix and Osman Sultan said packages catered to individual needs would be created. Despite these claims there are still no concrete details or launch dates for when Du mobile phone services will be available.

 

Why the fuss over...

 

• MySpace

Tom Anderson has more friends than you. In fact, he counts well over 100 million people as his friends. MySpace is primarily a social networking site on which you can become ‘friends’ with people who share your buddies, have similar interests, or simply live in your area, and as president of MySpace, Tom Anderson automatically becomes friends with everybody who signs up. Three years on from launching in the summer of 2003, his site has become the world’s fourth most-popular English language website, has been purchased by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation for US$580m, and has helped launch numerous bands, created a new breed of online celebrities, and helped people find dates – almost certainly the reason why Etisalat banned the site in the first place. www.myspace.com

 

• YouTube

Fancy rewatching your favourite ever music videos, the best goals ever scored, or simply want to post a video message of yourself so friends and family around the world can view it? The appeal of YouTube is obvious. Just about anything filmable – as long as it isn’t of an adult nature – can be found on the site, making it a brilliant communication tool, a resource for learning, and an opportunity for wannabe Scorseses to get their short films viewed by a worldwide audience. It’s simple to use, hopelessly addictive, and packed with long-forgotten televisual memories. Although YouTube only debuted in late 2005, it’s already been valued at around US$700m and 100 million videos are viewed on the site every day. www.youtube.com

 

• Flickr

Flickr is the world’s biggest photo sharing website. It allows registered users to upload their digital photographs, tag them according to subject matter (so that other users can locate them by browsing), and share them with friends. It also gives anybody with a camera the opportunity to build up a portfolio and show off their work. Before Etisalat’s original banning of Flickr, Dubaians were particularly active on the site, leading to several galleries of photos dedicated to all things UAE. Now the site is up and running again, we’re free to start up online photo albums, but parts of the site are still blocked – a look for ‘sex’, for example, in Flickr’s search field gets you the famous ‘Site Blocked’ page. www.flickr.com

 

• Hi5

Hi5 is like a watered-down, less successful version of MySpace, but many people in the UAE signed up after MySpace was blocked. It was blocked only a few weeks before Etisalat’s U-turn. www.hi5.com

 

The Thirty-Fourth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 16 to November 18, 2015.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Photo of the “Geographical Indications and Appellations of Origin from Portugal” exhibition, co-organized by WIPO and the Government of Portugal.

 

Held on the sidelines of the Assemblies of WIPO Member States, the exhibition featured origin-based products from Portugal which benefit from intellectual property protection via geographical indications and appellations of origin.

 

The Assemblies of WIPO Member States took place in Geneva, Switzerland, from July 6-14, 2023.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Violaine Martin. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The Palace of Justice was built in the years 1890 to 1897 according to plans of the Munich architect Friedrich von Thiersch in neo-Baroque style. The building is located in downtown at Prielmayer street no. 7. The front side (south-eastern facade) faces the Karl square (Stachus) and the back side to the north Elise street where the being opposite Old Botanical Garden follows.

The building has a concentrically glass dome which is including the lantern 66 meter high. It was built on the ground where previously stood the built in the 1750s and -60er years Clemens Schlössl (small castle - belittlement) which housed since 1826 the cadet corps. 1862/63 was here a new building of the Ludwig-Maximilians University including Georgianum planned since the in 1840 inhabited Gärtner buildings in Ludwig street had already become too small. After the sudden death of King Maximilian II but these plans were not pursued.

The Palace of Justice has always been the office building of the Bavarian State Ministry of Justice, which occupies the upper floors. On the lower floors are situated most of the civil chambers of the Regional Court Munich I. With the completion of the Munich Criminal Justice Center at Nymphenburger street 16 in 1977, the Trial Chambers of the Landgericht München I were moved from the Palace of Justice to this address.

As the building, despite its size, soon became too small built Thiersch 1905 to the west next to the Palace of Justice the so-called New Courthouse in the forms of Nordic Gothic brick architecture with two clock towers, where today are situated the Bavarian Constitutional Court and the Higher Regional Court Munich.

In February 1943, took place the trials of the members of the resistance group White Rose before the People's Court in the Palace of Justice.

1962 was the Palace of Justice scene of a spectacular indication process against Vera Brühne.

In March 2014, took place the trial in the Palace of Justice against Uli Hoeness before the Landgericht München II. Although in Munich for all main hearings in criminal matters the building of the criminal justice center in Nymphenburger street is provided was the largest courtroom there (room 101), which is structurally adapted to a great media interest, however, occupied at this time with the NSU trial against Beate Zschäpe. Because of the expected onslaught of press and TV journalists it was decided, exceptionally, to conduct the trial against Hoeness in the Palace of Justice.

Memorials and exhibitions

Memory of the "White Rose"

In courtroom 253, a permanent exhibition recalls the trials of the members of the White Rose. Next to the front door a plaque made of perspex remembers the during the Nazi era disenfranchised and persecuted Jewish lawyers.

In the courtyard under the glass dome (atrium) take place irregular exhibitions on contemporary issues related to justice.

 

Der Justizpalast wurde in den Jahren 1890 bis 1897 nach Plänen des Münchner Architekten Friedrich von Thiersch im Stil des Neobarock errichtet. Das Gebäude befindet sich in der Innenstadt an der Prielmayerstraße Nr. 7. Die Schaufront (südöstliche Fassade) zeigt zum Karlsplatz (Stachus), und die Rückseite im Norden zur Elisenstraße, wo sich auf der gegenüberliegenden Straßenseite der Alte Botanische Garten anschließt.

Das Gebäude hat mittig eine einschließlich der Laterne 66 Meter hohe Glaskuppel. Es wurde auf dem Grund errichtet, auf dem zuvor das in den 1750er und -60er Jahren erbaute Clemensschlössl stand, welches seit 1826 das Kadettencorps beherbergte. 1862/63 war hier ein Neubau der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität einschließlich Georgianum geplant, da die 1840 bezogenen Gärtner-Bauten in der Ludwigstraße bereits zu klein geworden waren. Nach dem überraschenden Tod König Maximilians II. wurden diese Pläne jedoch nicht weiterverfolgt.

Der Justizpalast ist seit jeher das Dienstgebäude des Bayerischen Staatsministeriums der Justiz, welches die oberen Etagen belegt. In den unteren Etagen befinden sich die meisten Zivilkammern des Landgerichts München I. Mit Fertigstellung des Münchner Strafjustizzentrums in der Nymphenburger Str. 16 im Jahre 1977 wurden die Strafkammern des Landgerichts München I vom Justizpalast dorthin verlegt.

Da das Gebäude trotz seiner Ausmaße bald zu klein geworden war, erbaute Thiersch 1905 westlich neben dem Justizpalast in den Formen nordischer Backsteingotik das sog. Neue Justizgebäude mit zwei Uhrtürmen, in dem sich heute der Bayerische Verfassungsgerichtshof und das Oberlandesgericht München befinden.

Im Februar 1943 fanden im Justizpalast vor dem Volksgerichtshof die Prozesse gegen die Mitglieder der Widerstandsgruppe Weiße Rose statt.

1962 war der Justizpalast Schauplatz des aufsehenerregenden Indizienprozesses gegen Vera Brühne.

Im März 2014 fand im Justizpalast der Strafprozess gegen Uli Hoeneß vor dem Landgericht München II statt. Zwar ist in München für alle Hauptverhandlungen in Strafsachen das Gebäude des Strafjustizzentrums in der Nymphenburger Straße vorgesehen. Der größte Gerichtssaal dort (Saal 101), der baulich auf ein großes Medieninteresse ausgelegt ist, war jedoch zu diesem Zeitpunkt mit dem NSU-Strafprozess gegen Beate Zschäpe belegt. Wegen des erwarteten Ansturms von Presse- und TV-Journalisten entschied man sich, die Hauptverhandlung gegen Uli Hoeneß ausnahmsweise im Justizpalast durchzuführen.

Gedenkstätten und Ausstellungen

Gedenken an die „Weiße Rose“

In Saal 253 erinnert eine Dauerausstellung an die Prozesse gegen die Mitglieder der Weißen Rose. Neben der Eingangstür erinnert eine Gedenktafel aus Plexiglas an die während der NS-Zeit entrechteten und verfolgten jüdischen Anwälte.

Im Innenhof unter der Glaskuppel (Lichthof) finden unregelmäßig Ausstellungen zu zeitgeschichtlichen Themen mit Bezug zur Justiz statt.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justizpalast_(M%C3%BCnchen)

Perhaps Zooey Deschanel plastic surgery had a small bit of Juvederm treated into her lip line? It is a typical indication of getting mature in females unfortunately; the mouth getting slimmer and as they get mature, many superstars fight keep up with companies the magnificently plump-lipped stunners like Angelina Jolie. plasticsurgerybeforeafter.net/zooey-deschanel-plastic-sur...

The cat (Felis catus), commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae. Recent advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the domestication of the cat occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC. It is commonly kept as a house pet and farm cat, but also ranges freely as a feral cat avoiding human contact. It is valued by humans for companionship and its ability to kill vermin. Because of its retractable claws it is adapted to killing small prey like mice and rats. It has a strong flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp teeth, and its night vision and sense of smell are well developed. It is a social species, but a solitary hunter and a crepuscular predator. Cat communication includes vocalizations like meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, and grunting as well as cat body language. It can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by small mammals. It also secretes and perceives pheromones.

 

Female domestic cats can have kittens from spring to late autumn in temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions, with litter sizes often ranging from two to five kittens. Domestic cats are bred and shown at events as registered pedigreed cats, a hobby known as cat fancy. Animal population control of cats may be achieved by spaying and neutering, but their proliferation and the abandonment of pets has resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide, contributing to the extinction of bird, mammal and reptile species.

 

As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. In the United Kingdom, 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats as of 2020. As of 2021, there were an estimated 220 million owned and 480 million stray cats in the world.

 

Etymology and naming

The origin of the English word cat, Old English catt, is thought to be the Late Latin word cattus, which was first used at the beginning of the 6th century. The Late Latin word may be derived from an unidentified African language. The Nubian word kaddîska 'wildcat' and Nobiin kadīs are possible sources or cognates. The Nubian word may be a loan from Arabic قَطّ‎ qaṭṭ ~ قِطّ qiṭṭ.

 

The forms might also have derived from an ancient Germanic word that was imported into Latin and then into Greek, Syriac, and Arabic. The word may be derived from Germanic and Northern European languages, and ultimately be borrowed from Uralic, cf. Northern Sámi gáđfi, 'female stoat', and Hungarian hölgy, 'lady, female stoat'; from Proto-Uralic *käďwä, 'female (of a furred animal)'.

 

The English puss, extended as pussy and pussycat, is attested from the 16th century and may have been introduced from Dutch poes or from Low German puuskatte, related to Swedish kattepus, or Norwegian pus, pusekatt. Similar forms exist in Lithuanian puižė and Irish puisín or puiscín. The etymology of this word is unknown, but it may have arisen from a sound used to attract a cat.

 

A male cat is called a tom or tomcat (or a gib, if neutered). A female is called a queen or a molly, if spayed, especially in a cat-breeding context. A juvenile cat is referred to as a kitten. In Early Modern English, the word kitten was interchangeable with the now-obsolete word catling.

 

A group of cats can be referred to as a clowder or a glaring.

 

Taxonomy

The scientific name Felis catus was proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 for a domestic cat. Felis catus domesticus was proposed by Johann Christian Polycarp Erxleben in 1777. Felis daemon proposed by Konstantin Satunin in 1904 was a black cat from the Transcaucasus, later identified as a domestic cat.

 

In 2003, the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature ruled that the domestic cat is a distinct species, namely Felis catus. In 2007, it was considered a subspecies, F. silvestris catus, of the European wildcat (F. silvestris) following results of phylogenetic research. In 2017, the IUCN Cat Classification Taskforce followed the recommendation of the ICZN in regarding the domestic cat as a distinct species, Felis catus.

 

Evolution

Main article: Cat evolution

The domestic cat is a member of the Felidae, a family that had a common ancestor about 10 to 15 million years ago. The evolutionary radiation of the Felidae began in Asia during the Miocene around 8.38 to 14.45 million years ago. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of all Felidae species indicates a radiation at 6.46 to 16.76 million years ago. The genus Felis genetically diverged from other Felidae around 6 to 7 million years ago. Results of phylogenetic research shows that the wild members of this genus evolved through sympatric or parapatric speciation, whereas the domestic cat evolved through artificial selection. The domestic cat and its closest wild ancestor are diploid and both possess 38 chromosomes and roughly 20,000 genes.

 

Domestication

See also: Domestication of the cat and Cats in ancient Egypt

It was long thought that the domestication of the cat began in ancient Egypt, where cats were venerated from around 3100 BC, However, the earliest known indication for the taming of an African wildcat was excavated close by a human Neolithic grave in Shillourokambos, southern Cyprus, dating to about 7500–7200 BC. Since there is no evidence of native mammalian fauna on Cyprus, the inhabitants of this Neolithic village most likely brought the cat and other wild mammals to the island from the Middle Eastern mainland. Scientists therefore assume that African wildcats were attracted to early human settlements in the Fertile Crescent by rodents, in particular the house mouse (Mus musculus), and were tamed by Neolithic farmers. This mutual relationship between early farmers and tamed cats lasted thousands of years. As agricultural practices spread, so did tame and domesticated cats. Wildcats of Egypt contributed to the maternal gene pool of the domestic cat at a later time.

The earliest known evidence for the occurrence of the domestic cat in Greece dates to around 1200 BC. Greek, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Etruscan traders introduced domestic cats to southern Europe. During the Roman Empire they were introduced to Corsica and Sardinia before the beginning of the 1st millennium. By the 5th century BC, they were familiar animals around settlements in Magna Graecia and Etruria. By the end of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, the Egyptian domestic cat lineage had arrived in a Baltic Sea port in northern Germany.

 

The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) was tamed independently in China around 5500 BC. This line of partially domesticated cats leaves no trace in the domestic cat populations of today.

 

During domestication, cats have undergone only minor changes in anatomy and behavior, and they are still capable of surviving in the wild. Several natural behaviors and characteristics of wildcats may have pre-adapted them for domestication as pets. These traits include their small size, social nature, obvious body language, love of play, and high intelligence. Captive Leopardus cats may also display affectionate behavior toward humans but were not domesticated. House cats often mate with feral cats. Hybridisation between domestic and other Felinae species is also possible, producing hybrids such as the Kellas cat in Scotland.

 

Development of cat breeds started in the mid 19th century. An analysis of the domestic cat genome revealed that the ancestral wildcat genome was significantly altered in the process of domestication, as specific mutations were selected to develop cat breeds. Most breeds are founded on random-bred domestic cats. Genetic diversity of these breeds varies between regions, and is lowest in purebred populations, which show more than 20 deleterious genetic disorders.

 

Characteristics

Main article: Cat anatomy

Size

The domestic cat has a smaller skull and shorter bones than the European wildcat. It averages about 46 cm (18 in) in head-to-body length and 23–25 cm (9.1–9.8 in) in height, with about 30 cm (12 in) long tails. Males are larger than females. Adult domestic cats typically weigh 4–5 kg (8.8–11.0 lb).

 

Skeleton

Cats have seven cervical vertebrae (as do most mammals); 13 thoracic vertebrae (humans have 12); seven lumbar vertebrae (humans have five); three sacral vertebrae (as do most mammals, but humans have five); and a variable number of caudal vertebrae in the tail (humans have only three to five vestigial caudal vertebrae, fused into an internal coccyx).  The extra lumbar and thoracic vertebrae account for the cat's spinal mobility and flexibility. Attached to the spine are 13 ribs, the shoulder, and the pelvis.  Unlike human arms, cat forelimbs are attached to the shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones which allow them to pass their body through any space into which they can fit their head.

 

Skull

The cat skull is unusual among mammals in having very large eye sockets and a powerful specialized jaw.  Within the jaw, cats have teeth adapted for killing prey and tearing meat. When it overpowers its prey, a cat delivers a lethal neck bite with its two long canine teeth, inserting them between two of the prey's vertebrae and severing its spinal cord, causing irreversible paralysis and death. Compared to other felines, domestic cats have narrowly spaced canine teeth relative to the size of their jaw, which is an adaptation to their preferred prey of small rodents, which have small vertebrae.

 

The premolar and first molar together compose the carnassial pair on each side of the mouth, which efficiently shears meat into small pieces, like a pair of scissors. These are vital in feeding, since cats' small molars cannot chew food effectively, and cats are largely incapable of mastication.:  Cats tend to have better teeth than most humans, with decay generally less likely because of a thicker protective layer of enamel, a less damaging saliva, less retention of food particles between teeth, and a diet mostly devoid of sugar. Nonetheless, they are subject to occasional tooth loss and infection.

 

Claws

Cats have protractible and retractable claws. In their normal, relaxed position, the claws are sheathed with the skin and fur around the paw's toe pads. This keeps the claws sharp by preventing wear from contact with the ground and allows for the silent stalking of prey. The claws on the forefeet are typically sharper than those on the hindfeet. Cats can voluntarily extend their claws on one or more paws. They may extend their claws in hunting or self-defense, climbing, kneading, or for extra traction on soft surfaces. Cats shed the outside layer of their claw sheaths when scratching rough surfaces.

 

Most cats have five claws on their front paws and four on their rear paws. The dewclaw is proximal to the other claws. More proximally is a protrusion which appears to be a sixth "finger". This special feature of the front paws on the inside of the wrists has no function in normal walking but is thought to be an antiskidding device used while jumping. Some cat breeds are prone to having extra digits ("polydactyly"). Polydactylous cats occur along North America's northeast coast and in Great Britain.

 

Ambulation

The cat is digitigrade. It walks on the toes, with the bones of the feet making up the lower part of the visible leg. Unlike most mammals, it uses a "pacing" gait and moves both legs on one side of the body before the legs on the other side. It registers directly by placing each hind paw close to the track of the corresponding fore paw, minimizing noise and visible tracks. This also provides sure footing for hind paws when navigating rough terrain. As it speeds up from walking to trotting, its gait changes to a "diagonal" gait: The diagonally opposite hind and fore legs move simultaneously.

 

Balance

Cats are generally fond of sitting in high places or perching. A higher place may serve as a concealed site from which to hunt; domestic cats strike prey by pouncing from a perch such as a tree branch. Another possible explanation is that height gives the cat a better observation point, allowing it to survey its territory. A cat falling from heights of up to 3 m (9.8 ft) can right itself and land on its paws.

 

During a fall from a high place, a cat reflexively twists its body and rights itself to land on its feet using its acute sense of balance and flexibility. This reflex is known as the cat righting reflex. A cat always rights itself in the same way during a fall, if it has enough time to do so, which is the case in falls of 90 cm (3.0 ft) or more. How cats are able to right themselves when falling has been investigated as the "falling cat problem".

 

Coats

Main article: Cat coat genetics

The cat family (Felidae) can pass down many colors and patterns to their offspring. The domestic cat genes MC1R and ASIP allow for the variety of color in coats. The feline ASIP gene consists of three coding exons. Three novel microsatellite markers linked to ASIP were isolated from a domestic cat BAC clone containing this gene and were used to perform linkage analysis in a pedigree of 89 domestic cats that segregated for melanism.[citation needed]

 

Senses

Main article: Cat senses

Vision

A cat's nictitating membrane shown as it blinks

Cats have excellent night vision and can see at only one-sixth the light level required for human vision.  This is partly the result of cat eyes having a tapetum lucidum, which reflects any light that passes through the retina back into the eye, thereby increasing the eye's sensitivity to dim light. Large pupils are an adaptation to dim light. The domestic cat has slit pupils, which allow it to focus bright light without chromatic aberration. At low light, a cat's pupils expand to cover most of the exposed surface of its eyes. The domestic cat has rather poor color vision and only two types of cone cells, optimized for sensitivity to blue and yellowish green; its ability to distinguish between red and green is limited. A response to middle wavelengths from a system other than the rod cells might be due to a third type of cone. This appears to be an adaptation to low light levels rather than representing true trichromatic vision. Cats also have a nictitating membrane, allowing them to blink without hindering their vision.

 

Hearing

The domestic cat's hearing is most acute in the range of 500 Hz to 32 kHz. It can detect an extremely broad range of frequencies ranging from 55 Hz to 79 kHz, whereas humans can only detect frequencies between 20 Hz and 20 kHz. It can hear a range of 10.5 octaves, while humans and dogs can hear ranges of about 9 octaves. Its hearing sensitivity is enhanced by its large movable outer ears, the pinnae, which amplify sounds and help detect the location of a noise. It can detect ultrasound, which enables it to detect ultrasonic calls made by rodent prey. Recent research has shown that cats have socio-spatial cognitive abilities to create mental maps of owners' locations based on hearing owners' voices.

 

Smell

Cats have an acute sense of smell, due in part to their well-developed olfactory bulb and a large surface of olfactory mucosa, about 5.8 cm2 (0.90 in2) in area, which is about twice that of humans. Cats and many other animals have a Jacobson's organ in their mouths that is used in the behavioral process of flehmening. It allows them to sense certain aromas in a way that humans cannot. Cats are sensitive to pheromones such as 3-mercapto-3-methylbutan-1-ol, which they use to communicate through urine spraying and marking with scent glands. Many cats also respond strongly to plants that contain nepetalactone, especially catnip, as they can detect that substance at less than one part per billion. About 70–80% of cats are affected by nepetalactone. This response is also produced by other plants, such as silver vine (Actinidia polygama) and the herb valerian; it may be caused by the smell of these plants mimicking a pheromone and stimulating cats' social or sexual behaviors.

 

Taste

Cats have relatively few taste buds compared to humans (470 or so versus more than 9,000 on the human tongue). Domestic and wild cats share a taste receptor gene mutation that keeps their sweet taste buds from binding to sugary molecules, leaving them with no ability to taste sweetness. They, however, possess taste bud receptors specialized for acids, amino acids like protein, and bitter tastes. Their taste buds possess the receptors needed to detect umami. However, these receptors contain molecular changes that make the cat taste of umami different from that of humans. In humans, they detect the amino acids of glutamic acid and aspartic acid, but in cats they instead detect nucleotides, in this case inosine monophosphate and l-Histidine. These nucleotides are particularly enriched in tuna. This has been argued is why cats find tuna so palatable: as put by researchers into cat taste, "the specific combination of the high IMP and free l-Histidine contents of tuna" .. "produces a strong umami taste synergy that is highly preferred by cats". One of the researchers involved in this research has further claimed, "I think umami is as important for cats as sweet is for humans".[87]

 

Cats also have a distinct temperature preference for their food, preferring food with a temperature around 38 °C (100 °F) which is similar to that of a fresh kill; some cats reject cold food (which would signal to the cat that the "prey" item is long dead and therefore possibly toxic or decomposing).

 

Whiskers

To aid with navigation and sensation, cats have dozens of movable whiskers (vibrissae) over their body, especially their faces. These provide information on the width of gaps and on the location of objects in the dark, both by touching objects directly and by sensing air currents; they also trigger protective blink reflexes to protect the eyes from damage.: 47 

 

Behavior

See also: Cat behavior

Outdoor cats are active both day and night, although they tend to be slightly more active at night.[88] Domestic cats spend the majority of their time in the vicinity of their homes but can range many hundreds of meters from this central point. They establish territories that vary considerably in size, in one study ranging 7–28 ha (17–69 acres). The timing of cats' activity is quite flexible and varied but being low-light predators, they are generally crepuscular, which means they tend to be more active near dawn and dusk. However, house cats' behavior is also influenced by human activity and they may adapt to their owners' sleeping patterns to some extent.

 

Cats conserve energy by sleeping more than most animals, especially as they grow older. The daily duration of sleep varies, usually between 12 and 16 hours, with 13 and 14 being the average. Some cats can sleep as much as 20 hours. The term "cat nap" for a short rest refers to the cat's tendency to fall asleep (lightly) for a brief period. While asleep, cats experience short periods of rapid eye movement sleep often accompanied by muscle twitches, which suggests they are dreaming.

 

Sociability

The social behavior of the domestic cat ranges from widely dispersed individuals to feral cat colonies that gather around a food source, based on groups of co-operating females. Within such groups, one cat is usually dominant over the others. Each cat in a colony holds a distinct territory, with sexually active males having the largest territories, which are about 10 times larger than those of female cats and may overlap with several females' territories. These territories are marked by urine spraying, by rubbing objects at head height with secretions from facial glands, and by defecation. Between these territories are neutral areas where cats watch and greet one another without territorial conflicts. Outside these neutral areas, territory holders usually chase away stranger cats, at first by staring, hissing, and growling and, if that does not work, by short but noisy and violent attacks. Despite this colonial organization, cats do not have a social survival strategy or a herd behavior, and always hunt alone.

 

Life in proximity to humans and other domestic animals has led to a symbiotic social adaptation in cats, and cats may express great affection toward humans or other animals. Ethologically, a cat's human keeper functions as if a mother surrogate. Adult cats live their lives in a kind of extended kittenhood, a form of behavioral neoteny. Their high-pitched sounds may mimic the cries of a hungry human infant, making them particularly difficult for humans to ignore. Some pet cats are poorly socialized. In particular, older cats show aggressiveness toward newly arrived kittens, which include biting and scratching; this type of behavior is known as feline asocial aggression.

 

Redirected aggression is a common form of aggression which can occur in multiple cat households. In redirected aggression there is usually something that agitates the cat: this could be a sight, sound, or another source of stimuli which causes a heightened level of anxiety or arousal. If the cat cannot attack the stimuli, it may direct anger elsewhere by attacking or directing aggression to the nearest cat, dog, human or other being.

 

Domestic cats' scent rubbing behavior toward humans or other cats is thought to be a feline means for social bonding.

 

Communication

Main article: Cat communication

Domestic cats use many vocalizations for communication, including purring, trilling, hissing, growling/snarling, grunting, and several different forms of meowing. Their body language, including position of ears and tail, relaxation of the whole body, and kneading of the paws, are all indicators of mood. The tail and ears are particularly important social signal mechanisms in cats. A raised tail indicates a friendly greeting, and flattened ears indicate hostility. Tail-raising also indicates the cat's position in the group's social hierarchy, with dominant individuals raising their tails less often than subordinate ones. Feral cats are generally silent.: 208  Nose-to-nose touching is also a common greeting and may be followed by social grooming, which is solicited by one of the cats raising and tilting its head.

 

Purring may have developed as an evolutionary advantage as a signaling mechanism of reassurance between mother cats and nursing kittens, who are thought to use it as a care-soliciting signal. Post-nursing cats also often purr as a sign of contentment: when being petted, becoming relaxed, or eating. Even though purring is popularly interpreted as indicative of pleasure, it has been recorded in a wide variety of circumstances, most of which involve physical contact between the cat and another, presumably trusted individual. Some cats have been observed to purr continuously when chronically ill or in apparent pain.

 

The exact mechanism by which cats purr has long been elusive, but it has been proposed that purring is generated via a series of sudden build-ups and releases of pressure as the glottis is opened and closed, which causes the vocal folds to separate forcefully. The laryngeal muscles in control of the glottis are thought to be driven by a neural oscillator which generates a cycle of contraction and release every 30–40 milliseconds (giving a frequency of 33 to 25 Hz).

 

Domestic cats observed in a rescue facility have total of 276 distinct facial expressions based on 26 different facial movements; each facial expression corresponds to different social functions that are likely influenced by domestication.

 

Grooming

Cats are known for spending considerable amounts of time licking their coats to keep them clean. The cat's tongue has backward-facing spines about 500 μm long, which are called papillae. These contain keratin which makes them rigid so the papillae act like a hairbrush. Some cats, particularly longhaired cats, occasionally regurgitate hairballs of fur that have collected in their stomachs from grooming. These clumps of fur are usually sausage-shaped and about 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) long. Hairballs can be prevented with remedies that ease elimination of the hair through the gut, as well as regular grooming of the coat with a comb or stiff brush.

 

Fighting

Among domestic cats, males are more likely to fight than females. Among feral cats, the most common reason for cat fighting is competition between two males to mate with a female. In such cases, most fights are won by the heavier male. Another common reason for fighting in domestic cats is the difficulty of establishing territories within a small home. Female cats also fight over territory or to defend their kittens. Neutering will decrease or eliminate this behavior in many cases, suggesting that the behavior is linked to sex hormones.

 

When cats become aggressive, they try to make themselves appear larger and more threatening by raising their fur, arching their backs, turning sideways and hissing or spitting. Often, the ears are pointed down and back to avoid damage to the inner ear and potentially listen for any changes behind them while focused forward. Cats may also vocalize loudly and bare their teeth in an effort to further intimidate their opponents. Fights usually consist of grappling and delivering powerful slaps to the face and body with the forepaws as well as bites. Cats also throw themselves to the ground in a defensive posture to rake their opponent's belly with their powerful hind legs.

 

Serious damage is rare, as the fights are usually short in duration, with the loser running away with little more than a few scratches to the face and ears. Fights for mating rights are typically more severe and injuries may include deep puncture wounds and lacerations. Normally, serious injuries from fighting are limited to infections of scratches and bites, though these can occasionally kill cats if untreated. In addition, bites are probably the main route of transmission of feline immunodeficiency virus. Sexually active males are usually involved in many fights during their lives, and often have decidedly battered faces with obvious scars and cuts to their ears and nose. Cats are willing to threaten animals larger than them to defend their territory, such as dogs and foxes.

 

Hunting and feeding

See also: Cat food

The shape and structure of cats' cheeks is insufficient to allow them to take in liquids using suction. Therefore, when drinking they lap with the tongue to draw liquid upward into their mouths. Lapping at a rate of four times a second, the cat touches the smooth tip of its tongue to the surface of the water, and quickly retracts it like a corkscrew, drawing water upward.

 

Feral cats and free-fed house cats consume several small meals in a day. The frequency and size of meals varies between individuals. They select food based on its temperature, smell and texture; they dislike chilled foods and respond most strongly to moist foods rich in amino acids, which are similar to meat. Cats reject novel flavors (a response termed neophobia) and learn quickly to avoid foods that have tasted unpleasant in the past. It is also a common misconception that cats like milk/cream, as they tend to avoid sweet food and milk. Most adult cats are lactose intolerant; the sugar in milk is not easily digested and may cause soft stools or diarrhea. Some also develop odd eating habits and like to eat or chew on things like wool, plastic, cables, paper, string, aluminum foil, or even coal. This condition, pica, can threaten their health, depending on the amount and toxicity of the items eaten.

 

Cats hunt small prey, primarily birds and rodents, and are often used as a form of pest control. Other common small creatures such as lizards and snakes may also become prey. Cats use two hunting strategies, either stalking prey actively, or waiting in ambush until an animal comes close enough to be captured. The strategy used depends on the prey species in the area, with cats waiting in ambush outside burrows, but tending to actively stalk birds.: 153  Domestic cats are a major predator of wildlife in the United States, killing an estimated 1.3 to 4.0 billion birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals annually.

 

Certain species appear more susceptible than others; in one English village, for example, 30% of house sparrow mortality was linked to the domestic cat. In the recovery of ringed robins (Erithacus rubecula) and dunnocks (Prunella modularis) in Britain, 31% of deaths were a result of cat predation. In parts of North America, the presence of larger carnivores such as coyotes which prey on cats and other small predators reduces the effect of predation by cats and other small predators such as opossums and raccoons on bird numbers and variety.

 

Perhaps the best-known element of cats' hunting behavior, which is commonly misunderstood and often appalls cat owners because it looks like torture, is that cats often appear to "play" with prey by releasing and recapturing it. This cat and mouse behavior is due to an instinctive imperative to ensure that the prey is weak enough to be killed without endangering the cat.

 

Another poorly understood element of cat hunting behavior is the presentation of prey to human guardians. One explanation is that cats adopt humans into their social group and share excess kill with others in the group according to the dominance hierarchy, in which humans are reacted to as if they are at or near the top. Another explanation is that they attempt to teach their guardians to hunt or to help their human as if feeding "an elderly cat, or an inept kitten". This hypothesis is inconsistent with the fact that male cats also bring home prey, despite males having negligible involvement in raising kittens.:

 

Play

Main article: Cat play and toys

Domestic cats, especially young kittens, are known for their love of play. This behavior mimics hunting and is important in helping kittens learn to stalk, capture, and kill prey. Cats also engage in play fighting, with each other and with humans. This behavior may be a way for cats to practice the skills needed for real combat, and might also reduce any fear they associate with launching attacks on other animals.

 

Cats also tend to play with toys more when they are hungry. Owing to the close similarity between play and hunting, cats prefer to play with objects that resemble prey, such as small furry toys that move rapidly, but rapidly lose interest. They become habituated to a toy they have played with before. String is often used as a toy, but if it is eaten, it can become caught at the base of the cat's tongue and then move into the intestines, a medical emergency which can cause serious illness, even death. Owing to the risks posed by cats eating string, it is sometimes replaced with a laser pointer's dot, which cats may chase.

 

Reproduction

See also: Kitten

The cat secretes and perceives pheromones. Female cats, called queens, are polyestrous with several estrus cycles during a year, lasting usually 21 days. They are usually ready to mate between early February and August in northern temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions.

 

Several males, called tomcats, are attracted to a female in heat. They fight over her, and the victor wins the right to mate. At first, the female rejects the male, but eventually, the female allows the male to mate. The female utters a loud yowl as the male pulls out of her because a male cat's penis has a band of about 120–150 backward-pointing penile spines, which are about 1 mm (0.039 in) long; upon withdrawal of the penis, the spines may provide the female with increased sexual stimulation, which acts to induce ovulation.

 

After mating, the female cleans her vulva thoroughly. If a male attempts to mate with her at this point, the female attacks him. After about 20 to 30 minutes, once the female is finished grooming, the cycle will repeat. Because ovulation is not always triggered by a single mating, females may not be impregnated by the first male with which they mate. Furthermore, cats are superfecund; that is, a female may mate with more than one male when she is in heat, with the result that different kittens in a litter may have different fathers.

 

The morula forms 124 hours after conception. At 148 hours, early blastocysts form. At 10–12 days, implantation occurs. The gestation of queens lasts between 64 and 67 days, with an average of 65 days.

 

Data on the reproductive capacity of more than 2,300 free-ranging queens were collected during a study between May 1998 and October 2000. They had one to six kittens per litter, with an average of three kittens. They produced a mean of 1.4 litters per year, but a maximum of three litters in a year. Of 169 kittens, 127 died before they were six months old due to a trauma caused in most cases by dog attacks and road accidents. The first litter is usually smaller than subsequent litters. Kittens are weaned between six and seven weeks of age. Queens normally reach sexual maturity at 5–10 months, and males at 5–7 months. This varies depending on breed. Kittens reach puberty at the age of 9–10 months.

 

Cats are ready to go to new homes at about 12 weeks of age, when they are ready to leave their mother. They can be surgically sterilized (spayed or castrated) as early as seven weeks to limit unwanted reproduction. This surgery also prevents undesirable sex-related behavior, such as aggression, territory marking (spraying urine) in males and yowling (calling) in females. Traditionally, this surgery was performed at around six to nine months of age, but it is increasingly being performed before puberty, at about three to six months. In the United States, about 80% of household cats are neutered.

 

Lifespan and health

Main articles: Cat health and Aging in cats

The average lifespan of pet cats has risen in recent decades. In the early 1980s, it was about seven years,: 33  rising to 9.4 years in 1995: 33  and an average of about 13 years as of 2014 and 2023. Some cats have been reported as surviving into their 30s, with the oldest known cat dying at a verified age of 38.

 

Neutering increases life expectancy: one study found castrated male cats live twice as long as intact males, while spayed female cats live 62% longer than intact females.: 35  Having a cat neutered confers health benefits, because castrated males cannot develop testicular cancer, spayed females cannot develop uterine or ovarian cancer, and both have a reduced risk of mammary cancer.

 

Disease

Main article: List of feline diseases

About 250 heritable genetic disorders have been identified in cats, many similar to human inborn errors of metabolism. The high level of similarity among the metabolism of mammals allows many of these feline diseases to be diagnosed using genetic tests that were originally developed for use in humans, as well as the use of cats as animal models in the study of the human diseases. Diseases affecting domestic cats include acute infections, parasitic infestations, injuries, and chronic diseases such as kidney disease, thyroid disease, and arthritis. Vaccinations are available for many infectious diseases, as are treatments to eliminate parasites such as worms, ticks, and fleas.

 

Ecology

Habitats

The domestic cat is a cosmopolitan species and occurs across much of the world. It is adaptable and now present on all continents except Antarctica, and on 118 of the 131 main groups of islands, even on the isolated Kerguelen Islands. Due to its ability to thrive in almost any terrestrial habitat, it is among the world's most invasive species. It lives on small islands with no human inhabitants. Feral cats can live in forests, grasslands, tundra, coastal areas, agricultural land, scrublands, urban areas, and wetlands.

 

The unwantedness that leads to the domestic cat being treated as an invasive species is twofold. On one hand, as it is little altered from the wildcat, it can readily interbreed with the wildcat. This hybridization poses a danger to the genetic distinctiveness of some wildcat populations, particularly in Scotland and Hungary, possibly also the Iberian Peninsula, and where protected natural areas are close to human-dominated landscapes, such as Kruger National Park in South Africa. However, its introduction to places where no native felines are present also contributes to the decline of native species.

 

Ferality

Main article: Feral cat

Feral cats are domestic cats that were born in or have reverted to a wild state. They are unfamiliar with and wary of humans and roam freely in urban and rural areas. The numbers of feral cats is not known, but estimates of the United States feral population range from 25 to 60 million. Feral cats may live alone, but most are found in large colonies, which occupy a specific territory and are usually associated with a source of food. Famous feral cat colonies are found in Rome around the Colosseum and Forum Romanum, with cats at some of these sites being fed and given medical attention by volunteers.

 

Public attitudes toward feral cats vary widely, from seeing them as free-ranging pets to regarding them as vermin.

 

Some feral cats can be successfully socialized and 're-tamed' for adoption; young cats, especially kittens and cats that have had prior experience and contact with humans are the most receptive to these efforts.

 

Impact on wildlife

Main article: Cat predation on wildlife

On islands, birds can contribute as much as 60% of a cat's diet. In nearly all cases, the cat cannot be identified as the sole cause for reducing the numbers of island birds, and in some instances, eradication of cats has caused a "mesopredator release" effect; where the suppression of top carnivores creates an abundance of smaller predators that cause a severe decline in their shared prey. Domestic cats are a contributing factor to the decline of many species, a factor that has ultimately led, in some cases, to extinction. The South Island piopio, Chatham rail, and the New Zealand merganser are a few from a long list, with the most extreme case being the flightless Lyall's wren, which was driven to extinction only a few years after its discovery. One feral cat in New Zealand killed 102 New Zealand lesser short-tailed bats in seven days. In the US, feral and free-ranging domestic cats kill an estimated 6.3 – 22.3 billion mammals annually.

 

In Australia, the impact of cats on mammal populations is even greater than the impact of habitat loss. More than one million reptiles are killed by feral cats each day, representing 258 species. Cats have contributed to the extinction of the Navassa curly-tailed lizard and Chioninia coctei.

 

Interaction with humans

Main article: Human interaction with cats

Cats are common pets throughout the world, and their worldwide population as of 2007 exceeded 500 million. As of 2017, the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. In the United Kingdom, 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats as of 2020. As of 2021, there were an estimated 220 million owned and 480 million stray cats in the world.

 

Cats have been used for millennia to control rodents, notably around grain stores and aboard ships, and both uses extend to the present day.

 

As well as being kept as pets, cats are also used in the international fur trade and leather industries for making coats, hats, blankets, stuffed toys, shoes, gloves, and musical instruments. About 24 cats are needed to make a cat-fur coat. This use has been outlawed in the United States since 2000 and in the European Union (as well as the United Kingdom) since 2007.

 

Cat pelts have been used for superstitious purposes as part of the practice of witchcraft, and are still made into blankets in Switzerland as traditional medicine thought to cure rheumatism.

 

A few attempts to build a cat census have been made over the years, both through associations or national and international organizations (such as that of the Canadian Federation of Humane Societies) and over the Internet, but such a task does not seem simple to achieve. General estimates for the global population of domestic cats range widely from anywhere between 200 million to 600 million. Walter Chandoha made his career photographing cats after his 1949 images of Loco, an especially charming stray taken in, were published around the world. He is reported to have photographed 90,000 cats during his career and maintained an archive of 225,000 images that he drew from for publications during his lifetime.

 

Shows

Main article: Cat show

A cat show is a judged event in which the owners of cats compete to win titles in various cat-registering organizations by entering their cats to be judged after a breed standard. It is often required that a cat must be healthy and vaccinated in order to participate in a cat show. Both pedigreed and non-purebred companion ("moggy") cats are admissible, although the rules differ depending on the organization. Competing cats are compared to the applicable breed standard, and assessed for temperament.

 

Infection

Main article: Feline zoonosis

Cats can be infected or infested with viruses, bacteria, fungus, protozoans, arthropods or worms that can transmit diseases to humans. In some cases, the cat exhibits no symptoms of the disease. The same disease can then become evident in a human. The likelihood that a person will become diseased depends on the age and immune status of the person. Humans who have cats living in their home or in close association are more likely to become infected. Others might also acquire infections from cat feces and parasites exiting the cat's body. Some of the infections of most concern include salmonella, cat-scratch disease and toxoplasmosis.

 

History and mythology

Main articles: Cultural depictions of cats and Cats in ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, cats were worshipped, and the goddess Bastet often depicted in cat form, sometimes taking on the war-like aspect of a lioness. The Greek historian Herodotus reported that killing a cat was forbidden, and when a household cat died, the entire family mourned and shaved their eyebrows. Families took their dead cats to the sacred city of Bubastis, where they were embalmed and buried in sacred repositories. Herodotus expressed astonishment at the domestic cats in Egypt, because he had only ever seen wildcats.

 

Ancient Greeks and Romans kept weasels as pets, which were seen as the ideal rodent-killers. The earliest unmistakable evidence of the Greeks having domestic cats comes from two coins from Magna Graecia dating to the mid-fifth century BC showing Iokastos and Phalanthos, the legendary founders of Rhegion and Taras respectively, playing with their pet cats. The usual ancient Greek word for 'cat' was ailouros, meaning 'thing with the waving tail'. Cats are rarely mentioned in ancient Greek literature. Aristotle remarked in his History of Animals that "female cats are naturally lecherous." The Greeks later syncretized their own goddess Artemis with the Egyptian goddess Bastet, adopting Bastet's associations with cats and ascribing them to Artemis. In Ovid's Metamorphoses, when the deities flee to Egypt and take animal forms, the goddess Diana turns into a cat.

 

Cats eventually displaced weasels as the pest control of choice because they were more pleasant to have around the house and were more enthusiastic hunters of mice. During the Middle Ages, many of Artemis's associations with cats were grafted onto the Virgin Mary. Cats are often shown in icons of Annunciation and of the Holy Family and, according to Italian folklore, on the same night that Mary gave birth to Jesus, a cat in Bethlehem gave birth to a kitten. Domestic cats were spread throughout much of the rest of the world during the Age of Discovery, as ships' cats were carried on sailing ships to control shipboard rodents and as good-luck charms.

 

Several ancient religions believed cats are exalted souls, companions or guides for humans, that are all-knowing but mute so they cannot influence decisions made by humans. In Japan, the maneki neko cat is a symbol of good fortune. In Norse mythology, Freyja, the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, is depicted as riding a chariot drawn by cats. In Jewish legend, the first cat was living in the house of the first man Adam as a pet that got rid of mice. The cat was once partnering with the first dog before the latter broke an oath they had made which resulted in enmity between the descendants of these two animals. It is also written that neither cats nor foxes are represented in the water, while every other animal has an incarnation species in the water. Although no species are sacred in Islam, cats are revered by Muslims. Some Western writers have stated Muhammad had a favorite cat, Muezza. He is reported to have loved cats so much, "he would do without his cloak rather than disturb one that was sleeping on it". The story has no origin in early Muslim writers, and seems to confuse a story of a later Sufi saint, Ahmed ar-Rifa'i, centuries after Muhammad. One of the companions of Muhammad was known as Abu Hurayrah ("father of the kitten"), in reference to his documented affection to cats.

 

Superstitions and rituals

Many cultures have negative superstitions about cats. An example would be the belief that encountering a black cat ("crossing one's path") leads to bad luck, or that cats are witches' familiars used to augment a witch's powers and skills. The killing of cats in Medieval Ypres, Belgium, is commemorated in the innocuous present-day Kattenstoet (cat parade). In mid-16th century France, cats would be burnt alive as a form of entertainment, particularly during midsummer festivals. According to Norman Davies, the assembled people "shrieked with laughter as the animals, howling with pain, were singed, roasted, and finally carbonized". The remaining ashes were sometimes taken back home by the people for good luck.

 

According to a myth in many cultures, cats have multiple lives. In many countries, they are believed to have nine lives, but in Italy, Germany, Greece, Brazil and some Spanish-speaking regions, they are said to have seven lives, while in Arabic traditions, the number of lives is six. An early mention of the myth can be found in John Heywood's The Proverbs of John Heywood (1546)

 

Husband, (quoth she), ye studie, be merrie now,

And even as ye thinke now, so come to yow.

Nay not so, (quoth he), for my thought to tell right,

I thinke how you lay groning, wife, all last night.

Husband, a groning horse and a groning wife

Never faile their master, (quoth she), for my life.

No wife, a woman hath nine lives like a cat.

 

The myth is attributed to the natural suppleness and swiftness cats exhibit to escape life-threatening situations. Also lending credence to this myth is the fact that falling cats often land on their feet, using an instinctive righting reflex to twist their bodies around. Nonetheless, cats can still be injured or killed by a high fall.

12 May 2019, Lubnice, Montenegro - Tourists enjoying an afternoon treat at Maja Kljajic's agro-tourism in Montenegro. With help from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Some 100 smallholder farmers from small mountain villages are now reaping the benefits of agro-tourism and getting recognition for preserving centuries-old culinary traditions and a way of life that, elsewhere, has been long abandoned or is slowing dying out. The FAO-EBRD project has linked smallholder farmers, hotel and restaurant owners to local government and tourism agencies to promote their agro-tourism initiatives. It connected farmers with restaurant and hotel owners; trained farmers and chefs in how to store and cook local products to meet the European Unions’ hygienic standards, and adapt old recipes for today’s use – all with the aim of encouraging locals to keep their traditions alive whilst boosting their incomes and bettering their lives. Elsewhere in the small mountainous villages of northern Montenegro, FAO and EBRD, with funding from Luxembourg, helped farmers get international recognition - Geographical Indication (GI) status - for some of their foods thanks to their high quality and unique production process.

 

Photo credit must be given: ©FAO/EBRD/Dermot Doorly. Editorial use only. Copyright ©FAO.

The Thirty-Fifth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 25 to April 27, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Gordana and Dragan Dulovic, Cheese Producers from Lipovo, Montenegro, make Kolasin Lisnati sir (layered cheese) and also offer a farm stay experience on their Dulovic Farm

 

In northern Montenegro, FAO and EBRD, with funding from Luxembourg, helped farmers like Gordana and Dragan Dulovic get international recognition - Geographical Indication (GI) status - for some of their foods thanks to their high quality and unique production process.

 

Crnogorska Goveđa pršuta (Montenegrin dried beef meat) and Crnogorska Stelja (Montenegrin dried and smoked sheep meat) received GI status in 2018.

 

Inspired by the project, five additional products have been registered as GI, including Kolasin Lisnati sir (layered cheese), which is produced mainly by women.

 

To get the GI certification, the project staff worked with farmers, food processors and local authorities to help them upgrade their products’ food safety and quality standards. This included helping producers develop and agree on a code of practice that they must respect in order to sell their products under the GI label – for example, the food must come from the designated areas, and high quality and hygiene standards must be upheld. The project has also supported policy dialogue and development of appropriate food safety standards in the meat sector at the national level, and raised producers’ and consumers’ awareness about the new standards.

 

The GI-labelled dried beef, for example, must be made from the best cuts of fresh beef fed mostly on grass, salted with sea salt, beechwood-smoked and dried in the mountain air. This gives the meat its distinctive dark plum colour, consistency and texture and prevents any bitter taste.

 

By supporting local traditions to build better livelihoods and empower communities, FAO and the EBRD are working toward a world free of poverty and hunger.

  

Indication de lumiere pas bien respectée ...

I had a lot of trouble at a strobist class because the instructor wanted us to increase the flash two stops. I was using a RadioPopper JrX and the unlabeled dial doesn't give any indication how much to turn. I got really frustrated with the lack of an indication sticker from RadioPopper, so I created this sticker that I mounted on my transmitter. I sent the sticker as a suggestion to RadioPopper, so hopefully they'll add something like this to the product in the future. If they do, I'd love a real sticker for my own unit.

The Thirty-Fifth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 25 to April 27, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

CSXT J783 with CSXT 4008,runs light power enroute back to The Queensgate Yard, meeting NS 4243 is seen here sitting idle waiting for a signal indication to proceed on forward on the Cincinnati Terminal Subdivision at Winton Place in Cincinnati, OH 8-16-21

This is a pretty good indication of how messed up the weather is. We have been picking 1 to 2 cups of raspberries off our everbearing plants every 2 to 3 days since September. Today, we got a cup or so. It is not that they are fabulous berries, although with a bit of sugar, they are pretty flavourful, but they are garden fresh fruit, picked on 1 December in Chilliwack, BC

Elola village - Namibe province (Angola)

The Thirty-Third Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from March 16 to March 20, 2015.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

The Thirty-Third Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from March 16 to March 20, 2015.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

A set of signals stands guard on the Canadian National, former Illinois Central, in Pesotum, Illinois. The double-headed signals are for northbound trains and give a hint of what indication may lie ahead in Tolono where the CN crosses the Norfolk Southern (former Wabash)

As images were uploaded to Flicker they are no longer RAW. Also, for various reasons and because I am really only testing my workflow the photographs should not be taken as an indication as to how well the camera can perform.

 

Today I was invited to a hands on introduction to the Sony A7RIV and I was delighted to attend. But unfortunately the experience was not pleasant as the Sony rep was abrupt and unhelpful and as a result I decided not to pre-order the camera. That is not to say that I will not eventually purchase it. This is the second time in two years that this has happened to me when dealing with Sony staff ... I suspect that they do not wish to discuss details. The in-shop staff were more than helpful.

 

Other than ordering the camera the purpose of my visit was to determine if I could process RAW images and I can report that was able to process both RAW and JPG images but as many include portraits of people I was unable to publish them or I had to crop the images.

 

The Thirty-Third Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from March 16 to March 20, 2015.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

CTV Regional Contact gave me 3 minutes on the local CTV News here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C2U_01ajdw

 

Mikey G Ottawa's 100 most interesting images as per Flickriver HERE: www.flickriver.com/photos/mikeygottawa/popular-interesting/

 

See Mikey G Ottawa's most popular Flickr Photo Albums HERE:

www.flickr.com/photos/mikeygottawa/albums

 

I'm Not Shy to promote my Flickr work. CBC Radio 1 gave me almost eight minutes. Listen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=253iqLH82oA

 

Rogers Cable TV gave me 10 minutes on Camera Talk HERE:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-s4ZpS_t1Y

  

Cape Cod Chronicle

25 September 2019

By: Tim Wood

 

Ethan Seufert holds a 17 th century coin recovered at the site. Local students spent a day participating in the archaeological dig at the Nickerson homestead. CHRISTOPER SEUFERT PHOTO (photo: )

Ethan Seufert holds a 17th century coin recovered at the site. Local students spent a day participating in the archaeological dig at the Nickerson homestead. CHRISTOPER SEUFERT PHOTO

 

Archaeological Dig Fleshes Out The Story Of Chatham's Founding Family

 

CHATHAM – When he was first asked to investigate what was believed to be the original homestead of the town's first European settlers, William and Anne Nickerson, archaeologist Craig Chartier didn't expect to find much. He figured he'd dig a few holes “just to make the Nickersons happy.”

 

And indeed, the first few holes yielded nothing. But when he moved farther back from the Nickerson Family Association headquarters, near where a marker had been placed identifying the surrounding land at the original homestead site on land owned by the Chatham Conservation Foundation, that changed.

 

This key was one of the final artifacts found in the dig. COURTESY OF THE NICKERSON FAMILY ASSOCIATION

 

This key was one of the final artifacts found in the dig. COURTESY OF THE NICKERSON FAMILY ASSOCIATION

 

“The first shovelful we had 17th century artifacts,” he said, including a pipe stem. He was able to identify it as being made in Charlestown only between 1670 and 1680. That's when he knew he was on to something, possibly something big.

 

Last week, Chartier and his company, the New Bedford-based Plymouth Archaeological Rediscovery Project, completed its second major dig on the site, uncovering thousands of artifacts and learning more about how Chatham's founding family lived.

 

Most significant, the discovery of a “tuyere,” a pipe through which air is blown into a furnace, appears to confirm that William Nickerson had a blacksmith forge on the site. There are no other known blacksmith operations from that period on Cape Cod, and very few in Massachusetts.

 

“People around the world are excited about this,” Chartier said.

 

Nickerson apparently smelted iron, a skill he may have learned in Saugus, at the only ironworks in operation in the region at the time. During much of this season, Chartier and his crew excavated in an area with a lot of slag and charred stone on the eastern edge of the site, which he said looked like a small industrial area. He surmised that Nickerson was smelting bog iron, which is naturally occurring, especially in soil with a lot of clay. The slag was in small concentrations, not large mounds, indicating that the operation was probably small, he said.

 

Also discovered were crucibles probably used to melt other metals. Large chunks of melted brass and copper were found previously, indicating that Nickerson may have cut up brass kettles or similar items and used the pieces to fashion buttons, buckles or rings, which he may have sold or traded.

 

“He seemed to become a maker,” Chartier said of Nickerson, who was a weaver by trade.

 

Last year, Chartier uncovered the outline of the Nickerson house, which measured 44-by-20-to-24 feet, enormous for the time the site was occupied, from 1664 to the 1690s. It had a hearth at each end and may have been used as a meetinghouse, he said. Also discovered last year was evidence of a palisade around the compound, which may have been built around the time of King Philip's War, from 1675 to 1678. There may also have been a need to protect against coastal raiders; the spot was right on the water and at the time, “this was the end of the world.”

 

“It was a very large, very expensive house,” Chartier said. A number of silver coins from the era were discovered this season. “If these were lost, it meant they had enough” not to worry about misplacing a few coins, he said. A significant amount is known about Nickerson through court records—he was fairly litigious, Chartier noted—but the dig reveals that he was in the “upper tier of people living in Plymouth Colony” at the time.

 

Originally from Norwich, England, Nickerson and his family came to America in the late 1630s. By 1640 they were living in Yarmouth, and in 1656 Nickerson purchased four square miles around the Ryder's Cove area from Mattaquason, the Monomoyick sachem. However, he failed to get permission for the purchase from the authorities in Plymouth; they sued, eventually allowing him 100 acres after he paid a fine. Following correct procedures, Nickerson later purchased much of what is now Chatham.

 

This year's dig concentrated on locating outbuildings and “chasing stains” to determine the exact area of the palisade. A small, four-foot cellar hole proved to be “almost like a time capsule,” yielding pieces of European and English pottery, wine glasses, a book hinge, a silver cufflink, and many pipe stems, a number of which indicated that one of the smokers who lived at the site had an overbite. Post holes were also found near the cellar, which may indicate that there was a barn, or possibly an earlier house, at the location, Chartier said.

 

The site was intensely used for a short period of time. After William Nickerson died sometime in the 1690s, it appears as if the location was abandoned. Chartier said small nails that would have been used in the structure were not found, which would have been the case if it had remained in place and deteriorated. That seems to indicate that the house was moved elsewhere, which wasn't uncommon at the time.

 

An aerial view of the Nickerson homestead archaeological site. CHRISTOPHER SEUFERT PHOTO

 

An aerial view of the Nickerson homestead archaeological site. CHRISTOPHER SEUFERT PHOTO

 

There were also indications that the site was used by the native Monomoyicks for centuries. The dig uncovered a 3,000-year-old spear point as well as a 2,500-year-old blade, along with Native pottery and other items. The lack of large shell middens, however, seems to indicate that the site was not a village but perhaps occupied seasonally or only periodically for specific tasks, which was typical of Native settlement patterns on Cape Cod.

 

In many ways the site was ideal, little disturbed after the Nickerson occupation; it was a chicken farm into the 1960s, and has been owned by the Conservation Foundation since 1988. The digs turned up thousands of artifacts, including some that even Chartier couldn't identify. He said social media has proven to be helpful in this area. A photo of a tool that the archaeologists could not identify was posted on Facebook, for instance, and found to be a type of knife used in shoemaking.

 

“There are so many elements we don't see in New England archaeology,” he said of the site.

 

Last week the excavation holes were covered up. Chartier said he believes he has met the goals of the project, and although he'd like to return and do more digging in the area around the house, he doesn't expect further excavations to reveal any major surprises.

 

Over the fall and winter Chartier and his crew will wash, analyze and identify the artifacts and write a final report. The Nickerson Association may seek funding to do more sophisticated lab tests on some of the artifacts to try to learn more about William and Anne Nickerson's life at the site.

 

Once Chartier has completed his work, an exhibit of the artifacts will be assembled and travel locally, eventually ending up in a permanent display in town at an as-yet-unidentified location. At this point the Nickerson Association is not planning any further digs, although the site will be marked with an interpretive sign, and the home's heart may be opened and displayed under Plexiglas; those plans are currently being discussed with the Conservation Foundation.

 

On one of the final days of the dig, a large key was discovered in the cellar hole; it may have been a key to the house or to a chest. The archaeologists saw it symbolic of locking up work on the Nickerson house. But what was discovered there will not soon be forgotten, said Chartier.

 

“It's something we'll be continuing to research and look at the artifacts for years to come,” he said.

 

Spanish cannons on the ramparts that protect the port and city. A very good indication of the importance of this city to the colonialist of Europe. Unfortunately this is another example of European exploitation of Africa.

 

Essaouira , formerly known as Mogador, is a city in the western Morocca on the Atlantic coast. The modern name means "the little rampart", a reference to the fortress walls that still enclose part of the city. Essaouria has been described as " everybody's favourite Moroccan seaside town and it does not disappoint. Essaourira is 750 kilometres down the coast from Tangier Med. The medina is home to many small arts and crafts businesses, notably cabinet making and 'thuya' wood-carving (using roots of the Tetraclinis tree), both of which have been practised in Essaouira for centuries. Some of the wooden cabinets are particularly well crafted and are worth a look at for their craftsmanship. The beach and promenade are really nice with some lovely coffee shops and bars.

The southern end of the beach has camel rides and wind surfing. Nestled in the bay is the Ile de Mogador, a former prison that is now a bird sanctuary, it provided a spectacular backdrop against the setting sun in January.

We stayed in the town's only campsite and that was a real disappointment, there is an aire des services parking very near the beach and that may have been a better bet, both are a pleasant walk or cycle of 2.5 kilometres to the medina.

The medina is a wonderful experience, without the hard hassle of Marrakech and is an outstanding example of a fortified town of the mid-eighteenth century, surrounded by a wall Essaouira has played a major role over the centuries as an international trading seaport, linking Morocco and sub-Saharan Africa with Europe and the rest of the world. The town is also an example of a multicultural centre as proven by the coexistence, since its foundation, of diverse ethnic groups, such as the Amazighs, Arabs, Africans, and Europeans.. Known for a long time as the Port of Timbuktu, Essaouira became one of the major Atlantic commercial centres between Africa and Europe at the end of the 18th century and during the 19th century.

Preah Khan (Khmer: ប្រាសាទព្រះខ័ន; "Royal Sword") is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia, built in the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII to honor his father. It is located northeast of Angkor Thom and just west of the Jayatataka baray, with which it was associated. It was the centre of a substantial organisation, with almost 100,000 officials and servants. The temple is flat in design, with a basic plan of successive rectangular galleries around a Buddhist sanctuary complicated by Hindu satellite temples and numerous later additions. Like the nearby Ta Prohm, Preah Khan has been left largely unrestored, with numerous trees and other vegetation growing among the ruins.

 

HISTORY

Preah Khan was built on the site of Jayavarman VII's victory over the invading Chams in 1191. Unusually the modern name, meaning "holy sword", is derived from the meaning of the original—Nagara Jayasri (holy city of victory). The site may previously have been occupied by the royal palaces of Yasovarman II and Tribhuvanadityavarman. The temple's foundation stela has provided considerable information about the history and administration of the site: the main image, of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the form of the king's father, was dedicated in 1191 (the king's mother had earlier been commemorated in the same way at Ta Prohm). 430 other deities also had shrines on the site, each of which received an allotment of food, clothing, perfume and even mosquito nets; the wealth and treasure of this ruin includes gold, silver, gems, 112,300 pearls and a cow with gilded horns. The institution combined the roles of city, temple and Buddhist university: there were 97,840 attendants and servants, including 1000 dancers and 1000 teachers.

 

The temple is still largely unrestored: the initial clearing was from 1927 to 1932, and partial anastylosis was carried out in 1939. Since then free-standing statues have been removed for safe-keeping, and there has been further consolidation and restoration work. Throughout, the conservators have attempted to balance restoration and maintenance of the wild condition in which the temple was discovered: one of them, Maurice Glaize, wrote that;

 

The temple was previously overrun with a particularly voracious vegetation and quite ruined, presenting only chaos. Clearing works were undertaken with a constant respect for the large trees which give the composition a pleasing presentation without constituting any immediate danger. At the same time, some partial anastylosis has revived various buildings found in a sufficient state of preservation and presenting some special interest in their architecture or decoration.

 

Since 1991, the site has been maintained by the World Monuments Fund. It has continued the cautious approach to restoration, believing that to go further would involve too much guesswork, and prefers to respect the ruined nature of the temple. One of its former employees has said, "We're basically running a glorified maintenance program. We're not prepared to falsify history". It has therefore limited itself primarily to stabilisation work on the fourth eastern gopura, the House of Fire and the Hall of Dancers.

 

THE SITE

The outer wall of Preah Khan is of laterite, and bears 72 garudas holding nagas, at 50 m intervals. Surrounded by a moat, it measures 800 by 700 m and encloses an area of 56 hectares. To the east of Preah Khan is a landing stage on the edge of the Jayatataka baray, which measures 3.5 by 0.9 km. This also allowed access to the temple of Neak Pean in the centre of the baray. Once dried up, the Jayatataka baray is now filled with water again, as at the end of each rainy season, all excess water in the area is diverted into it.

 

As usual Preah Khan is oriented toward the east, so this was the main entrance, but there are others at each of the cardinal points. Each entrance has a causeway over the moat with nāga-carrying devas and asuras similar to those at Angkor Thom; Glaize considered this an indication that the city element of Preah Khan was more significant than those of Ta Prohm or Banteay Kdei.

 

Halfway along the path leading to the third enclosure, on the north side, is a House of Fire (or Dharmasala) similar to Ta Prohm's. The remainder of the fourth enclosure, now forested, was originally occupied by the city; as this was built of perishable materials it has not survived. The third enclosure wall is 200 by 175 metres. In front of the third gopura is a cruciform terrace. The gopura itself is on a large scale, with three towers in the centre and two flanking pavilions. Between the southern two towers were two celebrated silk-cotton trees, of which Glaize wrote, "resting on the vault itself of the gallery, [they] frame its openings and brace the stones in substitute for pillars in a caprice of nature that is as fantastic as it is perilous." One of the trees is now dead, although the roots have been left in place. The trees may need to be removed to prevent their damaging the structure. On the far side of the temple, the third western gopura has pediments of a chess game and the Battle of Lanka, and two guardian dvarapalas to the west.

 

West of the third eastern gopura, on the main axis is a Hall of Dancers. The walls are decorated with apsaras; Buddha images in niches above them were destroyed in the anti-Buddhist reaction under Jayavarman VIII. North of the Hall of Dancers is a two-storeyed structure with round columns. No other examples of this form survive at Angkor, although there are traces of similar buildings at Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei. Freeman and Jacques speculate that this may have been a granary. Occupying the rest of the third enclosure are ponds (now dry) in each corner, and satellite temples to the north, south and west. While the main temple was Buddhist, these three are dedicated to Shiva, previous kings and queens, and Vishnu respectively. They are notable chiefly for their pediments: on the northern temple, Vishnu reclining to the west and the Hindu trinity of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma to the east; on the western temple, Krishna raising Mount Govardhana to the west.

 

Connecting the Hall of Dancers and the wall of the second enclosure is a courtyard containing two libraries. The second eastern gopura projects into this courtyard; it is one of the few Angkorian gopuras with significant internal decoration, with garudas on the corners of the cornices. Buddha images on the columns were changed into hermits under Jayavarman VIII.

 

Between the second enclosure wall (85 by 76 m) and the first enclosure wall (62 by 55 m) on the eastern side is a row of later additions which impede access and hide some of the original decoration. The first enclosure is, as Glaize said, similarly, "choked with more or less ruined buildings". The enclosure is divided into four parts by a cruciform gallery, each part almost filled by these later irregular additions. The walls of this gallery, and the interior of the central sanctuary, are covered with holes for the fixing of bronze plates which would originally have covered them and the outside of the sanctuary—1500 tonnes was used to decorate the whole temple. At the centre of the temple, in place of the original statue of Lokesvara, is a stupa built several centuries after the temple's initial construction.

 

MICROBIAL DEGRADATION

Microbial biofilms have been found degrading sandstone at Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, and the Bayon and West Prasat in Angkor. The dehydration and radiation resistant filamentous cyanobacteria can produce organic acids that degrade the stone. A dark filamentous fungus was found in internal and external Preah Khan samples, while the alga Trentepohlia was found only in samples taken from external, pink-stained stone at Preah Khan.

 

WIKIPEDIA

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/01/covid-omicron-va...

 

No indication new version of omicron causes more severe illness, WHO says

 

World Health Organization officials said Tuesday that a new version of the omicron variant known as BA. 2 appears to be slightly more transmissible. But they said there is no evidence that it causes more-severe disease and cautioned that information is still limited.

 

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference Tuesday that the global health organization is tracking four “sublineages” of the omicron variant, which has fueled a new wave of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. “This virus will continue to evolve,” Tedros said, adding that vaccines also may need to evolve.

 

Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO’s technical lead on covid-19, said the agency is working with thousands of experts to track the coronavirus. There is “no indication that there’s a change in severity” with BA. 2, she said.

 

Officials said the WHO will share more information on BA. 2 as it is available.

 

WHO leaders also expressed concern about a recent rise in covid-19 deaths in most regions of the world, and Tedros said more cases have been reported in the past 10 weeks — since omicron was identified — than in all of 2020.

 

Asked about countries that have moved to lift coronavirus restrictions, Van Kerkhove said: “Many countries have not gone through the peak of omicron yet. … Now is not the time to lift everything all at once.” She urged countries to increase vaccination and to use mask-wearing and distancing to slow the virus’s spread, although she acknowledged that each country’s situation is different.

 

Tedros said the WHO’s goal to have 70 percent of the global population vaccinated by this summer remains attainable.

 

“Ending this pandemic is not a matter of chance,” he said. “It’s a matter of choice.” By meeting vaccination goals, he said, the world “can end the pandemic.”

  

Key coronavirus updates from around the world

 

Here’s what to know about the top coronavirus stories around the globe:

 

■ Portugal’s prime minister said Tuesday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus, two days after his landslide election victory and just as he starts forming his new government. António Costa said he will self-isolate for seven days, in accordance with his country’s pandemic rules.

■ Denmark on Tuesday became the first European Union country to lift all of its coronavirus restrictions, relying on vaccinations to tackle the omicron variant. The country said it will remove requirements for masks and covid passes and scrap limited opening hours for shops and restaurants. Neighboring Norway said it will scrap most of its remaining lockdown measures, effective immediately, as a spike in infections is unlikely to jeopardize health services.

■ Pakistan will begin a nationwide door-to-door vaccination drive starting Tuesday, its National Command and Operation Center said. About 55,000 mobile vaccination teams will provide the doses, including boosters, and aim to vaccinate more than 35 million people.

■ Rwanda reopened its border with Uganda to truckers this week, after nearly three years. Regular travelers will still be restricted to only essential trips, authorities said, a decision that disappointed traders hoping for a return to normal business.

■ As the Beijing Winter Olympics kick off later this week, officials in China said Tuesday that the Games’ coronavirus situation is within the “expected controllable range,” despite a number of positive cases being detected. About 200 cases have been reported since Jan. 23 among airport arrivals and those in the “closed loop” area of the Games.

 

Pregnant journalist says she’s returning to New Zealand after strict covid rules left her in Afghanistan

 

A pregnant journalist who said she chose to stay in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan because her native New Zealand did not allow her to return due to strict coronavirus restrictions said the government reversed course — and that she would be going home “at the beginning of March to give birth to our baby girl.”

 

Charlotte Bellis, 35, from Christchurch, said in a statement Tuesday that her emergency application to return despite New Zealand’s closed border was approved overnight after a public back-and-forth with the government.

 

Bellis attracted international attention when she said in a New Zealand Herald column on Friday that the Taliban offered her “safe haven” as a pregnant and unmarried woman — whereas her own government refused her application for an emergency medical exemption to the lottery system that assigns returning citizens a spot in “managed isolation and quarantine,” or MIQ.

 

New Zealand officials said Tuesday that Bellis was given a voucher for a spot in government-mandated quarantine because they assessed that she faced threats to her safety in Afghanistan, according to the Associated Press.

 

Bellis, who says she does not feel like she is in danger in Kabul, said in her statement the government should expand its criteria for medical exemptions, which currently rely on travel being time-critical.

 

Pandemic creates tons of medical waste, threatening environment and human health, WHO says

 

The coronavirus pandemic is estimated to have created tens of thousands of tons of extra medical waste around the world, threatening the environment and human health, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

 

The pandemic has put a “tremendous strain on health care waste management systems around the world,” the WHO said, calling for improvements.

 

In a report published Tuesday, the United Nations agency estimated that about 87,000 tons of personal protective equipment was procured between March 2020 and November 2021 and shipped to support countries’ responses through a joint U.N. emergency initiative.

 

“Most of this equipment is expected to have ended up as waste,” the report’s authors said.

 

They noted that their estimate is only an indication of the scale of the waste problem and doesn’t take into account equipment acquired by countries outside the U.N. initiative or waste generated by the public through the purchase of items such as disposable masks.

 

A previous study by a group of researchers based in China and the United States last year found that some 8 million metric tons of pandemic-related plastic waste had been created by 193 countries, with about 26,000 tons of that ending up in the world’s oceans, where it threatens to disrupt marine life and further pollute beaches.

 

According to the WHO report, more than 140 million test kits, with a potential to generate 2,600 tons of noninfectious waste, mostly plastic, and some 731,000 liters of chemical waste — enough to fill a third of an Olympic-size swimming pool — have been shipped by the U.N. Meanwhile, more than 8 billion vaccine doses have been administered globally, producing 144,000 tons of waste in the form of syringes, needles and safety boxes.

 

“It is absolutely vital to provide health workers with the right PPE,” said Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO Health Emergencies Program. “But it is also vital to ensure that it can be used safely without impacting on the surrounding environment.”

 

About 30 percent of health-care facilities — the majority of them in the least developed countries — are not equipped to handle pre-pandemic waste loads, let alone the coronavirus waste.

 

“This potentially exposes health workers to needle stick injuries, burns and pathogenic microorganisms, while also impacting communities living near poorly managed landfills and waste disposal sites through contaminated air from burning waste, poor water quality or disease carrying pests,” the WHO said.

 

U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor tests positive for coronavirus at Beijing Olympics

 

BEIJING — Elana Meyers Taylor, the most decorated American female Olympic bobsledder in history, revealed in a social media post that she tested positive for the coronavirus on Saturday within the “closed loop” here, jeopardizing her ability to compete — although bobsled’s late placement on the Beijing 2022 schedule offers a shred of hope.

 

Meyers Taylor, 37, said she tested positive on Saturday in China, two days after she and her family — husband Nic Taylor, a fellow bobsledder and alternate for Team USA, and their nearly 2-year-old son Nico — arrived in the country. Because she is asymptomatic, she is quarantining at an official Beijing 2022 isolation facility and is required to test negative twice on different days to be released and allowed to compete.

 

Although the Olympics begin this week and the Opening Ceremonies are Friday, the bobsled competition doesn’t start until Feb. 13, with training runs starting Feb. 10 at the Yanqing National Sliding Centre.

The Thirty-First Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from March 17 to March 21, 2014.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Old NYC-looking hardware and still-locked GRS signal heads govern nothing more than a high tension wire line in an empty field in Whiting, Indiana. I'm not so sure this would have been the NYC alignment at this location, perhaps someone here can elaborate. The current ex-NYC mains the NS ties into are to the left of the camera by at least 80ft. or so.

The Thirty-Sixth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from October 17 to October 19, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Almost legible are indications of the year {1580?} & the ages of the boys {6? & ?}.

The Thirty-Fourth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from November 16 to November 18, 2015.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

The Thirty-Fifth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 25 to April 27, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

The indication is "pot of gold" as a rainbow forms between a set of signals on the UP mainline in eastern Iowa on 7-12-14.

Bom Jesus do Monte is a Portuguese sanctuary in the surroundings of the city of Braga, in northern Portugal. Its name means Good Jesus of the mount.

The Sanctuary is a notable example of pilgrimage site with a monumental, Baroque stairway that climbs 116 metres (381 feet). It is an important tourist attraction of Braga.

Many hilltops in Portugal and other parts of Europe have been sites of religious devotion since antiquity, and it is possible that the Bom Jesus hill was one of these. However, the first indication of a chapel over the hill dates from 1373. This chapel - dedicated to the Holy Cross - was rebuilt in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1629 a pilgrimage church was built dedicated to the Bom Jesus (Good Jesus), with six chapels dedicated to the Passion of Christ.

The present Sanctuary started being built in 1722, under the patronage of the Archbishop of Braga, Rodrigo de Moura Telles. His coat of arms is seen over the gateway, in the beginning of the stairway. Under his direction the first stairway row, with chapels dedicated to the Via Crucis, were completed. Each chapel is decorated with terra cotta sculptures depicting the Passion of Christ. He also sponsored the next segment of stairways, which has a zigzag shape and is dedicated to the Five Senses. Each sense (Sight, Smell, Hearing, Touch, Taste) is represented by a different fountain. At the end of this stairway, a Baroque church was built around 1725 by architect Manuel Pinto Vilalobos.

The works on the first chapels, stairways and church proceeded through the 18th century. In an area behind the church (the Terreiro dos Evangelistas), three octagonal chapels were built in the 1760s with statues depicting episodes that occur after the Crucifixion, like the meeting of Jesus with Mary Magdalene. The exterior design of the beautiful chapels is attributed to renowned Braga architect André Soares. Around these chapels there are four Baroque fountains with statues of the Evangelists, also dating from the 1760s

Around 1781, archbishop Gaspar de Bragança decided to complete the ensemble by adding a third segment of stairways and a new church. The third stairway also follows a zigzag pattern and is dedicated to the Three Theological Virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity, each with its fountain. The old church was demolished and a new one was built following a Neoclassic design by architect Carlos Amarante. This new church, began in 1784, had its interior decorated in the beginning of the 19th century and was consecrated in 1834. The main altarpiece is dedicated to the Crucifixion.

In the 19th century, the area around the church and stairway was expropriated and turned into a park. In 1882, to facilitate the access to the Sanctuary, the Bom Jesus funicular was built linking the city of Braga to the hill. This was the first funicular to be built in the Iberian Peninsula and is still in use.

The design of the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus, with its Baroque nature emphasised by the zigzag form of its stairways, influenced many other sites in Portugal (like Lamego) and colonial Brazil, like the Sanctuary of Congonhas. As the pilgrims climbed the stairs, they encountered a theological programme that contrasted the senses of the material world with the virtues of the spirit, at the same time as they experienced the scenes of the Passion of Christ. The culmination of the effort was the temple of God, the church on the top of the hill. The presence of several fountains along the stairways give the idea of purification of the faithful.

The new church (built 1784–1834) by Carlos Amarante was one of the first Neoclassic churches of Portugal

  

English

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braga

 

city in the Braga Municipality in northwestern Portugal, is the capital of the Braga District, the oldest archdiocese and one of the major cities of the country. Braga is the oldest Portuguese city and, one of the oldest Christian cities in the World. With an urban population of 175,063, Braga is the seventh largest municipality in Portugal by population (including the city and suburban parishes, the municipality had a total of 62 parishes and 175,063 inhabitants as of 2007). Braga is also the center of the Greater Metropolitan Area of Minho with a population of 826,833 (2007) one of the fastest growing urban areas in the European Union.[citation needed] Under the Roman Empire, as Bracara Augusta, it was capital of the province Gallaecia. The urban area extends from the (river) Cavado to the (river) Este. Braga is serviced by regional and fast trains to Porto and Lisbon. The city of Oporto (Porto) is about 53 km. The present Mayor is Francisco Soares Mesquita Machado, elected from the Socialist Party.

 

Português

pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braga

 

Braga é a mais antiga cidade portuguesa e uma das cidades cristãs mais antigas do mundo; fundada no tempo dos romanos como Bracara Augusta, conta com mais de 2000 anos de História como cidade. Situada no Norte de Portugal, mais propriamente no Vale do Cávado, Braga possui 176 154 habitantes no seu concelho (2008), sendo o centro da região Minhota com mais de um milhão de habitantes (2007).

É uma cidade cheia de cultura e tradições, onde a História e a religião vivem lado a lado com a indústria tecnológica.

Na gíria popular é conhecida como:

Na "Cidade dos Arcebispos", durante séculos o seu Arcebispo foi o mais importante na Península Ibérica; É ainda detentor do título de Primaz das Espanhas.

A "Roma Portuguesa": no século XVI o arcebispo D. Diogo de Sousa, influenciado pela sua visita à cidade de Roma, desenha uma nova cidade onde as praças e igrejas abundam tal como em Roma. A este título está também associado o facto de existirem inúmeras igrejas por km² em Braga. É, ainda, considerada como o maior centro de estudos religiosos em Portugal

A "Cidade Barroca": durante o século XVIII o arquitecto André Soares transforma a cidade de Braga no Ex-Libris do Barroco em Portugal.

A "Cidade Romana": no tempo dos romanos ser a maior e mais importante cidade situada no território onde seria Portugal. Ausónio, ilustre letrado de Bordéus e prefeito da Aquitânia, incluiu Bracara Augusta entre as grandes cidades do Império Romano.

A "Capital do Minho" ou o "Coração do Minho", por estar localizada no centro desta província. Braga reúne um pouco de todo o Minho e todo o Minho tem um pouco de Braga.

A "Cidade dos Três Sacro-Montes": são santuários situados a Sudeste da cidade numa cadeia montanhosa, e são pela ordem Este a Sul: O Bom Jesus, Sameiro e a Falperra (Sta. Maria Madalena e Sta. Marta das Cortiças).

A cidade está estritamente ligada a todo o Minho: a Norte situa-se o tradicional Alto Minho, a Este o Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês, a Sul as terras senhoriais de Basto e o industrial Ave e a Oeste o litoral marítimo Minhoto.

The Thirty-Fifth Session of WIPO's Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) took place in Geneva, Switzerland from April 25 to April 27, 2016.

 

Copyright: WIPO. Photo: Emmanuel Berrod. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO License.

Baltit Fort Hunza Hunza Valley Gilgit-Baltistan Pakistan

 

Dr-Rasheed Kazmi Dr-Rashid Ahmed Kazmi -Doctor-Rashid Kazmi & Anne Hussain Anne Mare Anne Hussain Anne Hussain

(15 May to 07 jun 2016)

+923009113675

 

Baltit Fort or Balti Fort is an ancient fort in the Hunza valley in the Northern Areas of Pakistan.

 

In former times survival of the feudal regimes of Hunza was ensured by the impressive Baltit fort, that sit on top of Karimabad. The foundations of the fort are said to date back around 700 years, but there have been rebuilds and alterations over the centuries. In the 16th century theThum married a princess from Baltistan who brought master Balti craftsmen to renovate the building as part of her dowry. The architectural style is a clear indication of Tibetan influence in Baltistan at the time.

 

The Mirs of Hunza abandoned the fort in 1945, and moved to a new palace down the hill. The fort started to decay and there was concern that it might possibly fall into ruin. Following a survey by the Royal Geographical Society of London, a restoration programme was initiated and supported by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Historic Cities Support Programme. The programme was completed in 1996 and the fort is now a museum run by the Baltit Heritage Trust.

 

Baltit Fort breaks the monotony of mud-rock houses of Hunzakuts. It is situated on the top of a hill from where it overlooks the whole valley. The fort was built some 600 years ago. It is entirely made of stones, supported by timber beams and plastered over with sun-dried mud. Elders of Hunza tell that a Balti princess was married with the Mir of Hunza. She brought Balti masons and artisans to build this fort as a dowry item. The fort remained the palace and family home of the Mirs until 1960 when a witch came to reside in it. The royal family shifted to a new granite palace. The fort has been well kept. It maintains a museum, library and a nice restaurant. The credit goes to the Agha Khan Trust for Culture.

 

Baltit Fort is three-storey building with 53 rooms. The main gate opens into a dark hall or corridor on the ground floor. There are guest rooms, kitchens, storerooms, prisons and living rooms attached to this corridor. A wooden staircase goes up through a square opening in the floor above.

 

The second floor has family apartments, reception rooms, royal court, arms depot and guards` chambers. A balcony presents a fascinating view of the valley. Another ladder takes to the roof. This is the best spot to view the famous peak of Rakaposhi that rises straight out of cultivated fields and reaches 7788 meters in the sky. Behind the fort, the Karakoram rises in a series of needle-sharp peaks. The most famous of them is lady`s finger. Locals also call it Bulbuli`s peak, after a legendary Hunza princess. The peak is so steep that even snow cannot sustain on its top. Thus, the black peak stands in contrast with its snow covered neighbors.

Baltit Fort, the former residence of the Mirs of Hunza

 

In olden times a number of small independent states existed in the history of Northern Areas of Pakistan. Among them Hunza and Nager were the traditional rival states, situated on opposite sides of the Hunza (kanjut) river. The rulers of these two states, known as Thámo / Mirs (Thάm=S), built various strongholds to express their power. According to historical sources (Ref: Tarikh-e-Ehd Atiiq Riyasat Hunza by Haji Qudrarullah Baig, Pub: S.T.Printers Rawalpindi 1980 Pakistan), the Hunza rulers initially resided in the Altit Fort, but later as a result of a conflict between the two sons of the ruler Sultan, Shah Abbas (Shάboos) and Ali Khan (Aliqhάn), Shaboos shifted to the Baltit Fort, making it the capital seat of Hunza. The power struggle between the two brothers eventually resulted in the death of younger one, and so Baltit Fort further established itself as the prime seat of power in the Hunza state.

 

The rich beauty of Baltit Fort can be traced to over seven hundred 700 years ago. Ayasho II, Tham / Mir of Hunza in the early 15th fifteenth century married Princess Shah Khatoon (Sha Qhatun) from Baltistan (In Moghul history Baltistan is called Tibet Khurd mean, little Tibet), and was the first to modify the face of Altit and, subsequently Baltit Fort. Baltistan meaning land of Balti people had a very strong cultural and ethnical relation with the Ladakh territory ofIndia then. Consequently, the structure of Baltit Fort was influenced by the Ladakhi / Tibetan architecture, with some resemblance to the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Then additions, renovations and changes to the building were being made through the centuries by the long line of rulers of the Hunza that followed.

 

A veritable treasure house for ancient forts, the Northern Areas of Pakistan lost most of its glorious built heritage around the 19th century as a result of the destructive attacks by theMaharaja of Kashmir. However, in this regard people of Hunza were exceptionally fortunate to successfully defend against the invasions of Maharaja Kashmir four times. One of the biggest changes in the structure of Baltit Fort came with the invasion of the British in December 1891. Tham / Mir Safdarali Khan, ruler of Hunza his wazir Dadu (Thara Baig III), fled toKashgar (China) for political asylum with their fellows and families. With the conquest of Hunza and Nager states by the British forces in December 1891, the fortified wall and watch towers of the old Baltit village and watch towers of the Baltit Fort on its north-western end were also demolished as desired by the British authorities. The British installed his younger brother Tham / Mir Sir Muhammad Nazim Khan K.C.I.E, as the ruler of Hunza state in September 1892.

During his reign, Tham / Mir Nazeem Khan made several major alterations to the Baltit Fort. He demolished a number of rooms of third floor and added a few rooms in the British colonial style on the front elevation, using lime wash and colour glass panel windows. The Baltit Fort remained officially inhabited until 1945, when the last ruler of Hunza, Mir Muhammad Jmamal Khan, moved to a new palace further down the hill, where the present Mir of Hunza Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan (Current Chief Executive of Northern Areas) and his family are residing.

 

With no proper authority entrusted to care for it, the Fort was exposed to the ravages of time and over the years its structure weakened and began to deteriorate. His Highness Aga Khan IV initiated the restoration efforts for Baltit Fort in 1990, when Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan the son of last ruler of Hunza, Tham / Mir Muhammad Jamal Khan and his family generously donated the Fort to the Baltit Heritage Trust, a public charity formed for the explicit purpose of owning and maintaining the Fort. The restoration undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Geneva in association with the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (Pakistan), took six years to complete. The project was supported by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture as the main donor through its Historic Cities Support Programme, as well as by the Getty Grant Program (USA), NORAD (Norway) and the French Government.

 

The restored Fort, resplendent in its regal glory was inaugurated on September 29, 1996 in the presence of His Highness the Aga Khan IV and the president of Pakistan Farooq Ahmad Khan Laghari. It is now operated and maintained by the Baltit Heritage Trust and is open to visitors. Preservation at its best, the Baltit Fort serves as a perfect example of culture restored and preserved for the future generations of the mountain people.

 

In olden times a number of small independent states existed in the history of Northern Areas of Pakistan. Among them Hunza and Nager were the traditional rival states, situated on opposite sides of the Hunza (kanjut) river. The rulers of these two states, known as Thámo / Mirs (Thάm=S), built various strongholds to express their power.

 

According to historical sources {Ref: Tarikh-e-Ehd Atiiq Riyasat Hunza by Haji Qudratullah Baig, Pub: S.T.Printers Rawalpindi 1980 Pakistan}, the Hunza rulers initially resided in the Altit Fort, but later as a result of a conflict between the two sons of the ruler Sultan, Shah Abbas (Shάboos) and Ali Khan (Aliqhάn), Shaboos shifted to the Baltit Fort, making it the capital seat of Hunza. The power struggle between the two brothers eventually resulted in the death of younger one, and so Baltit Fort further established itself as the prime seat of power in the Hunza state.

 

The rich beauty of Baltit Fort can be traced to over seven hundred 700 years ago. Ayasho II, Tham / Mir of Hunza in the early 15th fifteenth century married Princess Shah Khatoon (Sha Qhatun) from Baltistan (In Moghul history Baltistan is called Tibet Khurd mean, little Tibet), and was the first to modify the face of Altit and, subsequently Baltit Fort. Baltistan meaning land of Balti people had a very strong cultural and ethnical relation with the Ladakh territory of India then. Consequently, the structure of Baltit Fort was influenced by the Ladakhi / Tibetan architecture, with some resemblance to the Potala palace in Lahasa

 

From my first ever roll of film developed at home. Feels a bit too contrasty to me, just based on what the negatives look like, but I didn't do the scanning, so that could have something to do with it.

 

Canon Elan 7, 50mm f1.8 stm, Ilford HP5+ at iso400, 510-Pyro Semi-stand for 18:00

Indication: Proceed.