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The chapel on one tip of the Cabo Espichel-- inside all azulejos frm the 18th century-- the arab inluence is clear and mixed ... one has even a small seat on the side to look down at the Atlantic Ocean ... its right on a clift.
El casco antiguo de Graz fue declarado Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la Unesco en 1999.
A orillas del río Mur se encuentra una colina llamada Schlossberg, que tiene una altura de 475 metros.
Hace más de 1.000 años se construyó un castillo que dio el nombre a la ciudad (que se deriva de la palabra eslovena gradec, que significa "pequeño castillo"). Desde el año 1125 la colina albergó una impresionante fortaleza. En 1809 Napoleón ordenó destruirla. En dicha colina se edificó en 1560 la Torre del reloj, uno de los símbolos de la ciudad. Entre las diferentes calles que forman parte del distrito Innere Stadt destaca la calle Sporgasse. La calle es más antigua que la ciudad ya que fueron los romanos, los primeros que trazaron una vía que iba desde el valle del río Mur hasta la ciudad romana de Savaria (actual Szombately, en Hungría). Los artesanos que trabajaban en esta calle son los que dieron el nombre a la calle. En la actualidad, la Sporgasse es una calle dedicada al comercio.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casco_histórico_de_Graz
Innere Stadt (German pronunciation: [ˈɪnəʀə ʃtat]) is the 1st district of the Austrian city of Graz, capital of the federal state of Styria. It is the part of the Old Town (in German: Altstadt) containing the Schloßberg and the city park (Stadtpark). The district borders are formed by the Mur river between Radetzkybrücke and Keplerbrücke, the Wickenburggasse, the Glacis, Jakominiplatz and the Radetzkystraße. The district covers an area of 1.16 km² and -as of 2011- has a population of 3,545.
In 1999, the Old Town was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innere_Stadt_(Graz)
Graz [ˈɡʁaːt͡s] es una ciudad austríaca, capital del estado federado de Estiria (en alemán, Steiermark). Con una población de 269.997 habitantes (1-1-2014) es la segunda ciudad más grande del país. Ciudad universitaria por excelencia, fue nombrada Capital Europea de la Cultura en el año 2003.
Graz está situada a orillas del río Mura al sureste de Austria. Se encuentra a 189 kilómetros de Viena, la capital de país.
La primera mención de la ciudad apareció en un documento escrito por el margrave de Estiria Leopoldo I. En la actualidad no se dispone del original aunque existe una copia del siglo XV.
El último representante de la dinastía Otakar fue Otakar IV de Estiria, margrave de Estiria y duque desde 1180. Otakar no tenía descendencia y había contraído la lepra. En el año 1186 Otakar se reunió con el duque Leopoldo V, de la Casa de Babenberg, en la localidad de Enns donde firmaron el Pacto de Georgenberger mediante el cual Otokar designaba a los Babenberg como sucesores.
En 1379 Graz se convierte en la residencia de los Habsburgo al ser nombrada capital de la Austria interna (en alemán Innerösterreich), territorio que comprendía Estiria, Carintia, Carniola y algunas posesiones en Italia. La estancia de la familia imperial se prolongó hasta 1619.
El 10 de abril de 1797, las tropas francesas hicieron su entrada en Graz por primera vez. Dos días más tarde, Napoleón llegó a Graz, donde permaneció unos días hasta su marcha a Göss, cerca de Leoben. El 14 de noviembre de 1805, el ejército francés, al mando del general Marmont, invadió la ciudad por segunda vez. La ocupación finalizó el 11 de enero de 1806 con la retirada de las tropas galas. El 30 de mayo de 1809 se produjo la tercera incursión de la legión francesa, esta vez bajo las órdenes de MacDonald. El 4 de enero de 1810 los franceses abandonaron Graz definitivamente.
Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial el 16 % de los edificios fueron destruidos y 1788 personas perdieron la vida como consecuencia de la ofensiva. El casco histórico no se vio afectado por los ataques, a excepción de la Tummelplatz. La estación central y las plantas industriales del sur y el oeste de la ciudad fueron los objetivos de los bombardeos.
En los años posteriores a la proclamación de la independencia del país en 1955, se produjeron muchos de los cambios que conformaron la imagen actual de la ciudad. En el plano cultural destaca la creación de varios festivales. En 1968 se celebró la primera edición del steirische herbst, el festival de arte contemporáneo más antiguo de Europa. En 1985 se inauguró el Styriarte, festival dedicado a la música clásica. Ambos festivales se celebran cada año y son de gran importancia para la capital de Estiria. La fisionomía de Graz va a experimentar sucesivas modificaciones y ampliaciones. Así pues, se construyeron nuevos puentes y en 1972 se abrió la primera zona peatonal. A finales de los años 80 tiene lugar un importante crecimiento de la zona sureste. En 1988, Puntigam fue considerado como distrito independiente de Straßgang, quedando establecidos los diecisiete distritos en los que se divide Graz hoy en día.
En 1993 la ciudad recibió un premio de la organización ecologista Greenpeace. Ese mismo año organizó el Mes de la cultura europeo por encargo de la Unión Europea.
El casco antiguo de Graz fue declarado Patrimonio de la Humanidad por la Unesco en 1999.
Graz cuenta con 4 universidades que reúnen a cerca de 40 000 estudiantes. Es la segunda ciudad universitaria más importante de Austria después de Viena. Uno de cada 7 habitantes de Graz estudia.
Graz (/ɡrɑːts/ GRAHTS, German: [ɡʁaːts]) is the capital of the Austrian province Styria and the second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. On 1 January 2019, it had a population of 328,276 (292,269 of whom had principal residence status). In 2015, the population of the Graz larger urban zone who had principal residence status stood at 633,168. Graz has a long tradition as seat of universities: its six universities have almost 60,000 students. Its historic centre is one of the best-preserved city centres in Central Europe.[5]
For centuries, Graz was more important to Slovenes and Croats, both politically and culturally, than the capitals of Ljubljana, Slovenia and Zagreb, Croatia; it remains influential to this day.[6] In 1999, Graz's historic centre was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites and in 2010, the site was extended with Eggenberg Palace (German: Schloss Eggenberg). Graz was the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2003 and became a City of Culinary Delights in 2008.
The name of the city, Graz, formerly spelled Gratz, most likely stems from the Slavic gradec, "small castle". Some archaeological finds point to the erection of a small castle by Alpine Slavic people, which over time became a heavily defended fortification. In literary Slovene and Croatian, gradec still means "small castle". The German name 'Graz' first appears in records in 1128.
Graz is situated on the Mur river in southeast Austria. It is about 200 km (120 mi) southwest of Vienna. The nearest larger urban centre is Maribor in Slovenia which is about 50 km (31 mi) away. Graz is the capital and largest city in Styria, a green and heavily forested area.
The oldest settlement on the ground of the modern city of Graz dates back to the Copper Age. However, no historical continuity exists of a settlement before the Middle Ages. During the 12th century, dukes under Babenberg rule made the town into an important commercial center. Later, Graz came under the rule of the Habsburgs and, in 1281, gained special privileges from King Rudolph I.
In the 14th century, Graz became the city of residence of the Inner Austrian line of the Habsburgs. The royalty lived in the Schlossberg castle and from there ruled Styria, Carinthia, most of today's Slovenia, and parts of Italy (Carniola, Gorizia and Gradisca, Trieste).
In the 16th century, the city's design and planning were primarily controlled by Italian Renaissance architects and artists. One of the most famous buildings built in this style is the Landhaus, designed by Domenico dell'Allio, and used by the local rulers as a governmental headquarters.
Karl-Franzens-Universität, also called the University of Graz, is the city's oldest university, founded in 1585 by Archduke Karl II. For most of its existence, it was controlled by the Catholic church, and was closed in 1782 by Joseph II in an attempt to gain state control over educational institutions. Joseph II transformed it into a lyceum where civil servants and medical personnel were trained. In 1827 it was re-instituted as a university by Emperor Franz I, thus gaining the name 'Karl-Franzens Universität,' meaning 'Charles-Francis University.' Over 30,000 students currently study at this university.
The astronomer Johannes Kepler lived in Graz for a short period. There, he worked as a math teacher and was a professor of mathematics at the University of Graz, but still found time to study astronomy. He left Graz to go to Prague when Lutherans were banned from the city.
Ludwig Boltzmann was Professor for Mathematical Physics from 1869 to 1890. During that time, Nikola Tesla studied electrical engineering at the Polytechnic in 1875. Nobel Laureate Otto Loewi taught at the University of Graz from 1909 until 1938. Ivo Andric, the 1961 Nobel Prize for Literature Laureate obtained his doctorate at the University of Graz. Erwin Schrödinger was briefly chancellor of the University of Graz in 1936.
Graz lies in Styria, or Steiermark in German. Mark is an old German word indicating a large area of land used as a defensive border, in which the peasantry is taught how to organize and fight in the case of an invasion. With a strategic location at the head of the open and fertile Mur valley, Graz was often assaulted (unsuccessfully), e.g. by the Hungarians under Matthias Corvinus in 1481, and by the Ottoman Turks in 1529 and 1532. Apart from the Riegersburg Castle, the Schlossberg was the only fortification in the region that never fell to the Ottoman Turks. Graz is home to the region's provincial armory, which is the world's largest historical collection of late medieval and Renaissance weaponry. It has been preserved since 1551, and displays over 30,000 items.
From the earlier part of the 15th century, Graz was the residence of the younger branch of the Habsburgs, which succeeded to the imperial throne in 1619 in the person of Emperor Ferdinand II, who moved the capital to Vienna. New fortifications were built on the Schlossberg at the end of the 16th century. Napoleon's army occupied Graz in 1797. In 1809, the city withstood another assault by the French army. During this attack, the commanding officer in the fortress was ordered to defend it with about 900 men against Napoleon's army of about 3,000. He successfully defended the Schlossberg against eight attacks, but they were forced to give up after the Grande Armée occupied Vienna and the Emperor ordered to surrender. Following the defeat of Austria by Napoleonic forces at the Battle of Wagram in 1809, the fortifications were demolished using explosives, as stipulated in the Peace of Schönbrunn of the same year. The belltower and the civic clock tower, often used as the symbol of Graz, were spared after the people of Graz paid a ransom for their preservation.
Archduke Karl II of Inner Austria had 20,000 Protestant books burned in the square of what is now a mental hospital, and succeeded in returning Styria to the authority of the Holy See. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz, in what is now the Stadtmuseum (city museum).
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students. At the end of 2016 there were 33,473 people with secondary residence status in Graz.
Oceanic climate is the type found in the city, but due to the 0 °C isotherm, the same occurs in a humid continental climate with based in Köppen system (Cfb/Dfb borderline). Wladimir Köppen himself was in town and conducted studies to see how the climate of the past influenced the Continental Drift theory. Due to its position southeast of the Alps, Graz is shielded from the prevailing westerly winds that bring weather fronts in from the North Atlantic to northwestern and central Europe. The weather in Graz is thus influenced by the Mediterranean, and it has more hours of sunshine per year than Vienna or Salzburg and also less wind or rain. Graz lies in a basin that is only open to the south, causing the climate to be warmer than would be expected at that latitude. Plants are found in Graz that normally grow much further south.
Politically, culturally, scientifically and religiously, Graz was an important centre for all Slovenes, especially from the establishment of the University of Graz in 1586 until the establishment of University of Ljubljana in 1919. In 1574, the first Slovene Catholic book [sl] was published in Graz, and in 1592, Hieronymus Megiser published in Graz the book Dictionarium quatuor linguarum, the first multilingual dictionary of Slovene.
The Styrian Slovenes did not consider Graz a German city, but their own, a place to study while living at their relatives' homes and to fulfill one's career ambitions. The student associations in Graz were a crucible of the Slovene identity, and the Slovene students in Graz were more nationally aware than some others. This led to fierce anti-Slovene efforts of German nationalists in Graz before and during World War II.
Many Slovenian Styrians study there. Slovenes are among the professors at the Institute for Jazz in Graz. Numerous Slovenes have found employment there, while being formerly unemployed in Slovenia. For the Slovene culture, Graz remains permanently important due to its university and the Universalmuseum Joanneum archives containing numerous documents from the Slovenian Styria.
A symposium on the relation of Graz and the Slovenes was held in Graz in 2010, at the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the establishment of the first and oldest chair of Slovene. It was established at the Lyzeum of Graz in July 1811 on the initiative of Janez Nepomuk Primic [sl]. A collection of lectures on the topic was published. The Slovenian Post commemorated the anniversary with a stamp.
For the year that Graz was Cultural Capital of Europe, new structures were erected. The Graz Museum of Contemporary Art (German: Kunsthaus) was designed by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier and is situated next to the Mur river. The Island in the Mur is a floating platform made of steel. It was designed by American architect Vito Acconci and contains a café, an open-air theatre and a playground.
The historic centre was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1999 due to the harmonious co-existence of typical buildings from different epochs and in different architectural styles. Situated in a cultural borderland between Central Europe, Italy and the Balkan States, Graz absorbed various influences from the neighbouring regions and thus received its exceptional townscape. Today the old town consists of over 1000 buildings, their age ranging from Gothic to contemporary.
The most important sights in the historic centre are:
Town Hall (Rathaus). The Schlossberg hill, a hill dominating the historic centre (475 m (1,558.40 ft) high), site of a demolished fortress, with views over Graz. The Clock Tower (Uhrturm) is a symbol of Graz, at the top of the Schlossberg hill. The New Gallery (Neue Galerie), a museum of art. The Schlossberg hill funicular (Schlossbergbahn), a funicular railway up the Schlossberg hill. The seat of Styria's provincial parliament (Landhaus), a palace in Lombardic style. It is one of the most important examples of Renaissance architecture in Austria and was built by Italian architect Domenico dell'Allio between 1557 and 1565.
The Armoury (Landeszeughaus) is the largest of its kind in the world.
The Graz Opera House (Opernhaus), the principal venue for opera, ballet, and operetta performances. It is the 2nd largest opera house in Austria.
The Graz Theatre (Schauspielhaus), Graz's principal theatre for productions of plays.
The Cathedral (Dom), a rare monument of Gothic architecture. Once, there were many frescos on the outer walls; today, only a few remain, like the Landplagenbild ("picture of plagues") painted in 1485, presumably by Thomas von Villach. The three plagues it depicts are locusts, pestilence and the invasion of the Turks, all of them striking the town in 1480. It features the oldest painted view of Graz.
The mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II next to the cathedral, the most important building of Mannerism in Graz. It includes both the grave where Ferdinand II and his wife are buried, and a church dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria.
The Castle (Burg), with Gothic double staircase, built between 1438 and 1453 by Emperor Frederick III, because the old castle on the Schlossberg hill was too small and uncomfortable. The castle remained the residence of the Inner Austrian Court until 1619. Today, it serves as residence for the Styrian government.
The Painted House (Gemaltes Haus) in Herrengasse 3. It is completely covered with frescos (painted in 1742 by Johann Mayer).
The Museum of Contemporary Art Graz (Kunsthaus)
The Island in the Mur (Murinsel), an artificial island in the Mur river.
Buildings, inner courtyards (e. g. Early Renaissance courtyard of the Former House of Teutonic Knights in Sporgasse 22) and roofscape of the old town.
The Old Town and the adjacent districts are characterized by the historic residential buildings and churches found there. In the outer districts buildings are predominantly of the architectural styles from the second half of the 20th century.
In 1965 the Grazer Schule (School of Graz) was founded. Several buildings around the universities are of this style, for example the green houses by Volker Giencke and the RESOWI center by Günther Domenig.
Before Graz became the European Capital of Culture in 2003, several new projects were realized, such as the Stadthalle, the Kindermuseum (museum for children), the Helmut-List-Halle, the Kunsthaus and the Murinsel.
The Volkswagen Beetle (officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in Germany the Volkswagen Käfer, in Poland the Volkswagen Garbus and in the U.S. the Volkswagen Bug) is a two-door, four passenger, rear-engine economy car manufactured and marketed by German automaker Volkswagen (VW) from 1938 until 2003.
The need for this kind of car, and its functional objectives, was formulated by the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, who wanted a cheap, simple car to be mass-produced for his country's new road network. Hitler contracted Ferdinand Porsche in 1934 to design and build it. Porsche and his team took until 1938 to finalise the design. The influence on Porsche's design of other contemporary cars, such as the Tatra V570 and the work of Josef Ganz remains a subject of dispute. The result was one of the first rear-engined cars since the Brass Era. With 21,529,464 produced, the Beetle is the longest-running and most-manufactured car of a single platform ever made.
Although designed in the 1930s, the Beetle was only produced in significant numbers from 1945 on (mass production had been put on hold during the Second World War) when the model was internally designated the Volkswagen Type 1, and marketed simply as the Volkswagen (or "People's Car"). Later models were designated Volkswagen 1200, 1300, 1500, 1302 or 1303, the former three indicating engine displacement, the latter two derived from the type number. The model became widely known in its home country as the Käfer (German for "beetle") and was later marketed as such in Germany, and as the Volkswagen in other countries. For example, in France it was known as the Coccinelle (French for ladybug).
The original 25 hp Beetle was designed for a top speed around 100 km/h, which would be a viable speed on the Reichsautobahn system. As Autobahn speeds increased in the postwar years, its output was boosted to 36, then 40 hp, the configuration that lasted through 1966 and became the "classic" Volkswagen motor. The Beetle ultimately gave rise to variants, including the Karmann Ghia, Type 2 and external coachbuilders. The Beetle marked a significant trend, led by Volkswagen, Fiat, and Renault, whereby the rear-engine, rear-wheel drive layout increased from 2.6 percent of continental Western Europe's car production in 1946 to 26.6 percent in 1956. The 1948 Citroën 2CV and other European models marked a later trend to front-wheel drive in the European small car market, a trend that would come to dominate that market. In 1974, Volkswagen's own front-wheel drive Golf model succeeded the Beetle. In 1994, Volkswagen unveiled the Concept One, a "retro"-themed concept car with a resemblance to the original Beetle, and in 1998 introduced the "New Beetle", built on the contemporary Golf platform with styling recalling the original Type 1. It remained in production through 2010, being succeeded in 2011 by the more aggressively styled Beetle (A5).
In the 1999 Car of the Century competition, to determine the world's most influential car in the 20th century, the Type 1 came fourth, after the Ford Model T, the Mini, and the Citroën DS.
HISTORY
THE PEOPLES CAR
In April 1934, Adolf Hitler gave the order to Ferdinand Porsche to develop a Volkswagen (literally, "people's car" in German, pronounced [ˈfɔlksvaːɡən]). The epithet Volks- literally, "people's-" had been applied to other Nazi-sponsored consumer goods such as the Volksempfänger ("people's radio").
In May 1934, at a meeting at Berlin’s Kaiserhof Hotel, Chancellor Hitler insisted on a basic vehicle that could transport two adults and three children at 100 km/h while not using more than 7 litres of fuel per 100 km (32 mpg US/39 mpg UK). The engine had to be powerful for sustained cruising on Germany’s new Autobahnen. Everything had to be designed to ensure parts could be quickly and inexpensively exchanged. The engine had to be air-cooled because, as Hitler explained, not every country doctor had his own garage (ethylene glycol antifreeze was only just beginning to be used in high-performance liquid-cooled aircraft engines. In general, radiators filled with water would freeze unless the vehicle was kept in a heated building overnight or drained and refilled each morning).
The "People's Car" would be available to citizens of Nazi Germany through a savings scheme, or Sparkarte (savings booklet), at 990 Reichsmark, about the price of a small motorcycle. (The average weekly income was then around 32RM.)
DEVELOPMENT
Ferdinand Porsche developed the Type 12, or "Auto für Jedermann" (car for everybody) for Zündapp in 1931. Porsche already preferred the flat-four engine, and selected a swing axle rear suspension (invented by Edmund Rumpler), while Zündapp insisted on a water-cooled five-cylinder radial engine. In 1932, three prototypes were running. All of those cars were lost during World War II, the last in a bombing raid in Stuttgart in 1945.
The Zündapp prototypes were followed by the Porsche Type 32, designed in 1933 for NSU Motorenwerke AG, another motorcycle company. The Type 32 was similar in design to the Type 12, but it had a flat-four engine. NSU's exit from car manufacturing resulted in the Type 32 being abandoned at the prototype stage.
Initially designated Type 60 by Porsche, the design team included Erwin Komenda and Karl Rabe. In October 1935, the first two Type 60 prototypes, known as the V1 and V2 (V for Versuchswagen, or "test car"), were ready. In 1936, testing began of three further V3 prototypes, built in Porsche's Stuttgart shop. A batch of thirty W30 development models, produced for Porsche by Daimler-Benz, underwent 2,900,000 km of further testing in 1937. All cars had the distinctive round shape and the air-cooled, rear-mounted engine. Included in this batch was a rollback soft top called the Cabrio Limousine. A further batch of 44 VW38 pre-production cars produced in 1938 introduced split rear windows; both the split window and the dash were retained on production Type 1s until 1953. The VW38 cars were followed by another batch of 50 VW39 cars, completed in July 1939.
The car was designed to be as simple as possible mechanically. The air-cooled 25 hp (19 kW) 995 cc motors' built-in oil cooler and flat-four engine configuration's superior performance was also effective for the German Afrika Korps in Africa's desert heat. The suspension design used compact torsion bars instead of coil or leaf springs. The Beetle is nearly airtight and will briefly float.
THE FACTORY
On 26 May 1938, Hitler laid the cornerstone for the Volkswagen factory in Fallersleben. He gave a speech, in which he named the car Kraft-durch-Freude-Wagen ("Strength Through Joy Car", usually abbreviated to KdF-Wagen). The name refers to Kraft durch Freude ('Strength Through Joy'), the official leisure organization of Nazi Germany. The model village of Stadt des KdF-Wagens was created near Fallersleben in Lower Saxony in 1938 for the benefit of the workers at the newly built factory.
The factory had only produced a handful of cars by the start of the war in 1939; the first volume-produced versions of the car's chassis were military vehicles, the Type 82 Kübelwagen (approximately 52,000 built) and the amphibious Type 166 Schwimmwagen (about 14,000 built).
The first Beetles were produced on a small scale in 1941.
WARTIME PRODUCTION
A handful of KdF-Wagen (Typ 60) were produced primarily for the Nazi elite from 1941 to 1944, but production figures were small because the factories were concentrating on production of the Kübelwagen (Typ 82), the beetle for the Wehrmacht (Typ 82 E), the Schwimmwagen (Typ 166), and a handful of other variants. The factory produced another wartime vehicle: the Kommandeurswagen (Typ 87); a Beetle body mounted on a 4WD Schwimmwagen chassis. The Kommandeurswagen had widened fenders to accommodate its Kronprinz all-terrain tires. 564 Kommandeurswagen were produced up to 1944, when all production was halted because of heavy damage to the factory by Allied air raids. Much of the essential equipment had already been moved to underground bunkers for protection, which let production resume quickly after hostilities ended. Due to gasoline shortages late in the war, a few "Holzbrenner" Beetles were built powered by pyrolysis gas producers located under the front hood.
POST-WAR PRODUCTION AND BOOM
In occupied Germany, the Allies followed the Morgenthau plan to remove all German war potential by complete or partial pastoralization. As part of this, in the Industrial plans for Germany, the rules for which industry Germany was to be allowed to retain were set out. German car production was set at a maximum of 10% of the 1936 car production numbers.
Mass production of civilian VW cars did not start until post-war occupation. The Volkswagen factory was handed over by the Americans to British control in 1945; it was to be dismantled and shipped to Britain. Thankfully for Volkswagen, no British car manufacturer was interested in the factory; an official report included the phrases "the vehicle does not meet the fundamental technical requirement of a motor-car ... it is quite unattractive to the average buyer ... To build the car commercially would be a completely uneconomic enterprise." The factory survived by producing cars for the British Army instead. Allied dismantling policy changed in late 1946 to mid-1947, although heavy industry continued to be dismantled until 1951. In March 1947, Herbert Hoover helped change policy by stating
There is the illusion that the New Germany left after the annexations can be reduced to a "pastoral state". It cannot be done unless we exterminate or move 25,000,000 people out of it.
The re-opening of the factory is largely accredited to British Army officer Major Ivan Hirst. Hirst was ordered to take control of the heavily bombed factory, which the Americans had captured. His first task was to remove an unexploded bomb that had fallen through the roof and lodged itself between some pieces of irreplaceable production equipment; if the bomb had exploded, the Beetle's fate would have been sealed. Knowing Germany needed jobs and the British Army needed vehicles. Hirst persuaded the British military to order 20,000 cars, and by March 1946 the factory was producing 1,000 cars a month (in Army khaki, under the name Volkswagen Type 1), which Hirst said "was the limit set by the availability of materials". During this period, the car reverted to its original name of Volkswagen and the town was renamed Wolfsburg. The first 1,785 Type 1s were made in 1945.
After World War II, it was officially designated the Volkswagen Type 1, but was more commonly known as the Beetle.Following the British Army-led restart of production and Hirst's establishment of sales network and exports to Netherlands, former Opel manager (and formerly a detractor of the Volkswagen) Heinz Nordhoff was appointed director of the Volkswagen factory in 1949. Under Nordhoff, production increased dramatically over the following decade, with the one-millionth car coming off the assembly line by 1955. During this post-war period, the Beetle had superior performance in its category with a top speed of 115 km/h and 0–100 km/h in 27.5 seconds with fuel consumption of 6.7 l/100 km (36 mpg) for the standard 25 kW (34 hp) engine. This was far superior to the Citroën 2CV, which was aimed at a low speed/poor road rural peasant market, and Morris Minor, designed for a market with no motorways / freeways; it was even competitive with more advanced small city cars like the Austin Mini.
In Small Wonder, Walter Henry Nelson wrote:
"The engine fires up immediately without a choke. It has tolerable road-handling and is economical to maintain. Although a small car, the engine has great elasticity and gave the feeling of better output than its small nominal size."
There were other, less-numerous models, as well. The Hebmüller cabriolet (officially Type 14A), a sporty two-seater, was built between 1949 and 1953; it numbered 696. The Type 18A, a fixed-top cabriolet, was produced by Austro-Tatra as a police and fire unit; 203 were assembled between January 1950 and March 1953.
The chassis became a technological and parts donor to Volkswagen Type 2 (also known as Bulli) and external coachbuilders like Rometsch, Dannenhauer & Stauss, Wilhelm Karmann, Enzmann, Beutler, Ghia-Aigle, Hebmüller & Söhne, Drews, Wendler.
On 17 February 1972, when Beetle No. 15,007,034 was produced, Beetle production surpassed that of the previous record holder, the Ford Model T. By 1973, total production was over 16 million, and by 23 June 1992, over 21 million had been produced.
DECLINE
Though extremely successful in the 1960s, the Beetle was increasingly faced with stiff competition from more modern designs globally. The Japanese had refined rear-wheel-drive, water-cooled, front-engine small cars including the Datsun 510 and Toyota Corona, whose sales in the North American market grew rapidly at the expense of Volkswagen in the late 1960s. Honda introduced the N600, based on the space-efficient transverse-engine, front-wheel-drive layout of the original Austin Mini, to the North American market in late 1969, and upgraded the model to the Honda Civic in 1972. The Japanese "big three" would soon dominate compact auto sales in North America. In 1971 Ford introduced its Pinto, which had some market impact as a low cost alternative. As the 1960s came to a close, Volkswagen faced increasingly stiff competition from European cars as well. The Beetle was faced with competition from new designs like the Fiat 127 and Renault 5, and more robust designs based on the Austin Mini layout such as the Superminis. German competitors, Ford and Opel also enjoyed strong sales of modern smaller cars like the Ford Escort and Opel Kadett. Volkswagen's attempts to boost the power of their air-cooled motor to meet the demands of higher highway speeds in the late 1960s, then comply with new pollution control regulations, caused problems for reliability and fuel efficiency that impaired the reputation of the aging design. Safety issues with the Beetle came under increasing scrutiny, culminating in the 1972 release of a rather scathing report. During the early 1970s, sales of the Beetle in Europe and North America plummeted.
There were other models introduced to supplement the Beetle in the VW product line throughout the 1960s; the Type 3, Type 4, and the NSU-based and larger K70. None of these models, aimed at more upscale markets, achieved the level of success as the Beetle. The over-reliance on a single model, now in decline, meant that Volkswagen was in financial crisis by 1974. It needed German government funding to produce the Beetle's replacement.
Production lines at Wolfsburg switched to the new water-cooled, front-engined, front-wheel drive Golf designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro in 1974, sold in North America at the time as the "Rabbit". The Golf would eventually become Volkswagen's most successful model since the Beetle. The Golf would be periodically redesigned over its lifetime, entering its seventh generation in 2012, with only a few components carried over between generations, while the Beetle had only minor refinements of its original design.
The Golf did not kill Beetle production, nor did the smaller Polo which was launched a year later. Production of the Beetle continued in smaller numbers at other German factories until 19 January 1978, when mainstream production shifted to Brazil and Mexico: markets where low operating cost was an important factor. However, this shift in production did not completely end sales of the Beetle in Europe, although after this date sales of the Beetle in Europe were very low. Beetle sedans were produced for U.S. markets until July 1977 and for European markets until 1985, with private companies continuing to import cars produced in Mexico after 1985. The Beetle convertible/Cabriolet ended production (as 1979 models) as of January 31, 1980.
The last Beetle was produced in Puebla, Mexico, in July 2003. The final batch of 3,000 Beetles were sold as 2004 models and badged as the Última Edición, with whitewall tires, a host of previously discontinued chrome trim, and the choice of two special paint colors taken from the New Beetle. Production in Brazil ended in 1986, then started again in 1993 and continued until 1996.
The Beetle outlasted most other cars which had adopted the rear air-cooled engine layout such as those by Subaru, Fiat, and General Motors. Porsche's 356 series which originally used some Volkswagen sourced parts, continued to use the classic rear engine layout (which later became water-cooled) in the Porsche 911 996 series, which remains competitive in the second decade of the 21st century.
WORLDWIDE END OF PRODUCTION
By 2002, over 21 million Type 1s had been produced, but by 2003, annual production had dropped to 30,000 from a peak of 1.3 million in 1971. VW announced the end of production in June 2003, citing decreasing demand, and the final original Type 1 VW Beetle (No. 21,529,464) rolled off the production line at Puebla, Mexico, on 30 July 2003 65 years after its original launch. This last Beetle, nicknamed El Rey (Spanish for "The King" after a legendary Mexican song by José Alfredo Jiménez) was delivered to the company's museum in Wolfsburg, Germany.
To celebrate the occasion, Volkswagen marketed a final special series of 3,000 Beetles marketed as "Última Edición" (Final Edition) in light blue (Aquarius Blue) or beige (Harvest Moon Beige). Each car included the 1.6 engine, whitewall tires, a CD player with four speakers, chrome bumpers, trim, hub caps and exterior mirrors, a Wolfsburg emblem above the front trunk's handle, chrome glove box badge, body coloured wheels, tinted glass, a rear parcel shelf, and VW Última Edición plaque.
A mariachi band serenaded production of the last car. In Mexico, there was an advertising campaign as a goodbye for the Beetle. In one of the ads was a very small parking space on the street, and many big cars tried to use it, but could not. After a while, a sign appears in that parking space saying: "Es increíble que un auto tan pequeño deje un vacío tan grande" (It is incredible that a car so small can leave such a large void). Another depicted the rear end of a 1954 Beetle (the year Volkswagen was established in Mexico) in the left side of the ad, reading "Erase una vez..." (Once upon a time...) and the last 2003 Beetle in the right side, reading "Fin" (The end). There were other ads with the same nostalgic tone.
- Engine: Fuel-injected (Bosch Digifant) four-cylinder horizontally opposed, 1,584 cc, 50 hp (37 kW), 98.1 N·m (72.4 lb·ft) @ 2,200 rpm, three-way catalytic converter
- Rated fuel mileage: 32.5 mpg-US (7.2 L/100 km; 39.0 mpg-imp)
- Max cruising speed: 130 km/h
- Brakes: front disc, rear drum
- Passengers: Five
- Tank: 40 L (11 US gal; 9 imp gal)
- Colours: Aquarius blue, Harvest Moon beige.
PROTOTYPES
DIESEL
In 1951, Volkswagen prototyped a 1.3 L diesel engine. Volkswagen made only two of these air-cooled boxer diesel engines (not turbocharged), and installed one engine in a Type 1 and another in a Type 2. The diesel Beetle was time tested on the Nürburgring and achieved 0–100 km/h in 60 seconds.
DESIGN
The Beetle featured a rear-located, rear-wheel drive, air-cooled four-cylinder, boxer engine in a two-door bodywork featuring a flat front windscreen, accommodating four passengers and providing luggage storage under the front bonnet and behind the rear seat – and offering a coefficient of drag of 0.41; to this relatively good CD, the also streamlined rear of car was of help. The bodywork attached with eighteen bolts to its nearly flat chassis which featured a central structural tunnel. Front and rear suspension featured torsion bars along with front stabilizer bar – providing independent suspension at all wheels. Certain initial features were subsequently revised, including mechanical drum brakes, split-window rear windows, mechanical direction-indicators and the non-synchronized gearbox. Other features, including its distinctive overall shape, endured.
Its engine, transmission, and cylinder heads were constructed of light alloy. An engine oil cooler (located in the engine fan's shroud) ensured optimal engine operating temperature and long engine life, optimized by a thermostat that bypassed the oil cooler when the engine was cold. Later models of the carburetor featured an automatic choke. Engine intake air passed through a metallic filter, while heavier particles were captured by an oil bath. After 1960, steering featured a hydraulic damper that absorbed steering irregularities.
Indicative of the car's utilitarian design, the interior featured painted metal surfaces, a metal dash consolidating instruments in a single, circular binnacle, adjustable front seats, a fold-down rear seat, optional swing-out rear windows, front windows with pivoting vent windows, heating via air-to-air exchange manifolds operating off the engine's heat, and a windshield washer system that eschewed the complexity and cost of an additional electric pump and instead received its pressurization from the car's spare tire (located in the front luggage compartment) which was accordingly overinflated to accommodate the washer function.
Throughout its production, VW marketed the Beetle with a four-speed manual transmission. From 1961 (and almost exclusively in Europe), VW offered an optional version of the Saxomat semi-automatic transmission: a regular 4-speed manual transaxle coupled to an electromagnetic clutch with a centrifugal clutch used for idle. Subsequently (beginning in 1967 in Europe and 1968 in the United States), VW offered an optional semi-automatic transmission (marketed as Automatic Stick Shift and also called AutoStick[citation needed]), which was a 3-speed manual coupled to an electro-pneumatic clutch and torque converter.
While the overall appearance of the Beetle changed little over its life span, it received over 78,000 incremental changes during its production.
EVOLUTION AND DESIGN CHANGES
BEETLE CABRIOLET
It was in 1948 that Wilhelm Karmann first bought a VW Beetle sedan and converted it into a four-seated convertible. The Beetle Cabriolet began production in 1949 by Karmann in Osnabrück. After successfully presenting it at VW in Wolfsburg, production started in 1949.
The convertible was more than a Beetle with a folding top. To compensate for the strength lost in removing the roof, the sills were reinforced with welded U-channel rails, a transverse beam was fitted below the front edge of the rear seat cushion, and the side cowl-panels below the instrument panel were double-wall. In addition, the lower corners of the door apertures had welded-in curved gussets, and the doors had secondary alignment wedges at the B-pillar.
The top was cabriolet-style with a full inner headliner hiding the folding mechanism and crossbars. In between the two top layers was 25 mm of insulation. The rear window was tempered safety glass, and after 1968, heated. Due to the thickness of the top, it remained quite tall when folded. To enable the driver to see over the lowered top, the inside rearview was mounted on an offset pivot. By twisting the mirror 180 degrees on a longitudinal axis, the mirror glass would raise approximately 5.1 cm.
The convertible was generally more lavishly equipped than the sedan with dual rear ashtrays, twin map pockets, a visor vanity mirror on the passenger side, rear stone shields, and through 1969, wheel trim rings. Many of these items did not become available on other Beetles until the advent of the optional "L" (Luxus) Package of 1970.
After a number of stylistic and technical alterations made to the Karmann cabriolet, (corresponding to the many changes VW made to the Beetle throughout its history), the last of 331,847 cabriolets came off the production line on 10 January 1980.
1950–1959 MODELS
During this period, a myriad of changes were made throughout the vehicle beginning with the availability of hydraulic brakes and a folding fabric sunroof in 1950. The rear window of the VW Beetle evolved from a divided or "split" oval, to a singular oval. The change occurred between October 1952 and March 1953. Beetles built during this time were known as a "Zwitter", or "hybrid", as they used the split-window bodyshell with oval-model chrome trim, vent windows and dashboard.
1953 models received a redesigned instrument panel. The one-piece “Pope's Nose” combination license plate/brake light was replaced by a smaller flat-bottomed license plate light. The brake light function was transferred to new heart-shaped lamps located in the top of the taillight housings.
In 1954, Volkswagen added 2 mm to the cylinder bore, increasing the displacement from 1,131 (1100) cc to 1,192 (1200) cc. This coincided with upgrades to various key components including a redesign of the crankshaft. This increased power from 30 hp (22 kW; 30 PS) to 36 hp (27 kW; 36 PS) and improved the engine's free revving abilities without compromising torque at lower engine speeds. At the same time, compression ratios were progressively raised as, little by little, the octane ratings of available fuel was raised in major markets during the 1950s and 1960s.
In 1955, the separate brake lights were discontinued and were combined into a new larger taillight housing. The traditional VW semaphore turn signals were replaced by conventional flashing directional indicator lamps for North America.
For 1956, the Beetle received what would become one of its more distinctive features, a set of twin chrome tailpipes. Models for North America gained taller bumper guards and tubular overrider bars.
For 1958, the Beetle received a revised instrument panel, and a larger rectangular rear window replaced the previous oval design.
1960–1969 MODELS
1960 models received a front sway bar along with a hydraulic steering damper.
For 1961, significant technical advances occurred in the form of a new engine and transmission. The engine remained at 1200cc but the power increased to 40 hp (30 kW; 41 PS) primarily due to an increase in compression ratio to 7.1:1. The carburetor received an electric automatic choke and the transmission was now synchronized on all forward gears. The traditional semaphore turns signals were replaced by conventional flashing directional indicators worldwide.
For 1962, the Beetle received a mechanical fuel level gauge in place of the former fuel tap. At the rear, larger tail lights were introduced incorporating a separate amber turn signal section to meet new European standards (these turn signals remained red in the US market until 1973). The former hand-pump style windscreen washer was replaced by a new design using compressed air. A Schrader valve located on the washer fluid tank allowed the system to be charged at a filling station to the recommended 35 psi (2.4 bar).
1964 models could be identified by a widened light housing on the engine lid over the rear license plate.
The largest change to date for the Beetle was in 1965: the majority of the body stampings were revised, which allowed for significantly larger windows. The windshield increased in area by 11% and was now slightly curved, rather than flat. Door windows increased accordingly by 6% (and door vent window edges were canted slightly back), rear side windows 17.5%, and the rear window 19.5%. The result was a more open, airy, modern look.
For 1966, the big news was an optional new 1300cc 50 hp (37 kW; 51 PS) engine in lieu of the previous 1200cc engine that had been the sole engine since 1954. Models so equipped carried a "1300" badge on the engine lid. The 1300cc engine was standard for North America.
For 1967, a yet-again larger-displacement engine was made available: 1500cc, 53 hp (40 kW; 54 PS) at 4,200 rpm. 1200 and 1300 engines continued to be available, as many markets based their taxation on engine size. 1500cc Beetles were equipped with front disc brakes and were identified with a "VW 1500" badge on the engine lid. North America received the 1500 engine as standard equipment, but did not receive front disc brakes. These models were identified by a "Volkswagen" badge on the engine lid.
The rear suspension was significantly revised including a widened track, softer torsion bars and the addition of a unique Z-configuration equalizing torsion spring. On US, UK and Ireland models, the generator output was increased from 180 to 360 watts, and the entire electrical system was upgraded from 6 volts to 12 volts. The clutch disc also increased in size and changes were made to the flywheel. New equipment included a driver's armrest on the door and locking buttons on both doors. Safety improvements included two-speed windscreen wipers, reversing lights (in some markets), and a driver's side mirror. In accord with the newly enacted US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108, North American models received a dual-circuit brake system, the clear glass headlamp covers were deleted; the headlamps were brought forward to the leading edge of the front fenders, and the sealed-beam units were exposed and surrounded by chrome bezels.
1968 was a year of major change. The most noticeable of which were the new larger, higher mounted C-section bumpers. At the rear, new larger taillamps were adopted and were able to accommodate backup lamps, which were previously separate bumper-mounted units. Beetles worldwide received the '67 North American style vertical headlamp placement, but with replaceable-bulb headlamps compliant with ECE regulations rather than the US sealed beams. Other improvements were a new outside gas filler with spring-loaded flap, eliminating the need to open the trunk to refuel. The fuel gauge was integrated with the speedometer and was now electrically-actuated rather than cable-operated. The windscreen washer was now pressured by the spare tire, which was to be maintained at a pressure of 42 psi (2.9 bar). A pressure valve in the connecting hose closed airflow to the fluid reservoir if spare tire pressure fell below 30 psi (2.1 bar), which was above the recommended pressures for the road tires. A ventilation system was introduced, which drew fresh air into the cabin from louvres on the front decklid. For improved shifting, the shift lever was shortened, stiffened and moved rearward by
78 mm.
A number of safety improvements were made in order to comply with new American safety regulations: these included trigger-operated outside door handles, a secondary front hood latch, collapsing steering column, soft vent window latches, rotary glove compartment latch and instrument panel knobs labeled with pictographs. US models received a padded instrument panel that was optional in other markets. To meet North American head restraint requirements, VW developed the industry's first high-back bucket seat.
A new 3-speed semi-automatic gear box with torque converter and vacuum-operated clutch became available mid-production year. The semi-automatic models received a vastly improved semi-trailing-arm rear suspension (also known as "Independent Rear Suspension" although the earlier swing axle Beetles were also independent) and eliminated the need for the equalizing torsion spring. This new rear suspension layout would eventually become an option on later models. Beetles equipped with the automatic were identified with a "VW Automatic" badge on the engine lid and a matching decal in the rear window. In North America, the badging and decal were later revised to read, "Automatic Stick Shift".
For 1969, the only exterior change was the fuel filler flap no longer had a finger indentation due to a new interior-mounted fuel door release. For North America, the Beetle received a heated rear window, day/night mirror and the semi-trailing, independent rear-arm suspension as standard equipment.
1970–1979 MODELS
In 1970, A new "L" (Luxus) Package was introduced including, among other items, twin map pockets, dual rear ashtrays, full carpeting, a passenger-side visor vanity mirror, and rubber bumper moldings. The optional 1500 cc engine now came with an engine lid having two rows of cooling louvers, while the convertible's engine lid gained two additional sets for a total of four. For North America, the 1500 cc engine was enlarged to 1600 cc engine and produced 57 hp (43 kW; 58 PS)
For 1971, for the first time there were two Beetles, the familiar standard Beetle and a new larger version that was different from the windscreen forward. All Beetles received an engine upgrade: the optional 1500 cc engine was replaced by a 1600 cc version with twin-port cylinder heads and a larger, relocated oil cooler. The new engine produced 60 hp (45 kW; 61 PS). The ventilation system was improved with the original dash-top vents augmented by a second pair aimed directly at the driver and passenger. For the first time the system was a flow-through design with crescent-shaped air exits fitted behind the rear quarter windows. Airflow could be increased via an optional 2-speed fan. The standard Beetle was now badged as the VW 1300; when equipped with the 1600 engine, it was badged 1300 S, to avoided confusion with the Type 3, which wore VW 1600 badges.
The new larger Beetle was sold as the 1302/1302 S, offering nearly 50% increased luggage capacity. A new MacPherson strut front suspension was incorporated, similar to what was used in the Type 4, and the front track was widened. The new suspension layout allowed the spare tire to be positioned flat under the trunk floor, although the car had to be lengthened slightly to accomplish this. This also allowed a reduction in turning radius. To gain additional trunk volume, the under-dash panel was lowered, allowing the fuel tank to be shifted rearward. From the windscreen back the big Beetle was identical to its smaller progenitor, except for having the semi-trailing arm rear suspension as standard equipment. Overall, the big Beetle was 50 mm longer in length and 35 mm wider and rode on a 20 mm longer wheelbase than the standard model. Both Beetles were available with or without the L Package. The convertible was now based on the 1302 body. In North America, the 1302 was marketed as the Super Beetle and came only with the L Package and 1600 cc engine. While it lacked the front disc brakes that normally accompanied the larger motor, it was fitted with brake drums that were slightly larger than the standard Beetle. With the Super Beetle being sold as the premium model in North America, the standard Beetle, while retaining the same 1600 cc engine, was stripped of many of its earlier features in order to reduce the selling price. Bright window and running board moldings disappeared, along with the day/night mirror, horn ring, map pocket, locking glove box and miscellaneous other items.
1972 models had an 11% larger rear window 40 mm taller, larger front brakes[citation needed] and the convertible engine lid with four rows of louvres was now used on all Beetles. Inside the vehicle, a four-spoke energy-absorbing steering wheel was introduced, the windshield wiper/washer knob was replaced in favor of a steering column stalk, and intermittent wipers were a new option available in selected markets. An engine compartment socket for the proprietary VW Diagnosis system was also introduced. The rear luggage area was fitted with a folding parcel shelf. A limited-edition Commemorative model was launched in celebration of the Beetle's passing the record of the Ford Model T as the world's most-produced automobile. The Commemorative Beetle was a 1302 LS finished in a special Marathon Blue Metallic paint and unique 4.5 x 15 styled steel wheels. In the U.S., it was marketed as the Super Beetle Baja Champion SE.
1973 models featured significantly-enlarged "elephant foot" taillamps mounted in reshaped rear fenders. In the engine bay, the oil-bath air cleaner gave way to a dry element filter, and the generator was replaced with an alternator. The 1302/Super became the 1303 with a new taller wrap-around windscreen. The changes to the cowl and windshield resulted in slight redesign of the front hood. The instrument panel, formerly shared with the standard Beetle, was all-new and incorporated a raised speedometer pod, rocker-style switches and side-window defrosters. The limited-edition GSR (Gelb-Schwarz Rennen) was a 1303 S available only in Saturn Yellow paint equipped with special 140 mm wide sport wheels fitted with 175/70-15 Pirelli Cinturato CN36 high-performance radial tires. Front and rear deck lids were finished in matte black, as was all exterior trim with the exception of the chrome headlamp bezels. Inside were corduroy and leatherette high-bolstered sport seats and a small diameter three-spoke steering wheel with padded leather rim and a small red VW logo on the bottom spoke. In North America, the GSR was sold as the Super Beetle Sports Bug. The North American model had body-color deck lids and was available in Marathon Blue Metallic in addition to Saturn Yellow. In some markets, the sport wheels (in both 4.5-inch and 5.5-inch widths), sport steering wheel and sport seats became available as stand-alone options.
For 1974, North American models received newly required 8.0 km/h impact bumpers mounted on self-restoring energy absorbers, which added approximately 25 mm to the car's overall length. On the Super Beetle, the steering knuckle, and consequently the lower attachment point of the strut, was redesigned to improve handling and stability in the event of a tire blowout. A limited-edition Big Beetle was introduced based on the 1303 LS. Available in unique metallic paint colors, the car featured styled-steel 5.5 in (140 mm) wide sport wheels wrapped in 175/70-15 tires, corduroy seat inserts, upgraded loop-pile carpet, wood-look instrument panel trim and a padded steering wheel with bright accents. In the North American market, a limited-edition Sun Bug was introduced as a standard Beetle or Super Beetle. Both were finished in metallic gold and featured styled-steel 4.5 in (110 mm)-wide sport wheels. Inside were brown corduroy and leatherette seats, loop-pile carpet, and padded four-spoke deluxe steering wheel. The Super Beetle Sun Bug included a sliding-steel sunroof.
In 1975, front turn indicators were moved from the top of the front fenders down into the bumper. At the rear, the license plate light housing was now molded of plastic with a ribbed top surface. To comply with tightening emission standards, the 1600 cc engine in Japanese and North American markets received Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection, a derivative of the Bosch D-Jetronic system formerly used in the VW Type 3 and Type 4. The injected engine received a new muffler and in California a catalytic converter. This necessitated a bulge in the rear apron under the rear bumper and replaced the distinctive twin "pea shooter" tailpipes with a single offset pipe, making injected models identifiable at a glance. 5 mph (8.0 km/h) bumper-equipped North American models retained fender-top front indicators. The 1303 received rack and pinion steering. In North America, the 1303/Super Beetle sedan was moved upmarket and was now christened La Grande Bug. Similar to the Big Beetle of 1974, La Grande Bug was available in blue or green metallic paint in the U.S. and blue, green or gold metallic in Canada and was equipped with the same features as the 1974 Sun Bug. Mid-year, the Love Bug was introduced for North America: based on the standard Beetle, it was available only in Phoenix Red or Ravenna Green (both colors shared with the VW-Porsche 914) with all exterior trim finished in matte black. A price leader, the Love Bug retailed for less than a standard Beetle. The "Volkswagen" script on the engine lid of all North American Beetles was replaced with a "Fuel Injection" badge.
In 1976, the 1303/La Grande Bug was discontinued, with the larger body continuing only in convertible form. To make up for the loss in North American markets, the standard Beetle was upgraded, regaining some of the features that were removed in 1971. In addition, the 2-speed ventilation fan was included, previously available in North America only on the larger Beetle. The automatic stickshift option was discontinued as well.
1977 models received new front seats with separate head restraints. This was the final model year for the Beetle sedan in North America. The convertible was offered in a Champagne Edition in triple white with the padded deluxe steering wheel, burled elm-grain dash trim and (110 mm wide sport wheels. Approximately 1,000 Champagne Editions were produced.
WIKIPEDIA
There is a mix of Buddhist , Chinese and hindu influence . IN this can see Chinese statues in a Hindu scenerio.
This is still under constructions and will take another 20 years . Its a wooden structure thats worth a visit.
The Sanctuary of truth was started in 1980 by a wealthy Thai businessman who has since passed and his children carry on with the work. Built completely of carved wood it really is an amazing sight and well worth the admission price of 500 baht.
The Sanctuary of Truth is a gigantic wooden construction which covers the area of more than two rais. The top point of the building is about 105 meters high. It was constructed to withstand the wind and sunshine on the seashore at Rachvate Cape, Tumbon Naklea, Amphur Banglamung, Chon Buri Province.The building was constructed according to ancient Thai ingenuity and every square inch of the building is covered with wooden carve sculpture. The purposes of decoration with wooden carve sculptures are to use art and culture as the reflection of Ancient Vision of Earth, Ancient Knowledge, and Eastern Philosophy. With in this complex, visitors will understand Ancient Life, Human Responsibility, Basic Thought, Cycle of living, Life Relationship with Universe and Common Goal of Life toward Utopia.More at hubpages.com/hub/Santuary_of_Truth
✰ Credit ✰
AnaSTyle - Debbie Black Outfit - TOKYO ZERO Event.
[ALMA] - The Cartomancy 1.0 - TOKYO ZERO Event
NEW ATTITUDE
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Influenced by the armour system in Halo 4, I decided to build this armoured mecha/robot. Fully poseable and modular, this was a fun build :D.
Show Must Go On
W x H (“): 70 x 60
Oil painting on Cotton (dock canvas)
Signed
Early Period
(1)Mechanism of Inspiration
From a title or period of painting’s execution it is believed that Jaisini was driven in its creation by an influence of a song with corresponding title and the death of its author and singer Freddie Mercury. The interpreting of emotions resulted and transferred by Jaisini in his painting is unexpected development of the theme of Show Must Go On painting rich in color combination, with dynamic composition, nerve and emotion urging to attempt read into it’s concept. At a first glace the picture’s space reminds of an outlandish or even sci-fi landscape with elements that may support the impression, a red sun against a silhouette that reminds a dinosaur. On the right upper side there is a depiction of what looks like a water tower. The color develops from the front ground’s almost black cobalt blue that changes gradually to the lighter value of blue enriched by additional colors and finally to fuse in a sun light spot in the upper left corner that holds a voluptuous female figure with bulging thighs. Her position is either gymnastic of erotic. Her figure is touched by some phallic finger and seems to carry little information except being a compositional space brake.
The figure’s configuration is light almost weightless as is she was a balloon navigating the space. In contrast to this image’s lightness there is another female figure, located below. Her image is independent but at the same time she delineates a right hand of a central man. This is a reclining female torso of intense transparent red color of stain-glass.
This color of transparent red is a highlighting color of the entire picture that is dominated by blue and yellow. The inclusion of such pure sound red fires up accents and add to Jaisini’s painting special power.
He is a great color master developing his composition with complimentary tonal highlights of pure colors and contrasting inclusions that always light up the paintings with additional dimension as multi faceted precious stone that casts color sparkles. His established rule is the inclusion of pure brisk color accents. To justify such pure and intense red in the predominately cobalt composition is a complex task Jaisini successfully accomplishes in SMGO.
The work as most paintings is painted in one go in detection of light and immediate lines that create the whole compositional swirl.
This mode of work in oil called a-la-prima painted without preliminary
sketch and sure is exhausting way of creation.
It will always remain puzzling how is it possible to paint monumental, finished version of a single painting without minimum preparation. In the interview Jaisini confirmed that it takes long time, months if not years to think about future painting. If he is not capable to construct a vision of his future work in his mind until this “vision” occurs, the artist is not ready to paint or if he would persist the result can’t satisfy the artist.
The notion of having direct influence of the music and events that inspired Jaisini to paint SMGO enter the analysis and to understand the immediate mechanics of Jaisini’s creativity is a challenging task.
What moves him in this particular work to bring out strange, unexplainable images to interpret the signer’s death and the musical tune and poetic meaning of the song with theatrical slogan that “show must go on”?
In the picture the central man is in the middle of composition and picture’s concept as a main figure. As in Forbidden Fruit same here the man’s figure is depicted in a rushing forward movement that could read symbolically and remain statuesque. Such duality of being dynamic and still at the same time is always found in the best works of art that can be looked at from different aesthetic points as Rodin’s Thinker, who seemed to be so lively but at a standstill.
In SMGO the central man’s body has an athletic anatomy but also a grotesque exaggerated body part that look like a blown out of proportions phallus, erected from the man’s lower body having no anatomical detailing.
The color serves to divide phallic element in two parts. It enters a figure of a bending down man of light yellow tone. The phallic part of a central man on the point of entering into the bending man’s backside becomes the painting’s red color inclusion with transparent effect of stain glass.
The central man seems to interact with the other in internal game that can be physical game of power. The central man opens his mouth in scream from the own pain that is caused to him by a double-jawed sward-fish who in turn enters his body from the back.
On the entering the swordfish’s nose is ultramarine and then red.
There is also an interesting image of a grieving profile that fills the space between the shark and reclining woman’s torso. The sward-fish is moving out of a dark space where scalaria fish of enlarged size demarcates the side of darkness and light.
Corrals in the front ground add more ambiguity to the space with the red color and rounded shaping.
In the right corner there is a third figure of a man who could fit the definition of submissiveness or weakness by the depiction.
Such personages are often found in Jaisini’s works where they find a place to contrast images of the masculine males.
To conclude the count in SMGO I should mention a profile with a grotesque dinosaur’s long bending neck. This profile is situated between spatial contrasts of almost black concave opening.
Inside the round enclosure of the neck the space is light but indicative of shaping by the reflexes of light.
The interest to understand the work, the birth of the above-described images and their relevance to the painting’s theme, why and how did they arrive in association with prime impulse of the artist, his favorite song and sorrow.
As a formulation of the artist’s reaction to the song he liked and death of its singer in the outcoming painting is most unusual. The painting’s formal quality is complete in its dynamical and color elaboration.
When you try to see the picture in its entirety you see a great contrast of spots, beautiful combination of colors enriched by unusual color choices.
The dynamic development of picture’s space divided endlessly to create vigorous effect of foliage washed by sunlight. The yellow color parts are offset by cold deep ultramarine and refined by bold inclusion of red.
Space of the painting can’t be defined as perspective.
As in most Gleitzeit works space is multi perspective with Cubist principle of space being observed from different angles but at the same time unified by Jaisini’s plastical line unlike cubism’s straight angles.
This painting has strong sense of spontaneity with little predictability of the images. The execution of the work holds perfectly an outburst of emotions into a formulation of unlikely response to the initial drive. Jaisini’s ability to work in a style of direct painting that is loaded with philosophical meaning is a unique gift. If abstract art is mathematical it is possible to formulate its principal’s production. In such works as of Jaisini the formula would be with all unknowns.
The artist expresses his deep understanding of social conflict in Show Must Go On uniting images of violence with concept of grief for the lost such as death of singer who inspired the artist to paint.
In this work Jaisini unites man’s violent act with the concept of “show must go on” that means aggression is a primary purveyor of rebellion and its revolutionary radicalism.
In SMGO the portrayal is of a cry that informs universe of raw demands of man desperate to know whom he is and where is he going.
The title of the song and painting is a dynamic addition to the concept.
The central man is shown vulnerable as the shark enters his body. It seems to freeze the effect of his outcry by physical threat. Jaisini reflects in this work the deep-seated fundamental concept. Men transform their fear of male violence into a metaphysical commitment to male aggression.
For Freud a criminal act-aggression and death, restrictions, and suppressed desire lay at the origins of human society. He establishes conflict between Eros and Thanatos as a primal, constant human condition.
Freud proclaims: “Every individual is virtually an enemy of civilization.”
Humans are unfit for civilization because their destructive urges are antagonistic to the fundamental demands of civilization.
The situation has become particularly dire in modern times, Freud argues for there are increasingly fewer outlets for these urges even as more and more restrictions are imposed. If during time of Surrealist art Andre Breton called the “crisis of consciousness” here is the “crisis of existence”.
The subject of absurdity and extinction of male purpose is not a gender-politicized theme in the Gleitzeit works of Jaisini.
It is an artistic questioning of the potential creativity that is hidden in every man but is restricted by rules and social responsibilities.
And still the artist calls for art to continue for show to go on even through death.
The portrayal of violence and victimization has the effect of the sacrificial ritual of ancient tradition that is echoed in the painting. Life will go on through death and sacrifice. There is recognition of life within death as well as death within life. In SMGO the concept of continuance is in the effort that could be described as violent, deviant, inherently shocking. The imagery of the picture focuses on the bonding between aged long that was and is necessary for creativity, agony and ecstasy, violence and sexuality, all inescapable and vitalizing forces of life emphasized in art tradition.
Struggle between instinct of life and instinct of destruction is the struggle that entire life essentially is about.
The picture seems to illustrate what was Freud’s view of the inclination to aggression to be an original, self-subsisting instinctual disposition in man while civilization is a process in the service of Eros and death, between the instinct of life and the instinct of destruction.
This struggle represents and portrays creation and life.
In SMGO Jaisini united the symbolic of fight with transgression of taboo subject of human rage having cruelty with social purpose to continue create.
It was not windy at Bear Rocks when I took this photo. The shape of this tree suggests that quite often, it is.
A 1960's-influenced high hairstyle. Styled as a 'beehive' and finished with a heart shape on one side.
♡Influence(Her) x TSA Presents
♡ The “Diva” Posepack
♡ 4 Mirrored Poses
♡ Available @ TSA 8/27
(Props not included)
liling & sunny
on right:
basics:
mesh head: catwa-catya bento
skin: the skinnery-soojin
hair: wasabi pills-miki
eyes: izzie's-tokyo eyes
shape: mine
makeup:
eyes: izzies-aeygo sal
lips: deetalez-cherry kisses matte
clothes:
tee.fy-stacy knot top :3
blueberry-lana rolled shorts
reign-dare kneehigh boots
jewelry:
converge-panda watch
supernatural-magical choker (mars) avail at crystal heart festival
yummy-love spell rings (maitreya bento)
on left:
coming soon
pose:
hello gorgeous-kind bud
This commission was heavily influenced by the burial/wedding gown of Lucy designed by Ishioka Eiko for the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula. The original gown was a Victorial satin corset dress with long rouched hem under a Gustav Klimpt inspired sheer lace overdress. To maintain the same air I made a huge beaded double ruff collar, a beaded lace hat and puff sleeves wrapped tight around forearms with more lace and beading. However, to make this an original design I changes the silhouette into a empire gown made of pleated sheer silk chiffon and adorned the hem with more lace. The pleats are gathered below the bust line with lace and beading and for a modern twist I added a double buckled white leather belt I cut into a lacy shapes. The gown can be worn with or without the belt and changes it's silhouette and waistline accordingly.
My model and muse for this project was the divine Red Tian Shi, a Deva doll I've lusted for a long time. I was very honoured to hold her for the week it took me to create this gown for her and I'm sad to see her return to her home again. She was so inspiring to work with and poses with amazing grace, not to mention her enchanting Chinese facila features. I think this is the only fashion doll I've ever seen that actually looks Chinese.
It was also exiting to work in this project because it was Ishioka Eiko's costume design in the movie Dracula that got me interested in fashion and costume design in the first place. This is my homage to her talent.
Aruba, a small island in the Dutch Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela, has a dry climate, sunny beaches and gentle waves. Constant winds produce a cool breeze and tilt trees (like the famous divi-divi) to the southwest. The European influence appears in the architecture, characterized by the Dutch gables painted in tropical pastel tones. This is also evident in the coexistence of the local language, Papiamento, with English, Dutch and Spanish. The country does not have fresh water but it has desalinated water of excellent quality and you can safely drink tap water. The small country is a major producer and exporter of aloe vera (aloe vera) and is strong in the financial and fishing sectors, in addition to logistical services in the oil sector. It is a small island with a lot of sun and wind all the time, which favors the country's main economic activity, tourism. Its area is 179 km2 (69.1 mi2) and is densely populated by approximately 110,000 inhabitants (2020 Census) and has a per capita income of just over US$25,000 p.a. The country's capital is Oranjestad.
Aruba, pequena ilha do Caribe holandês ao largo da costa da Venezuela, tem clima seco, praias ensolaradas e ondas suaves. Ventos constantes produzem uma brisa fresca e inclinam as árvores (como a famosa divi-divi) para o sudoeste. A influência europeia aparece na arquitetura, caracterizada pelas empenas holandesas pintadas em tons pastel tropicais. Isso também fica evidente na convivência do idioma local, o papiamento, com o inglês, o holandês e o espanhol. O país não tem água doce mas tem água dessalinizada de ótima qualidade e vc pode tomar agua da torneira com segurança. O pequeno país é um grande produtor e exportador de aloé vera (babosa) e é forte no setor financeiro e de pesca além de serviços logísticos na área petroleira. É uma pequena ilha com muito sol e vento o ando todo o que favorece a principal atividade econômica do país, o turismo. Sua área é de 179 km2 (69.1 mi2) e é densamente povoada por aproximadamente 110.000 habitantes (Censo de 2020) e tem uma renda per capita de pouco mais de US$ 25,000 a.a. A capital do país é Oranjestad.
Aruba, een klein eiland in de Nederlandse Caraïben voor de kust van Venezuela, heeft een droog klimaat, zonnige stranden en zachte golven. Constante winden produceren een koel briesje en kantelen bomen (zoals de beroemde divi-divi) naar het zuidwesten. De Europese invloed komt terug in de architectuur, gekenmerkt door de Hollandse gevels geschilderd in tropische pasteltinten. Dit blijkt ook uit het naast elkaar bestaan van de lokale taal, Papiamento, met Engels, Nederlands en Spaans. Het land heeft geen zoet water maar wel ontzilt water van uitstekende kwaliteit en je kunt er veilig kraanwater drinken. Het kleine land is een belangrijke producent en exporteur van aloë vera (aloë vera) en is sterk in de financiële en visserijsector, naast de logistieke dienstverlening in de oliesector. Het is een klein eiland met de hele tijd veel zon en wind, wat de belangrijkste economische activiteit van het land, het toerisme, bevordert. Het gebied is 179 km2 (69,1 mi2) en is dichtbevolkt met ongeveer 110.000 inwoners (telling van 2020) en heeft een inkomen per hoofd van de bevolking van iets meer dan 25.000 dollar per jaar. De hoofdstad van het land is Oranjestad.
Aruba, una piccola isola dei Caraibi olandesi al largo della costa del Venezuela, ha un clima secco, spiagge assolate e onde dolci. I venti costanti producono una brezza fresca e inclinano gli alberi (come i famosi divi-divi) a sud-ovest. L'influenza europea appare nell'architettura, caratterizzata dai timpani olandesi dipinti in toni pastello tropicali. Ciò è evidente anche nella coesistenza della lingua locale, il papiamento, con l'inglese, l'olandese e lo spagnolo. Il paese non ha acqua dolce ma ha acqua desalinizzata di ottima qualità e si può bere tranquillamente l'acqua del rubinetto. Il piccolo paese è un importante produttore ed esportatore di aloe vera (aloe vera) ed è forte nei settori finanziario e della pesca, oltre ai servizi logistici nel settore petrolifero. È una piccola isola con tanto sole e vento tutto il tempo, il che favorisce la principale attività economica del paese, il turismo. La sua area è di 179 km2 (69,1 mi2) ed è densamente popolata da circa 110.000 abitanti (censimento 2020) e ha un reddito pro capite di poco superiore a US $ 25.000 all'anno. La capitale del paese è Oranjestad.
Aruba, una pequeña isla en el Caribe holandés frente a la costa de Venezuela, tiene un clima seco, playas soleadas y olas suaves. Los vientos constantes producen una brisa fresca e inclinan los árboles (como el famoso divi-divi) hacia el suroeste. La influencia europea aparece en la arquitectura, caracterizada por los frontones holandeses pintados en tonos pastel tropicales. Esto también es evidente en la coexistencia del idioma local, el papiamento, con el inglés, el holandés y el español. El país no tiene agua dulce pero tiene agua desalada de excelente calidad y se puede beber agua del grifo sin peligro. El pequeño país es un importante productor y exportador de aloe vera (sábila) y es fuerte en los sectores financiero y pesquero, además de los servicios logísticos en el sector petrolero. Es una isla pequeña con mucho sol y viento todo el tiempo, lo que favorece la principal actividad económica del país, el turismo. Su área es de 179 km2 (69.1 mi2) y está densamente poblada por aproximadamente 110,000 habitantes (Censo 2020) y tiene un ingreso per cápita de poco más de US$25,000 p.a. La capital del país es Oranjestad.
Aruba, eine kleine Insel in der niederländischen Karibik vor der Küste Venezuelas, hat ein trockenes Klima, sonnige Strände und sanfte Wellen. Konstante Winde erzeugen eine kühle Brise und neigen Bäume (wie das berühmte Divi-Divi) nach Südwesten. Der europäische Einfluss zeigt sich in der Architektur, die durch die in tropischen Pastelltönen gestrichenen holländischen Giebel gekennzeichnet ist. Dies zeigt sich auch in der Koexistenz der lokalen Sprache Papiamento mit Englisch, Niederländisch und Spanisch. Das Land hat kein Süßwasser, aber entsalztes Wasser von ausgezeichneter Qualität und Leitungswasser kann bedenkenlos getrunken werden. Das kleine Land ist ein bedeutender Produzent und Exporteur von Aloe Vera (Aloe Vera) und ist neben logistischen Dienstleistungen im Ölsektor stark im Finanz- und Fischereisektor. Es ist eine kleine Insel mit viel Sonne und Wind, was die wichtigste wirtschaftliche Aktivität des Landes, den Tourismus, begünstigt. Seine Fläche beträgt 179 km2 (69,1 mi2) und ist mit etwa 110.000 Einwohnern (Volkszählung 2020) dicht besiedelt und hat ein Pro-Kopf-Einkommen von knapp über 25.000 US-Dollar pro Jahr. Die Hauptstadt des Landes ist Oranjestad.
Aruba, une petite île des Caraïbes néerlandaises au large des côtes du Venezuela, a un climat sec, des plages ensoleillées et des vagues douces. Des vents constants produisent une brise fraîche et inclinent les arbres (comme le fameux divi-divi) vers le sud-ouest. L'influence européenne apparaît dans l'architecture, caractérisée par les pignons hollandais peints dans des tons pastel tropicaux. Cela est également évident dans la coexistence de la langue locale, le papiamento, avec l'anglais, le néerlandais et l'espagnol. Le pays ne dispose pas d'eau douce mais il dispose d'une eau dessalée d'excellente qualité et vous pouvez boire l'eau du robinet en toute sécurité. Le petit pays est un important producteur et exportateur d'aloe vera (aloe vera) et est fort dans les secteurs financier et de la pêche, en plus des services logistiques dans le secteur pétrolier. C'est une petite île avec beaucoup de soleil et de vent tout le temps, ce qui favorise la principale activité économique du pays, le tourisme. Sa superficie est de 179 km2 (69,1 mi2) et est densément peuplée d'environ 110 000 habitants (recensement de 2020) et a un revenu par habitant d'un peu plus de 25 000 $ US par an. La capitale du pays est Oranjestad.
تتمتع أروبا ، وهي جزيرة صغيرة في منطقة البحر الكاريبي الهولندية قبالة سواحل فنزويلا ، بمناخ جاف وشواطئ مشمسة وأمواج لطيفة. تنتج الرياح المستمرة نسيمًا باردًا وتميل الأشجار (مثل ديفي ديفي الشهير) إلى الجنوب الغربي. يظهر التأثير الأوروبي في العمارة التي تتميز بالجملونات الهولندية المطلية بدرجات ألوان الباستيل الاستوائية. وهذا واضح أيضًا في تعايش اللغة المحلية ، البابيامينتو ، مع الإنجليزية والهولندية والإسبانية. لا يوجد في البلاد مياه عذبة ولكنها تحتوي على مياه محلاة بجودة ممتازة ويمكنك شرب مياه الصنبور بأمان. تعد الدولة الصغيرة منتجًا ومصدرًا رئيسيًا للصبار (الألوة فيرا) وهي قوية في قطاعي المال وصيد الأسماك ، بالإضافة إلى الخدمات اللوجستية في قطاع النفط. إنها جزيرة صغيرة بها الكثير من الشمس والرياح طوال الوقت ، مما يفضل النشاط الاقتصادي الرئيسي للبلاد ، وهو السياحة. تبلغ مساحتها 179 كيلومترًا مربعًا (69.1 ميل 2) وهي مكتظة بالسكان بحوالي 110.000 نسمة (تعداد 2020) ويبلغ دخل الفرد فيها أكثر من 25000 دولار أمريكي بقليل. عاصمة البلاد هي أورانجيستاد.
ベネズエラ沖のオランダのカリブ海にある小さな島、アルバは、乾燥した気候、太陽が降り注ぐビーチ、穏やかな波に恵まれています。絶え間ない風が涼しい風を生み出し、木々を（有名なディビディビのように）南西に傾けます。ヨーロッパの影響は、熱帯のパステル トーンで描かれたオランダの切妻を特徴とする建築に現れます。これは、地元の言語であるパピアメント語と、英語、オランダ語、スペイン語が共存していることにも明らかです。この国には真水はありませんが、優れた品質の淡水化された水があり、水道水を安全に飲むことができます。この小さな国は、アロエベラ (アロエベラ) の主要な生産国および輸出国であり、石油部門の物流サービスに加えて、金融および漁業部門に強みを持っています。それは国の主要な経済活動である観光に有利な、常に太陽と風がたくさんある小さな島です。その面積は 179 km2 (69.1 mi2) で、約 110,000 人の住民 (2020 年の国勢調査) が密集しており、1 人あたりの収入は年間 25,000 米ドル強です。国の首都はオラニエスタッドです。
Hadrian's Wall (Latin: Vallum Hadriani, also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or Vallum Aelium in Latin), is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian.[1] Running from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west of what is now northern England, it was a stone wall with large ditches in front of it and behind it that crossed the whole width of the island. Soldiers were garrisoned along the line of the wall in large forts, smaller milecastles, and intervening turrets. In addition to the wall's defensive military role, its gates may have been customs posts.
Hadrian's Wall Path generally runs very close to the wall. Almost all of the standing masonry of the wall was removed in early modern times and used for local roads and farmhouses. None of it stands to its original height, but modern work has exposed much of the footings, and some segments display a few courses of modern masonry reconstruction. Many of the excavated forts on or near the wall are open to the public, and various nearby museums present its history. The largest Roman archaeological feature in Britain, it runs a total of 73 miles (117.5 kilometres) in northern England. Regarded as a British cultural icon, Hadrian's Wall is one of Britain's major ancient tourist attractions. It was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. The turf-built Antonine Wall in what is now central Scotland, which briefly superseded Hadrian's Wall before being abandoned, was declared a World Heritage Site in 2008.
Hadrian's Wall marked the boundary between Roman Britannia and unconquered Caledonia to the north. The wall lies entirely within England and has never formed the Anglo-Scottish border, though it is sometimes loosely or colloquially described as being such.
Roman Britain was the territory that became the Roman province of Britannia after the Roman conquest of Britain, consisting of a large part of the island of Great Britain. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410.
Julius Caesar invaded Britain in 55 and 54 BC as part of his Gallic Wars. According to Caesar, the Britons had been overrun or culturally assimilated by the Belgae during the British Iron Age and had been aiding Caesar's enemies. The Belgae were the only Celtic tribe to cross the sea into Britain, for to all other Celtic tribes this land was unknown. He received tribute, installed the friendly king Mandubracius over the Trinovantes, and returned to Gaul. Planned invasions under Augustus were called off in 34, 27, and 25 BC. In 40 AD, Caligula assembled 200,000 men at the Channel on the continent, only to have them gather seashells (musculi) according to Suetonius, perhaps as a symbolic gesture to proclaim Caligula's victory over the sea. Three years later, Claudius directed four legions to invade Britain and restore the exiled king Verica over the Atrebates. The Romans defeated the Catuvellauni, and then organized their conquests as the province of Britain. By 47 AD, the Romans held the lands southeast of the Fosse Way. Control over Wales was delayed by reverses and the effects of Boudica's uprising, but the Romans expanded steadily northward.
The conquest of Britain continued under command of Gnaeus Julius Agricola (77–84), who expanded the Roman Empire as far as Caledonia. In mid-84 AD, Agricola faced the armies of the Caledonians, led by Calgacus, at the Battle of Mons Graupius. Battle casualties were estimated by Tacitus to be upwards of 10,000 on the Caledonian side and about 360 on the Roman side. The bloodbath at Mons Graupius concluded the forty-year conquest of Britain, a period that possibly saw between 100,000 and 250,000 Britons killed. In the context of pre-industrial warfare and of a total population of Britain of c. 2 million, these are very high figures.
Under the 2nd-century emperors Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, two walls were built to defend the Roman province from the Caledonians, whose realms in the Scottish Highlands were never controlled. Around 197 AD, the Severan Reforms divided Britain into two provinces: Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. During the Diocletian Reforms, at the end of the 3rd century, Britannia was divided into four provinces under the direction of a vicarius, who administered the Diocese of the Britains. A fifth province, Valentia, is attested in the later 4th century. For much of the later period of the Roman occupation, Britannia was subject to barbarian invasions and often came under the control of imperial usurpers and imperial pretenders. The final Roman withdrawal from Britain occurred around 410; the native kingdoms are considered to have formed Sub-Roman Britain after that.
Following the conquest of the Britons, a distinctive Romano-British culture emerged as the Romans introduced improved agriculture, urban planning, industrial production, and architecture. The Roman goddess Britannia became the female personification of Britain. After the initial invasions, Roman historians generally only mention Britain in passing. Thus, most present knowledge derives from archaeological investigations and occasional epigraphic evidence lauding the Britannic achievements of an emperor. Roman citizens settled in Britain from many parts of the Empire.
History
Britain was known to the Classical world. The Greeks, the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians traded for Cornish tin in the 4th century BC. The Greeks referred to the Cassiterides, or "tin islands", and placed them near the west coast of Europe. The Carthaginian sailor Himilco is said to have visited the island in the 6th or 5th century BC and the Greek explorer Pytheas in the 4th. It was regarded as a place of mystery, with some writers refusing to believe it existed.
The first direct Roman contact was when Julius Caesar undertook two expeditions in 55 and 54 BC, as part of his conquest of Gaul, believing the Britons were helping the Gallic resistance. The first expedition was more a reconnaissance than a full invasion and gained a foothold on the coast of Kent but was unable to advance further because of storm damage to the ships and a lack of cavalry. Despite the military failure, it was a political success, with the Roman Senate declaring a 20-day public holiday in Rome to honour the unprecedented achievement of obtaining hostages from Britain and defeating Belgic tribes on returning to the continent.
The second invasion involved a substantially larger force and Caesar coerced or invited many of the native Celtic tribes to pay tribute and give hostages in return for peace. A friendly local king, Mandubracius, was installed, and his rival, Cassivellaunus, was brought to terms. Hostages were taken, but historians disagree over whether any tribute was paid after Caesar returned to Gaul.
Caesar conquered no territory and left no troops behind, but he established clients and brought Britain into Rome's sphere of influence. Augustus planned invasions in 34, 27 and 25 BC, but circumstances were never favourable, and the relationship between Britain and Rome settled into one of diplomacy and trade. Strabo, writing late in Augustus's reign, claimed that taxes on trade brought in more annual revenue than any conquest could. Archaeology shows that there was an increase in imported luxury goods in southeastern Britain. Strabo also mentions British kings who sent embassies to Augustus, and Augustus's own Res Gestae refers to two British kings he received as refugees. When some of Tiberius's ships were carried to Britain in a storm during his campaigns in Germany in 16 AD, they came back with tales of monsters.
Rome appears to have encouraged a balance of power in southern Britain, supporting two powerful kingdoms: the Catuvellauni, ruled by the descendants of Tasciovanus, and the Atrebates, ruled by the descendants of Commius. This policy was followed until 39 or 40 AD, when Caligula received an exiled member of the Catuvellaunian dynasty and planned an invasion of Britain that collapsed in farcical circumstances before it left Gaul. When Claudius successfully invaded in 43 AD, it was in aid of another fugitive British ruler, Verica of the Atrebates.
Roman invasion
The invasion force in 43 AD was led by Aulus Plautius,[26] but it is unclear how many legions were sent. The Legio II Augusta, commanded by future emperor Vespasian, was the only one directly attested to have taken part. The Legio IX Hispana, the XIV Gemina (later styled Martia Victrix) and the XX (later styled Valeria Victrix) are known to have served during the Boudican Revolt of 60/61, and were probably there since the initial invasion. This is not certain because the Roman army was flexible, with units being moved around whenever necessary. The IX Hispana may have been permanently stationed, with records showing it at Eboracum (York) in 71 and on a building inscription there dated 108, before being destroyed in the east of the Empire, possibly during the Bar Kokhba revolt.
The invasion was delayed by a troop mutiny until an imperial freedman persuaded them to overcome their fear of crossing the Ocean and campaigning beyond the limits of the known world. They sailed in three divisions, and probably landed at Richborough in Kent; at least part of the force may have landed near Fishbourne, West Sussex.
The Catuvellauni and their allies were defeated in two battles: the first, assuming a Richborough landing, on the river Medway, the second on the river Thames. One of their leaders, Togodumnus, was killed, but his brother Caratacus survived to continue resistance elsewhere. Plautius halted at the Thames and sent for Claudius, who arrived with reinforcements, including artillery and elephants, for the final march to the Catuvellaunian capital, Camulodunum (Colchester). Vespasian subdued the southwest, Cogidubnus was set up as a friendly king of several territories, and treaties were made with tribes outside direct Roman control.
Establishment of Roman rule
After capturing the south of the island, the Romans turned their attention to what is now Wales. The Silures, Ordovices and Deceangli remained implacably opposed to the invaders and for the first few decades were the focus of Roman military attention, despite occasional minor revolts among Roman allies like the Brigantes and the Iceni. The Silures were led by Caratacus, and he carried out an effective guerrilla campaign against Governor Publius Ostorius Scapula. Finally, in 51, Ostorius lured Caratacus into a set-piece battle and defeated him. The British leader sought refuge among the Brigantes, but their queen, Cartimandua, proved her loyalty by surrendering him to the Romans. He was brought as a captive to Rome, where a dignified speech he made during Claudius's triumph persuaded the emperor to spare his life. The Silures were still not pacified, and Cartimandua's ex-husband Venutius replaced Caratacus as the most prominent leader of British resistance.
On Nero's accession, Roman Britain extended as far north as Lindum. Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, the conqueror of Mauretania (modern day Algeria and Morocco), then became governor of Britain, and in 60 and 61 he moved against Mona (Anglesey) to settle accounts with Druidism once and for all. Paulinus led his army across the Menai Strait and massacred the Druids and burnt their sacred groves.
While Paulinus was campaigning in Mona, the southeast of Britain rose in revolt under the leadership of Boudica. She was the widow of the recently deceased king of the Iceni, Prasutagus. The Roman historian Tacitus reports that Prasutagus had left a will leaving half his kingdom to Nero in the hope that the remainder would be left untouched. He was wrong. When his will was enforced, Rome[clarification needed] responded by violently seizing the tribe's lands in full. Boudica protested. In consequence, Rome[clarification needed] punished her and her daughters by flogging and rape. In response, the Iceni, joined by the Trinovantes, destroyed the Roman colony at Camulodunum (Colchester) and routed the part of the IXth Legion that was sent to relieve it. Paulinus rode to London (then called Londinium), the rebels' next target, but concluded it could not be defended. Abandoned, it was destroyed, as was Verulamium (St. Albans). Between seventy and eighty thousand people are said to have been killed in the three cities. But Paulinus regrouped with two of the three legions still available to him, chose a battlefield, and, despite being outnumbered by more than twenty to one, defeated the rebels in the Battle of Watling Street. Boudica died not long afterwards, by self-administered poison or by illness. During this time, the Emperor Nero considered withdrawing Roman forces from Britain altogether.
There was further turmoil in 69, the "Year of the Four Emperors". As civil war raged in Rome, weak governors were unable to control the legions in Britain, and Venutius of the Brigantes seized his chance. The Romans had previously defended Cartimandua against him, but this time were unable to do so. Cartimandua was evacuated, and Venutius was left in control of the north of the country. After Vespasian secured the empire, his first two appointments as governor, Quintus Petillius Cerialis and Sextus Julius Frontinus, took on the task of subduing the Brigantes and Silures respectively.[38] Frontinus extended Roman rule to all of South Wales, and initiated exploitation of the mineral resources, such as the gold mines at Dolaucothi.
In the following years, the Romans conquered more of the island, increasing the size of Roman Britain. Governor Gnaeus Julius Agricola, father-in-law to the historian Tacitus, conquered the Ordovices in 78. With the XX Valeria Victrix legion, Agricola defeated the Caledonians in 84 at the Battle of Mons Graupius, in north-east Scotland. This was the high-water mark of Roman territory in Britain: shortly after his victory, Agricola was recalled from Britain back to Rome, and the Romans initially retired to a more defensible line along the Forth–Clyde isthmus, freeing soldiers badly needed along other frontiers.
For much of the history of Roman Britain, a large number of soldiers were garrisoned on the island. This required that the emperor station a trusted senior man as governor of the province. As a result, many future emperors served as governors or legates in this province, including Vespasian, Pertinax, and Gordian I.
Roman military organisation in the north
In 84 AD
In 84 AD
In 155 AD
In 155 AD
Hadrian's Wall, and Antonine Wall
There is no historical source describing the decades that followed Agricola's recall. Even the name of his replacement is unknown. Archaeology has shown that some Roman forts south of the Forth–Clyde isthmus were rebuilt and enlarged; others appear to have been abandoned. By 87 the frontier had been consolidated on the Stanegate. Roman coins and pottery have been found circulating at native settlement sites in the Scottish Lowlands in the years before 100, indicating growing Romanisation. Some of the most important sources for this era are the writing tablets from the fort at Vindolanda in Northumberland, mostly dating to 90–110. These tablets provide evidence for the operation of a Roman fort at the edge of the Roman Empire, where officers' wives maintained polite society while merchants, hauliers and military personnel kept the fort operational and supplied.
Around 105 there appears to have been a serious setback at the hands of the tribes of the Picts: several Roman forts were destroyed by fire, with human remains and damaged armour at Trimontium (at modern Newstead, in SE Scotland) indicating hostilities at least at that site.[citation needed] There is also circumstantial evidence that auxiliary reinforcements were sent from Germany, and an unnamed British war of the period is mentioned on the gravestone of a tribune of Cyrene. Trajan's Dacian Wars may have led to troop reductions in the area or even total withdrawal followed by slighting of the forts by the Picts rather than an unrecorded military defeat. The Romans were also in the habit of destroying their own forts during an orderly withdrawal, in order to deny resources to an enemy. In either case, the frontier probably moved south to the line of the Stanegate at the Solway–Tyne isthmus around this time.
A new crisis occurred at the beginning of Hadrian's reign): a rising in the north which was suppressed by Quintus Pompeius Falco. When Hadrian reached Britannia on his famous tour of the Roman provinces around 120, he directed an extensive defensive wall, known to posterity as Hadrian's Wall, to be built close to the line of the Stanegate frontier. Hadrian appointed Aulus Platorius Nepos as governor to undertake this work who brought the Legio VI Victrix legion with him from Germania Inferior. This replaced the famous Legio IX Hispana, whose disappearance has been much discussed. Archaeology indicates considerable political instability in Scotland during the first half of the 2nd century, and the shifting frontier at this time should be seen in this context.
In the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161) the Hadrianic border was briefly extended north to the Forth–Clyde isthmus, where the Antonine Wall was built around 142 following the military reoccupation of the Scottish lowlands by a new governor, Quintus Lollius Urbicus.
The first Antonine occupation of Scotland ended as a result of a further crisis in 155–157, when the Brigantes revolted. With limited options to despatch reinforcements, the Romans moved their troops south, and this rising was suppressed by Governor Gnaeus Julius Verus. Within a year the Antonine Wall was recaptured, but by 163 or 164 it was abandoned. The second occupation was probably connected with Antoninus's undertakings to protect the Votadini or his pride in enlarging the empire, since the retreat to the Hadrianic frontier occurred not long after his death when a more objective strategic assessment of the benefits of the Antonine Wall could be made. The Romans did not entirely withdraw from Scotland at this time: the large fort at Newstead was maintained along with seven smaller outposts until at least 180.
During the twenty-year period following the reversion of the frontier to Hadrian's Wall in 163/4, Rome was concerned with continental issues, primarily problems in the Danubian provinces. Increasing numbers of hoards of buried coins in Britain at this time indicate that peace was not entirely achieved. Sufficient Roman silver has been found in Scotland to suggest more than ordinary trade, and it is likely that the Romans were reinforcing treaty agreements by paying tribute to their implacable enemies, the Picts.
In 175, a large force of Sarmatian cavalry, consisting of 5,500 men, arrived in Britannia, probably to reinforce troops fighting unrecorded uprisings. In 180, Hadrian's Wall was breached by the Picts and the commanding officer or governor was killed there in what Cassius Dio described as the most serious war of the reign of Commodus. Ulpius Marcellus was sent as replacement governor and by 184 he had won a new peace, only to be faced with a mutiny from his own troops. Unhappy with Marcellus's strictness, they tried to elect a legate named Priscus as usurper governor; he refused, but Marcellus was lucky to leave the province alive. The Roman army in Britannia continued its insubordination: they sent a delegation of 1,500 to Rome to demand the execution of Tigidius Perennis, a Praetorian prefect who they felt had earlier wronged them by posting lowly equites to legate ranks in Britannia. Commodus met the party outside Rome and agreed to have Perennis killed, but this only made them feel more secure in their mutiny.
The future emperor Pertinax (lived 126–193) was sent to Britannia to quell the mutiny and was initially successful in regaining control, but a riot broke out among the troops. Pertinax was attacked and left for dead, and asked to be recalled to Rome, where he briefly succeeded Commodus as emperor in 192.
3rd century
The death of Commodus put into motion a series of events which eventually led to civil war. Following the short reign of Pertinax, several rivals for the emperorship emerged, including Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus. The latter was the new governor of Britannia, and had seemingly won the natives over after their earlier rebellions; he also controlled three legions, making him a potentially significant claimant. His sometime rival Severus promised him the title of Caesar in return for Albinus's support against Pescennius Niger in the east. Once Niger was neutralised, Severus turned on his ally in Britannia; it is likely that Albinus saw he would be the next target and was already preparing for war.
Albinus crossed to Gaul in 195, where the provinces were also sympathetic to him, and set up at Lugdunum. Severus arrived in February 196, and the ensuing battle was decisive. Albinus came close to victory, but Severus's reinforcements won the day, and the British governor committed suicide. Severus soon purged Albinus's sympathisers and perhaps confiscated large tracts of land in Britain as punishment. Albinus had demonstrated the major problem posed by Roman Britain. In order to maintain security, the province required the presence of three legions, but command of these forces provided an ideal power base for ambitious rivals. Deploying those legions elsewhere would strip the island of its garrison, leaving the province defenceless against uprisings by the native Celtic tribes and against invasion by the Picts and Scots.
The traditional view is that northern Britain descended into anarchy during Albinus's absence. Cassius Dio records that the new Governor, Virius Lupus, was obliged to buy peace from a fractious northern tribe known as the Maeatae. The succession of militarily distinguished governors who were subsequently appointed suggests that enemies of Rome were posing a difficult challenge, and Lucius Alfenus Senecio's report to Rome in 207 describes barbarians "rebelling, over-running the land, taking loot and creating destruction". In order to rebel, of course, one must be a subject – the Maeatae clearly did not consider themselves such. Senecio requested either reinforcements or an Imperial expedition, and Severus chose the latter, despite being 62 years old. Archaeological evidence shows that Senecio had been rebuilding the defences of Hadrian's Wall and the forts beyond it, and Severus's arrival in Britain prompted the enemy tribes to sue for peace immediately. The emperor had not come all that way to leave without a victory, and it is likely that he wished to provide his teenage sons Caracalla and Geta with first-hand experience of controlling a hostile barbarian land.
Northern campaigns, 208–211
An invasion of Caledonia led by Severus and probably numbering around 20,000 troops moved north in 208 or 209, crossing the Wall and passing through eastern Scotland on a route similar to that used by Agricola. Harried by punishing guerrilla raids by the northern tribes and slowed by an unforgiving terrain, Severus was unable to meet the Caledonians on a battlefield. The emperor's forces pushed north as far as the River Tay, but little appears to have been achieved by the invasion, as peace treaties were signed with the Caledonians. By 210 Severus had returned to York, and the frontier had once again become Hadrian's Wall. He assumed the title Britannicus but the title meant little with regard to the unconquered north, which clearly remained outside the authority of the Empire. Almost immediately, another northern tribe, the Maeatae, went to war. Caracalla left with a punitive expedition, but by the following year his ailing father had died and he and his brother left the province to press their claim to the throne.
As one of his last acts, Severus tried to solve the problem of powerful and rebellious governors in Britain by dividing the province into Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. This kept the potential for rebellion in check for almost a century. Historical sources provide little information on the following decades, a period known as the Long Peace. Even so, the number of buried hoards found from this period rises, suggesting continuing unrest. A string of forts were built along the coast of southern Britain to control piracy; and over the following hundred years they increased in number, becoming the Saxon Shore Forts.
During the middle of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire was convulsed by barbarian invasions, rebellions and new imperial pretenders. Britannia apparently avoided these troubles, but increasing inflation had its economic effect. In 259 a so-called Gallic Empire was established when Postumus rebelled against Gallienus. Britannia was part of this until 274 when Aurelian reunited the empire.
Around the year 280, a half-British officer named Bonosus was in command of the Roman's Rhenish fleet when the Germans managed to burn it at anchor. To avoid punishment, he proclaimed himself emperor at Colonia Agrippina (Cologne) but was crushed by Marcus Aurelius Probus. Soon afterwards, an unnamed governor of one of the British provinces also attempted an uprising. Probus put it down by sending irregular troops of Vandals and Burgundians across the Channel.
The Carausian Revolt led to a short-lived Britannic Empire from 286 to 296. Carausius was a Menapian naval commander of the Britannic fleet; he revolted upon learning of a death sentence ordered by the emperor Maximian on charges of having abetted Frankish and Saxon pirates and having embezzled recovered treasure. He consolidated control over all the provinces of Britain and some of northern Gaul while Maximian dealt with other uprisings. An invasion in 288 failed to unseat him and an uneasy peace ensued, with Carausius issuing coins and inviting official recognition. In 293, the junior emperor Constantius Chlorus launched a second offensive, besieging the rebel port of Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) by land and sea. After it fell, Constantius attacked Carausius's other Gallic holdings and Frankish allies and Carausius was usurped by his treasurer, Allectus. Julius Asclepiodotus landed an invasion fleet near Southampton and defeated Allectus in a land battle.
Diocletian's reforms
As part of Diocletian's reforms, the provinces of Roman Britain were organized as a diocese governed by a vicarius under a praetorian prefect who, from 318 to 331, was Junius Bassus who was based at Augusta Treverorum (Trier).
The vicarius was based at Londinium as the principal city of the diocese. Londinium and Eboracum continued as provincial capitals and the territory was divided up into smaller provinces for administrative efficiency.
Civilian and military authority of a province was no longer exercised by one official and the governor was stripped of military command which was handed over to the Dux Britanniarum by 314. The governor of a province assumed more financial duties (the procurators of the Treasury ministry were slowly phased out in the first three decades of the 4th century). The Dux was commander of the troops of the Northern Region, primarily along Hadrian's Wall and his responsibilities included protection of the frontier. He had significant autonomy due in part to the distance from his superiors.
The tasks of the vicarius were to control and coordinate the activities of governors; monitor but not interfere with the daily functioning of the Treasury and Crown Estates, which had their own administrative infrastructure; and act as the regional quartermaster-general of the armed forces. In short, as the sole civilian official with superior authority, he had general oversight of the administration, as well as direct control, while not absolute, over governors who were part of the prefecture; the other two fiscal departments were not.
The early-4th-century Verona List, the late-4th-century work of Sextus Rufus, and the early-5th-century List of Offices and work of Polemius Silvius all list four provinces by some variation of the names Britannia I, Britannia II, Maxima Caesariensis, and Flavia Caesariensis; all of these seem to have initially been directed by a governor (praeses) of equestrian rank. The 5th-century sources list a fifth province named Valentia and give its governor and Maxima's a consular rank. Ammianus mentions Valentia as well, describing its creation by Count Theodosius in 369 after the quelling of the Great Conspiracy. Ammianus considered it a re-creation of a formerly lost province, leading some to think there had been an earlier fifth province under another name (may be the enigmatic "Vespasiana"), and leading others to place Valentia beyond Hadrian's Wall, in the territory abandoned south of the Antonine Wall.
Reconstructions of the provinces and provincial capitals during this period partially rely on ecclesiastical records. On the assumption that the early bishoprics mimicked the imperial hierarchy, scholars use the list of bishops for the 314 Council of Arles. The list is patently corrupt: the British delegation is given as including a Bishop "Eborius" of Eboracum and two bishops "from Londinium" (one de civitate Londinensi and the other de civitate colonia Londinensium). The error is variously emended: Bishop Ussher proposed Colonia, Selden Col. or Colon. Camalodun., and Spelman Colonia Cameloduni (all various names of Colchester); Gale and Bingham offered colonia Lindi and Henry Colonia Lindum (both Lincoln); and Bishop Stillingfleet and Francis Thackeray read it as a scribal error of Civ. Col. Londin. for an original Civ. Col. Leg. II (Caerleon). On the basis of the Verona List, the priest and deacon who accompanied the bishops in some manuscripts are ascribed to the fourth province.
In the 12th century, Gerald of Wales described the supposedly metropolitan sees of the early British church established by the legendary SS Fagan and "Duvian". He placed Britannia Prima in Wales and western England with its capital at "Urbs Legionum" (Caerleon); Britannia Secunda in Kent and southern England with its capital at "Dorobernia" (Canterbury); Flavia in Mercia and central England with its capital at "Lundonia" (London); "Maximia" in northern England with its capital at Eboracum (York); and Valentia in "Albania which is now Scotland" with its capital at St Andrews. Modern scholars generally dispute the last: some place Valentia at or beyond Hadrian's Wall but St Andrews is beyond even the Antonine Wall and Gerald seems to have simply been supporting the antiquity of its church for political reasons.
A common modern reconstruction places the consular province of Maxima at Londinium, on the basis of its status as the seat of the diocesan vicarius; places Prima in the west according to Gerald's traditional account but moves its capital to Corinium of the Dobunni (Cirencester) on the basis of an artifact recovered there referring to Lucius Septimius, a provincial rector; places Flavia north of Maxima, with its capital placed at Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to match one emendation of the bishops list from Arles;[d] and places Secunda in the north with its capital at Eboracum (York). Valentia is placed variously in northern Wales around Deva (Chester); beside Hadrian's Wall around Luguvalium (Carlisle); and between the walls along Dere Street.
4th century
Emperor Constantius returned to Britain in 306, despite his poor health, with an army aiming to invade northern Britain, the provincial defences having been rebuilt in the preceding years. Little is known of his campaigns with scant archaeological evidence, but fragmentary historical sources suggest he reached the far north of Britain and won a major battle in early summer before returning south. His son Constantine (later Constantine the Great) spent a year in northern Britain at his father's side, campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall in the summer and autumn. Constantius died in York in July 306 with his son at his side. Constantine then successfully used Britain as the starting point of his march to the imperial throne, unlike the earlier usurper, Albinus.
In the middle of the century, the province was loyal for a few years to the usurper Magnentius, who succeeded Constans following the latter's death. After the defeat and death of Magnentius in the Battle of Mons Seleucus in 353, Constantius II dispatched his chief imperial notary Paulus Catena to Britain to hunt down Magnentius's supporters. The investigation deteriorated into a witch-hunt, which forced the vicarius Flavius Martinus to intervene. When Paulus retaliated by accusing Martinus of treason, the vicarius attacked Paulus with a sword, with the aim of assassinating him, but in the end he committed suicide.
As the 4th century progressed, there were increasing attacks from the Saxons in the east and the Scoti (Irish) in the west. A series of forts had been built, starting around 280, to defend the coasts, but these preparations were not enough when, in 367, a general assault of Saxons, Picts, Scoti and Attacotti, combined with apparent dissension in the garrison on Hadrian's Wall, left Roman Britain prostrate. The invaders overwhelmed the entire western and northern regions of Britannia and the cities were sacked. This crisis, sometimes called the Barbarian Conspiracy or the Great Conspiracy, was settled by Count Theodosius from 368 with a string of military and civil reforms. Theodosius crossed from Bononia (Boulogne-sur-Mer) and marched on Londinium where he began to deal with the invaders and made his base.[ An amnesty was promised to deserters which enabled Theodosius to regarrison abandoned forts. By the end of the year Hadrian's Wall was retaken and order returned. Considerable reorganization was undertaken in Britain, including the creation of a new province named Valentia, probably to better address the state of the far north. A new Dux Britanniarum was appointed, Dulcitius, with Civilis to head a new civilian administration.
Another imperial usurper, Magnus Maximus, raised the standard of revolt at Segontium (Caernarfon) in north Wales in 383, and crossed the English Channel. Maximus held much of the western empire, and fought a successful campaign against the Picts and Scots around 384. His continental exploits required troops from Britain, and it appears that forts at Chester and elsewhere were abandoned in this period, triggering raids and settlement in north Wales by the Irish. His rule was ended in 388, but not all the British troops may have returned: the Empire's military resources were stretched to the limit along the Rhine and Danube. Around 396 there were more barbarian incursions into Britain. Stilicho led a punitive expedition. It seems peace was restored by 399, and it is likely that no further garrisoning was ordered; by 401 more troops were withdrawn, to assist in the war against Alaric I.
End of Roman rule
The traditional view of historians, informed by the work of Michael Rostovtzeff, was of a widespread economic decline at the beginning of the 5th century. Consistent archaeological evidence has told another story, and the accepted view is undergoing re-evaluation. Some features are agreed: more opulent but fewer urban houses, an end to new public building and some abandonment of existing ones, with the exception of defensive structures, and the widespread formation of "dark earth" deposits indicating increased horticulture within urban precincts. Turning over the basilica at Silchester to industrial uses in the late 3rd century, doubtless officially condoned, marks an early stage in the de-urbanisation of Roman Britain.
The abandonment of some sites is now believed to be later than had been thought. Many buildings changed use but were not destroyed. There was a growing number of barbarian attacks, but these targeted vulnerable rural settlements rather than towns. Some villas such as Chedworth, Great Casterton in Rutland and Hucclecote in Gloucestershire had new mosaic floors laid around this time, suggesting that economic problems may have been limited and patchy. Many suffered some decay before being abandoned in the 5th century; the story of Saint Patrick indicates that villas were still occupied until at least 430. Exceptionally, new buildings were still going up in this period in Verulamium and Cirencester. Some urban centres, for example Canterbury, Cirencester, Wroxeter, Winchester and Gloucester, remained active during the 5th and 6th centuries, surrounded by large farming estates.
Urban life had generally grown less intense by the fourth quarter of the 4th century, and coins minted between 378 and 388 are very rare, indicating a likely combination of economic decline, diminishing numbers of troops, problems with the payment of soldiers and officials or with unstable conditions during the usurpation of Magnus Maximus 383–87. Coinage circulation increased during the 390s, but never attained the levels of earlier decades. Copper coins are very rare after 402, though minted silver and gold coins from hoards indicate they were still present in the province even if they were not being spent. By 407 there were very few new Roman coins going into circulation, and by 430 it is likely that coinage as a medium of exchange had been abandoned. Mass-produced wheel thrown pottery ended at approximately the same time; the rich continued to use metal and glass vessels, while the poor made do with humble "grey ware" or resorted to leather or wooden containers.
Sub-Roman Britain
Towards the end of the 4th century Roman rule in Britain came under increasing pressure from barbarian attacks. Apparently, there were not enough troops to mount an effective defence. After elevating two disappointing usurpers, the army chose a soldier, Constantine III, to become emperor in 407. He crossed to Gaul but was defeated by Honorius; it is unclear how many troops remained or ever returned, or whether a commander-in-chief in Britain was ever reappointed. A Saxon incursion in 408 was apparently repelled by the Britons, and in 409 Zosimus records that the natives expelled the Roman civilian administration. Zosimus may be referring to the Bacaudic rebellion of the Breton inhabitants of Armorica since he describes how, in the aftermath of the revolt, all of Armorica and the rest of Gaul followed the example of the Brettaniai. A letter from Emperor Honorius in 410 has traditionally been seen as rejecting a British appeal for help, but it may have been addressed to Bruttium or Bologna. With the imperial layers of the military and civil government gone, administration and justice fell to municipal authorities, and local warlords gradually emerged all over Britain, still utilizing Romano-British ideals and conventions. Historian Stuart Laycock has investigated this process and emphasised elements of continuity from the British tribes in the pre-Roman and Roman periods, through to the native post-Roman kingdoms.
In British tradition, pagan Saxons were invited by Vortigern to assist in fighting the Picts, Scoti, and Déisi. (Germanic migration into Roman Britannia may have begun much earlier. There is recorded evidence, for example, of Germanic auxiliaries supporting the legions in Britain in the 1st and 2nd centuries.) The new arrivals rebelled, plunging the country into a series of wars that eventually led to the Saxon occupation of Lowland Britain by 600. Around this time, many Britons fled to Brittany (hence its name), Galicia and probably Ireland. A significant date in sub-Roman Britain is the Groans of the Britons, an unanswered appeal to Aetius, leading general of the western Empire, for assistance against Saxon invasion in 446. Another is the Battle of Deorham in 577, after which the significant cities of Bath, Cirencester and Gloucester fell and the Saxons reached the western sea.
Historians generally reject the historicity of King Arthur, who is supposed to have resisted the Anglo-Saxon conquest according to later medieval legends.
Trade
During the Roman period Britain's continental trade was principally directed across the Southern North Sea and Eastern Channel, focusing on the narrow Strait of Dover, with more limited links via the Atlantic seaways. The most important British ports were London and Richborough, whilst the continental ports most heavily engaged in trade with Britain were Boulogne and the sites of Domburg and Colijnsplaat at the mouth of the river Scheldt. During the Late Roman period it is likely that the shore forts played some role in continental trade alongside their defensive functions.
Exports to Britain included: coin; pottery, particularly red-gloss terra sigillata (samian ware) from southern, central and eastern Gaul, as well as various other wares from Gaul and the Rhine provinces; olive oil from southern Spain in amphorae; wine from Gaul in amphorae and barrels; salted fish products from the western Mediterranean and Brittany in barrels and amphorae; preserved olives from southern Spain in amphorae; lava quern-stones from Mayen on the middle Rhine; glass; and some agricultural products. Britain's exports are harder to detect archaeologically, but will have included metals, such as silver and gold and some lead, iron and copper. Other exports probably included agricultural products, oysters and salt, whilst large quantities of coin would have been re-exported back to the continent as well.
These products moved as a result of private trade and also through payments and contracts established by the Roman state to support its military forces and officials on the island, as well as through state taxation and extraction of resources. Up until the mid-3rd century, the Roman state's payments appear to have been unbalanced, with far more products sent to Britain, to support its large military force (which had reached c. 53,000 by the mid-2nd century), than were extracted from the island.
It has been argued that Roman Britain's continental trade peaked in the late 1st century AD and thereafter declined as a result of an increasing reliance on local products by the population of Britain, caused by economic development on the island and by the Roman state's desire to save money by shifting away from expensive long-distance imports. Evidence has been outlined that suggests that the principal decline in Roman Britain's continental trade may have occurred in the late 2nd century AD, from c. 165 AD onwards. This has been linked to the economic impact of contemporary Empire-wide crises: the Antonine Plague and the Marcomannic Wars.
From the mid-3rd century onwards, Britain no longer received such a wide range and extensive quantity of foreign imports as it did during the earlier part of the Roman period; vast quantities of coin from continental mints reached the island, whilst there is historical evidence for the export of large amounts of British grain to the continent during the mid-4th century. During the latter part of the Roman period British agricultural products, paid for by both the Roman state and by private consumers, clearly played an important role in supporting the military garrisons and urban centres of the northwestern continental Empire. This came about as a result of the rapid decline in the size of the British garrison from the mid-3rd century onwards (thus freeing up more goods for export), and because of 'Germanic' incursions across the Rhine, which appear to have reduced rural settlement and agricultural output in northern Gaul.
Economy
Mineral extraction sites such as the Dolaucothi gold mine were probably first worked by the Roman army from c. 75, and at some later stage passed to civilian operators. The mine developed as a series of opencast workings, mainly by the use of hydraulic mining methods. They are described by Pliny the Elder in his Natural History in great detail. Essentially, water supplied by aqueducts was used to prospect for ore veins by stripping away soil to reveal the bedrock. If veins were present, they were attacked using fire-setting and the ore removed for comminution. The dust was washed in a small stream of water and the heavy gold dust and gold nuggets collected in riffles. The diagram at right shows how Dolaucothi developed from c. 75 through to the 1st century. When opencast work was no longer feasible, tunnels were driven to follow the veins. The evidence from the site shows advanced technology probably under the control of army engineers.
The Wealden ironworking zone, the lead and silver mines of the Mendip Hills and the tin mines of Cornwall seem to have been private enterprises leased from the government for a fee. Mining had long been practised in Britain (see Grimes Graves), but the Romans introduced new technical knowledge and large-scale industrial production to revolutionise the industry. It included hydraulic mining to prospect for ore by removing overburden as well as work alluvial deposits. The water needed for such large-scale operations was supplied by one or more aqueducts, those surviving at Dolaucothi being especially impressive. Many prospecting areas were in dangerous, upland country, and, although mineral exploitation was presumably one of the main reasons for the Roman invasion, it had to wait until these areas were subdued.
By the 3rd and 4th centuries, small towns could often be found near villas. In these towns, villa owners and small-scale farmers could obtain specialist tools. Lowland Britain in the 4th century was agriculturally prosperous enough to export grain to the continent. This prosperity lay behind the blossoming of villa building and decoration that occurred between AD 300 and 350.
Britain's cities also consumed Roman-style pottery and other goods, and were centres through which goods could be distributed elsewhere. At Wroxeter in Shropshire, stock smashed into a gutter during a 2nd-century fire reveals that Gaulish samian ware was being sold alongside mixing bowls from the Mancetter-Hartshill industry of the West Midlands. Roman designs were most popular, but rural craftsmen still produced items derived from the Iron Age La Tène artistic traditions. Britain was home to much gold, which attracted Roman invaders. By the 3rd century, Britain's economy was diverse and well established, with commerce extending into the non-Romanised north.
Government
Further information: Governors of Roman Britain, Roman client kingdoms in Britain, and Roman auxiliaries in Britain
Under the Roman Empire, administration of peaceful provinces was ultimately the remit of the Senate, but those, like Britain, that required permanent garrisons, were placed under the Emperor's control. In practice imperial provinces were run by resident governors who were members of the Senate and had held the consulship. These men were carefully selected, often having strong records of military success and administrative ability. In Britain, a governor's role was primarily military, but numerous other tasks were also his responsibility, such as maintaining diplomatic relations with local client kings, building roads, ensuring the public courier system functioned, supervising the civitates and acting as a judge in important legal cases. When not campaigning, he would travel the province hearing complaints and recruiting new troops.
To assist him in legal matters he had an adviser, the legatus juridicus, and those in Britain appear to have been distinguished lawyers perhaps because of the challenge of incorporating tribes into the imperial system and devising a workable method of taxing them. Financial administration was dealt with by a procurator with junior posts for each tax-raising power. Each legion in Britain had a commander who answered to the governor and, in time of war, probably directly ruled troublesome districts. Each of these commands carried a tour of duty of two to three years in different provinces. Below these posts was a network of administrative managers covering intelligence gathering, sending reports to Rome, organising military supplies and dealing with prisoners. A staff of seconded soldiers provided clerical services.
Colchester was probably the earliest capital of Roman Britain, but it was soon eclipsed by London with its strong mercantile connections. The different forms of municipal organisation in Britannia were known as civitas (which were subdivided, amongst other forms, into colonies such as York, Colchester, Gloucester and Lincoln and municipalities such as Verulamium), and were each governed by a senate of local landowners, whether Brythonic or Roman, who elected magistrates concerning judicial and civic affairs. The various civitates sent representatives to a yearly provincial council in order to profess loyalty to the Roman state, to send direct petitions to the Emperor in times of extraordinary need, and to worship the imperial cult.
Demographics
Roman Britain had an estimated population between 2.8 million and 3 million people at the end of the second century. At the end of the fourth century, it had an estimated population of 3.6 million people, of whom 125,000 consisted of the Roman army and their families and dependents.[80] The urban population of Roman Britain was about 240,000 people at the end of the fourth century. The capital city of Londinium is estimated to have had a population of about 60,000 people. Londinium was an ethnically diverse city with inhabitants from the Roman Empire, including natives of Britannia, continental Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. There was also cultural diversity in other Roman-British towns, which were sustained by considerable migration, from Britannia and other Roman territories, including continental Europe, Roman Syria, the Eastern Mediterranean and North Africa. In a study conducted in 2012, around 45 percent of sites investigated dating from the Roman period had at least one individual of North African origin.
Town and country
During their occupation of Britain the Romans founded a number of important settlements, many of which survive. The towns suffered attrition in the later 4th century, when public building ceased and some were abandoned to private uses. Place names survived the deurbanised Sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, and historiography has been at pains to signal the expected survivals, but archaeology shows that a bare handful of Roman towns were continuously occupied. According to S.T. Loseby, the very idea of a town as a centre of power and administration was reintroduced to England by the Roman Christianising mission to Canterbury, and its urban revival was delayed to the 10th century.
Roman towns can be broadly grouped in two categories. Civitates, "public towns" were formally laid out on a grid plan, and their role in imperial administration occasioned the construction of public buildings. The much more numerous category of vici, "small towns" grew on informal plans, often round a camp or at a ford or crossroads; some were not small, others were scarcely urban, some not even defended by a wall, the characteristic feature of a place of any importance.
Cities and towns which have Roman origins, or were extensively developed by them are listed with their Latin names in brackets; civitates are marked C
Alcester (Alauna)
Alchester
Aldborough, North Yorkshire (Isurium Brigantum) C
Bath (Aquae Sulis) C
Brough (Petuaria) C
Buxton (Aquae Arnemetiae)
Caerleon (Isca Augusta) C
Caernarfon (Segontium) C
Caerwent (Venta Silurum) C
Caister-on-Sea C
Canterbury (Durovernum Cantiacorum) C
Carlisle (Luguvalium) C
Carmarthen (Moridunum) C
Chelmsford (Caesaromagus)
Chester (Deva Victrix) C
Chester-le-Street (Concangis)
Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum) C
Cirencester (Corinium) C
Colchester (Camulodunum) C
Corbridge (Coria) C
Dorchester (Durnovaria) C
Dover (Portus Dubris)
Exeter (Isca Dumnoniorum) C
Gloucester (Glevum) C
Great Chesterford (the name of this vicus is unknown)
Ilchester (Lindinis) C
Leicester (Ratae Corieltauvorum) C
Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) C
London (Londinium) C
Manchester (Mamucium) C
Newcastle upon Tyne (Pons Aelius)
Northwich (Condate)
St Albans (Verulamium) C
Silchester (Calleva Atrebatum) C
Towcester (Lactodurum)
Whitchurch (Mediolanum) C
Winchester (Venta Belgarum) C
Wroxeter (Viroconium Cornoviorum) C
York (Eboracum) C
Religion
The druids, the Celtic priestly caste who were believed to originate in Britain, were outlawed by Claudius, and in 61 they vainly defended their sacred groves from destruction by the Romans on the island of Mona (Anglesey). Under Roman rule the Britons continued to worship native Celtic deities, such as Ancasta, but often conflated with their Roman equivalents, like Mars Rigonemetos at Nettleham.
The degree to which earlier native beliefs survived is difficult to gauge precisely. Certain European ritual traits such as the significance of the number 3, the importance of the head and of water sources such as springs remain in the archaeological record, but the differences in the votive offerings made at the baths at Bath, Somerset, before and after the Roman conquest suggest that continuity was only partial. Worship of the Roman emperor is widely recorded, especially at military sites. The founding of a Roman temple to Claudius at Camulodunum was one of the impositions that led to the revolt of Boudica. By the 3rd century, Pagans Hill Roman Temple in Somerset was able to exist peaceably and it did so into the 5th century.
Pagan religious practices were supported by priests, represented in Britain by votive deposits of priestly regalia such as chain crowns from West Stow and Willingham Fen.
Eastern cults such as Mithraism also grew in popularity towards the end of the occupation. The London Mithraeum is one example of the popularity of mystery religions among the soldiery. Temples to Mithras also exist in military contexts at Vindobala on Hadrian's Wall (the Rudchester Mithraeum) and at Segontium in Roman Wales (the Caernarfon Mithraeum).
Christianity
It is not clear when or how Christianity came to Britain. A 2nd-century "word square" has been discovered in Mamucium, the Roman settlement of Manchester. It consists of an anagram of PATER NOSTER carved on a piece of amphora. There has been discussion by academics whether the "word square" is a Christian artefact, but if it is, it is one of the earliest examples of early Christianity in Britain. The earliest confirmed written evidence for Christianity in Britain is a statement by Tertullian, c. 200 AD, in which he described "all the limits of the Spains, and the diverse nations of the Gauls, and the haunts of the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, but subjugated to Christ". Archaeological evidence for Christian communities begins to appear in the 3rd and 4th centuries. Small timber churches are suggested at Lincoln and Silchester and baptismal fonts have been found at Icklingham and the Saxon Shore Fort at Richborough. The Icklingham font is made of lead, and visible in the British Museum. A Roman Christian graveyard exists at the same site in Icklingham. A possible Roman 4th-century church and associated burial ground was also discovered at Butt Road on the south-west outskirts of Colchester during the construction of the new police station there, overlying an earlier pagan cemetery. The Water Newton Treasure is a hoard of Christian silver church plate from the early 4th century and the Roman villas at Lullingstone and Hinton St Mary contained Christian wall paintings and mosaics respectively. A large 4th-century cemetery at Poundbury with its east–west oriented burials and lack of grave goods has been interpreted as an early Christian burial ground, although such burial rites were also becoming increasingly common in pagan contexts during the period.
The Church in Britain seems to have developed the customary diocesan system, as evidenced from the records of the Council of Arles in Gaul in 314: represented at the council were bishops from thirty-five sees from Europe and North Africa, including three bishops from Britain, Eborius of York, Restitutus of London, and Adelphius, possibly a bishop of Lincoln. No other early sees are documented, and the material remains of early church structures are far to seek. The existence of a church in the forum courtyard of Lincoln and the martyrium of Saint Alban on the outskirts of Roman Verulamium are exceptional. Alban, the first British Christian martyr and by far the most prominent, is believed to have died in the early 4th century (some date him in the middle 3rd century), followed by Saints Julius and Aaron of Isca Augusta. Christianity was legalised in the Roman Empire by Constantine I in 313. Theodosius I made Christianity the state religion of the empire in 391, and by the 5th century it was well established. One belief labelled a heresy by the church authorities — Pelagianism — was originated by a British monk teaching in Rome: Pelagius lived c. 354 to c. 420/440.
A letter found on a lead tablet in Bath, Somerset, datable to c. 363, had been widely publicised as documentary evidence regarding the state of Christianity in Britain during Roman times. According to its first translator, it was written in Wroxeter by a Christian man called Vinisius to a Christian woman called Nigra, and was claimed as the first epigraphic record of Christianity in Britain. This translation of the letter was apparently based on grave paleographical errors, and the text has nothing to do with Christianity, and in fact relates to pagan rituals.
Environmental changes
The Romans introduced a number of species to Britain, including possibly the now-rare Roman nettle (Urtica pilulifera), said to have been used by soldiers to warm their arms and legs, and the edible snail Helix pomatia. There is also some evidence they may have introduced rabbits, but of the smaller southern mediterranean type. The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) prevalent in modern Britain is assumed to have been introduced from the continent after the Norman invasion of 1066. Box (Buxus sempervirens) is rarely recorded before the Roman period, but becomes a common find in towns and villas
Legacy
During their occupation of Britain the Romans built an extensive network of roads which continued to be used in later centuries and many are still followed today. The Romans also built water supply, sanitation and wastewater systems. Many of Britain's major cities, such as London (Londinium), Manchester (Mamucium) and York (Eboracum), were founded by the Romans, but the original Roman settlements were abandoned not long after the Romans left.
Unlike many other areas of the Western Roman Empire, the current majority language is not a Romance language, or a language descended from the pre-Roman inhabitants. The British language at the time of the invasion was Common Brittonic, and remained so after the Romans withdrew. It later split into regional languages, notably Cumbric, Cornish, Breton and Welsh. Examination of these languages suggests some 800 Latin words were incorporated into Common Brittonic (see Brittonic languages). The current majority language, English, is based on the languages of the Germanic tribes who migrated to the island from continental Europe
Being at the foot of the French Alps, the Isère is a region that was always subject to influences from over the mountains, especially where architecture was concerned. Far from being an impassable barrier, the Alps were crossed regularly in either direction throughout the Middle Ages, with a number of passes allowing passage during the Summer season. This was especially true after 973, when the Count of Provence booted the last Arabs out of their last bases, which made the roads a lot more safe between Savoy and Italy.
The village church of Saint-Jean-le-Vieux, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, shows obvious signs (1) of very old age, and (2) of such ultramontane influence. It was another remarkable find made during this Winter expedition in Isère, and although the inside is not interesting, the outside is, I thought, worth a couple of uploads.
Photos taken for the Fondation pour la Sauvegarde de l’Art Français, with which I work as a pro bono photographer.
This church is yet another one that’s been plastered over, and it is quite regrettable, as its large proportions (for a village church) and what’s left visible of the decoration lead me to believe the stonework must have looked very interesting indeed...
The façade, in particular, shows lovely and original bandes lombardes and an oculus of interesting design.
Sven has really blown me away with his stylish mods of my Ford GT!! I particularly love the lights and front end,
He has done what I couldn’t do and made this beast much closer to the real deal!!! Love it mate, always a pleasure to see people level up the builds like this have a #supercarsunday everyone #ford #gt #hdrphotography #lego #photo #custom #moc #lego #technic #instagood #instalike #instacool #influencer
Another projection in another part of the gardens, this time onto clouds created by a dry ice machine, flickering faces on the glowing clouds, like the supposed ectoplasm and apparitions mediums in the Victorian and Edwardian era would miraculously produce in darkened seance rooms (until folk like Harry Houdini exposed them as total frauds using stage magic tricks). In the chill dark of the gardens on a winter night, frozen autumn leaves crunching under foot, the dry ice mist floating around and this "ghost" floating around in the air, it was all very spooky and phantasmagoric.
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Italy – Villa d’Este
The Villa d’Este is a 16th century building in Tivoli, near Rome. It was commissioned by Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este (1509-1572). Because of his great influence and connections he wanted passionately to become Pope and in spite of his 5 attempts he was unsuccessful.
Construction began in 1560. In that time till 1569 many demolitions took place, private houses, public buildings and roads. Although there was much hue and cry, he was to powerful a man to let anything step into his path. A lot of material (marble and statues) came from other excavations in the area, such as the Villa Hadriana. The river Aniene was diverted to make a comples system of water jets, pools and cascades. Out of this intense construction rose terraces, arcades, grottos and other architectural structures. Canals were dug out and over 600 foot of pipework were laid. This was needed to feed the extensive number of fountains that were to be installed.
The garden was carefully laid out into to compartments, each to be close to 100 foot across. Its final effect is awesome and to stand on the terrace and view the whole garden is a breadth taking experience.
The Cardinal was also the Governor of Tivoli and had a property that went with the title. This was too small for his occupation so it was demolished and a new one was built on the site. The plans for the construction were left to the control of Alberto Galvani, court architect of the Este. He in turn obtained the services of Livio Agresti for the internal decoration and between 1565 and 1566 a team of artists under the direction of Girolamo Muziano and Frederico Zuccari began the incredible task of painting the villa. From 1867–1872 there were many teams of painters, sculptors and stucco artisans, as well as ceramists, mosaic artist and fountain engineers. Work was not nearly as fast as the Cardinal would have liked but he had many financial difficulties after losing some of his ecclesiastical positions in France. There was much to do, in 1872 the top floors of the villa were redecorated and there was an urgency to complete the construction of the Dragon Fountain, the reason for the speed to complete this part was the visit of Pope Gregory XIII. However in December the Cardinal died and the property passed on to his nephew Cardinal Luiggi. Although construction carried on, it was on a much smaller scale, the maintenance costs being much higher than the new Cardinal imagined. Cardinal Luiggi died in 1586 and the Villa was then owned by the Cardinal Deacons of the Sacred College by 1599 it was passed back to the Este family, this time with Cardinal Alessandro who carried out major restoration work to both Villa and Gardens.
This concludes the early part of the Villa’s history, there is much more to tell but if you are interested please go to Wikipedia for the rest of the story.
Items of interest to see:
1: The Hall of the Stories of Solomon.
2: The Fountain of Venus.
3: The Salon.
4: Ippolito’s Bedroom.
5: The Hall of Glory.
6: The Hall of Noah.
7: One Hundred Fountains.
8: The Fountain of Neptune.
9: The Oval Fountain or ‘Fontana dell’Ovato’.
10: The Fountain of the Tripod.
These are the many delights that can be seen in Villa d’Este, a fantastic and memorable place to visit and there is so much more that can be said and seen.
The Gupta Empire was known for one of the largest political and military empires in the history of ancient India. It was ruled by the Gupta dynasty during the period of around 240 to 550 CE. The area covered by the rulers was comprised of most of the part of northern India, current Pakistan and Bangladesh. The period of the Gupta Empire is marked as Golden age to Indians specially in the field of art. Various subjects covering science, astronomy, religion, and philosophy had reached to the level of excellence during this period. The peace and prosperity were existing in the empire under leadership of Guptas enabled artist to deliver their best. The decimal numeral system, showing the presence of zero was invented in India during the reign of the Guptas. Certainly, to a large extent the Gupta Empire was considered a great power.
This Gupta period is truly marked as the Golden age of Indian culture and art. The examples showing the excellence of their cultural creativity are magnificent through the creative architecture, sculpture, and painting.
The Gupta era was also a golden age for Buddhist art. Uniform artistic standards were set in this period resulted in creation of sculptures at Mathura and Sarnath. Mathura and Sarnath have produced some of the finest specimen of Buddhist art during the Gupta period. Gupta style of art featuring a finished mastery in execution and a majestic serenity in expression was spread to other countries and mainly responsible for influencing Buddhist art in all over Asia.
The period of Gupta dynasty seems to have been a time of relative religious tolerance. This can be pointed out as though the main religion of the Guptas was Hinduism, Buddhism received royal patronage and Jainism appears to have prospered as well.
The sculptures & wall paintings at the Ajanta cave are marvelous example of the greatest and most powerful works of Guptas. The themes of sculptures and paintings from the Ajanta dominate the influence of Buddha. Various art pieces of this place depict about various lives of the Buddha, but apart from it, these are the best source of studying the daily life of in India at the time. Sculptors from Guptas period had carved out of the rock to create these sculptures between 460 and 480 CE. And most of the part is filled with Buddhist sculptures.
The colorful and vibrant art pieces at Ajanta are famous not only for observing details of nature and the urban landscape, but the architecture and furnishing, elegant attire and alluring ornaments on the images are marked with importance. These sculptures carry importance for showing perceptive delineations of a variety of human characters, expressions and moods through its appearance. The most well known work from the Ajanta caves is the "Bodhisattva Padmapani." The colorful image portrays the Buddha in Bodhisattva holding a lotus flower.
The creation of monumental temples during the Gupta period remains as architectural wonders. The cave temples of Elephanta and structural temples of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu are enduring legacy Gupta rulers.
An another masterpiece of Guptas art is the rock temple at Elephanta near Bombay. The temple structure contains a powerful, eighteen-foot statue of the three-headed Shiva, known as Trimurthi. Each head of statue represents one of the roles of Shiva: that of creating, that of preserving, and that of destroying. The Gupta period also saw dynamic building of Hindu temples too. All of these temples followed the tradition of having architecture that comprising of a hall and a tower.
All the sculptures produced throughout the Gupta Empire can be marked for having the appearance of relatively uniform "classic" style. The style was spread in other parts of India and in the countries of South and Southeast Asia. The Gupta style in sculpturing has greatly influenced the art of north Indian kingdoms in later period after the end of the Gupta dynasty. There were two main artistic centers for sculpture production: At Sarnath, the images of Buddha with clinging drapery are produced while at Mathura the image following the pattern of string folds in the drapery are created.
Unfortunately, very few monuments built during Gupta reign are able to survive today. Some more examples of presentation of Gupta architecture are found in the Vaishnavite Tigawa temple at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, which is built in 415 CE and another temple at Deogarhnear Jhansi, which is built in 510 CE. Similarly, at Bhita in Uttar Pradesh has a number of ancient Gupta temples, most of them are in ruins.
Something I have has wonder is how many different peoples opinions and taste often differ than mine. For here, this is my favorite shot of this shoot. For I told Natasha that I preferred this one most and she's like "Ehhhh not my favorite." And like I do with every shoot I sent the images to my best friend, Casey. I asked her which was her favorite, she agreed with me. I told Natasha and then she's like "Ohhhh I really do love this one!" Funny how opinions change with outside influence....
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Rabari man of Gujarat.
The region of Gujarat has played host to many a tribal culture and nourished them from the very earliest periods of history. One such tribe here, the Rabaris, still pursue a pastoral lifestyle—much in the same way as they did ages ago.
The Rabaris are a semi-nomadic tribe—pursuing a pre-agrarian, pastoral lifestyle—found mainly in the Kutch and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat. Though living today in permanent settlements, they are believed to have originally migrated from Baluchistan more than a millennium ago.
But over these thousand and more years, the Rabaris have undergone many changes and have been widely influenced by the local cultures with which they came in contact. Not only are they divided into distinct clans, they also prefer to trace their origin to Hindu Gods and even the Rajputs.
Without delving into the garbled clues provided by folk lore about their origin, a closer look at the Rabari today leads one into his quaint, colourful and rugged lifestyle.
By no means are the Rabaris an isolated people. The men are on the move—almost 10 out of the 12 months—in search of grazing pastures for their livestock; while the women and children remain in their villages. These villages are normally small, devoid of more than superficial amenities and, almost always, set in bleak, barren suroundings.
In a typical village, their rectangular houses, called vandhas, are built in rows. The white-washed mud walls and tiled roofs may have an appearance of starkness when viewed from outside. But within each house, the Rabari’s fondness for patterns is easily visible from the many geometric patterns that adorn its interiors. The tiny mirrors embedded into these mud-plaster patterns only enhance their beauty as they catch the faint glimmer of light streaming in from a small window or a low doorway. A home usually consists of two rooms, and an extended enclosure in the verandah which forms the kitchen.
The room at the back is normally used as a storehouse—a virtual treasure house of embroidered clothes and quilts kept in carved wooden pataras (chests); and the kothis and kothlas (granaries) made of mud and cowdung. The other room is mainly a living room decorated with embroidered torans or decorated doorways, while the doors are covered with brass foil etched in a myriad patterns. Often, the only piece of furniture that one might find is a carved, wooden cradle.
The community’s main stay is milk and milk produce from their livestock in order to purchase commodities that they trade in various forms at the local village or town markets.
Much of the handiwork seen in their decorated homes is that of their women. In fact, Rabari women are famous for their embroidery work, called bharat kaam, from which they make numerous traditional garments and furnishings. The kediyun, a gathered jacket with an embroidered smock, worn by young Rabari men and children, skirts and blouses for the women and girls—are al dexterously embroidered. Interestingly, the Rabari girl, completes over the years, her entire dowry which includes clothes as well as beautiful quilts or derkee.
Kokulashtami, after the rains, is marriage time. The men are back from their wanderings for this al important occasion. All marriages take place on this one day. Since child marriage is still very much in vogue within this tribe, outsiders are distrusted. Again, the Rabari marries only within the tribe and often into families which are closely located. Marrying outside the fold leads to social castigation and is very rare. While Rabari couples are probably the most exotically dressed, the marriage is a simple ritual performed by a Brahmin priest.
Rabaris, by and large, and ardent followers and worshippers of the Mother Goddess. Each clan has its own tribal goddess as the patron deity, though their homes often have pictures of other gods and goddesses as well. Strong tendencies of deifying and invoking the dead are still prevalent—a pointer to the community’s old world origin.
Another old world custom that has persisted is the custom of tattooing and there is a marked similarity In the motifs used in their embroideries and tattoos.
As an outsider it is difficult to communicate with these people since they speak a dialect which is a mixture of Marwari and Gujarati. But once they understand the visitor’s innocent curiosity, they exude the warmth and friendship that has always been a part of their make-up.