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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.
Wikipedia.org
A walk from Taffs Well to Pontypridd. A view upstream on the River Taff at Pontypridd, with the Victoria Bridge of 1857 nearer and behind it the William Edwards Bridge of 1756. The older bridge is Grade 1 Listed and scheduled as an ancient monument. At the time of its completion, its 140ft / 43 m arch was the longest in Britain (and one of the longest in the world), and remained such for forty years.
On the left behind the bridges is the Pontypridd Museum, opened here in 1986 in what had been the Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Chapel that was built in 1861. Much of the interior, including the organ, remains in place.
For further information see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bridge,_Pontypridd
The River Taff and bridges at Pontypridd on 14 May 2024.
A view upstream on the River Taff at Pontypridd, with the Victoria Bridge of 1857 nearer and behind it the William Edwards Bridge of 1756. The older bridge is Grade 1 Listed and scheduled as an ancient monument. At the time of its completion, its 140ft / 43 m arch was the longest in Britain (and one of the longest in the world), and remained such for forty years.
On the left behind the bridges is the Pontypridd Museum, opened here in 1986 in what had been the Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Chapel that was built in 1861. Much of the interior, including the organ, remains in place.
For further information see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bridge,_Pontypridd
The River Taff and bridges at Pontypridd on 14 May 2024.
A view upstream on the River Taff at Pontypridd, with the Victoria Bridge of 1857 nearer and behind it the William Edwards Bridge of 1756. The older bridge is Grade 1 Listed and scheduled as an ancient monument. At the time of its completion, its 140ft / 43 m arch was the longest in Britain (and one of the longest in the world), and remained such for forty years.
On the left behind the bridges is the Pontypridd Museum, opened here in 1986 in what had been the Tabernacle Welsh Baptist Chapel that was built in 1861. Much of the interior, including the organ, remains in place.
For further information see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bridge,_Pontypridd
The Ohio Historical Center is a rare example of Brutalism whose clients still proudly embrace the label... give it up for historians! Granted, this is a hybrid entry. While we do have a nearly windowless box hoisted up in the air, with a forty-foot cantilever supported by frankly revealed concrete beams, there are burgeoning attempts to acknowledge "context" in a loosely-defined sense. Not the context of the immediately site, mind you, which is a vast and featureless tract of leftover land stuck between the highway and the Highway Patrol (see Google Maps)... but some loose idea of "Ohio history," indicative of Byron Ireland's training at Harvard (M.Arch 1958) and in Saarinen's office (1959-61), when both were entertaining loose incorporations of context in surface and form (the "New Formalism" strikes again!) but not, irritatingly, in urbanism or site relationships.
The references given are definitely the kind of things that would get an architectural imagination going in an age of dramatic form-giving - it's a cross-breed of the frontier blockhouse typology, with some idea of a Hopewell Indian Mound. Given that the blockhouses were fortifications built as part of the long-term campaign against America's native population, this is a kind of weird, loaded fusion, but there it is. The cladding, by the way, is tile, intended to evoke historic grain silos - not the abstracted, Egyptoid concrete silos of the Industrial Revolution, which had already inspired so much modernism, but the humble silo of the small-time farmer. That part, at least, works for me, although the double-coding is probably lost on those who don't take the museum tour. (It was arbitrarily closed the day I biked over - never got around to going back for the interior visit, although it looks passably cool.) Most people probably experience this building chiefly as a presence along I-71, where it does stand out strikingly. In the Ohio Historical Society's informative video (see link above), a local sums it up well: "It's certainly... observable." For all that it's a big, lumpy dud sitting in a field, I am, predictably, drawn to this thing. I've seen worse.
Not Crook O'Lune Bridge – that's much bigger, 33 km away at Caton in the River Lune's lower valley, and itself not to be confused with Caton's Crook O'Lune Viaduct(s).
I've made numerous attempts to photograph this bridge close-up, from a number of angles and in a range of conditions... and I'm still trying. Maybe it needs a really powerful sky, or perhaps I need to get into the water for a better angle – that glacial terrace on the far side isn't the most compelling background.
Flow was fairly high today, almost bankfull and approaching the top of the pier's upstream cutwater, so I suppose that adds a little drama. ;)
The bridge is about half a millennium old, having been built in the 16th Century or even earlier, though it's known to have been repaired, and perhaps altered, in (at least) 1702, 1758 and 1817.
It's frequently said to have been a packhorse bridge, but that's merely repetition of a rumour, and I'm sceptical – the high parapets aren't characteristic and there's another mediæval bridge a mere 4 km downstream at a more likely crossing point for traders. Additionally, there is an acknowledged packhorse bridge nearby, over Lowgill Beck, but that's on a north-south route following the western bank of the River Lune, not crossing it east-west.
This bridge is, however, on an ancient droving route particularly important in the 17th and 18th Centuries, so I favour that explanation for its construction and frequent maintenance.
The humped bridge, of roughly-coursed rubble, spans 29 m via an asymmetrical pair of ~10 m arches supported by a buttressed pier in the channel; counting the curving approaches, it's 51 m long. It's also exceptionally narrow, at only ~2 m wide, which is just enough for a small modern car (I fold one wing mirror in, just in case!). As such, it receives limited motorised traffic, also because the approach roads are curiously offset from the bridge, forcing vehicles through a pair of tight bends. It is, however, on National Cycle Network Route 70 ('Walney-to-Wear').
As a stone by the crossing indicates, this reach of Lune was once the border between the pre-1974 county of Westmorland and Yorkshire's West Riding (it's all Cumbria now), and hence became the boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park in 1954 (the same year as the bridge was Grade II* Listed, probably coincidentally). That in turn means that this is the point where westward walkers on the Dales Way long-distance footpath technically cross out of the Dales on their way to Windermere.
[Image reached no.335 in Flickr Explore on 16/01/14! Thanks!]
Architect: Akira Yoneda/ARCHITECTON
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Founded: 1991
Principal: Akira Yoneda
Education:
Harvard GSD, M.Arch.II {1991}
University of Tokyo, M.Eng. {1984}
University of Tokyo, B.Eng. {1982}
Work history:
Practice- Takenaka Corporation {1984- 89}
Academic- associate professor, Kyoto Institute of Technology {2004- present}
Key completed projects:
K Clinic, Nabari, Japan, {2007}, White Base, Tokyo, {2006}, ?, Tokyo, {2005},
HP, Tokyo, {2004}, Conoid II, Tokyo, {2004},
BLOC, Kobe, Japan, {2002},
Conoid, Tokyo, {2002}, Beaver House, Tokyo, {2002}, nkm, Tokyo, {2001},
Ambi-Flux, Tokyo, {2000}, House E, Kanagawa, Japan, {1999},
White Echoes, Tokyo, {1998},
Key current projects:
Swing, Tokyo, {2008}, HOJO, Tokyo, {2008}
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From Wikipedia:
Total length: 834 feet (254 m)
Steel arch length: 616 feet (188 m)
Arch rise: 90 feet (27 m)
Height above river: 467 feet (142 m)
Width of the roadway: 18 feet (5.5 m)
Construction of the original Navajo Bridge began in 1927, and the bridge opened to traffic in 1929. The bridge was paid for by the nascent Arizona State Highway Commission (now the Arizona Department of Transportation) in cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, as the eastern landing is on the Navajo Nation. The steel spandrel bridge design was constructed by the Kansas City Structural Steel Company. During construction, worker Lane McDaniel died after falling 470 feet (143 m) to the Colorado River below. Supervisors had rejected the idea of rigging safety netting, believing that it would catch on fire from falling hot rivets.
The original bridge is 834 feet (254 m) in length, with a maximum height of 467 feet (142 m) from the canyon floor. The roadway offers an 18-foot (5.5 m) surface width with a load capacity of 22.5 tons (although the posted legal weight limit was 40 tons). During the design phase, a wider roadway was considered, but ultimately rejected, as it would have required a costly third arch to be added to the design, and the vehicles of the time did not require a wider road.
The original Navajo Bridge is still open to pedestrian and equestrian use, and an interpretive center has been constructed nearby to showcase the historical nature of the bridge and early crossing of the Colorado River. The original bridge has been designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 13, 1981.
de / from : Wikipedia:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
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La catedral gótica de San Vito es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad.
Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto.
Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado.
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he Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex. Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.
From Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut
"The most visible sign of the commemoration of women at Yale, the Women’s Table was designed by Maya Lin (BA 1981, M.Arch 1986), best known as the creator of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington."
de / from Wikipedia:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
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La catedral gótica de San Vito es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad.
Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto.
Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado.
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.[2]
Two pictures taken from the same spot just 57 minutes apart on 26 March 2023, showing Flying Scotsman and Support coach heading north and Royal Scot and Support Coach heading south at Preston.
The church of St Walburge is prominent in the background, and I believe the spire was constructed from limestone sleepers which originally carried the long closed Preston and Longridge Railway, and is famous as having the tallest spire of any parish church in England.
©copyright 2023-Peter Ainsworth
de / from Wikipedia:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
--------------------------------------------------------
La catedral gótica de San Vito es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad.
Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto.
Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado.
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.[2]
de / from Wikipedia:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
--------------------------------------------------------
La catedral gótica de San Vito es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad.
Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto.
Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado.
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.[2]
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex. Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.[2]
The Van Brienenoordbrug, which crosses the Nieuwe Maas in the South-Eastern part of Rotterdam, consists of two large tied-arch motorway bridges.
Construction of the oldest bridge (on the picture left) started in 1961. It was officially opened in 1965.
Because of increasing traffic a second bridge was opened in 1990. That is the one I was driving over.
The bridge is callen after baron Arnoud Willem van Brienen van Groote Lindt (Amsterdam, 1783-1854), who owned the island on which the bridge was built, a Century after his death.
Construction period I: 1961-1965.
Construction period II: 1986-1990.
Width: 2 x 28 m.
Arch length: 300 m.
Bridge length: 60 m.
Material: steel.
Architects: ir. W.J. van der Eb, ir. W.P. Goedhart.
See also: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Brienenoordbrug
And: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Brienenoord_Bridge
Rotterdam, IJsselmonde, Motorway A16, May 4, 2025.
© 2025 Sander Toonen Halfweg | All Rights Reserved
de / from Wikipedia:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
--------------------------------------------------------
La catedral gótica de San Vito es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad.
Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto.
Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado.
Los vitrales son de la época de la Primera República Checoslovaca por lo que, parte de su significado religioso contiene un importante simbolismo del Estado Checoslovaco que, por aquel entonces, acababa de independizarse del Imperio austrohúngaro. Después de obtener su financiación por parte de la burguesía checoslovaca, se recurrió a los principales maestros cristaleros de Bohemia que estaban profundamente influenciados por Josef Cibulka. La mayoría de los vitrales se deben a Frantisek Kysela y a sus alumnos de la Escuela de Artes Decorativas de Praga, entre los que destacan Cyril Bouda y Karel Svolinsky. Sobresalientes son los vitrales del presbiterio y los de la Puerta Dorada que representan el Juicio Final con referencias a la historia checa obras de Max Svabinsky. Una de las vidrieras, en la zona izquierda, está hecha por Alfons Mucha, se nota el estilo propio del artista y la diferencia respecto al resto de ella.
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.[2]
© Saúl Tuñón Loureda
twitter.com/Woody_Twitt
La catedral de San Vito (en checo, Chrám svatého Víta o Katedrála Svatého Víta) es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad. Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto. Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado. La primera piedra fue colocada el 21 de noviembre de 1344 por el arzobispo de Praga, Ernesto de Pardubice, en presencia del rey Juan de Luxemburgo y de sus hijos, Carlos (futuro Carlos IV de Bohemia) y Juan. Se erigió en el mismo solar en el que antiguamente se hallaban una rotonda románica y una basílica dedicadas, asimismo, a San Vito, de las que todavía quedan restos. El proyecto fue diseñado por el arquitecto francés Matias Arras, que se inspiró en el inicial arte gótico francés, tomando como modelo las catedrales de Toulouse y Narbona. De hecho, la catedral de San Vito es una de las últimas muestras importantes, de esta corriente artística.
Peter Parler sucedió, en 1356, al arquitecto Matías Arras después del fallecimiento de este, aunque transcurrieron unos años sin que fuera dirigida por ningún maestro de obras. Más tarde la construcción sería dirigida por los hijos de Peter Patlér, Jan y Václay. Estos nuevos arquitectos imprimieron a la catedral un estilo inspirado en el gótico alemán pero dándole, asimismo, su impronta personal, puesta de manifiesto en el coro, la capilla de San Segismundo y la sacristía que fueron terminadas por ellos. De esta época cabe destacar las complejas bóvedas, solo comparables a las de las catedrales inglesas.
En 1419 se interrumpieron los trabajos a causa de la rebelión husita. Los husitas, contrarios a la veneración de los santos y a las muestras de opulencia propias de la Iglesia católica, saquearon la catedral e hicieron coronar al rey Segismundo en el nuevo templo.
En 1485 la corte volvió al Castillo de Praga y se empezó a restaurar la Catedral. Se construyó un nuevo Oratorio Real, obra de Hans Spiesz, símbolo de la soberanía del rey, que se terminó en 1490. Las escenas de la leyenda de San Wenceslao se concluyeron en 1509 para la coronación del rey Luis Jagellon.
En 1526 Fernando I de Habsburgo se convirtió en el primer Habsburgo coronado como rey de Bohemia. De esta época data la Galería de la Música, obra de Bonifacio Wolmut, de estilo manierista, con bóvedas neogóticas, así como la capilla de San Adalberto que posteriormente fue destruida. En 1566 Maximiliano II de Habsburgo encargó el Panteón Real dedicado a la Casa de Habsburgo y a sus predecesores en el trono de Bohemia, se terminó en 1589.
El 23 de mayo de 1618 se produjo la defenestración de Praga, que daría comienzo a la Guerra de los Treinta Años. En 1619 los radicales calvinistas causaron grandes desperfectos en la catedral que tuvo que volver a consagrarse en febrero de 1621, después de la derrota checa en la batalla de la Montaña Blanca. Gaspar Bechteler talló los relieves de madera que commemoran la defenestración y sus consecuencias.
En 1644 Leopoldo Guillem, obispo de Olomue, hizo restaurar un candelabro románico de la capìlla de San Juan Bautista que, supuestamente, procedía del Templo de Jerusalén.
Con la llegada del barroco, el emperador Leopoldo I de Habsburgo colocó la primera piedra de una nave diseñada por Giovanni Domenico Orsi, pero las obras tuvieron que interrumpirse en 1675 por falta de presupuesto. De la misma forma fracasó el proyecto de Johann F. Schor. De esta época datan las estatuas de los santos patronos checos que hay en la capilla de San Juan de Nepomuceno, obra de Rinaldo Ranzoni, el retablo de San Segismundo de Frantisek Weis y la tumba de San Juan de Nepomuceno, obra maestra de Antonio Corradini.
En 1844, Václav M. Pesina pidió que se acabara la catedral, hecho que no ocurriría hasta 1839 al constituirse una Sociedad que se interesó en ello. En 1862 Josef’O Kranner empezó los trabajos restaurando el presbiterio del que eliminó gran parte de los añadidos barrocos. Con motivo del retorno a Praga de las Joyas de la Corona Checa, se reformó la Cámara de la Corona; paralelamente se finalizaron las obras de la bóveda principal y de la fachada Oeste. El 28 de diciembre de 1929 se abrió al público la catedral totalmente acabada.
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito_(Praga)
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.
The present-day Gothic Cathedral was founded on 21 November 1344, when the Prague bishopric was raised to an archbishopric. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by King John of Bohemia.[3] Its patrons were the chapter of cathedral (led by a Dean), the Archbishop Arnost of Pardubice, and, above all, Charles IV, King of Bohemia and a soon-to-be Holy Roman Emperor, who intended the new cathedral to be a coronation church, family crypt, treasury for the most precious relics of the kingdom, and the last resting place cum pilgrimage site of patron saint Wenceslaus. The first master builder was a Frenchman Matthias of Arras, summoned from the papal palace in Avignon. Matthias designed the overall layout of the building as, basically, an import of French Gothic: a triple-naved basilica with flying buttresses, short transept, five-bayed choir and decagon apse with ambulatory and radiating chapels. However, he lived to build only the easternmost parts of the choir: the arcades and the ambulatory. The slender verticality of Late French Gothic and clear, almost rigid respect of proportions distinguish his work today.
After Matthias' death in 1352, a new master builder took over the cathedral workshop. This was Peter Parler, at that time only 23 years old and son of the architect of the Heilig-Kreuz-Münster in Schwäbisch Gmünd. Parler at first only worked according to the plans left by his predecessor, building the sacristy on the north side of the choir and the chapel on the south. Once he finished all that Matthias left unfinished, he continued according to his own ideas. Parler's bold and innovative design brought in a unique new synthesis of Gothic elements in architecture. This is best exemplified in the vaults he designed for the choir. The so-called Parler's vaults or net-vaults have double (not single, as in classic High Gothic groin vaults) diagonal ribs that span the width of the choir-bay. The crossing pairs of ribs create a net-like construction (hence the name), which considerably strengthens the vault. They also give a lively ornamentation to the ceiling, as the interlocking vaulted bays create a dynamic zigzag pattern down the length of the cathedral.
While Matthias of Arras was schooled as a geometer, thus putting an emphasis on rigid systems of proportions and clear, mathematical compositions in his design, Parler was trained as a sculptor and woodcarver. He treated architecture as a sculpture, almost as if playing with structural forms in stone. Aside from his rather bold vaults, the peculiarities of his work can also be seen in the design of pillars (with classic, bell-shaped columns which were almost forgotten by High Gothic), the ingenious dome vault of new St Wenceslaus chapel, the undulating clerestory walls, the original window tracery (no two of his windows are the same, the ornamentation is always different) and the blind tracery panels of the buttresses. Architectural sculpture was given a considerable role while Parler was in charge of construction, as can be seen in the corbels, the passageway lintels, and, particularly, in the busts on the triforium, which depict faces of the royal family, saints, Prague bishops, and the two master builders, including Parler himself.
Work on the cathedral, however, proceeded rather slowly, because in the meantime the Emperor commissioned Parler with many other projects, such as the construction of the new Charles Bridge in Prague and many churches throughout the Czech realm. By 1397, when Peter Parler died, only the choir and parts of the transept were finished.
After Peter Parler's death in 1399 his sons, Wenzel Parler and particularly Johannes Parler, continued his work; they in turn were succeeded by a certain Master Petrilk, who by all accounts was also a member of Parler's workshop. Under these three masters, the transept and the great tower on its south side were finished. So was the gable which connects the tower with the south transept. Nicknamed 'Golden Gate' (likely because of the golden mosaic of Last Judgment depicted on it), it is through this portal that the kings entered the cathedral for coronation ceremonies.
The entire building process came to a halt with the beginning of Hussite War in the first half of 15th century. The war brought an end to the workshop that operated steadily over for almost a century, and the furnishings of cathedral, dozens of pictures and sculptures, suffered heavily from the ravages of Hussite iconoclasm. As if this was not enough, a great fire in 1541 considerably damaged the cathedral.
The Cathedral of St. Vitus had a tremendous influence on the development of Late Gothic style characteristic for Central Europe. Members of Parler workshop, and indeed, the Parler clan (both of which were established at the building site of St. Vitus) designed numerous churches and buildings across Central Europe. More notable examples include Stephansdom cathedral in Vienna, Strasbourg Cathedral, Church of St. Marko in Zagreb and the Church of St. Barbara in Kutna Hora, also in Czech Republic. Regional Gothic styles of Slovenia, northern Croatia, Austria, Czech Republic, and southern Germany were all heavily influenced by Parler design.
Of particular interest are Parler's net vaults. The Late Gothic of Central Europe is characterised by ornate and extraordinary vaulting, a practice which was started by Parler's development of his own vaulting system for the choir of St. Vitus cathedral. Another regional Gothic style also displays amazing ingenuity and ornamentation in the design of vaults, the Perpendicular Style of English Gothic. A question remains of what was influenced by what. Some British art and architecture historians suspected that Peter Parler might have travelled to England at some point in his life, studying the great English Gothic cathedrals, which then inspired his work on St Vitus. However, taking into account that the Perpendicular style and the use of truly extravagant vaults in English Gothic began at the very end of 14th century, it is also quite possible that it was St Vitus Cathedral of Prague that influenced the development of English Gothic.
In 1997, with 1000th anniversary of Saint Voitechus death, the patrocinium (dedication) of the church was re-extended to Saint Wenceslaus and Saint Adalbert. The previous Romanesque basilica had this triple patrocinium to the main Bohemian patrons since 1038 when relics of Saint Adalbert were placed here.
In 1954, a government decree entrusted the whole Prague Castle into ownership of "all Czechoslovak people" and into administration of the President's Office. Past the Velvet Revolution, since 1992, several petitions by church subjects were filed requiring to find which subject is really the owner. After 14 years, in June 2006, The City Court in Prague decided that the 1954 decree didn't change the ownership of the cathedral and the owner is the Metropolitan Chapter at Saint Vitus. In September 2006, the President's Office had passed the administration to the Metropolitan Chapter. However, in February 2007, the Supreme Court in Prague cancelled the decision of the City Court and returned the case to the common court. In September 2007, the District Court of Praha 7 decided that the cathedral is owned by the Czech Republic, this decision was confirmed by the City Court in Prague and the Constitutional Court rejected the appeal of the Metropolitan Chapter. The Metropolitan Chapter wanted to file a complaint to the European Court for Human Rights. However, the interior equipment of the cathedral is unquestionably owned by the church subject.
In May 2010, the new Prague Archbishop Dominik Duka and the state president Václav Klaus together declared that they don't want to continue with court conflicts. They constituted that the 7 persons who are traditionally holders of the keys of the Saint Wenceslaus Chamber with the Bohemian Crown Jewels become also a board to coordinate and organize administration and use of the cathedral. However, controversy about ownership of some related canonry houses continues.
de / from Wikipedia:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
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La catedral gótica de San Vito es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad.
Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto.
Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado.
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.[2]
The River Taff and bridges at Pontypridd on 14 May 2024.
A view upstream on the River Taff at Pontypridd, with the Victoria Bridge of 1857 nearer and behind it the William Edwards Bridge of 1756. The older bridge is Grade 1 Listed and scheduled as an ancient monument. At the time of its completion, its 140ft / 43 m arch was the longest in Britain (and one of the longest in the world), and remained such for forty years.
For further information see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Bridge,_Pontypridd
de / from : Wikipedia:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
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La catedral gótica de San Vito es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad.
Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto.
Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado.
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he Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex. Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.
The tiny village of Glenfinnan lies at the north-eastern tip of Loch Shiel, about halfway along the sole valley road from Fort William to Mallaig, and hence a ferry to Skye. That same topographic restriction led to the construction of the concrete Glenfinnan Viaduct in 1897–98, by Sir Robert McAlpine. Twenty-one 15 m arches carry the West Highland Railway line up to 30 m above the valley of the River Finnan.
Until relatively recently, Glenfinnan's greatest significance was as the place where Charles Edward Stuart ('Bonnie Prince Charlie', the 'Young Pretender') began the abortive Jacobite rising of 1745.
However, the elegantly curving viaduct in a stunningly beautiful location means it's now better known, albeit anonymously, as the co-star of several feature films. Yes, 'Ring of Bright Water' (1969) was partly filmed here.
Okay; okay. Also at least four of the 'Harry Potter' films, in which the local 'Jacobite' steam train represents the 'Hogwarts Express'
The summit just off the left of the background is Beinn an Tuim (810 m).
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Until 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the largest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex. Cathedral dimensions are 124 by 60 m, the main tower is 96.5 m high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.
Source: Wikipedia
Panorama made from 11 images
On US-130 near Burlington, NJ
There is something to be said about how these huge signs lit up the night.
2023 update: this sign is slated to be removed in the next year or so.
Bridge over the estuary of river Krka on state road D-8, which is also known as Jadranska Magistrala (adriatic highway), seen from the old town of Šibenik
Designer: Ilija Stojadinović
Construction from 1964 to 1966, opening on 27th July 1966.
Lenght 390 m, height 40 m, arch span 246,4 m
North Michigan Avenue: Drake Hotel (Marshall & Fox, arch., 1920), Palmolive Building (Holabird & Root, arch., 1929), John Hancock Center (S.O.M., arch., 1965-70).
Chicago, Illinois, August 2012.
(drawing by Stephan Zimmerli, ballpoint pen on paper)
Navajo Bridge is the name of twin steel spandrel arch bridges that cross the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon National Park (near Lees Ferry) in northern Coconino County, Arizona, United States. The newer of the two spans carries vehicular traffic on U.S. Route 89A (US 89A) over Marble Canyon between Bitter Springs and Jacob Lake, allowing travel into a remote Arizona Strip region north of the Colorado River including the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.
Prior to completion of the first Navajo Bridge, one of the only Colorado River crossings between Arizona and Utah was located about 5 miles (8.0 km) upstream from the bridge site, at the mouth of Glen Canyon where Lees Ferry service had operated since 1873. The ferry site had been chosen as the only relatively easy access to the river for both northbound and southbound travelers. By the 1920s, automobile traffic began using the ferry, though it was not considered a safe and reliable crossing due to adverse weather and flooding regularly preventing its operation.
The bridge was officially named the Grand Canyon Bridge when it was dedicated on June 14–15, 1929. The state legislature changed the name to Navajo Bridge five years later in 1934. The original bridge was closed to vehicular traffic after the new span opened in 1995. The old span is still open for pedestrian and equestrian use.
The dual spans of Navajo Bridge are tied at ninth place among the highest bridges in the United States with nearly identical heights of 467 feet (142.3 m) for the original span, and 470 feet (143.3 m) for the second span.
Construction of the original Navajo Bridge began in 1927, and the bridge opened to traffic in 1929. The bridge was paid for by the nascent Arizona State Highway Commission (now the Arizona Department of Transportation) in cooperation with the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, as the eastern landing is on the Navajo Nation. The steel spandrel bridge was designed and constructed by the Kansas City Structural Steel Company. During construction, worker Lane McDaniels died after falling 467 feet (142 m) to the Colorado River below. Supervisors had rejected the idea of rigging safety netting, believing that it would catch on fire from falling hot rivets.
The original bridge is 834 feet (254 m) in length, with a maximum height of 467 feet (142 m) from the canyon floor. The roadway offers an 18-foot (5.5 m) surface width with a load capacity of 22.5 tons (although the posted legal weight limit was 40 tons). During the design phase, a wider roadway was considered, but ultimately rejected, as it would have required a costly third arch to be added to the design, and the vehicles of the time did not require a wider road. When the Bridge officially opened on January 12, 1929, the Flagstaff paper proclaimed it "the biggest news in Southwest history."
By 1984, however, Arizona Department of Transportation officials decided that the traffic flow was too great for the original bridge and that a new solution was needed. The sharp corners in the roadway on each side of the approach had become a safety hazard due to low visibility, and deficiencies resulting from the original design's width and load capacity specifications were becoming problematic. The bridge had also become part of US 89A.
Deciding on a solution was difficult, due to the many local interests. Issues included preservation of sacred Navajo land, endangered plant species in Marble Canyon, and the possibility of construction debris entering the river. The original proposal called for merely widening and fortifying the 1928 bridge, but this was ultimately rejected as not sufficient to meet contemporary federal highway standards. Replacement became the only option, and it was eventually decided to entirely discontinue vehicular traffic on the original bridge. A new bridge would be built immediately next to the original and have a considerably similar visual appearance, but would conform to modern highway codes.
The new steel arch bridge was commissioned by the Arizona Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration, and was completed in May 1995, at a cost of $14.7 million. A formal dedication was held on September 14, 1995.
The original Navajo Bridge is still open to pedestrian and equestrian use, and an interpretive center has been constructed on the west side to showcase the historical nature of the bridge and early crossing of the Colorado River. The original bridge has been designated as a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 13, 1981.
California condors were reintroduced to the area in 1996 and can sometimes be seen on and around Navajo Bridge.
Original bridge (1929)
Construction started June 30, 1927
Bridge opened to traffic January 12, 1929
Total length: 834 feet (254 m)
Steel arch length: 616 feet (188 m)
Arch rise: 90 feet (27 m)
Height above river: 467 feet (142 m)
Width of the roadway: 18 feet (5.5 m)
Amount of steel: 2,400,000 pounds (1,100,000 kg)
Amount of concrete: 500 cubic yards (382 m3)
Amount of steel reinforcement: 82,000 pounds (37,000 kg)
Construction cost: $390,000 (equivalent to $6.65 million in 2022)[1]
New bridge (1995)
Total length: 909 feet (277 m)
Steel arch length: 726 feet (221 m)
Arch rise: 90 feet (27 m)
Height above river: 470 feet (143 m)
Width of the roadway: 44 feet (13 m)
Amount of steel: 3,900,000 pounds (1,800,000 kg)
Amount of concrete: 1,790 cubic yards (1,370 m3)
Amount of steel reinforcement: 434,000 pounds (197,000 kg)
Construction cost $14.7 million (equivalent to $28.23 million in 2022)
The Colorado River (Spanish: Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river, the 5th longest in the United States, drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. The name Colorado derives from the Spanish language for "colored reddish" due to its heavy silt load. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California between Baja California and Sonora.
Known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven U.S. National Parks, the Colorado River and its tributaries are a vital source of water for 40 million people. An extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts divert almost its entire flow for agricultural irrigation and urban water supply. Its large flow and steep gradient are used to generate hydroelectricity, meeting peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West. Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower 100 miles (160 km) of the river, which has rarely reached the sea since the 1960s.
Native Americans have inhabited the Colorado River basin for at least 8,000 years. Starting around 1 CE, large agriculture-based societies were established, but a combination of drought and poor land use practices led to their collapse in the 1300s. Their descendants include tribes such as the Puebloans, while others including the Navajo settled in the Colorado Basin after the 1000s. In the 1500s, Spanish explorers began mapping and claiming the watershed, which became part of Mexico upon winning its independence from Spain in 1821. Even after most of the watershed became US territory in 1846, much of the river's course remained unknown. Several expeditions charted the Colorado in the mid-19th century—one of which, led by John Wesley Powell, was the first to run the rapids of the Grand Canyon. Large-scale settlement of the lower basin began in the mid- to late-1800s, with steamboats sailing from the Gulf of California to landings along the river that linked to wagon roads to the interior. Starting in the 1860s, gold and silver strikes drew prospectors to the upper Colorado River basin.
Large-scale river management began in the early 1900s, with major guidelines established in a series of international and US interstate treaties known as the "Law of the River". The US federal government constructed most of the major dams and aqueducts between 1910 and 1970; the largest, Hoover Dam, was completed in 1935. Numerous water projects have also involved state and local governments. With all of their waters fully allocated, both the Colorado and the neighboring Rio Grande are now considered among the most controlled and litigated river systems in the world. Since 2000, extended drought has conflicted with increasing demands for Colorado River water, and the level of human development and control of the river continues to generate controversy.
Marble Canyon is the section of the Colorado River canyon in northern Arizona from Lee's Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River, which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon.
Lee's Ferry is a common launching point for river runners starting their journey through Marble Canyon and then onward to the Grand Canyon. Marble Canyon is also well known for the Navajo Bridge, where US Highway 89A crosses the Colorado River.
Marble Canyon marks the western boundary of the Navajo Nation. In 1975, the former Marble Canyon National Monument, which followed the Colorado River northeast from the Grand Canyon to Lee's Ferry, was made part of Grand Canyon National Park.
The name Marble Canyon is a misnomer because there is no marble there. Although John Wesley Powell knew this when he named the canyon, he thought the polished limestone looked like marble. In his words, "The limestone of the canyon is often polished, and makes a beautiful marble. Sometimes the rocks are of many colors – white, gray, pink, and purple, with saffron tints."
Marble Canyon is the site of one of the last great proposed dam projects on the Colorado, the Marble Canyon Dam. Proposed and investigated in the early 1950s by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, the proposal met substantial opposition, notably from the Sierra Club, when a revived proposal was considered by the state of Arizona as part of the Central Arizona Project from 1965 to 1968. The proposed dam was finally abandoned in 1968. Exploratory holes, which were drilled in the Redwall Limestone of the canyon walls in an early phase of the abortive project, can still be seen at Mile 39.2.
Grand Canyon National Park, located in northwestern Arizona, is the 15th site in the United States to have been named as a national park. The park's central feature is the Grand Canyon, a gorge of the Colorado River, which is often considered one of the Wonders of the World. The park, which covers 1,217,262 acres (1,901.972 sq mi; 4,926.08 km2) of unincorporated area in Coconino and Mohave counties, received more than six million recreational visitors in 2017, which is the second highest count of all American national parks after Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Grand Canyon was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1979. The park celebrated its 100th anniversary on February 26, 2019.
The Grand Canyon became well known to Americans in the 1880s after railroads were built and pioneers developed infrastructure and early tourism. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt visited the site and said,
The Grand Canyon fills me with awe. It is beyond comparison—beyond description; absolutely unparalleled through-out the wide world ... Let this great wonder of nature remain as it now is. Do nothing to mar its grandeur, sublimity and loveliness. You cannot improve on it. But you can keep it for your children, your children's children, and all who come after you, as the one great sight which every American should see.
Despite Roosevelt's enthusiasm and strong interest in preserving land for public use, the Grand Canyon was not immediately designated as a national park. The first bill to establish Grand Canyon National Park was introduced in 1882 by then-Senator Benjamin Harrison, which would have established Grand Canyon as the third national park in the United States, after Yellowstone and Mackinac. Harrison unsuccessfully reintroduced his bill in 1883 and 1886; after his election to the presidency, he established the Grand Canyon Forest Reserve in 1893. Theodore Roosevelt created the Grand Canyon Game Preserve by proclamation on November 28, 1906, and the Grand Canyon National Monument on January 11, 1908. Further Senate bills to establish the site as a national park were introduced and defeated in 1910 and 1911, before the Grand Canyon National Park Act was finally signed by President Woodrow Wilson on February 26, 1919. The National Park Service, established in 1916, assumed administration of the park.
The creation of the park was an early success of the conservation movement. Its national park status may have helped thwart proposals to dam the Colorado River within its boundaries. (Later, the Glen Canyon Dam would be built upriver.) A second Grand Canyon National Monument to the west was proclaimed in 1932. In 1975, that monument and Marble Canyon National Monument, which was established in 1969 and followed the Colorado River northeast from the Grand Canyon to Lees Ferry, were made part of Grand Canyon National Park. In 1979, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site. The 1987 the National Parks Overflights Act found that "Noise associated with aircraft overflights at the Grand Canyon National Park is causing a significant adverse effect on the natural quiet and experience of the park and current aircraft operations at the Grand Canyon National Park have raised serious concerns regarding public safety, including concerns regarding the safety of park users."
In 2010, Grand Canyon National Park was honored with its own coin under the America the Beautiful Quarters program. On February 26, 2019, the Grand Canyon National Park commemorated 100 years since its designation as a national park.
The Grand Canyon had been part of the National Park Service's Intermountain Region until 2018.[citation needed] Today, the Grand Canyon is a part of Region 8, also known as the Lower Colorado Basin.
The Grand Canyon, including its extensive system of tributary canyons, is valued for its combination of size, depth, and exposed layers of colorful rocks dating back to Precambrian times. The canyon itself was created by the incision of the Colorado River and its tributaries after the Colorado Plateau was uplifted, causing the Colorado River system to develop along its present path.
The primary public areas of the park are the South and North Rims, and adjacent areas of the canyon itself. The rest of the park is extremely rugged and remote, although many places are accessible by pack trail and backcountry roads. The South Rim is more accessible than the North Rim and accounts for 90% of park visitation.
The park headquarters are at Grand Canyon Village, not far from the South Entrance to the park, near one of the most popular viewpoints.
Most visitors to the park come to the South Rim, arriving on Arizona State Route 64. The highway enters the park through the South Entrance, near Tusayan, Arizona, and heads eastward, leaving the park through the East Entrance. Interstate 40 provides access to the area from the south. From the north, U.S. Route 89 connects Utah, Colorado, and the North Rim to the South Rim. Overall, some 30 miles of the South Rim are accessible by road.
The North Rim area of the park is located on the Kaibab Plateau and Walhalla Plateau, directly across the Grand Canyon from the principal visitor areas on the South Rim. The North Rim's principal visitor areas are centered around Bright Angel Point. The North Rim is higher in elevation than the South Rim, at over 8,000 feet (2,400 m) of elevation. Because it is so much higher than the South Rim, it is closed from December 1 through May 15 each year, due to the enhanced snowfall at elevation. Visitor services are closed or limited in scope after October 15. Driving time from the South Rim to the North Rim is about 4.5 hours, over 220 miles (350 km).
There are few roads on the North Rim, but there are some notable vehicle-accessible lookout points, including Point Imperial, Roosevelt Point, and Cape Royal. Mule rides are also available to a variety of places, including several thousand feet down into the canyon.
Many visitors to the North Rim choose to make use of the variety of hiking trails including the Widforss Trail, Uncle Jim's Trail, the Transept Trail, and the North Kaibab Trail. The North Kaibab Trail can be followed all the way down to the Colorado River, connecting across the river to the South Kaibab Trail and the Bright Angel Trail, which continue up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
The Toroweap Overlook is located in the western part of the park on the North Rim. Access is via unpaved roads off Route 389 west of Fredonia, Arizona. The roads lead through Grand Canyon–Parashant National Monument and to the overlook.
A variety of activities at the South Rim cater to park visitors. A driving tour (35 miles (56 km)) along the South Rim is split into two segments. The western drive to Hermit's Point is eight miles (13 km) with several overlooks along the way, including Mohave Point, Hopi Point, and the Powell Memorial. From March to December, access to Hermit's Rest is restricted to the free shuttle provided by the Park Service. The eastern portion to Desert View is 25 miles (40 km), and is open to private vehicles year round.
Walking tours include the Rim Trail, which runs west from the Pipe Creek viewpoint for about eight miles (13 km) of paved road, followed by seven miles (11 km) unpaved to Hermit's Rest. Hikes can begin almost anywhere along this trail, and a shuttle can return hikers to their point of origin. Mather Point, the first view most people reach when entering from the south entrance, is a popular place to begin.
Private canyon flyovers are provided by helicopters and small airplanes out of Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Grand Canyon National Park Airport. Due to a crash in the 1990s, scenic flights are no longer allowed to fly within 1,500 feet (460 m) of the rim within the Grand Canyon National Park. Flights within the canyon are still available outside of park boundaries.
Arizona is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States. Arizona is part of the Four Corners region with Utah to the north, Colorado to the northeast, and New Mexico to the east; its other neighboring states are Nevada to the northwest, California to the west and the Mexican states of Sonora and Baja California to the south and southwest. It is the 6th-largest and the 14th-most-populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix.
Arizona is the 48th state and last of the contiguous states to be admitted to the Union, achieving statehood on February 14, 1912. Historically part of the territory of Alta California and Nuevo México in New Spain, it became part of independent Mexico in 1821. After being defeated in the Mexican–American War, Mexico ceded much of this territory to the United States in 1848, where the area became part of the territory of New Mexico. The southernmost portion of the state was acquired in 1853 through the Gadsden Purchase.
Southern Arizona is known for its desert climate, with very hot summers and mild winters. Northern Arizona features forests of pine, Douglas fir, and spruce trees; the Colorado Plateau; mountain ranges (such as the San Francisco Mountains); as well as large, deep canyons, with much more moderate summer temperatures and significant winter snowfalls. There are ski resorts in the areas of Flagstaff, Sunrise, and Tucson. In addition to the internationally known Grand Canyon National Park, which is one of the world's seven natural wonders, there are several national forests, national parks, and national monuments.
Arizona's population and economy have grown dramatically since the 1950s because of inward migration, and the state is now a major hub of the Sun Belt. Cities such as Phoenix and Tucson have developed large, sprawling suburban areas. Many large companies, such as PetSmart and Circle K, have headquarters in the state, and Arizona is home to major universities, including the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. The state is known for a history of conservative politicians such as Barry Goldwater and John McCain, though it has become a swing state since the 1990s.
Arizona is home to a diverse population. About one-quarter of the state is made up of Indian reservations that serve as the home of 27 federally recognized Native American tribes, including the Navajo Nation, the largest in the state and the United States, with more than 300,000 citizens. Since the 1980s, the proportion of Hispanics in the state's population has grown significantly owing to migration from Mexico. A substantial portion of the population are followers of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The history of Arizona encompasses the Paleo-Indian, Archaic, Post-Archaic, Spanish, Mexican, and American periods. About 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians settled in what is now Arizona. A few thousand years ago, the Ancestral Puebloan, the Hohokam, the Mogollon and the Sinagua cultures inhabited the state. However, all of these civilizations mysteriously disappeared from the region in the 15th and 16th centuries. Today, countless ancient ruins can be found in Arizona. Arizona was part of the state of Sonora, Mexico from 1822, but the settled population was small. In 1848, under the terms of the Mexican Cession the United States took possession of Arizona above the Gila River after the Mexican War, and became part of the Territory of New Mexico. By means of the Gadsden Purchase, the United States secured the northern part of the state of Sonora, which is now Arizona south of the Gila River in 1854.
In 1863, Arizona was split off from the Territory of New Mexico to form the Arizona Territory. The remoteness of the region was eased by the arrival of railroads in 1880. Arizona became a state in 1912 but was primarily rural with an economy based on cattle, cotton, citrus, and copper. Dramatic growth came after 1945, as retirees and young families who appreciated the warm weather and low costs emigrated from the Northeast and Midwest.
In the Mexican–American War, the garrison commander avoided conflict with Lieutenant Colonel Cooke and the Mormon Battalion, withdrawing while the Americans marched through the town on their way to California. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), Mexico ceded to the U.S. the northern 70% of modern-day Arizona above the Sonora border along the Gila River. During the California Gold Rush, an upwards of 50,000 people traveled through on the Southern Emigrant Trail pioneered by Cooke, to reach the gold fields in 1849. The Pima Villages often sold fresh food and provided relief to distressed travelers among this throng and to others in subsequent years.
Paleo-Indians settled what is now Arizona around 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. According to most archaeologists, the Paleo-Indians initially followed herds of big game—megafauna such as mammoths, mastodons, and bison—into North America. The traveling groups also collected and utilized a wide variety of smaller game animals, fish, and a wide variety of plants. These people were likely characterized by highly mobile bands of approximately 20 or 50 members of an extended family, moving from place to place as resources were depleted and additional supplies needed. Paleoindian groups were efficient hunters and created and carried a variety of tools, some highly specialized, for hunting, butchering and hide processing. These paleolithic people utilized the environment that they lived in near water sources, including rivers, swamps and marshes, which had an abundance of fish, and drew birds and game animals. Big game, including bison, mammoths and ground sloths, also were attracted to these water sources. At the latest by 9500 BCE, bands of hunters wandered as far south as Arizona, where they found a desert grassland and hunted mule deer, antelope and other small mammals.
As populations of larger game began to diminish, possibly as a result of intense hunting and rapid environmental changes, Late Paleoindian groups would come to rely more on other facets of their subsistence pattern, including increased hunting of bison, mule deer and antelope. Nets and the atlatl to hunt water fowl, ducks, small animals and antelope. Hunting was especially important in winter and spring months when plant foods were scarce.
The Archaic time frame is defined culturally as a transition from a hunting/gathering lifestyle to one involving agriculture and permanent, if only seasonally occupied, settlements. In the Southwest, the Archaic is generally dated from 8000 years ago to approximately 1800 to 2000 years ago. During this time the people of the southwest developed a variety of subsistence strategies, all using their own specific techniques. The nutritive value of weed and grass seeds was discovered and flat rocks were used to grind flour to produce gruels and breads. This use of grinding slabs in about 7500 BCE marks the beginning of the Archaic tradition. Small bands of people traveled throughout the area, gathering plants such as cactus fruits, mesquite beans, acorns, and pine nuts and annually establishing camps at collection points.
Late in the Archaic Period, corn, probably introduced into the region from central Mexico, was planted near camps with permanent water access. Distinct types of corn have been identified in the more well-watered highlands and the desert areas, which may imply local mutation or successive introduction of differing species. Emerging domesticated crops also included beans and squash.
About 3,500 years ago, climate change led to changing patterns in water sources, leading to a dramatically decreased population. However, family-based groups took shelter in south facing caves and rock overhangs within canyon walls. Occasionally, these people lived in small semisedentary hamlets in open areas. Evidence of significant occupation has been found in the northern part of Arizona.
In the Post-Archaic period, the Ancestral Puebloan, the Hohokam, the Mogollon and Sinagua cultures inhabited what is now Arizona. These cultures built structures made out of stone. Some of the structures that these cultures built are called pueblos. Pueblos are monumental structures that housed dozens to thousands of people. In some Ancestral Puebloan towns and villages, Hohokam towns and villages, Mogollon towns and villages, and Sinagua towns and villages, the pueblo housed the entire town. Surrounding the pueblos were often farms where farmers would plant and harvest crops to feed the community. Sometimes, pueblos and other buildings were built in caves in cliffs.
The Ancestral Puebloans were an ancient Pre-Columbian Native American civilization that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. The Ancestral Puebloans are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara tradition, who developed from the Picosa culture.
They lived in a range of structures that included small family pit houses, larger structures to house clans, grand pueblos, and cliff-sited dwellings for defense. The Ancestral Puebloans possessed a complex network that stretched across the Colorado Plateau linking hundreds of communities and population centers. They held a distinct knowledge of celestial sciences that found form in their architecture. The kiva, a congregational space that was used chiefly for ceremonial purposes, was an integral part of this ancient people's community structure. Some of their most impressive structures were built in what is now Arizona.
Hohokam was a Pre-Columbian culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. Hohokam practiced a specific culture, sometimes referred to as Hohokam culture, which has been distinguished by archeologists. People who practiced the culture can be called Hohokam as well, but more often, they are distinguished as Hohokam people to avoid confusion.
Most archaeologists agree that the Hohokam culture existed between c. 300 and c. 1450 CE, but cultural precursors may have been in the area as early as 300 BC. Whether Hohokam culture was unified politically remains under controversy. Hohokam culture may have just given unrelated neighboring communities common ground to help them to work together to survive their harsh desert environment.
The Mogollon culture was an ancient Pre-Columbian culture of Native American peoples from Southern New Mexico and Arizona, Northern Sonora and Chihuahua, and Western Texas. The northern part of this region is Oasisamerica, while the southern span of the Mogollon culture is known as Aridoamerica.
The Mogollon culture was one of the major prehistoric Southwestern cultural divisions of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. The culture flourished from c. 200 CE, to c. 1450 CE or 1540 CE, when the Spanish arrived.
The Sinagua culture was a Pre-Columbian culture that occupied a large area in central Arizona from the Little Colorado River, near Flagstaff, to the Verde River, near Sedona, including the Verde Valley, area around San Francisco Mountain, and significant portions of the Mogollon Rim country, between approximately 500 CE and 1425 CE. Besides ceremonial kivas, their pueblos had large "community rooms" and some featured ballcourts and walled courtyards, similar to those of the Hohokam culture. Since fully developed Sinagua sites emerged in central Arizona around 500 CE, it is believed they migrated from east-central Arizona, possibly emerging from the Mogollon culture.
The history of Arizona as recorded by Europeans began in 1539 with the first documented exploration of the area by Marcos de Niza, early work expanded the following year when Francisco Vásquez de Coronado entered the area as well.
The Spanish established a few missions in southern Arizona in the 1680s by Father Eusebio Francisco Kino along the Santa Cruz River, in what was then the Pimería Alta region of Sonora. The Spanish also established presidios in Tubac and Tucson in 1752 and 1775. The area north of the Gila River was governed by the Province of Las California under the Spanish until 1804, when the Californian portion of Arizona became part of Alta California under the Spanish and Mexican governments.
In 1849, the California Gold Rush led as many as 50,000 miners to travel across the region, leading to a boom in Arizona's population. In 1850, Arizona and New Mexico formed the New Mexico Territory.
In 1853, President Franklin Pierce sent James Gadsden to Mexico City to negotiate with Santa Anna, and the United States bought the remaining southern strip area of Arizona and New Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase. A treaty was signed in Mexico in December 1853, and then, with modifications, approved by the US Senate in June 1854, setting the southern boundary of Arizona and of New Mexico.
Before 1846 the Apache raiders expelled most Mexican ranchers. One result was that large herds of wild cattle roamed southeastern Arizona. By 1850, the herds were gone, killed by Apaches, American sportsmen, contract hunting for the towns of Fronteras and Santa Cruz, and roundups to sell to hungry Mexican War soldiers, and forty-niners en route to California.
During the Civil War, on March 16, 1861, citizens in southern New Mexico Territory around Mesilla (now in New Mexico) and Tucson invited take-over by the Confederacy. They especially wanted restoration of mail service. These secessionists hoped that a Confederate Territory of Arizona (CSA) would take control, but in March 1862, Union troops from California captured the Confederate Territory of Arizona and returned it to the New Mexico Territory.
The Battle of Picacho Pass, April 15, 1862, was a battle of the Civil War fought in the CSA and one of many battles to occur in Arizona during the war among three sides—Apaches, Confederates and Union forces. In 1863, the U.S. split up New Mexico along a north–south line to create the Arizona Territory. The first government officials to arrive established the territory capital in Prescott in 1864. The capital was later moved to Tucson, back to Prescott, and then to its final location in Phoenix in a series of controversial moves as different regions of the territory gained and lost political influence with the growth and development of the territory.
In the late 19th century the Army built a series of forts to encourage the Natives to stay in their territory and to act as a buffer from the settlers. The first was Fort Defiance. It was established on September 18, 1851, by Col. Edwin V. Sumner to create a military presence in Diné bikéyah (Navajo territory). Sumner broke up the fort at Santa Fe for this purpose, creating the first military post in what is now Arizona. He left Major Electus Backus in charge. Small skirmishes were common between raiding Navajo and counter raiding citizens. In April 1860 one thousand Navajo warriors under Manuelito attacked the fort and were beaten off.
The fort was abandoned at the start of the Civil War but was reoccupied in 1863 by Colonel Kit Carson and the 1st New Mexico Infantry. Carson was tasked by Brigadier-General James H. Carleton, Commander of the Federal District of New Mexico, to kill Navajo men, destroy crops, wells, houses and livestock. These tactics forced 9000 Navajos to take the Long Walk to a reservation at Bosque Redondo, New Mexico. The Bosque was a complete failure. In 1868 the Navajo signed another treaty and were allowed to go back to part of their former territory. The returning Navajo were restocked with sheep and other livestock. Fort Defiance was the agency for the new Navajo reservation until 1936; today it provides medical services to the region.
Fort Apache was built on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation by soldiers from the 1st Cavalry and 21st Infantry in 1870. Only one small battle took place, in September 1881, with three soldiers wounded. When the reservation Indians were granted U.S. citizenship in 1924, the fort was permanently closed down. Fort Huachuca, east of Tucson, was founded in 1877 as the base for operations against Apaches and raiders from Mexico. From 1913 to 1933 the fort was the base for the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 10th Cavalry Regiment. During World War II, the fort expanded to 25,000 soldiers, mostly in segregated all-black units. Today the fort remains in operation and houses the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and the U.S. Army Network.
The Pueblos in Arizona were relatively peaceful through the Navajo and Apache Wars. However, in June 1891, the army had to bring in troops to stop Oraibi from preventing a school from being built on their mesa.
After the Civil War, Texans brought large-scale ranching to southern Arizona. They introduced their proven range methods to the new grass country. Texas rustlers also came, and brought lawlessness. Inexperienced ranchers brought poor management, resulting in overstocking, and introduced destructive diseases. Local cattleman organizations were formed to handle these problems. The Territory experienced a cattle boom in 1873–91, as the herds were expanded from 40,000 to 1.5 million head. However, the drought of 1891–93 killed off over half the cattle and produced severe overgrazing. Efforts to restore the rangeland between 1905 and 1934 had limited success, but ranching continued on a smaller scale.
Arizona's last major drought occurred during Dust Bowl years of 1933–34. This time Washington stepped in as the Agricultural Adjustment Administration spent $100 million to buy up the starving cattle. The Taylor Grazing Act placed federal and state agencies in control of livestock numbers on public lands. Most of the land in Arizona is owned by the federal government which leased grazing land to ranchers at low cost. Ranchers invested heavily in blooded stock and equipment. James Wilson states that after 1950, higher fees and restrictions in the name of land conservation caused a sizable reduction in available grazing land. The ranchers had installed three-fifths of the fences, dikes, diversion dams, cattleguards, and other improvements, but the new rules reduced the value of that investment. In the end, Wilson believes, sportsmen and environmentalists maintained a political advantage by denouncing the ranchers as political corrupted land-grabbers who exploited the publicly owned natural resources.
On February 23, 1883, United Verde Copper Company was incorporated under New York law. The small mining camp next to the mine was given a proper name, 'Jerome.' The town was named after the family which had invested a large amount of capital. In 1885 Lewis Williams opened a copper smelter in Bisbee and the copper boom began, as the nation turned to copper wires for electricity. The arrival of railroads in the 1880s made mining even more profitable, and national corporations bought control of the mines and invested in new equipment. Mining operations flourished in numerous boom towns, such as Bisbee, Jerome, Douglas, Ajo and Miami.
Arizona's "wild west" reputation was well deserved. Tombstone was a notorious mining town that flourished longer than most, from 1877 to 1929. Silver was discovered in 1877, and by 1881 the town had a population of over 10,000. Western story tellers and Hollywood film makers made as much money in Tombstone as anyone, thanks to the arrival of Wyatt Earp and his brothers in 1879. They bought shares in the Vizina mine, water rights, and gambling concessions, but Virgil, Morgan and Wyatt were soon appointed as federal and local marshals. They killed three outlaws in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the most famous gunfight of the Old West.
In the aftermath, Virgil Earp was maimed in an ambush and Morgan Earp was assassinated while playing billiards. Walter Noble Burns's novel Tombstone (1927) made Earp famous. Hollywood celebrated Earp's Tombstone days with John Ford's My Darling Clementine (1946), John Sturges's Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and Hour of the Gun (1967), Frank Perry's Doc (1971), George Cosmatos's Tombstone (1993), and Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp (1994). They solidified Earp's modern reputation as the Old West's deadliest gunman.
Jennie Bauters (1862–1905) operated brothels in the Territory from 1896 to 1905. She was an astute businesswoman with an eye for real estate appreciation, and a way with the town fathers of Jerome regarding taxes and restrictive ordinances. She was not always sitting pretty; her brothels were burned in a series of major fires that swept the business district; her girls were often drug addicts. As respectability closed in on her, in 1903 she relocated to the mining camp of Acme. In 1905, she was murdered by a man who had posed as her husband.
By 1869 Americans were reading John Wesley Powell's reports of his explorations of the Colorado River. In 1901, the Santa Fe Railroad reached Grand Canyon's South Rim. With railroad, restaurant and hotel entrepreneur Fred Harvey leading the way, large-scale tourism began that has never abated. The Grand Canyon has become an iconic symbol of the West and the nation as a whole.
The Chinese came to Arizona with the construction of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1880. Tucson was the main railroad center and soon had a Chinatown with laundries for the general population and a rich mix of restaurants, groceries, and services for the residents. Chinese and Mexican merchants and farmers transcended racial differences to form 'guanxi,' which were relations of friendship and trust. Chinese leased land from Mexicans, operated grocery stores, and aided compatriots attempting to enter the United States from Mexico after the Mexican Revolution in 1910. Chinese merchants helped supply General John Pershing's army in its expedition against Pancho Villa. Successful Chinese in Tucson led a viable community based on social integration, friendship, and kinship.
In February 1903, U.S. Senator Hamilton Kean spoke against Arizona's statehood. He said Mormons who fled from Idaho to Mexico would return to the U.S. and mix in the politics of Arizona.
In 1912, Arizona almost entered the Union as part of New Mexico in a Republican plan to keep control of the U.S. Senate. The plan, while accepted by most in New Mexico, was rejected by most Arizonans. Progressives in Arizona favored inclusion in the state constitution of the initiative, referendum, recall, direct election of senators, woman suffrage, and other reforms. Most of these proposals were included in the constitution that was rejected by Congress.
A new constitution was offered with the problematic provisions removed. Congress then voted to approve statehood, and President Taft signed the statehood bill on February 14, 1912. State residents promptly put the provisions back in. Hispanics had little voice or power. Only one of the 53 delegates at the constitutional convention was Hispanic, and he refused to sign. In 1912 women gained suffrage in the state, eight years before the country as a whole.
Arizona's first Congressman was Carl Hayden (1877–1972). He was the son of a Yankee merchant who had moved to Tempe because he needed dry heat for his bad lungs. Carl attended Stanford University and moved up the political ladder as town councilman, county treasurer, and Maricopa County sheriff, where he nabbed Arizona's last train robbers. He also started building a coalition to develop the state's water resources, a lifelong interest. A liberal Democrat his entire career, Hayden was elected to Congress in 1912 and moved to the Senate in 1926.
Reelection followed every six years as he advanced toward the chairmanship of the powerful Appropriations Committee, which he reached in 1955. His only difficult campaign came in 1962, at age 85, when he defeated a young conservative. He retired in 1968 after a record 56 years in Congress. His great achievement was his 41-year battle to enact the Central Arizona Project that would provide water for future growth.
The Great Depression of 1929–39 hit Arizona hard. At first local, state and private relief efforts focused on charity, especially by the Community Chest and Organized Charities programs. Federal money started arriving with the Federal Emergency Relief Committee in 1930. Different agencies promoted aid to the unemployed, tuberculosis patients, transients, and illegal immigrants. The money ran out by 1931 or 1932, and conditions were bad until New Deal relief operations began on a large scale in 1933.
Construction programs were important, especially the Hoover Dam (originally called Boulder Dam), begun by President Herbert Hoover. It is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border with Nevada. It was constructed by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation between 1931 and 1936. It operationalized a schedule of water use set by the Colorado River Compact of 1922 that gave Arizona 19% of the river's water, with 25% to Nevada and the rest to California.
Construction of military bases in Arizona was a national priority because of the state's excellent flying weather and clear skies, large amounts of unoccupied land, good railroads, cheap labor, low taxes, and its proximity to California's aviation industry. Arizona was attractive to both the military and private firms and they stayed after the war.
Fort Huachuca became one of the largest nearly-all-black Army forts, with quarters for 1,300 officers and 24,000 enlisted soldiers. The 92nd and 93rd Infantry Divisions, composed of African-American troops, trained there.
During the war, Mexican-American community organizations were very active in patriotic efforts to support American troops abroad, and made efforts to support the war effort materially and to provide moral support for the American servicemen fighting the war, especially the Mexican-American servicemen from local communities. Some of the community projects were cooperative ventures in which members of both the Mexican-American and Anglo communities participated. Most efforts made in the Mexican-American community represented localized American home front activities that were separate from the activities of the Anglo community.
Mexican-American women organized to assist their servicemen and the war effort. An underlying goal of the Spanish-American Mothers and Wives Association was the reinforcement of the woman's role in Spanish-Mexican culture. The organization raised thousands of dollars, wrote letters, and joined in numerous celebrations of their culture and their support for Mexican-American servicemen. Membership reached over 300 during the war and eventually ended its existence in 1976.
Heavy government spending during World War II revitalized the Arizona economy, which was still based on copper mining, citrus and cotton crops and cattle ranching, with a growing tourist business.
Military installations peppered the state, such as Davis-Monthan Field in Tucson, the main training center for air force bomber pilots. Two relocation camps opened for Japanese and Japanese Americans brought in from the West Coast.
After World War II the population grew rapidly, increasing sevenfold between 1950 and 2000, from 700,000 to over 5 million. Most of the growth was in the Phoenix area, with Tucson a distant second. Urban growth doomed the state's citrus industry, as the groves were turned into housing developments.
The cost of water made growing cotton less profitable, and Arizona's production steadily declined. Manufacturing employment jumped from 49,000 in 1960 to 183,000 by 1985, with half the workers in well-paid positions. High-tech firms such as Motorola, Hughes Aircraft, Goodyear Aircraft, Honeywell, and IBM had offices in the Phoenix area. By 1959, Hughes Aircraft had built advanced missiles with 5,000 workers in Tucson.
Despite being a small state, Arizona produced several national leaders for both the Republican and Democratic parties. Two Republican Senators were presidential nominees: Barry Goldwater in 1964 and John McCain in 2008; both carried Arizona but lost the national election. Senator Ernest McFarland, a Democrat, was the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate from 1951 to 1952, and Congressman John Rhodes was the Republican Minority Leader in the House from 1973 to 1981. Democrats Bruce Babbitt (Governor 1978–87) and Morris Udall (Congressman 1961–90) were contenders for their party's presidential nominations. In 1981 Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court; she served until 2006.
Retirement communities
Warm winters and low cost of living attracted retirees from the so-called snowbelt, who moved permanently to Arizona after 1945, bringing their pensions, Social Security, and savings with them. Real estate entrepreneurs catered to them with new communities with amenities pitched to older people, and with few facilities for children. Typically they were gated communities with controlled access and had pools, recreation centers, and golf courses.
In 1954, two developers bought 320 acres (1.3 km2) of farmland near Phoenix and opened the nation's first planned community dedicated exclusively to retirees at Youngtown. In 1960, developer Del Webb, inspired by the amenities in Florida's trailer parks, added facilities for "active adults" in his new Sun City planned community near Phoenix. In 1962 Ross Cortese opened the first of his gated Leisure Worlds. Other developers copied the popular model, and by 2000 18% of the retirees in the state lived in such "lifestyle" communities.
The issues of the fragile natural environment, compounded by questions of water shortage and distribution, led to numerous debates. The debate crossed traditional lines, so that the leading conservative, Senator Barry Goldwater, was also keenly concerned. For example, Goldwater supported the controversial Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP). He wrote:
I feel very definitely that the [Nixon] administration is absolutely correct in cracking down on companies and corporations and municipalities that continue to pollute the nation's air and water. While I am a great believer in the free competitive enterprise system and all that it entails, I am an even stronger believer in the right of our people to live in a clean and pollution-free environment. To this end, it is my belief that when pollution is found, it should be halted at the source, even if this requires stringent government action against important segments of our national economy.
Water issues were central. Agriculture consumed 89% of the state's strictly limited water supply while generating only 3% of the state's income. The Groundwater Management Act of 1980, sponsored by Governor Bruce Babbitt, raised the price of water to farmers, while cities had to reach a "safe yield" so that the groundwater usage did not exceed natural replenishment. New housing developments had to prove they had enough water for the next hundred years. Desert foliage suitable for a dry region soon replaced grass.
Cotton acreage declined dramatically, freeing up land for suburban sprawl as well as releasing large amounts of water and ending the need for expensive specialized machinery. Cotton acreage plunged from 120,000 acres in 1997 to only 40,000 acres in 2005, even as the federal treasury gave the state's farmers over $678 million in cotton subsidies. Many farmers collect the subsidies but no longer grow cotton. About 80% of the state's cotton is exported to textile factories in China and (since the passage of NAFTA) to Mexico.
Super Bowl XXX was played in Tempe in 1996 and Super Bowl XLII was held in Glendale in 2008. Super Bowl XLIX was also held in Glendale in 2015.
Illegal immigration continued to be a prime concern within the state, and in April 2010, Arizona SB1070 was passed and signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer. The measure attracted national attention as the most thorough anti-illegal immigration measure in decades within the United States.
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head during a political event in Tucson on January 8, 2011. The shooting resulted in six deaths and several injuries. Giffords survived the attack and became an advocate for gun control.
On June 30, 2013, nineteen members of the Prescott Fire Department were killed fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire. The fatalities were members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a hotshot crew, of whom only one survived as he was working in another location.
Border crisis: by 2019 Arizona was one of the states most affected by the border crisis, with a high number of migrant crossings and detentions.
after the rain
This is an example of the super depth of field of iPhone lens actually working to my benefit. Extreme foreground is sharp although I focused on M arches.
de / from Wikipedia:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
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La catedral gótica de San Vito es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad.
Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto.
Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado.
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.[2]
Built between 1948 and 1957, architect Luis Moya Blanco modelled his design on the Parthenon in Athens. The tower, with a height of 120 m, is modelled on the Giralda in Seville. The elliptical building is the church. The central courtyard measures 100 m by 50 m. Arches can be found everywhere in the compound.
Construido entre 1948 y 1957, el arquitecto Luis Moya Blanco modelo su diseño en el Partenón de Atenas. La torre, con una altura de 120 m, es el modelo de la Giralda de Sevilla. El edificio elíptico es la iglesia. El patio central mide 100 m por 50 m. Arcos se pueden encontrar en todo el recinto.
Universidad Laboral Gijón, Gijón, Asturias, Spain (Wednesday 3 Aug 2011 @ 9:59am).
Detail Of Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral In Prague / St. Vitus Katedrali-Çek Cumhuriyeti-Prag
**Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex. Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.
Photo by Hakan Şan Borteçin
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de / from Wikipedia:
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catedral_de_San_Vito
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
--------------------------------------------------------
La catedral gótica de San Vito es un templo dedicado al culto católico situado en la ciudad de Praga (República Checa). Forma parte del conjunto artístico monumental del Castillo de Praga y es la mayor muestra del Arte gótico de la ciudad.
Desde 1989 está dedicada a San Vito, San Venceslao y San Adalberto.
Ha sido el escenario de la coronación de todos los reyes de Bohemia y en ella se encuentran también enterrados todos los santos obispos y arzobispos y un buen número de reyes. La catedral, aunque católica, es de propiedad estatal desde el inicio de su construcción en el siglo XIV.
La catedral de San Vito es el símbolo de Praga y de toda la República Checa, tanto por su historia tempestuosa como por su valor artístico. Fue la culminación de las reivindicaciones de los reyes de Bohemia que quisieron convertir la diócesis de Praga en arzobispado.
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.[2]
St. Vitus Cathedral - 16
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The Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech: metropolitní katedrála svatého Víta, Václava a Vojtěcha) is a Roman Catholic metropolitan cathedral in Prague, the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. Up to 1997, the cathedral was dedicated only to Saint Vitus, and is still commonly named only as St. Vitus Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.[1] Cathedral dimensions are 124 × 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.[2]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Vitus_Cathedral
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Saint Vitus Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Prague, and the seat of the Archbishop of Prague. The full name of the cathedral is St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas and St. Adalbert Cathedral.
This cathedral is an excellent example of Gothic architecture and is the biggest and most important church in the country. Located within Prague Castle and containing the tombs of many Bohemian kings and Holy Roman Emperors, the cathedral is under the ownership of the Czech government as part of the Prague Castle complex.
Cathedral dimensions are 124 x 60 meters, the main tower is 96.5 meters high, front towers 82 m, arch height 33.2 m.
Had to shot this panorama photo freehand in low light condition with a Nikorr 18-105mm 5.6.... not an easy task to do...I still don't understand why i wasn't allowed to use a tripod.
The blackberry is an edible fruit produced by many species in the Rubus genus in the Rosaceae family, hybrids among these species within the Rubus subgenus, and hybrids between the Rubus and Idaeobatus subgenera. What distinguishes the blackberry from its raspberry relatives is whether or not the torus (receptacle or stem) 'picks-with' (i.e. stays with) the fruit. When picking a blackberry fruit, the torus does stay with the fruit. With a raspberry, the torus remains on the plant, leaving a hollow core in the raspberry fruit. The term 'bramble', a word meaning any impenetrable scrub, has traditionally been applied specifically to the blackberry or its products, though in the United States it applies to all members of the Rubus genus.
The usually black fruit is not a true berry. Botanically it is termed an aggregate fruit, composed of small drupelets. It is a widespread and well-known group of over 375 species, many of which are closely related apomictic microspecies native throughout Europe, northwestern Africa, temperate western and central Asia and North and South America.
Blackberries are perennial plants which typically bear biennial stems ("canes") from the perennial root system.
In its first year, a new stem, the primocane, grows vigorously to its full length of 3–6 m (in some cases, up to 9 m), arching or trailing along the ground and bearing large palmately compound leaves with five or seven leaflets; it does not produce any flowers. In its second year, the cane becomes a floricane and the stem does not grow longer, but the lateral buds break to produce flowering laterals (which have smaller leaves with three or five leaflets). First- and second-year shoots usually have numerous short-curved, very sharp prickles that are often erroneously called thorns. These prickles can tear through denim with ease and make the plant very difficult to navigate around. Prickle-free cultivars have been developed.
Unmanaged mature plants form a tangle of dense arching stems, the branches rooting from the node tip on many species when they reach the ground. Vigorous and growing rapidly in woods, scrub, hillsides, and hedgerows, blackberry shrubs tolerate poor soils, readily colonizing wasteland, ditches, and vacant lots.
The flowers are produced in late spring and early summer on short racemes on the tips of the flowering laterals. Each flower is about 2–3 cm in diameter with five white or pale pink petals.
The drupelets only develop around ovules that are fertilized by the male gamete from a pollen grain. The most likely cause of undeveloped ovules is inadequate pollinator visits. Even a small change in conditions, such as a rainy day or a day too hot for bees to work after early morning, can reduce the number of bee visits to the flower, thus reducing the quality of the fruit. Incomplete drupelet development can also be a symptom of exhausted reserves in the plant's roots or infection with a virus such as Raspberry bushy dwarf virus.
The soft fruit is popular for use in desserts, jams, seedless jelly, and sometimes wine. It is often mixed with apples for pies and crumbles. Blackberries are also used to produce sweets.
Good nectar producers, blackberry shrubs bearing flowers yield a medium to dark, fruity honey.
Folklore in the United Kingdom is told that blackberries should not be picked after Old Michaelmas Day (11 October) as the devil has claimed them. There is some value behind this legend as wetter and cooler weather often allows the fruit to become infected by various molds such as Botryotinia which give the fruit an unpleasant look and may be toxic.
Bridge between Croatian mainland and Pag island on state road D-106, seen from the island
Designer: Ilija Stojadinović
Opening on 17th December 1968
Length 301 m, height 28 m, arch span 188 m
Bridgepixing the Opawa River Bridge, Blenheim, South Island, New Zealand.
This 1917 bridge was the first reinforced concrete bowstring arch bridge in New Zealand. Its eight 21.3 m arch spans appear heavy when compared with those of the 1930s when this form found considerable favour. (Source - Bridging the Gap: Early Bridges in New Zealand 1830-1939 by Geoffrey Thornton)
Additional Bridge Photos and a Bridge Blog at www.Bridgepix.com.
Blenheim is a town in Marlborough, in the north east of the South Island of New Zealand. It has a population of 29,700. The area which surrounds the town is well known as a centre of New Zealand's wine industry. It enjoys one of New Zealand’s sunniest climates, with hot, relatively dry summers and crisp winters. (Wikipedia)
The Postcard
An Art-Tone Series Pictorial Wonderland postcard that was published by the Stanley A. Piltz Company of San Francisco, California.
In the space for the stamp it states:
'Place One Cent
Stamp Here.'
The following is also printed on the divided back of the card:
"Probably nowhere else in the world
is there such an impressive sight, as
the night view of the massive Golden
Gate Bridge, which spans the world-
renowned 'Golden Gate' entrance to
San Francisco Bay.
Brilliantly illuminated, and with its
mighty towers rising 746 feet above
the waters of the Bay, it greets the
incoming ships and may be seen
from many miles at sea."
The Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula—to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait.
The bridge also carries pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and is designated as part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95. Recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Wonders of the Modern World, the bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California.
The idea of a fixed link between San Francisco and Marin had gained increasing popularity during the late 19th. century, but it was not until the early 20th. century that such a link became feasible.
Joseph Strauss served as chief engineer for the project, with Leon Moisseiff, Irving Morrow and Charles Ellis making significant contributions to the bridge's design.
The bridge opened to the public in 1937, and has undergone various retrofits and other improvement projects in the decades since.
The Golden Gate Bridge is described in Frommer's Travel Guide as:
"Possibly the most beautiful, certainly
the most photographed, bridge in the
world."
At the time of its opening, it was both the longest and the tallest suspension bridge in the world, titles it held until 1964 and 1998 respectively. Its main span is 4,200 feet (1,280 m), and its total height is 746 feet (227 m).
History of the Golden Gate Bridge
Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay.
A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840's for the purpose of transporting water to San Francisco.
The Sausalito Land and Ferry Company service, launched in 1867, eventually became the Golden Gate Ferry Company, a Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiary, and the largest ferry operation in the world by the late 1920's.
Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific's automobile ferries became very profitable and important to the regional economy.
The ferry crossing between the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco and Sausalito Ferry Terminal in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost $1.00 per vehicle, a price later reduced to compete with the new bridge.
The ferry trip from the San Francisco Ferry Building took 27 minutes.
Many wanted to build a bridge to connect San Francisco to Marin County. San Francisco was the largest American city still served primarily by ferry boats. Because it did not have a permanent link with communities around the bay, the city's growth rate was below the national average.
Many experts said that a bridge could not be built across the 6,700-foot (2,000-metre) strait, which had strong, swirling tides and currents, with water 372 ft (113 m) deep at the center of the channel, and frequent strong winds.
Experts said that ferocious winds and blinding fogs would prevent construction and operation.
Conception
Although the idea of a bridge spanning the Golden Gate was not new, the proposal that eventually took hold was made in a 1916 San Francisco Bulletin article by former engineering student James Wilkins.
San Francisco's City Engineer estimated the cost at $100 million (equivalent to $2.5 billion today), and impractical for the time. He asked bridge engineers whether it could be built for less.
One who responded, Joseph Strauss, was an ambitious engineer and poet who had, for his graduate thesis, designed a 55-mile-long (89 km) railroad bridge across the Bering Strait.
At the time, Strauss had completed some 400 drawbridges—most of which were inland—and nothing on the scale of the new project. Strauss's initial drawings were for a massive cantilever on each side of the strait, connected by a central suspension segment, which Strauss promised could be built for $17 million (equivalent to $423 million today).
Local authorities agreed to proceed only on the assurance that Strauss would alter the design, and accept input from several consulting project experts. A suspension-bridge design was considered the most practical, because of recent advances in metallurgy.
Strauss spent more than a decade drumming up support in Northern California. The bridge faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources. The Department of War was concerned that the bridge would interfere with ship traffic. The US Navy feared that a ship collision or sabotage to the bridge could block the entrance to one of its main harbors.
Unions demanded guarantees that local workers would be favored for construction jobs. Southern Pacific Railroad, one of the most powerful business interests in California, opposed the bridge as competition to its ferry fleet and filed a lawsuit against the project, leading to a mass boycott of the ferry service.
In May 1924, Colonel Herbert Deakyne held the second hearing on the Bridge on behalf of the Secretary of War in a request to use federal land for construction. Deakyne approved the transfer of land needed for the bridge structure to the "Bridging the Golden Gate Association," pending further bridge plans by Strauss.
Another ally was the fledgling automobile industry, which supported the development of roads and bridges to increase demand for automobiles.
The bridge's name was first used when the project was initially discussed in 1917 by Strauss and M. M. O'Shaughnessy, city engineer of San Francisco. The name became official with the passage of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Act by the state legislature in 1923, creating a special district to design, build and finance the bridge.
San Francisco and most of the counties along the North Coast of California joined the Golden Gate Bridge District, with the exception being Humboldt County, whose residents opposed the bridge's construction and the traffic it would generate.
Design of the Golden Gate Bridge
Strauss was the chief engineer in charge of the overall design and construction of the bridge project. However, because he had little understanding or experience with cable-suspension designs, responsibility for much of the engineering and architecture fell on other experts.
Strauss's initial design proposal (two double cantilever spans linked by a central suspension segment) was unacceptable from a visual standpoint. The final graceful suspension design was conceived and championed by Leon Moisseiff, the engineer of the Manhattan Bridge in New York City.
Irving Morrow, a relatively unknown residential architect, designed the overall shape of the bridge towers, the lighting scheme, and Art Deco elements, such as the tower decorations, streetlights, railing, and walkways.
The famous International Orange color was Morrow's personal selection, winning out over other possibilities, including the US Navy's suggestion that it be painted with black and yellow stripes to ensure visibility by passing ships.
Senior engineer Charles Alton Ellis, collaborating remotely with Moisseiff, was the principal engineer of the project. Moisseiff produced the basic structural design, introducing his "deflection theory" by which a thin, flexible roadway would flex in the wind, greatly reducing stress by transmitting forces via suspension cables to the bridge towers.
Although the Golden Gate Bridge design has proved sound, a later Moisseiff design, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, collapsed in a strong windstorm soon after it was completed, because of an unexpected aeroelastic flutter.
Ellis was also tasked with designing a "bridge within a bridge" in the southern abutment, to avoid the need to demolish Fort Point, a pre–Civil War masonry fortification viewed, even then, as worthy of historic preservation. He designed a graceful steel arch spanning the fort and carrying the roadway to the bridge's southern anchorage.
Ellis was a Greek scholar and mathematician who at one time was a University of Illinois professor of engineering, despite having no engineering degree. He eventually earned a degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois prior to designing the Golden Gate Bridge, and spent the last twelve years of his career as a professor at Purdue University.
He became an expert in structural design, writing the standard textbook of the time. Ellis did much of the technical and theoretical work that built the bridge, but he received none of the credit in his lifetime.
In November 1931, Strauss fired Ellis, and replaced him with a former subordinate, Clifford Paine, ostensibly for wasting too much money sending telegrams back and forth to Moisseiff.
Ellis, obsessed with the project and unable to find work elsewhere during the Depression, continued working 70 hours per week on an unpaid basis, eventually turning in ten volumes of hand calculations.
With an eye toward self-promotion and posterity, Strauss downplayed the contributions of his collaborators who, despite receiving little recognition or compensation, were largely responsible for the final form of the bridge.
Strauss succeeded in having himself credited as the person most responsible for the design and vision of the bridge. Only much later were the contributions of the others on the design team properly appreciated.
In May 2007, the Golden Gate Bridge District issued a formal report on 70 years of stewardship of the famous bridge, and decided to give Ellis major credit for the design of the bridge.
Financing the Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District was incorporated in 1928 as the official entity to design, construct, and finance the Golden Gate Bridge. However, after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the District was unable to raise the construction funds, so it lobbied for a $30 million bond measure (equivalent to $473 million today).
The bonds were approved in November 1930, by votes in the counties affected by the bridge. The construction budget at the time of approval was $27 million ($438 million today). However, the District was unable to sell the bonds until 1932, when Amadeo Giannini, the founder of the San Francisco–based Bank of America, agreed on behalf of his bank to buy the entire issue in order to help the local economy.
Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge
Construction began on the 5th. January 1933. The project cost more than $35 million ($550 million in 2021 dollars), and was completed ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget.
The construction project was carried out by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Co., a subsidiary of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.
Strauss remained head of the project, overseeing day-to-day construction, and making some groundbreaking contributions. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, he placed a brick from his alma mater's demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorage before the concrete was poured.
Strauss innovated the use of movable safety netting beneath the men working, which saved many lives. The nineteen men who were saved by the nets over the course of the project formed the Half Way to Hell Club.
Nonetheless, eleven men were killed in falls, ten on the 17th. February 1937, when a scaffold with twelve men on it, which was secured by undersized bolts, fell and broke through the safety net; two of the twelve survived the 200-foot (61 m) fall into the water.
The bridge opened on the 27th. May 1937.
The Bridge Round House, an Art Deco design by Alfred Finnila that was completed in 1938, has been popular throughout the years as a starting point for various commercial tours of the bridge, and as an unofficial gift shop.
The Round House was renovated in 2012, and the gift shop was removed as a new, official gift shop has been included in the adjacent plaza.
During the bridge work, the Assistant Civil Engineer of California, Alfred Finnila, had overseen the entire iron work of the bridge, as well as half of the bridge's road work.
The Torsional Bracing Retrofit
On the 1st. December 1951, a windstorm revealed swaying and rolling instabilities of the bridge, resulting in its closure. In 1953 and 1954, the bridge was retrofitted with lateral and diagonal bracing that connected the lower chords of the two side trusses.
This bracing stiffened the bridge deck in torsion so that it would better resist the types of twisting that had destroyed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940.
Bridge Deck Replacement (1982–1986)
The original bridge used a concrete deck. Salt carried by fog or mist reached the steel rebar, causing corrosion and concrete spalling.
Accordingly, from 1982 to 1986, the original bridge deck, in 747 sections, was systematically replaced with 40% lighter, and stronger, steel orthotropic deck panels, over a total of 401 nights without closing the roadway completely to traffic.
The roadway was also widened by two feet. The deck replacement was the bridge's greatest engineering project since it was built, and cost over $68 million.
Opening Festivities, and 50th. and 75th. Anniversaries
The bridge-opening celebration in 1937 began on the 27th. May and lasted for one week. The day before vehicle traffic was allowed, 200,000 people crossed either on foot or on roller skates.
On the opening day, Mayor Angelo Rossi and other officials rode the ferry to Marin, then crossed the bridge in a motorcade past three ceremonial "barriers," the last being a blockade of beauty queens who required Joseph Strauss to present the bridge to the Highway District before allowing him to pass.
An official song, "There's a Silver Moon on the Golden Gate," was chosen to commemorate the event. Strauss wrote a poem that is now on the Golden Gate Bridge entitled "The Mighty Task is Done."
The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington, D.C. signaling the official start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge at noon. Weeks of civil and cultural activities called "the Fiesta" followed. A statue of Strauss was moved in 1955 to a site near the bridge.
As part of the fiftieth anniversary celebration in 1987, the Golden Gate Bridge district again closed the bridge to automobile traffic and allowed pedestrians to cross it on the 24th. May 1987.
This Sunday morning celebration attracted 750,000 to 1,000,000 people, and ineffective crowd control meant that the bridge became congested with roughly 300,000 people, causing the center span of the bridge to flatten out under the weight.
Although the bridge is designed to flex in that way under heavy loads, and was estimated not to have exceeded 40% of the yielding stress of the suspension cables, bridge officials stated that uncontrolled pedestrian access was not being considered as part of the 75th. anniversary on Sunday, May 27, 2012, because of the additional law enforcement costs required "since 9/11."
Commemorative Bricks
On the 50th. anniversary of the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1987, individuals and organizations were invited to buy a commemorative brick in order to fund the 50th. anniversary celebration.
More than 7,500 donors responded, personalizing their brick with inscriptions and tributes. The bricks were installed on the ground, creating a brick promenade.
Unfortunately, 25 years later, for the upcoming 75th. of the Golden Gate Bridge, the need for a DDA compliant area, as the slope was too steep, implied remodeling the whole promenade.
The contractors were unable to take the bricks out one by one, and so the brick promenade was demolished, with the contributors being unable to get their bricks back.
However, to honor and respect their contributions, all the donors' names and the inscriptions they had chosen for their bricks have been preserved and written on panels.
The panels are located inside the "Equator Coffees", on its rounded walls. The names and inscriptions are listed in alphabetical order, to make them easier to find and read.
Structural Specifications
On display on the south side of the bridge is a 36.5-inch-wide (93 cm) cross-section of the cable, containing 27,572 wires.
Until 1964, the Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,300 m). Since 1964 its main span length has been surpassed by seventeen bridges; it now has the second-longest main span in the Americas, after the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. The total length of the Golden Gate Bridge from abutment to abutment is 8,981 feet (2,737 m).
The Golden Gate Bridge's clearance above high water averages 220 feet (67 m), while its towers, at 746 feet (227 m) above the water, were the world's tallest on a suspension bridge until 1993 when it was surpassed by the Mezcala Bridge, in Mexico.
The weight of the roadway is hung from 250 pairs of vertical suspender ropes, which are attached to the two main cables. The main cables pass over the two main towers, and are fixed in concrete at each end.
The total length of galvanized steel wire used to fabricate both main cables is estimated to be 80,000 miles (130,000 km).
Each of the bridge's two towers has approximately 600,000 rivets.
Aesthetics of the Golden Gate Bridge
Aesthetics was the foremost reason why the first design of Joseph Strauss was rejected. Upon re-submission of his bridge construction plan, he added details, such as lighting, to outline the bridge's cables and towers.
In 1999, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.
The color of the bridge is officially an orange vermilion called international orange. The color was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow because it complements the natural surroundings, and enhances the bridge's visibility in fog.
The bridge was originally painted with red lead primer and a lead-based topcoat, which was touched up as required. In the mid-1960's, a program was started to improve corrosion protection by stripping the original paint and re-painting the bridge with zinc silicate primer and vinyl topcoats.
Since 1990, acrylic topcoats have been used instead for air-quality reasons. The program was completed in 1995, and it is now maintained by 38 painters who touch up the paintwork where it becomes seriously corroded. The ongoing maintenance task of painting the bridge is continuous.
Traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge
The movable median barrier between the lanes is moved several times daily to conform to traffic patterns. On weekday mornings, traffic flows mostly southbound into the city, so four of the six lanes run southbound. Conversely, on weekday afternoons, four lanes run northbound. During off-peak periods and weekends, traffic is split with three lanes in each direction.
From 1968 to 2015, opposing traffic was separated by small, plastic pylons; during that time, there were 16 fatalities resulting from 128 head-on collisions.
To improve safety, the speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge was reduced from 50 to 45 mph (80 to 72 km/h) on the 1st. October 1983.
Although there had been discussion concerning the installation of a movable barrier since the 1980's, only in March 2005 did the Bridge Board of Directors commit to finding funding to complete the $2 million study required prior to the installation of a movable median barrier.
Installation of the resulting barrier was completed on the 11th. January 2015, following a closure of 45.5 hours to private vehicle traffic, the longest in the bridge's history. The new barrier system, including the zipper trucks, cost approximately $30.3 million to purchase and install.
The bridge carries about 112,000 vehicles per day.
Usage and Tourism
The bridge is popular with pedestrians and bicyclists, and was built with walkways on either side of the six vehicle traffic lanes.
Initially, they were separated from the traffic lanes by only a metal curb, but railings between the walkways and the traffic lanes were added in 2003, primarily as a measure to prevent cyclists from falling into the roadway. The bridge was designated as part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95 in 2021.
A visitor center and gift shop, originally called the "Bridge Pavilion" (since renamed the “Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center”), is located on the San Francisco side of the bridge, adjacent to the southeast parking lot.
It opened in 2012, in time for the bridge's 75th.-anniversary celebration. A cafe, outdoor exhibits, and restroom facilities are located nearby. On the Marin side of the bridge, only accessible from the northbound lanes, is the H. Dana Bower Rest Area and Vista Point, named after the first landscape architect for the California Division of Highways.
Land and waters under and around the bridge are homes to varieties of wildlife such as bobcats, harbor seals, and sea lions. Three species of whales that had been absent in the area for many years have shown recent recolonizations in the vicinity of the bridge.
Tolls
Tolls are only collected from southbound traffic at the toll plaza on the San Francisco side of the bridge. All-electronic tolling has been in effect since 2013, and drivers may either pay using the FasTrak electronic toll collection device, using the license plate tolling program, or via a one time payment online.
Effective 1st. July 2022, the regular toll rate for passenger cars is $8.80, with FasTrak users paying a discounted toll of $8.40.
When the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, the toll was 50 cents per car (equivalent to $9.42 in 2021), collected in each direction.
Suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is the most-used suicide site in the world. The deck is about 245 feet (75 m) above the water, and after a fall of four seconds, jumpers hit the water at around 75 mph (120 km/h; 30 m/s).
Most die from impact trauma. About 5% survive the initial impact, but generally drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water.
As a suicide prevention initiative, signs on the Golden Gate Bridge promote special telephones that connect to crisis hotlines, as well as 24/7 crisis text lines.
After years of debate and more than 1,500 deaths, suicide barriers, consisting of a stainless steel net extending 20 feet from the bridge, began to be installed in April 2017. Construction was first estimated to take approximately four years at a cost of over $200 million.
In December 2019, it was reported that construction of the suicide prevention net had fallen two years behind schedule because the lead contractor, Shimmick Construction Co., had been sold in 2017, leading to the slowdown of several existing projects. As of December 2019, the completion date for the Golden Gate Bridge net was set for 2023.
Wind
The Golden Gate Bridge was designed to safely withstand winds of up to 68 mph (109 km/h). Until 2008, the bridge was closed because of weather conditions only three times: on the st. December 1951, because of gusts of 69 mph (111 km/h); on the 23rd. December 1982, because of winds of 70 mph (113 km/h); and on the 3rd. December 1983, because of wind gusts of 75 mph (121 km/h). An anemometer placed midway between the two towers on the west side of the bridge is used to measure wind speeds, along with another anemometer on one of the towers.
As part of the retrofitting of the bridge and installation of the suicide barrier, starting in 2019 the railings on the west side of the pedestrian walkway were replaced with thinner, more flexible slats in order to improve the bridge's aerodynamic tolerance of high wind to 100 mph (161 km/h).
Starting in June 2020, reports were received of a loud hum, heard across San Francisco and Marin County, produced by the new railing slats when a strong west wind was blowing.
The sound had been predicted from wind tunnel tests, but had not been included in the environmental impact report; ways of ameliorating it are being considered.
Seismic Vulnerability and Improvements
Modern knowledge of the effect of earthquakes on structures led to a program to retrofit the Golden Gate to better resist seismic events. The proximity of the bridge to the San Andreas Fault places it at risk for a significant earthquake.
Once thought to have been able to withstand any magnitude of foreseeable earthquake, it was found that the bridge was actually vulnerable to complete structural failure (i.e., collapse) triggered by the failure of supports on the 320-foot (98 m) arch over Fort Point.
A $392 million program was initiated in order to improve the structure's ability to withstand such an event with only minimal (repairable) damage.
A custom-built electro-hydraulic synchronous lift system for construction of temporary support towers and a series of intricate lifts, transferring the loads from the existing bridge onto the temporary supports, were completed with engineers from Balfour Beatty and Enerpac, without disrupting day-to-day commuter traffic.
Although the retrofit was initially planned to be completed in 2012, as of May 2017 it was expected to take several more years.
The former elevated approach to the Golden Gate Bridge through the San Francisco Presidio, known as Doyle Drive, dated to 1933, and was named after Frank P. Doyle.
Doyle, the president of the Exchange Bank in Santa Rosa and son of the bank's founder, was the man who, more than any other person, made it possible to build the Golden Gate Bridge.
The highway carried about 91,000 vehicles each weekday between downtown San Francisco and the North Bay and points north. The road was deemed "vulnerable to earthquake damage", had a problematic 4-lane design, and lacked shoulders; a San Francisco County Transportation Authority study recommended that it be replaced.
Construction on the $1 billion replacement, temporarily known as the Presidio Parkway, began in December 2009. The elevated Doyle Drive was demolished on the weekend of the 27th.--30th. April, and traffic used a part of the partially completed Presidio Parkway until it was switched onto the finished Presidio Parkway on the weekend of the 9th.--12th. July 2015.
As of May 2012, an official at Caltrans said there is no plan to permanently rename the portion known as Doyle Drive.