Gravenhurst is a town in the Muskoka region of Ontario. Gravenhurst includes a large area of the District of Muskoka, known to Ontarians as “cottage country”.

Character Creation

 

Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.

 

They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, and the electromagnetic spectrum of emotional willpower.

 

The characters are typically depicted as members of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic law enforcement agency.

 

The first Green Lantern character, Alan Scott, was created in 1940 by Martin Nodell with scripting or co-scripting of the first stories by Bill Finger during the Golden Age of Comic Books and usually fought common criminals in Capitol City (and later, Gotham City) with the aid of his magic ring.

 

With the insistence of the then DC editor, Julius Schwartz to bring in a new science fiction age of comics and to revamp the superhero genre, Hal Jordan was the Silver Age Green Lantern created by John Broome and Gil Kane. He first appeared in Showcase #22.

 

His first appearance signaled the reboot of characters away from the magic and supernatural based stories of the Golden Age and replaced them with science fiction based stories. Along with the newly re-imagined Atom, Flash and Hawkman, this was a landmark moment which many consider to be the beginning of the Silver Age at DC Comics.

 

Gone was the magic based Green Lantern of Alan Scott, and now came Hal Jordan, wielder of a ring of alien origins, part of an intergalactic police force protecting the universe.

  

For the Silver Age of Comic Books, John Broome and Gil Kane reinvented the character as Hal Jordan in 1959 and introduced the Green Lantern Corps, shifting the nature of the character from fantasy to science fiction.

 

During the Bronze Age of Comic Books, Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams introduced John Stewart, a new member of the Corps. Other notable Green Lanterns include Guy Gardner, Kyle Rayner, Simon Baz, Jessica Cruz and Jo Mullein.

 

The Green Lanterns are among DC Comics' longest lasting sets of characters. They have been adapted to television, video games, and motion pictures.

 

Fictional Character History

 

Origin

 

Hal Jordan was born into a military family. His father, Martin Jordan, flew in the war and, during Hal's childhood, was occupied as a test pilot for Ferris Aircraft. Hal had an especially close bond with his father, both of them sharing a love of flying (Hal often skipping school to watch his father fly). Martin was killed during a test-flight gone awry, with both Hal and Carol Ferris watching. As a result, Hal's mother forbade him from frequenting air fields or having anything whatsoever to do with the world of aviation which had taken her husband. In accordance with this ultimatum, Hal promised not to join the Air Force.

 

At the age of 18, however, Hal joined the Air Force anyway, and was considered one of the best young pilots. His first combat deployment was in the Korean War. Years later when Hal's mother was dying, Hal planned on visiting her. However, his brother Jack said his mom had no interest in seeing her son. Knowing that the reason his mother refused to see him was due to his being in the Air Force, he enacted a plan to get discharged as quickly as possible- punching his commanding officer. He was summarily dishonorably discharged and went immediately see his mother, but she passed away just before he arrived at the hospital.

 

Much later, while testing a flight simulator, an energy field surrounded him and took him to Abin Sur, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, an intergalactic peace keeping force, who patrolled Space Sector 2814. On the verge of death, Abin Sur, with his power ring, sought out the most worthy successor on Earth. The ring actually found two Earthlings, Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner. Hal happened to be closer to the crash site so he was chosen. Despite some character flaws, Hal Jordan was given the power ring and its power battery.

 

He journeyed to the planet Oa, home world of the Green Lantern Corps, and trained with Sinestro, a Corps member that would later become one of Hal's deadliest enemies. He became the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 (the location of Earth) and formed many relationships among the superhero community. Hal is considered the greatest Green Lantern of them all.

 

Character Evolution

 

After meeting and befriending Green Arrow, Hal Jordan became more socially conscious, seeking to help ordinary people. After this, Hal Jordan was exiled into deep space.

 

The most important personal relationship which Hal has is that with Carol Ferris. As the inheritor of the family business at Ferris Air, she is his boss, and over time the childhood friends grew to love each other. As she was possessed by the Star Sapphire, it also fell to him to rescue her from its grips. As she now has control over the Star Sapphire she now acts as a hero occasionally alongside him, and while the two seek to be in a relationship, their tumultuous past history together often comes back to haunt them.

 

During Emerald Dawn, Hal Jordan's origin story was retold. It explains how Hal Jordan obtained the ring after Abin Sur's death. Emerald Dawn II shows Hal going to jail for driving under the influence and later Hal and Sinestro start their 90 day lesson.

 

Hal would go on to be possessed by Parallax, and turn evil. He would later do some good, such as healing John Stewart, bringing Green Arrow back to life and sacrificing himself to stop the Sun-Eater, and reignite the sun. After Hal dies stopping the sun-eater, he becomes the Spectre. Hal would later regain his life, and return as the Green Lantern.

 

Major Story Arcs

 

Green Lantern/Green Arrow

 

In the 70's Hal was spreading himself thin, dealing with the Guardians' galactic problems and the close-to-home problems on earth. Hal went on a road trip with fellow hero, Green Arrow, whose personality couldn't be more different then Hal's. Hal even settled for a time in Evergreen City, Washington. It was during that time the Guardians assigned a back-up Green Lantern to sector 2814 named John Stewart and also depowered Hal's ring. After Guy Gardner's presumed death, Hal met and fell in love with psychic Kari Limbo, however once Guy returned from the dead Kari left Hal at the altar to take care of the comatose Gardner, and Hal went back to Ferris Aircraft.

 

Tales of the Green Lantern

 

The Tales of The Green Lantern is a 3 issue mini-series. It follows the battle between Krona and Hal Jordan. The tales start of with the calling of all the 3000 Green lantern that still survive, by the Guardians. When the Lanterns are re-united they learn that their universe is at unrest. We then follow the battle between Hal's Heroes and Krona's minions. The last issue we see that Krona had been recharged by Nekron, the king of the Dead, we see Hal's personal battle Nekron, and an exciting ending, where Abin Sur helps Hal to escape death. At the end of this ordeal Hal is promoted by the Guardians and asked to join them.

 

Ganthet's tale

 

The guardian Ganthet requests Hal to stop the guardian Dawlikispopok from changing time with a time machine. During the early years of Oa the scientist Krona used a time machine to see the beginning of time and created the Anti-Monitor. Hal battles Dawly and beats him. The guardians then reveal a secret to Hal.

 

Emerald Twilight

 

Jordan's hometown, Coast City, was destroyed by the Cyborg Superman and the alien warlord Mongul in order to turn it into something called Engine City, a replacement for Warworld. While the two were beaten, Hal could not accept the fact that his city so Hal used his ring to create the constructs in the form of people of Coast City. One of the constructs he created took the form of his dead father.

 

Hal told his "father" how he was always looking up to him and wanted to be just like him. He only wanted to see his father being proud of him instead of just saying how his brothers Jack and Jim are great. His "father" told him how Hal's brothers have done something with their lives while Hal's head was in clouds. Even when Hal says he became a hero, his father mocked him on how he wasn't able to save Coast City and as Hal begs his father to come back, he sees his father dying on testing flight for Ferris Aircraft.

 

Next moment, he sees his mother in the form of construct telling him how he will always he a failure in his father's eyes. He asked his mother how she accepted the fact that her husband's plane crashed. She tells him how she loved Hal's father and she thought and even wanted to die when her husband died but eventually she just accepted it. Over time people go on and they are left with good memories. She remembers all the good times she spend with her husband and she tells her son not let go of the pain he feels now and just keep all the good memories he had to satisfy him or the pain will consume him. As the construct of his mother disappears, Hal focuses his willpower again and this time uses his ring to recreate the Coast City in a form of an energy construct while at the same time creating constructs of all people from the Coast City he knew that are now dead.

 

Hal meets his first love Jennifer and takes a walk over "Coast City", telling Jen how she was Hal's first love and how she helped him live his life again. Even after 3 years have passed since Hal's father died, he still could't get over it but Jen helped him stop hurting himself and even convinced him to become a pilot like his father. He tells Jen how the time he spent with her was the best year of his life and that he was a fool to turn his back on her. Hal comes home and meets his father again, telling him how Hal recreating Coast City and everyone in it is a huge achievement meaning that Hal finally did something to make his father proud but before he can say that to Hal, his father, his home and all of Coast City Hal recreated disappears because his ring lost power. The guardians appeared and Hal asked them for more power but the Guardians of the Corps refused to give Hal more power.

 

Consumed with fear, Hal was left vulnerable to Parallax, the spirit embodiment of fear. Accuse Hal for using his ring for personal needs, The Guardians demand it back. Hal drains energy from Guardian's projection and travels to Oa.

 

Hal, under the influence of Parallax, lost his senses and murdered other Corps members, including: Tomar-Tu, Boodikka, KE'Hann, Laira, Graf Toren, Kreon and Jack T. Chance, claiming Guardians made him a slave and stole the power rings of Lanterns he defeated.

 

He sent them off in space and they became The Lost Lanterns. Hal even went on to reluctantly kill Kilowog.

 

He reached Oa where he battled Sinestro (who was let free by the guardians). Hal removed his other rings in order to face Sinestro in a fair fight. The battle ended with Hal's victory by snapping Sinestro's neck and led to the death of Sinestro (for a time), claiming it is something Hal should have done a long time ago. Hal claims he crossed the line and he can't go back and when the Guardians claim he will be punished, Hal accused them for not being there to give him the power he wanted to use only to get his normal life back.

 

He didn't want anything else. Hal claimed there is no turning back and nobody can't stop him, not even he can't. He abandoned his ring and started to absorb the emerald energies of the central power battery and destroying the battery along with the entire Green Lantern Corps. He killed all the Guardians except for Ganthet who had absorbed their power and retrieved Hal's ring in order to went on to Earth to find the person who will become the new and the last Green Lantern. He encountered the man called Kyle Rayner, gave him Hal's ring and disappeared. Hal finally comes out of the scenes, absorbing all energy from power battery and became the villain known as Parallax.

 

Zero Hour

 

Parallax is responsible the crisis known as Zero Hour. He started it by defeating the Time Trapper coming to the end of time with the intention to recreate the Universe and rewrite history the way he thought it should be. Parallax killed various time travelers, sparing only those he does not consider to be a threat to him and makes sure to kill the Time Trapper once he finds out he survived the encounter with him. With the help of Waverider, the Earth's heroes encountered Parallax who easily defeated Kyle and Superman and attempted to end all of creation and start a new one.

 

When Parallax started to recreate the Universe, he claimed how all he wanted to do is bring Coast City and it's people back but eventually he came to a conclusion that the loss of Coast City is not the only problem he needs to take care of but all the Universe is full of agony and flaws and he needs to fix it. He even claims he can give all heroes everything they wanted. Waverider teleports Earth's heroes to encounter Parallax who faces all of his former allies, even Green Arrow. Even The Spectre joined the fight. Waverider used the power of Earth's heroes to drain Parallax of his power and they successfully recreated the Universe with a few differences compared to the way it was before Parallax destroyed it.

 

Parallax vs Kyle Rayner

 

Right after Parallax was stopped during the final events of the Zero Hour, him and Kyle were teleported back to Oa and started a fight. With most of his power gone, Parallax wants to take his ring back from Kyle in order to use it to drain power from Oa and try to fix things again. Kyle refuses and as he overpowers Parallax, Hal sees the skull of his friend Kilowog he killed during Emerald Twilight. Hal tells Kyle how he only wanted to fix things. To be the hero but he did terrible things and he became "one of the bad guys:. Kyle understands Hal's words and tells him how he became the Green Lantern and how he lost Alex, a woman he cared about.

 

Realizing the great responsibility of being a hero, Kyle gives Hal the ring. Hall tries to use it's power to absorb the energy from Oa and reach higher levels of power like before. However, because he is weakened, Kyle was able to take the ring back. Hal gives Kyle an opportunity to give him what he lost, his girlfriend Alex. Kyle refuses as it doesn't seem right in his eyes and he used ring's power to overwhelm Oa by charging it with energy. Oa gets destroyed, removing Hal's opportunity to become more powerful. Kyle survived while Hal is nowhere to be seen.

 

It turned out Hal actually survived Oa's destruction and came back to Earth in his human form. He encountered Kyle Rayner once again in his own house and was able to track him by being connected with his ring Kyle now wears. Hal had no intention to fight Kyle and only asked for his ring. Hal thinks he should become the Green Lantern again in order to put his life back together and being the Green Lantern was a huge part of his life. Everything he did since the destruction of Coast City was a mistake and it is something he regrets doing. He only tried to fix things and nobody could understand him.

 

Ganthet on the refuses to allow Kyle to hand over the ring who was in Kyle's home at the time to tell him how and why he gave him the ring and wants it back because he considers Kyle unworthy of it. Hal mocks Ganthet and the Guardians, stating the only thing they do is manipulating others for their own personal needs and always following their rules without doing things that are necessary and demands the ring back.

 

Kyle refuses to hand it over because Hal already had a chance of redemption and he failed back on Oa. Hal takes the form of Parallax once again and attacks Kyle (although he is not willing to fight him).As the two fight, Ganthet asks various superheroes for help, including Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Hawkman, The Flash (Wally West) and his best friend Oliver Queen Green Arrow. Unfortunately, not even their combined power can stop Parallax and words from his best friend Oliver and Wally won't get though him. Parallax beats Kyle and takes his ring. Superman arrives on the scene, telling Hal how he can't bring Coast City back but he won't accept it and again, easily beats Superman.

 

Ganthet tells Hal how he wanted to bring Coast City back and he killed the Green lantern Corp and the Guardians, he wanted to become the Green Lantern again and he defeated all of his former friends. Hal feels guilt but he still requires power. Kyle Rayner now powerless still attacks Hal and he asks him why is he still fighting when he stands to chance without his ring. Kyle says Hal is not a hero and even tho Kyle is powerless, he is the only one left standing and because Hal has to be stopped, he will try to stop him. Even if he stands no chance, because that is what a hero would do. Hal realizes he can't be the Green Lantern anymore and he gives Kyle back his ring, claiming how he is the Green Lantern now.

 

Ganthet gives Parallax his powers and he flees up into space. Somewhere in the Universe, Hal mourns his destroyed city and people who died in it and remembers all the good things he had done as the Green Lantern, back before the Coast City was destroyed.

 

Death of Hal Jordan

 

At the edge of the Universe in front of the Source Wall, Parallax encounters Hank Henshaw, Cyborg Superman, the man who destroyed Coast City and he is finally ready to make him pay for what he did. Parallax creates an army of seven million people Henshaw killed when he destroyed the Coast City and finally kills him. Hal thinks about what he truly accomplished. What kind of hero he is when he killed his own enemy? Why he doesn't feel anything but emptiness? What is his purpose now? As he thinks about it, he is met with the arrival Kyle Rayner who asks for Hal's help to stop the Sun-Eater, a being that consumes Suns and is about to consume Earth's Star. Hal tells Kyle he will think about it while asking himself will he be able to actually stop it.

 

Hal came back to Earth to meet all of his friends. He first visited Guy Gardner, telling him how he wanted to fix the Universe but nobody understood him and Hal admits that he was wrong. He was talking about everyone seeing Guy as an idiot no better than the villains they were facing. Guy says he doesn't care as he knows he is doing the right thing. Hal tells him how he needs Guy watching his back and teleporting away thanking him for everything.

 

Next person he meets is John Stewart in the hospital who was paralyzed. John asks him how he could kill the Guardians and the Green Lanterns. Hal tells him how he wished he had time to explain but he doesn't so he just came to visit his old friend and he heals him from his wounds, giving him the ability to walk again.

 

He visits Oliver's grave and he visits his old friend Tom Kalmaku. Tom says he doesn't believe in stuff they say about Hal, claiming how he is gonna save the world like he always does and how how writes a book, on how great hero Hal was. Hal says thank you and leaves before Tom could show him the book.

 

Finally he visits Carol Ferris, a woman he loves. Carol tells him how they could never be together because of Hal's life as the Green Lantern. They never had the future and Hal knows that despite the fact that he can't accept it. Still, Carol doesn't care about things Hal has done. Even if Hal doesn't know will he be able to save Earth, Carol knows he can because she knows him and she knows he is the hero. Carol tells Hal she loves him and Hal kisses her right before he leaves.

 

As Hal looks at the place that was once Coast City, he releases Ganthet who can't ignore the fact that Hal destroyed the Green Lantern Corps despite the fact that he is asking for redemption. Hal doesn't see it that way and in his mind, Guardians are the ones who betrayed him. They didn't want to give him one thing he asked for even tho he gave his life to serve them. Ganthet creates a new ring and gives it to Hal.

 

Hal remembers when he asked for his ring back from Kyle, thinking he could redeem himself if he becomes the Green Lantern again but he knows that is not enough. He has done a lot of things he isn't proud of. Hal refuses to take the ring and as Ganthet leaves, Hal teleports Kyle back, claiming he wants to help.

 

While Batman seems very skeptical about this, Superman is glad to have Hal back on their side. Hal claims he is not coming back, he only wants to save Earth. Hal stops Ferro Lad from sacrificing himself to save the Sun using a device build by Lex Luthor and Brainiac 5. As he teleports him back to Earth, Hal stops the Sun-Eater from absorbing the Sun, killing it and repairing the Sun in the process. However, it took everything he had to stop the Sun-Eater and Hal died saving the Earth.

 

Superman and Batman look into the Sun. Clark wishes it was him who sacrificed himself instead of Hal but he is happy that Hal redeemed himself. Bruce does not see it that way and he still sees Hal as a murderer as Hal himself claimed he didn't change. Clark thinks people don't notice they change and how he will always see Hal as a man who died a hero.

 

Hal becomes the Spectre

 

After The Spectre got forcibly bonded to the fallen Angel Asmodel by Etrigan, he unleashed send his army of demons and formerly damned souls upon the planet Earth swearing to take his vengeance, The Sentinels of Magic were formed and along tried to stop the crisis with the help of JLA and JSA. While Batman and his team of heroes held of the Spectre while he was trying to destroy Manhattan, Captain Marvel, Starfire and S.T.R.I.P.E went to outer space in order to retrieve the Spear of Destiny, the only weapon capable of hurting the Spectre. Wonder Woman on the other hand traveled to Heaven and met Jim Corrigan, previous Host of the Spectre who is now dead.

 

While Because Jim refuses to be brought back to life, the heroes were sent to Purgatory where they meet many dead heroes whose souls lie in the balance, including their former friend Hal Jordan. Alan Scott, the original Green Lantern now calling himself the Sentinel recommends that Hal should be the one to become Spectre's new host as he is probably the only soul besides Corrigan with enough willpower to control the Spectre.

 

While Wonder Woman thinks that Hal shouldn't be the one to have that kind of power because he slaughtered the Green Lantern Corp, Alan knows that Hal is the right person. Hal tells them how he knows why some people hate him or fear him and he understands why as he did a lot of terrible things. He was a fool but he seeks redemption and changes his costume from Parallax back into his original Green Lantern costume and agrees to help.

 

As Wonder Woman and her team finally teleport back to Earth, Batman claims how they need to bring Corrigan as he is the man they can trust, not a murderer like Parallax. Hal tells Batman that Parallax is gone and he will help them. However, as he attacks the Spectre, he gets turn into a construct and shattered to pieces.

 

Captain Marvel finally returns with the Spear of Destiny and attacks the Spectre, while Hal Jordan is saved by Doctor Fate and gets charged by the energy of various Magical Based Heroes and creates all the Green Lantern Corps in the form of Constructs and attacks The Spectre as well. However, it was revealed that Neron possessed Superman, and after the Spectre is injured, he became vulnerable for various souls to become his hosts and Neron fused with the Spectre just few moments after Hal Jordan and the three entities, Neron, Hal Jordan and Asmodel now exist on the soul plane and the Spectre needs to know why he would choose anyone of them over the others. Why do they seek Vengeance?

 

Asmodel claims him and the Spectre are prisoners of Presence and he has to pay. Neron claims how he realizes vengeance and every soul that needs to be punished will be punished. As Hal tries to explain how he was a hero once and how he needs to stop criminals, he stops with tears in his eyes, claiming how he does not deserve Spectre's Power. He does not deserve to seek vengeance. He is the one that deserves to be punished. He caused pain to everyone he loved. He murdered a lot of his friends. When Spectre hears those words, he bonds with Hal Jordan, punishing him for his actions and seeking vengeance will be his punishment.

 

As they finally become one and while Asmodel is locked up in Heaven, The Spectre tries to make Neron feel all the pain he has caused but Hal stopped him, refusing to put himself on Neron's level who is demoted to a rhyming class Demon, suggested to have been Etrigan's plan all along. Jim Corrigan tells Hal how all of Spectre's host must battle for influence and Hal bonding with the Spectre was blessed by the Presence himself. Hal will control how he will use that power, either for Vengeance The Spectre seeks or for Redemption Hal seeks. With Kyle and Alan congratulating him, Hal leaves, claiming he has a lot of stuff to do and fixes all the damage Asmodel unleashed on New York and the planet Earth.

 

Phantom Stranger and Hal Jordan (now as the Spectre) decided to entrust the Spear of Destiny to The Sentinels of Magic which is now the only weapon capable of injuring Hal.

 

Rebirth of Green Lantern

 

In 2005, Hal Jordan returned from the dead in the miniseries "Green Lantern: Rebirth" During this story it is revealed that the name "Parallax" came from an ancient yellow symbiote. Parallax was a creature that instilled great fear in entire civilizations, which made him stronger. Because of the menace Parallax represented, the Guardians imprisoned Parallax within the Central Power Battery on Oa. The imprisonment of Parallax was the reason behind the so called "yellow impurity" that made the Green Lanterns vulnerable to the color yellow. When Sinestro was also imprisoned in the Power Battery, he woke Parallax and they started an elaborate plan against the Guardians and the Green Lantern Corps. Parallax searched for a proper host in the Green Lantern Corps to infect, and he chose Hal Jordan of Earth.

 

After finding his objective, Parallax entered Hal's ring and stayed there without being noticed. When Coast City was destroyed by Cyborg Superman and Mongul, the control of Parallax over Hal Jordan heavily increased, making him insane. It was also revealed that Sinestro never died and that it was only a illusion created by Sinestro to finally break the will of Hal Jordan and drive him completely over the edge. When Hal destroyed the Central Power Battery and killed the Guardians (except Ganthet) he accidentally let Parallax escape at his full power. This was the explanation to the lack of Kyle's ring vulnerability against the color yellow. This story concludes when - thanks to the Spectre, Ganthet, Kyle Rayner, Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Kilowog - Hal returns from the death again as a Green Lantern without any influence of the Spectre or Parallax.

 

After the events of Rebirth, Hal moved to Coast City which was being reconstructed. He also became a captain in the Air Force of the United States. He also starts to rebuild his friendship with Batman who finally accepts that Hal is a hero once again.

 

Infinite Crisis

 

In Infinite Crisis, Hal is one of the heroes that Batman asked to defeat and destroy the OMACS and their leader Brother Eye. Hal is also seen fighting alongside the other heroes against the Society of Super Villains during the battle of Metropolis. Later with other heroes capable of breathing in space he saves Guy Gardner from being killed by Superboy-Prime. After that the Green Lanterns trap the defeated Superboy-Prime and imprison him in a artificial red sun. After this Guy mentioned that they lost a total of 32 Green Lanterns and that name of dead soldier hadn't happened since but before he finishes, he is interrupted by Hal saying that he knows when was the last time that happened (Referring to the days that Hal went mad and started killing the other Green Lanterns that tried to stop him).

 

Revenge Of The Green Lanterns

 

Hal has another flashback where he is a P.O.W. He then goes to Edwards Air Force Base. Him Rocket man and Cowgirl are awarded the P.O.W medal when all of a sudden a ship crashes when Hal sees whats inside it he finds out that its Tomar-Tu.

 

Hal brings Tomar's body to Oa. They later find out that Tomar wants to kill Hal. while at the cafeteria Hal and Guy Gardner have a fight with other members of the corps. Kilowog and Sallak breaks up the fight Hal later has a meeting with the guardians and asks if he can venture into Space Sector 3601 They deny his request but he goes anyway. He teams with Lantern Guy Gardner and they go to Sector 3601. They later then arrive at their destination.

 

They are later then attacked by Manhunters. They escape and find all the Lost Lanterns. They then encounter Cyborg Superman. Hal is currently knocked out and Guy tries to combat Cyborg Superman. The Lanterns later break free they then fall into a cave.They then find many bodies of Green Lanterns. Kreon then gets hits at the back. The Man-hunters attack them but the Man-hunters are later then destroyed. Hal and Arisia then tag team to fight Cyborg Superman. They then blow up the planet and Hal and the other Lanterns escape. Back on Oa, Hal rebuilds his relationship with the Lost Lanterns.

 

Wanted

 

Later, after he became a Green Lantern again, Hal Jordan finds himself in Checynya and was shot down and became a P.O.W. [Prisoner of War]. He and his friends Shane Sellers and Jillian Pearlmen were tortured for four months, they later escape and get rescued. Later when he meets with his fellow JLA members, Green Arrow said to him what he said every night in that cell "you should've kept the ring on". Hal then finds out that General Stone sent Cowgirl [Jillian Pearlmen] another round against them alone. Hal then leaves the room and goes to his locker. He then recites his oath and leaves the building. Hal then flies to Russia where the Rocket Red Brigade detect him and plan to attack them. Hal finds Cowgirl's fighter jet and bombs the terrorist base. He then sends out some search probes that don't find her yet. Suddenly, the terrorists are killed in a series of green explosions and Hal turns to find the Global Guardians, who are responsible for the attack (later revealed to be under mental control). At the end of the 1st issue an alien is hiring several bounty hunters to find Hal and gives them his ring.

 

The second issue starts inside Space Sector 3601,a Guardian flies through the debris of a destructive battle. The Guardian then brings the Cyborg Superman who has only half of his face. The Guardian then says "Hank Henshaw. Also known as the Cyborg-Superman and Highmaster of the Murdering Man-hunters". He and the other Guardians of the Universe are going to question him about the 52. At the next page Hal is being thrown into a tree by the Tasmanian Devil. When Hal was on the floor after taking a kick from Freedom Beast, Crimson Fox said " Why fight when we can love ". He then punches her and is furthering his search. Then the two aliens who mind control the Global Guardians,the aliens blast Hal with a neuron net which freezes him. Somewhere in Southern California Loragg tells Amon Sur that they have to kill Hal to get his ring but Amon says that the ring will seek another replacement, Loragg then says it will be Amon but Amon says it will be someone else. The next page takes place in England where a woman becomes Star Sapphire. Then Cowgirl is being brought by the terrorist. Cowgirl then escapes out of the car and runs. Hal is then being brought to the bounty hunters ship the bounty hunters get shot. Hal then is free and fights off the Rocket Reds then the Justice League comes to bring Hal home.

 

Later in the series Hal gets rescued by the Justice League of America and Alan Scott. While the Justice League of America take out most of the Rocket Red Brigade, Hal goes to find Cowgirl. Then one of his search probes finds her. Hal then rushes to find the injured Cowgirl underwater. Hal then makes an army of soldiers who beat down one of the terrorist. Hal brings Cowgirl to a hospital he made from his ring. Cowgirl finds out that Hal is Green Lantern. He gets shot by some tranquilizers by bounty hunters however the bounty hunters get killed by Hunger Dog another bounty hunter who wanted to capture Hal. He is brought to the California desert to an alien who looks like Abin Sur and turns out to be his son Amon Sur.

 

The next issue starts off with Batman arresting some goons while Martian Manhunter is reading the Global Guardians. After arresting the thugs Batman leaves the building and then hears a voice. It is a Sinestro Power Ring looking for a worthy wielder for the sector Batman rejects it and the ring seeks another one. Later somewhere in Southern California Hal finds out that Amon Sur was Abin Sur's son. Hal tries to blast Amon but finds out that his power ring is out of energy. Amon then tells why he repels a hatred against the Corps. That his father left before finding out that his mother was pregnant. Later some Green Lanterns came to inform him and his mother about his death. Amon tells how he battled Kyle Rayner but failed to obtain his ring but in their next confrontation his head was blown off. Now he is after Hal's ring.

 

Amon then asks where he buried his father's body. He then blasts the grave opened. He finds that his fathers body is nothing but ashes and bones. Amon who is angry blasts Hal, but Hunger Dog blocks it. Hunger Dog then reveals to be John Stewart. John, who continues to fight gets hit by a yellow beam of light. It is a yellow power ring and it has come to find a worthy successor and that is Amon. While trying to kill Hal the ring teleports him to Qward. Near the end of the comic book Hal brings Abin Sur's body to Ungara and writes something on his tombstone. Once it said Abin Sur hero of Ungara now it says Abin Sur Hero of Ungara and father Hal then returns to Edwards, which is being reconstructed. At the end of the story, it shows a picture of Star Sapphire going to Coast City. They later forge the Sapphires into rings. Hal then finds out that Carol had a divorce.

 

Mystery of the Star Sapphire

 

Carol Ferris is flying her plane when the Star Sapphire possesses her once more. She then attacks Hal and Cowgirl at a bar. Hal powers up his ring and becomes Green Lantern. Hal eventually removes the Sapphire from Carol and the Sapphire then possess Cowgirl. Cowgirl then chases Hal and Carol through Coast City; at the same time, Carol explains the origins of the Zamarons and the violet light of love. They later crash into the honeymoon hotel.Hal then makes Carol a costume. Carol then fights Cowgirl and they are then attacked by the Zamarons. The Zamarons later tell Hal that he has to choose between Cowgirl and Carol Ferris. He then kisses one of the Zamarons and the Star Sapphire possesses that Zamaron. She later becomes corrupt and they retreat to Zamaron.

 

52

 

For further details: 52

Hal and John were involved in the first fight against the heroes of China. Saying that the Green Lanterns couldn't help since they were born in U.S.A and that they didn't have authorization to intervene in the problems of China. Hal is also seen along Green Arrow and Metamorpho as the reinforcements for Elongated Man to know if he should believe that they could bring his wife, Sue Dibny back from the death.

 

In One Year Later, after the event of Infinite Crisis, the DC Universe skipped one year of ongoing continuity. Hal discovers that the members of the Green Lantern Corps he killed as Parallax are indeed alive, so along with Guy Gardner he goes on a quest to save them from Cyborg Superman. This is known as the Revenge of the Green Lanterns.

 

Justice League

 

Hal became one of the members of the new Justice League of America in the One Year Later storyline. After being a member for some time, he decides to give John Stewart his place in the Justice League in order to take care of his other responsibilities as a Green Lantern.

 

Sinestro Corps War

 

Jordan's greatest enemy, Sinestro, starts building an army with yellow power rings that chose as their wielders people who can instill great fear. Just after that he attacks Oa when Hal and the Green Lanterns of Earth (among others) were waiting to talk to the Guardians of the Universe. After a full attack against Oa a great amount of Green Lanterns die and Sinestro releases both Cyborg Superman and Superboy-Prime. He is also able to kidnap Kyle Rayner and take the symbiote out of him. After instilling great fear in the heart of Kyle, he fuses him with Parallax. After the attack Hal along with Guy Gardner and John Stewart try to reach Qward and save Kyle. However after trying to charge their power rings, wakes up in Qward without Guy and John, and outnumbered by Sinestro, the new Parallax and an army of members of the Sinestro Corps. After Hal failed to try to save Kyle of the Parallax influence, he tries to flee the planet.

 

Just when he was going to be defeated, he is saved by "The Lost Lanterns". The Green Lanterns go underground and split into two teams, the first one to save John and Guy and the other one to rescue Ion. Hal, Graf Toren and Tomar-Re are encountered by the keeper of the book of Parallax, Lyssa Drak by causing an explosion when John and Guy got free. As his power rings were reaching 0.0, he was saved by John Stewart and Guy Gardner. Hal then says, "I need a weapon, or weapons." Hal then wields a group of Sinestro's yellow rings. He and the remaining Lost Lanterns make it out of Qward. As the Sinestro Corps uses their attack plan the Guardians use their Last Resort and authorize lethal force against the Sinestro Corps.

 

The mission is a success and the Green Lantern of Earth returned to their planet, just to find out that the Sinestro Corps never wanted to take control of Oa, their real objective was always Earth. Hal saves his family before Parallax (Kyle Rayner) can kill them. During the confrontation Parallax also absorbs Hal and became even more powerful. While Hal is inside Parallax, he helps Kyle to get rid of the influences of Parallax. After being freed from the evil influence, Ganthet and Sayd appear and trap Parallax inside the batteries of the four Green Lanterns of Earth. Hal and Kyle go back to Coast City and use Hal's ring to warn everyone there to evacuate the city. Hal's family refuses to leave, just like everyone else in the city. The people of Coast City start setting green lights in their houses to prove their support to the protector of Coast City, Green Lantern, thus making Coast City to be known to the world as the "City Without Fear".

 

During the last battle against Sinestro, Hal realizes that Sinestro always wanted that the Guardians of the Universe to sanction the use of lethal force. Sinestro uses the Manhunters to absorb the energy from the rings of both Hal and Kyle. After they are being attacked by Sinestro, Hal uses the head of a Manhunter to also absorb the energy from the ring of Sinestro. Him and Kyle battle Sinestro in a hand to hand fight jumping into a unfinished building. While the other Green Lanterns destroy the Sinestro Corps battery it explodes; Anti-Monitor, Cyborg Superman, and his army of of Manhunters are caught in the explosion. Hal and Kyle defeat Sinestro.

 

Secret Origins

 

It starts off with Hal Jordan having a flashback when his dad dies. Then it's Hal's 18th birthday; he runs away and wakes up in front of an U.S Armed Force recruiting service desk. With his friends to a bar this is his first confrontation with John Stewart. Soon after that Hal's brother Jim tells him that their mom is dying and the only way Hal could see her was if he was no longer in the Air Force. Hal later punches Major Stone [later General] to get himself discharged. However his mother died on his way to the hospital. Somewhere in space Abin Sur is interrogating the Five Inversions.

 

Abin Sur has imprisoned Atrocitus on a ship. He then contacts Sinestro and tells him about his actions. Meanwhile on Earth, Hal finds out Ken Arden [a former friend of Hal's dad] is selling his company to Ferris. While in space Atrocitus escapes from imprisonment. Abin Sur's ship crashes and the ring finds a replacement Hal Jordan. Soon Hal is having trouble mastering his new powers. Hal has earned his badge as a Green Lantern.

 

Sinestro is contacted by Ganthet to train Hal more. Later Hector Hammond is exposed to the energy from a meteorite. Hal Jordan takes a flight in a newly constructed jet. Sinestro gives Jordan his ring and blows up the jet they get into a short fight. Sinestro then fixes his jet and Jordan flew away. When he lands Hector Hammond pays him a visit. Sinestro rescues Hal and Carol. Hal brings Sinestro to where he buried Abin Sur. Sinestro then tells him how Abin was his master. Later a message in Hal's ring unlocks, showing Sinestro about the Massacre of 666. Sinestro asks if Abin Sur was the only one in the ship. William Hand (a.k.a Black Hand) is attacked by Atrocitus. Sinestro and Jordan save Hand right on time. However they run out of power. They defeat Atrocitus. Hal then comes to Carol Ferris's house; he then finds out how when his father died, causing him great emotional distress. As soon as he has released his anger Sinestro says to him "For beings, like us overcoming fear is what we do best, but when it comes to regret, loss even Green Lanterns struggle with those."

 

Then Hal and Sinestro are contacted by the Guardians. They then demand an explanation from them. Sinestro tells them how one of them has taken a name Ganhet. They manage to get out of trouble. Hal then tries to affect yellow with his ring. Sinestro then returns Atrocitus to his crucifix on Ysmault. Atrocitus then tells him that Korugar will fall to chaos and a bloody coup will take over. At the end Hal tells Jim that he is Green Lantern.

 

Origins & Omens of Green Lantern

 

Hal Jordan meets Saint Walker. Saint Walker, who is the first of the Blue Lanterns, tries to persuade Hal to abandon the Green Lantern Corps and become a Blue Lantern. Saint Walker brought Hal to the Blue Lantern planet of Odym. He showed him the Blue Lantern battery and Hal also saw the leaders of the Blue Lantern Corps. They were none other than Ganthet and Sayd who were former members of the Guardians of the Universe who started the Green Lantern Corps. Hal and Saint Walker watched as Ganthet and Sayd were about to initiate a new member to the Corps. Warth then was made into the second member of the Blue Lantern Corps. Saint Walker mentioned to Hal that the initiation took a very long time to be completed as Ganthet and Sayd would have to judge them and see if they are truly worthy to be a Blue Lantern. Warth and Saint Walker were then sent on a mission to save Sinestro from the Red Lanterns and to recruit him to the Blue Lantern Corps. On their way there, Hal noticed that his power levels were above maximum and they explained that the rings of a Blue Lantern charged the rings of a Green Lantern. As they passed a planet on the way, its sun in the process of imminent supernova. Jordan attempted to call for backup but was unable to because of the interference of Warth and Saint Walker's rings. Warth and Saint Walker combined their power and were able to heal the sun and reverse its aging. Saint Walker then explained what their ultimate purpose was for him. That purpose was to lead the Blue Lantern Corps.

 

Hal went ahead of Saint Walker and Warth and finally got to the planet where Sinestro was being kept captive by the Red Lanterns. Hal found Sinestro and was ambushed by Red Lanterns. As they fought, Hal's energy levels severely dropped. Hal saw that one of the Red Lanterns that ambushed him was none other than Laira who was a friend to Hal when they were both members of the Green Lantern Corps. Hal was tied up and held captive along with Sinestro. The Sinestro Corps then arrived to save Sinestro from the Red Lanterns. As the two Corps fought each other, Warth and Saint Walker then arrived. They freed Hal and charged up his ring again. The Blue Lanterns meant no harm and told Sinestro to call off his followers. Saint walker was then attacked by Atrocitus, leader of the Red Lanterns. Laira then attacked Hal and had him on the ground. Sinestro took action and killed Laira before she hurt Hal. Hal then was angry because Sinestro killed his friend and then Hal released all his anger and hatred towards Sinestro. Hal was about to kill Sinestro when the unexpected happened. Hal was chosen to become a Red Lantern and was then corrupted by the ring. Hal was now a Red Lantern and fought the Blue Lanterns and the Sinestro Corps. As the Blue Lanterns rely on the power of a Green Lantern to keep

 

their power levels, Saint Walker and Warth had all their energy drained from their rings as there was no Green Lantern in sight. Saint Walker was able to put a Blue ring on Hal Jordan's finger and Hal was no longer corrupted by the Red ring. Hal then became a Blue Lantern and a Green Lantern at the same time. Hal defeated the Red Lanterns and they left Ysmault. Hal's love, Carol Ferris was recruited to become a servant of love, a member of the Violet Lanterns.

 

Agent Orange

 

Hal returns to Odym, home-world of the Blue Lanterns, with Saint Walker and Warth. Hal tries removing the Blue power ring he now wields, but he is unable to remove it. Hal and the Blue Lanterns argue about Hal not having any hope. Hal tries to locate Ganthet and Sayd using his ring, but they cannot be located. Ganthet and Sayd then appear to Hal and the two Blue Lanterns. They tell them that Hal is meant to lead the Blue Lanterns, not as a Blue Lantern, but as a Green Lantern. Walker is then provided a new power ring as his is now with Hal. He then leaves Odym in order to find Sinestro. The Blue Lanterns stay behind in Odym as they are to continue recruiting new members to their Corps.

 

They also have another mission which is to locate those who wield the Indigo light. As Hal goes to find Sinestro, he is sent back to Oa to meet with the Guardians. The Guardians try removing the Blue ring from Hal's finger but they are unable to do so. Hal tries to explain to them that Ganthet and Sayd are not enemies and their real enemies were the Red Lanterns. John then interrupts the Guardians as another colour Lantern has been encountered. Larfleeze then appeared as he and a message for the Guardians. They took something from him and he says that he will descend his Corps on their Green Lanterns. The Guardians then say that it is about time they joined the war themselves.

 

In Oa, The Guardians added a fourth law to the Book of Oa. That rule was that the Vega System was no longer outside the Green Lantern Corps' jurisdiction. Meanwhile, Gretti decides that he must return home to sector 2828. Hal, along with the Guardians and the Green Lanterns then go on their way to arrest those criminals in the Vega System. Hal explains that the Guardians couldn't remove the blue ring from his hand and that they wanted to see the power of the ring in battle. Thousands of felons were currently present in the Vega System. However, their main target wasn't the felons, but Larfleeze. Hal, the Lanterns and the Guardians then land on Sector 2828 where they see Gretti. The Guardians then try connecting to Larfleeze who is currently in Gretti's homeworld. Controllers then spawn around them and a battle begins. During the fight, Gretti is killed and then becomes an Orange Lantern, serving Agent Orange. Hal then gets dragged underground by an orange light. Underground, he sees none other than Larfleeze who was waiting for Hal. He sees the blue ring of Hal and tells Hal that he wants it.

 

Hal is still trapped underground. He can smell Larfleeze and he knows that he's there, but he can't see him. Hal Jordan was still spared as it was still feeding time for Larfleeze at that moment. He talks to Hal and tells him about him being the owner of the Orange Lanterns. He says that he was tasted a green ring already before, but he has never tasted one as sweet as the blue ring Hal wields on his finger. The ring asks Larfleeze what he hopes for and he says that he hopes for many desirables and one is a blue ring of his own.

 

Hal then attacks Larfleeze once the blue light had blinded him. Meanwhile, the Guardians and other Green Lanterns fight against other Orange Lantern constructs. John Stewart holds his own against several but is taken down by one of them. When it seems as if he's about to be defeated, Fatality, a Violet Lantern, comes in and helps him. Larfleeze and Hal keep fighting until Larfleeze finally apprehends him. Hal offers him a deal. He said he'd trade his blue ring in exchange for words. Hal wanted to know how Larfleeze became Agent Orange and how he met the Guardians.

 

Larfleeze then started telling Hal about his origins story. Now, he wants to take the blue ring from Hal to complete the deal. However, Hal can't take it off and Larfleeze takes action. He forms a giant sword from his constructs and chops off Hal's arm. He then takes the ring and puts it on his finger. The ring then welcomed Larfleeze to the Blue Lantern Corps.

 

Larfleeze sees that now he's a member of the Blue Lanterns. However, it was all just an illusion created by Hal's ring in order to defend itself. Larfleeze gets angered and attacks Hal again. This time though, Hal uses the same strategy that Larfleeze has been using and Hal creates constructs of the members of the Green Lantern Corps. Another illusion is made as John Stewart and Fatality reunite during the battle. John later realizes that it was all just an illusion. Hal and Larfleeze continue fighting when the Guardians come in and interrupt. Hal gets an idea that he can separate the Orange Battery from Larfleeze so that he could beat him. Hal manages to get hold of it as the Guardians distracted Larfleeze.

 

Hal then started to glow an orange light as he was about to join the Orange Lantern Corps. Before he truly became a part of the corps, Larfleeze attacked him and took back his battery. Larfleeze just gets pissed off and his power levels were at a very high level. He attacked the Lanterns and Hal. The blue ring asked Hal what he hoped for and Hal said that he hoped for the ring to stop asking him that. The ring sensed sincerity and decided to listen to Hal. His power levels started to drop and eventually the ring left him and went off to find a new replacement. The Guardians then decide to talk to Larfleeze and set a deal with him. Hal and the rest of the Lanterns get sent outside to let them talk. They agreed that Larfleeze would no longer cause them conflict but the Guardians also told Larfleeze where he could get a blue ring of his own. In Odym, Ganthet, Sayd and the rest of the Blue Lanterns see an orange light coming their way, headed by Larfleeze.

 

Blackest Night

 

William Hand starts hearing the voices of the dead calling his name. He sees his life flash back to when he first became the Black Hand. It also showed how he got the rod when Hal Jordan and Sinestro, who was still a Green Lantern, were on earth to arrest Atrocitus. He's possessed and ends up killing his family and himself as well with the rod he found when he first became the Black Hand. William is dead and Scar appears over his dead body. She says that William is ready and she gives his body a black ring. William rises with the power of the black ring and the dead which officially begins the Blackest Night.

 

It's memorial day for all the dead heroes on earth. The people, heroes, and even the villains visit the graves of those who have passed away. Hal, with the rest of the Green Lanterns of Sector 2814, flies to the memorial and are cheered on by the crowd. They remember their loved ones who have passed away. The different heroes who have passed are all being honored around the world. Alfred also visits the grave of Bruce Wayne but is shocked as someone dug up his grave and took his skull. He contacts Hal who at the time was in the headquarters of the Justice League of America along with Barry Allen. Hal shows the Barry where they kept the remains of those who have also passed away. Barry asks Hal to show him more and to show him everyone else who has died while he was gone.

 

Throughout all the sectors, the different corps wage war on each other which fulfills the War of Light. The Guardians watch over the war from Oa. They decide to tell all Green Lanterns to retreat. Scar says however, that they will not receive the call for retreat and she attacks her fellow Guardians. She bites and rips off the heart of one of the Guardians and traps the rest of the Guardians where they are. Meanwhile, the black rings have been released and fly to the graves of those who have passed away. All the remains and bodies of the dead are then told to rise and they did, but this time, as Black Lanterns.

 

Hal and Barry go to Gotham to check the grave site of Bruce. They try thinking who could have dug up the grave and who could have known that Bruce was Batman. As they talk to each other, a dark image flies their way. It was the Martian Manhunter who now is a Black Lantern. He says that Hal and Barry should both be dead and that they shouldn't be back. J'onn attacks the two heroes and forces them to retreat. They escape for the moment but J'onn continues his rage and destroys a building. Hal and Barry still continue to run but Barry sees J'onn and attacks him. He beats on J'onn but as it turns out, Barry was just seeing things and it was actually Hal he was attacking.

 

Commissioner Gordon sets off the bat-signal in order to get some help in Gotham. Hal, however, comes crashing through the signal. Hal talks to him and to Barbara for a bit while Barry fights J'onn. He traps J'onn in a sewer mixed with different flammable chemicals. Hal comes flying in and drops a police car on the chemicals which causes a huge explosion. Barry keeps the flame from spreading around by running around J'onn and he creates somewhat a giant furnace. The two heroes think that J'onn is now defeated as fire was his weakness. They plan on moving his body back to Mars to let him rest in peace. However, J'onn comes out of the rubble along with several other Black Lanterns. Ex-Green Lantern on Sector 2814 and the man who gave Hal his ring, Abin Sur, also rises as a Black Lantern.

 

Meanwhile, more rings go across the universe and raise more Black Lanterns. Sinestro also gets freed from his "cell" in Zamaron during a fight between the Star Sapphires and the Sinestro Corps. Sinestro confronts Carrol and questions her on why she became a Star Sapphire and she says that she's there for Hal. Carrol gets captured by the Sinestro Corps but her captors are immediately killed by a group of Black Lanterns, lead by Abin Sur, who confront Carrol and Sinestro.

 

Hal and Barry continue to fend off a group of Black Lanterns. Hal is targeted by both Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Hal and Barry try everything they can to stop this since their enemies couldn't be killed. They tried running away and Barry even tries removing the ring of Firestorm. As Hal and Hawkman continue to fight, Ray Palmer emerges from inside his black ring. He tells Hal that their ring is nothing like the ring he carries on his finger. They continue to try escaping until they are finally caught by the group of Black Lanterns. But before anything could happen, they are save by two Indigo Lanterns and are brought to the JLA base. One of them reveals that she is Indigo-1, leader of the Indigo tribe.

 

She tells them about the beginning of the universe. The time when the universe was still ruled by darkness. Until there was light which fought the darkness. Out of the fight came the different groups of the emotional spectrum. She tells them about all the different colors in the emotional spectrum and their purposes. She tells Hal that they have come to him in order to replicate the white light of creation by merging with the other corps to put a stop to the Blackest Night. She knows that Hal has strong connections to the most powerful members of the other five remaining corps. Hall and Barry talk again about what they should do. But then, they are attacked again by the same group of Black Lanterns. The Indigo Lanterns then transport themselves and Hal away from the danger, leaving the others behind.

 

Hal and the two Indigo Lanterns are transported to Zamaron. They meet both Sinestro and Carol Ferris there during their own fight against Black Lanterns. Hal and Carol talk about her decision to become a Star Sapphire once again while they continue to fend off Black Lanterns. Hal also teaches them how to destroy a Black Lantern by sanitizing their rings with their light. Indigo-1 then transports Hal, Carol, and Sinestro out of Zamaron and to Korugar.

 

Sinestro quickly attacks Indigo-1 as they left the other members of his corps behind. She tells him why she transported them there, for Sinestro to confront and defeat Mongul. Sinestro has a tough time and it seems like he's about to be beaten by Mongul until he takes control of his yellow rings, which he created himself. He traps Mongul without killing him so that he would not reincarnate as a Black Lantern, but he tells him that once the war is over, he will kill Mongul personally. Sinestro is in control of his corps once again and they start to give praise to him. Suddenly, a black ship crashes and Abin and Arin Sur both emerge from it as Black Lanterns.

 

On Ysmault, Atrocitus is attacked as well and has his heart ripped out by a Black Lantern. Hal and Sinestro defend themselves against the two new Black Lanterns. Sinestro and Arin continue to fight as they talk about the love they once had. Hal and Abin are left to fight each other and Abin continues to insult Hal. Hal seemingly kills Abin, but he heals himself instantly. Indigo-1 and Carrol Ferris come to aid Sienstro and Hal. Together, the four lanterns use their combined mights and they defeat the two Black Lanterns.

 

They start to talk about who to go to next. Hal wants to go to Saint Walker first because they know that he can be trusted. Atrocitus seems to be the one the rest want to go after, though. They decide to go to Odym and talk to Saint Walker instead. When they arrived in Odym, they were caught in the war between the lanterns of blue and orange. Suddenly, the Orange Lanterns just disappear. Meanwhile, on Okaara, Larfleeze is shown running for his life and pleading for help as he is chased by a group of Black Lanterns. The Black Lanterns are slaughtered by none other than Atrocitus, who remains as a Red Lantern, whose heart was replaced by his rage. Atrocitus tells Larfleeze that he wants his power battery.

 

As Atrocitus and Larfleeze fight, they also get attacked by the slaves of Larfleeze's corps who are now Black Lanterns. They fend off the lanterns while fighting each other until Hal Jordan and the rest of the lanterns from the different spectrum of light come to aid them. They ask Atrocitus and Larfleeze to join them in order to put an end to the Blackest Night. Larfleeze agrees to join as long as he gets a Guardian of his own when it's all done and Sayd agrees to be his Guardian. Atrocitus also agrees to join after fighting them and talking to Saint Walker. They go to Space Sector 666, the planet Ryut, home of Atrocitus, after the power levels of the Black Lantern Corps reached 100%. The Black Battery was nowhere to be found and they all set-off to where it has been moved, Earth.

 

Barry Allen fends off the risen dead in Coast City, where the battery has been moved. Before Black Hand could lay his hands on him, Wally West and a group of the heroes of Earth arrive to help them. They tell Barry about how Dove produces the White Light that fends off the Black Lanterns. Wally, Barry, and Bart see the Guardians being held captive. They try to free them all, but Scar gets in their way. The team of lanterns then arrive just in time to stop Scar's attack. After Scar is destroyed by their combined might, they go after the black battery. They attack it, but their attacks don't do anything to the battery. A ring then flies to the skull that Black Hand was holding and Bruce Wayne rises as a Black Lantern. Everyone sees Bruce in his new form and more rings come flying towards the heroes. Nekron then orders several of the heroes to die and become Black Lanterns as well. Nekron says that Bruce has now served his purpose and he destroys him and puts him back to rest. Superman, Wonder Woman, Ice, Bart Allen, Animal Man, Super-boy, Donna Troy and Green Arrow all have become Black Lanterns and Nekron makes one more order, and that is for Barry Allen and Hal Jordan to die.

 

The Black Rings continue to chase after the two heroes. They figure out that the rings can also turn those who have died. but are now alive, into Black Lanterns as well. Hal holds on to Barry as he outruns the Black Rings chasing them. Barry runs two seconds into the future to get the rings to stop chasing them. john Stewart warns them that all the Black Lanterns are heading to the Earth. Ganthet then reveals a secret of the power rings. He duplicates Hal's ring and wears it on his finger. He does the same to the rings of the other members that were there. The ring duplicates can only last for a day, however. The rings get new recruits to aid the team of Lanterns in the war of Light. A Blue Ring latches on Barry Allen's finger, an Orange ring on Lex Luthor's finger, a Yellow Ring on the Scarecrow's finger, an Indigo Ring on Ray Palmer's finger, a Red Ring on Mera's finger and a Violet Ring on Wonder Woman's finger which destroys the Black Ring she had on her.

 

While defending Coast City, the Lanterns encountered a Black Lantern Spectre and are overwhelmed by the powerful foe, threatening Hal into almost becoming a Black Lantern himself. Remembering when he was possessed by the Spectre, Hal remembered Parallax is the one thing that the Spirit of Retribution fears most and allows himself to be possessed by the fear entity once more in order to stop him. Soon after, the fear entity is taken from Hal by an unknown force. During the fight against Nekron, the Entity is summoned and attacked by Nekron. Hal soon realizes that the Entity is like Parallax and Ion and goes toward the Entity but is stopped by Sinestro. Sinestro then dives into the Entity and emerges as a white lantern.

 

Sinestro's ego proved to be his downfall, as he could not fully command the Entity's power and Nekron forcibly separated them. Hal realized that even though Nekron allowed his resurrection along with the other heroes transformed into Black Lanterns, it was they who made the choice to live again. This enabled Hal to join with the Entity and transform himself and the other heroes converted by Nekron into the White Lantern Corps. They then used their collective power to restore Black Hand to life, severing his connection to Nekron, leading to his defeat.

 

⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽

_____________________________

 

A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.

 

Secret Identity: Hal Jordan

 

Publisher: DC

 

First appearance: Showcase #22 (September–October 1959)

 

Created by: John Broome (Writer)

Gil Kane (Artist)

 

First appearance cover:

 

It is likely that Class 25 No. 25056 was not the rostered locomotive for this Manchester Victoria - Bangor working on 4th July 1981, which is seen pulling away from its booked Rhyl stop. Usually these working would be in the hands of a Class 40 or 47, so the appearance of a 'Rat' was notable, most likely due the failure of the booked Type 4.. Copyright Photograph John Whitehouse - all rights reserved

•The Falls at Niagara are about 12,000 years old

•Falls were formed when melting glaciers formed massive fresh-water lakes (the Great Lakes) one of which (Lake Erie) ran downhill toward another (Lake Ontario). The rushing waters carved out a river in their descent and at one point passed over a steep cliff like formation (the Niagara escarpment). From the original falls going over the Niagara Escarpment, the water began to wear its way back up the river. The path that it left is known today as the Niagara Gorge (a deeply-cut and very scenic river path).

•Currently, Niagara Falls erodes approximately 1 foot/year.

•The Niagara River flows at approximately 35 miles/hour (56.3 kilometers/hour).

•There are actually three waterfalls in Niagara, the American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.

•The Horseshoe Falls are 180 feet (57 meters) high and allow 6 million cubic feet (168,000 cubic meters) of water over the falls every minute during peak daytime tourist hours (that is about a million bathtubs full of water every minute!).

•The Konica Minolta Tower rises 325 feet above the Horseshoe Falls.

•The Skylon Tower rises 775 feet above the Falls.

•Hydro Electricity generated in Niagara Falls at the Sir Adam Beck 1 and Sir Adam Beck 2 power stations from redirected water flow serves the electrical needs of Southern Ontario and Western New York.

•The word Niagara comes from the word "onguiaahra" which means "a thundering noise".

•The Whirlpool Aero car ride provides a spectacular trip across the famed Whirlpool Rapids a few miles down from the actual waterfalls.

•Water that flows over the Falls at Niagara ultimately ends up in Lake Ontario - from there, water drains by way of the St. Lawrence River in to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Since its formation 12,000 years ago, Niagara Falls has been a destination for world explorers, honeymooners and daredevils alike. Only here can you get closer than you ever imagined to the American, Horseshoe and Bridal Veil Falls – and create mist-covered memories to last a lifetime.

 

Don your poncho (provided) and soak in the power and beauty of Niagara Falls aboard the iconic Maid of the Mist, or climb the wooden stairs to the Hurricane Deck on Cave of the Winds and feel tropical-storm like conditions as you stand underneath the Bridal Veil Falls. Or if you’re more of an explorer, follow the walking path throughout Niagara Falls State Park, designed by landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted – and enjoy over 400 acres of natural, lush terrain and protected wildlife.

 

I'm humbled to have a pic chosen for the group cover of Most Notable Photos group. Please visit and support this group at www.flickr.com/groups/14628513@N25/

Inside the north, you’ll find the Atacama Barren region and astonishing stargazing. Tour south through fertile valleys, award-prevailing vineyards and the capital Santiago to reach hovering volcanoes and pristine lakes. Then stare upon majestic glaciers in Patagonia, or fly to Easter...

 

networkposting.com/5-notable-stories-you-can-best-enjoy-i...

outside of the Museum of Durham History

 

Downtown Durham, NC

Holker Hall (pronounced Hooker) is a privately owned country house located about 2km to the southwest of the village of Cartmel, Cumbria, England, a location previously in the historic county of Lancashire. It is "the grandest [building] of its date in Lancashire ...by the best architects then living in the county." The building dates from the 16th century, with alterations, additions, and rebuilding in the 18th and 19th centuries. The 19th century rebuilding was by George Webster in Jacobean Revival style and subsequent renovations were by E. G. Paley. Hubert Austin had a joint practice with Paley by the 1870s and they both rebuilt the west wing after it was destroyed by a major fire in 1871, only a decade after Paley's previous work on the structure. The fire also destroyed a number of notable artworks. Holker Hall is Paley and Austin's "most important country house commission." The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner expressed the opinion that the west wing is the "outstanding domestic work" of Paley and Austin.[citation needed] In 1970 the hall itself, together with its terrace wall, were designated Grade II* Listed buildings. The house stands in an estate of about 80 hectares, and is surrounded by formal gardens, parkland and woodland. Within the grounds are six structures listed at Grade II.

The Waxing Gibbous moon rising over the houses at Batsto Village.

 

"The New Jersey Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands or simply the Pines, is the largest remaining example of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecosystem, stretching across more than seven counties of New Jersey. Two other large, contiguous examples of this ecosystem remain in the northeastern United States: the Long Island Central Pine Barrens and the Massachusetts Coastal Pine Barrens. The name pine barrens refers to the area's sandy, acidic, nutrient-poor soil. Although European settlers could not cultivate their familiar crops there, the unique ecology of the Pine Barrens supports a diverse spectrum of plant life, including orchids and carnivorous plants. The area is also notable for its populations of rare pygmy pitch pines and other plant species that depend on the frequent fires of the Pine Barrens to reproduce. The sand that composes much of the area's soil is referred to by the locals as sugar sand." (Wikipedia)

 

PLEASE, NO GRAPHICS, BADGES, OR AWARDS IN COMMENTS. They will be deleted.

Notable for a couple of reasons : one is the white headlight surrounds (normally black), and secondly - Park's have FINALLY sorted out the spelling of "Southampton" on the destination display, which has been wrong for years - see flic.kr/p/ebLSnT

  

Volvo B9R, Plaxton Elite (C48FLt)

Park's, Hamilton

The Hard, Portsmouth

19 March 2016

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Minster

  

The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second-highest office of the Church of England, and is the cathedral for the Diocese of York. It is run by a dean and chapter, under the Dean of York. The title "minster" is attributed to churches established in the Anglo-Saxon period as missionary teaching churches, and serves now as an honorific title.[1] Services in the minster are sometimes regarded as on the High Church or Anglo-Catholic end of the Anglican continuum.[2]

 

The minster has a very wide Decorated Gothic nave and chapter house, a Perpendicular Gothic Quire and east end and Early English North and South transepts. The nave contains the West Window, constructed in 1338, and over the Lady Chapel in the east end is the Great East Window, (finished in 1408), the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. In the north transept is the Five Sisters Window, each lancet being over 52 feet (16 m) high.[citation needed] The south transept contains a rose window, while the West Window contains a heart-shaped design colloquially known as 'The Heart of Yorkshire'.

  

History

  

York has had a verifiable Christian presence from the 4th century. However, there is circumstantial evidence pointing to much earlier Christian involvement. According to Bede, missionaries were sent from Rome by Eleutherius at the request of the chieftain Lucius of Britain in AD 180 to settle controverted points of differences as to Eastern and Western ceremonials which were disturbing the church. Tradition speaks of 28 British bishops, one for each of the greater British cities, over whom presided the Archbishops of London, York and Caerleon-on-Usk.

 

The first recorded church on the site was a wooden structure built hurriedly in 627 to provide a place to baptise Edwin, King of Northumbria. Moves toward a more substantial building began in the decade of the 630s. A stone structure was completed in 637 by Oswald and was dedicated to Saint Peter. The church soon fell into disrepair and was dilapidated by 670 when Saint Wilfrid ascended to the See of York. He repaired and renewed the structure. The attached school and library were established and by the 8th century were some of the most substantial in Northern Europe.[citation needed][3]

 

In 741 the church was destroyed in a fire. It was rebuilt as a more impressive structure containing thirty altars. The church and the entire area then passed through the hands of numerous invaders, and its history is obscure until the 10th century. There was a series of Benedictine archbishops, including Saint Oswald of Worcester, Wulfstan and Ealdred, who travelled to Westminster to crown William in 1066. Ealdred died in 1069 and was buried in the church.[4]

 

The church was damaged in 1069 during William the Conqueror's harrying of the North, but the first Norman archbishop, Thomas of Bayeux, arriving in 1070, organised repairs. The Danes destroyed the church in 1075, but it was again rebuilt from 1080. Built in the Norman style, it was 111 m (364.173 ft) long and rendered in white and red lines. The new structure was damaged by fire in 1137 but was soon repaired. The choir and crypt were remodelled in 1154, and a new chapel was built, all in the Norman style.

 

The Gothic style in cathedrals had arrived in the mid 12th century. Walter de Gray was made archbishop in 1215 and ordered the construction of a Gothic structure to compare to Canterbury; building began in 1220. The north and south transepts were the first new structures; completed in the 1250s, both were built in the Early English Gothic style but had markedly different wall elevations. A substantial central tower was also completed, with a wooden spire. Building continued into the 15th century.

 

The Chapter House was begun in the 1260s and was completed before 1296. The wide nave was constructed from the 1280s on the Norman foundations. The outer roof was completed in the 1330s, but the vaulting was not finished until 1360. Construction then moved on to the eastern arm and chapels, with the last Norman structure, the choir, being demolished in the 1390s. Work here finished around 1405. In 1407 the central tower collapsed; the piers were then reinforced, and a new tower was built from 1420. The western towers were added between 1433 and 1472. The cathedral was declared complete and consecrated in 1472.[5]

  

The nave of York Minster

  

The English Reformation led to the looting of much of the cathedral's treasures and the loss of much of the church lands. Under Elizabeth I there was a concerted effort to remove all traces of Roman Catholicism from the cathedral; there was much destruction of tombs, windows and altars. In the English Civil War the city was besieged and fell to the forces of Cromwell in 1644, but Thomas Fairfax prevented any further damage to the cathedral.

 

Following the easing of religious tensions there was some work to restore the cathedral. From 1730 to 1736 the whole floor of the minster was relaid in patterned marble and from 1802 there was a major restoration. However, on 2 February 1829, an arson attack by a non-conformist, Jonathan Martin,[6] inflicted heavy damage on the east arm. An accidental fire in 1840 left the nave, south west tower and south aisle roofless and blackened shells. The cathedral slumped deeply into debt and in the 1850s services were suspended. From 1858 Augustus Duncombe worked successfully to revive the cathedral.

 

During the 20th century there was more concerted preservation work, especially following a 1967 survey that revealed the building, in particular the central tower, was close to collapse. £2,000,000 was raised and spent by 1972 to reinforce and strengthen the building foundations and roof. During the excavations that were carried out, remains of the north corner of the Roman Principia (headquarters of the Roman fort, Eboracum) were found under the south transept. This area, as well as remains of the Norman cathedral, re-opened to the public in spring 2013 as part of the new exhibition exploring the history of the building of York Minster.[7]

 

On 9 July 1984, a fire believed to have been caused by a lightning strike[8] destroyed the roof in the south transept, and around £2.5 million was spent on repairs. The fire was photographed from just south of the minster in the early hours by Bettison photographers. This picture was subsequently published showing the South transept alight with a list of North Yorkshire firefighters attending. The stations attending ranged from Scarborough to Harrogate. Huge amounts of water were needed to provide jets at great height to hit the roof timbers and protect the Rose Window. Most of the water was pumped from the Ouse nearby because the water supplies around the minster were inadequate. Fire crews from the main York fire station in Clifford Street worked hard to protect the Rose Window and stop the fire spreading into the tower and organ. Many crews worked for hours and some were on high levels of the minster at the time when the South transept roof fell in. Luckily, those few firefighters inside when the roof crashed down were not directly beneath. But what they saw after the ventilation released the smoke, was a pile of timber covering the whole of the south transept floor to a height of at least six feet. When daylight came the whole scene was occupied by media. At about 8am an officer was approached by two ladies looking for information. "Have you an account for The Times"? They said. The officer replied, "Actually, I spoke to the London and New York Times at about four thirty" The ladies then announced that they were from the Church Times. Reports of the fire travelled across both hemispheres. The Restoration work was completed in 1988, and included new roof bosses to designs which had won a competition organised by BBC Television's Blue Peter programme. In 2007 renovation began on the east front, including the Great East Window, at an estimated cost of £23 million.[9][10]

 

In 2000, the Dean and Chapter allowed the York Mystery Plays to be performed for the first time inside the Minster, directed by Greg Doran.[11]

  

Architecture of the present building

  

York Minster is the second largest Gothic cathedral of Northern Europe and clearly charts the development of English Gothic architecture from Early English through to the Perpendicular Period. The present building was begun in about 1230 and completed in 1472. It has a cruciform plan with an octagonal chapter house attached to the north transept, a central tower and two towers at the west front. The stone used for the building is magnesian limestone, a creamy-white coloured rock that was quarried in nearby Tadcaster. The Minster is 173 yards (158 m) long[citation needed] and the central tower has a height of 230 feet (70 m) high.[citation needed] The choir has an interior height of 102 feet (31 m).[citation needed]

 

The north and south transepts were the first parts of the new church to be built. They have simple lancet windows, including the Five Sisters in the north transept. These are five lancets, each 52 feet (16 m) high[citation needed] and glazed with grey (grisaille) glass, rather than narrative scenes or symbolic motifs that are usually seen in medieval stained glass windows. In the south transept is a rose window whose glass dates from about 1500 and commemorates the union of the royal houses of York and Lancaster. The roofs of the transepts are of wood, that of the south transept was burnt in the fire of 1984 and was replaced in the restoration work which was completed in 1988. New designs were used for the bosses, five of which were designed by winners of a competition organised by the BBC's Blue Peter television programme.

  

The chapter house.

  

Work began on the chapter house and its vestibule that links it to the north transept after the transepts were completed. The style of the chapter house is of the early Decorated Period where geometric patterns were used in the tracery of the windows, which were wider than those of early styles. However, the work was completed before the appearance of the ogee curve, an S-shaped double curve which was extensively used at the end of this period. The windows cover almost all of the upper wall space, filling the chapter house with light. The chapter house is octagonal, as is the case in many cathedrals, but is notable in that it has no central column supporting the roof. The wooden roof, which was of an innovative design, is light enough to be able to be supported by the buttressed walls. The chapter house has many sculptured heads above the canopies, representing some of the finest Gothic sculpture in the country. There are human heads, no two alike, and some pulling faces; angels; animals and grotesques. Unique to the transepts and chapter house is the use of Purbeck marble to adorn the piers, adding to the richness of decoration.

  

The Kings Screen and organ.

  

The nave was built between 1291 and c. 1350 and is also in the decorated Gothic style. It is the widest Gothic nave in England and has a wooden roof (painted so as to appear like stone) and the aisles have vaulted stone roofs. At its west end is the Great West Window, known as the 'Heart of Yorkshire' which features flowing tracery of the later decorated gothic period.

 

The east end of the Minster was built between 1361 and 1405 in the Perpendicular Gothic style. Despite the change in style, noticeable in details such as the tracery and capitals, the eastern arm preserves the pattern of the nave. The east end contains a four bay choir; a second set of transepts, projecting only above half-height; and the Lady Chapel. The transepts are in line with the high altar and serve to throw light onto it. Behind the high altar is the Great East Window, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world, which is currently undergoing a massive conservation project, due to be completed in 2015–16. Below the Great East Window currently sits the Orb, a stainless steel dome which opened at the end of October 2012, containing five of the conserved panels from the window, one of which is changed each month. The Orb enables visitors to see the work of renowned medieval artist, John Thornton, up close, revealing the remarkable detail in each panel.

 

The sparsely decorated Central Tower was built between 1407 and 1472 and is also in the Perpendicular style. Below this, separating the choir from the crossing and nave is the striking 15th century choir screen. It contains sculptures of the kings of England from William the Conqueror to Henry VI with stone and gilded canopies set against a red background. Above the screen is the organ, which dates from 1832. The West Towers, in contrast with the Central Tower, are heavily decorated and are topped with battlements and eight pinnacles each, again in the Perpendicular style.

 

English Heritage has recently made publicly available a monograph[12] on the architectural history of York Minster. The book charts the construction and development of the minster based on the architectural recording of the building from the 1970s. The full report can be downloaded from the Archaeology Data Service website.

  

Stained glass

  

York as a whole, and particularly the minster, have a long tradition of creating beautiful stained glass. Some of the stained glass in York Minster dates back to the 12th century. The Minster's records show that much of the glass (white or coloured) came from Germany.[13] Upon arrival at York, it was intricately painted, fired, then glazed together with lead strips into the windows. The 76-foot (23 m)[citation needed] tall Great East Window, created by John Thornton in the early 15th century, is the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world. Other windows in the minster include an ornate rose window and the 50-foot (15 m)[citation needed] tall Five Sisters window. Because of the extended time periods during which the glass was installed, different types of glazing and painting techniques which evolved over hundreds of years are visible in the different windows. Approximately two million individual pieces of glass make up the cathedral's 128 stained glass windows. Much of the glass was removed before and pieced back together after the First and Second World Wars, and the windows are constantly being cleaned and conserved to keep their beauty intact.

 

In 2008 a major conservation project of the Great East Window commenced, involving the removal, repainting and re-leading of each individual panel.[14] While the window was in storage in the minster's stonemasons' yard, a fire broke out in some adjoining offices, due to an electrical fault, on 30 December 2009.[15] The window's 311 panes, stored in a neighbouring room, were undamaged and were successfully moved to safety.[16][17] In September 2015 Phase One of the renovation project of the East Front of the Minster was completed.[18]

  

Towers and bells

  

The two west towers of the minster hold bells, clock chimes and a concert carillon. The north-west tower contains Great Peter (216 cwt or 10.8 tons) and the six clock bells (the largest weighing just over 60 cwt or 3 tons). The south-west tower holds 14 bells (tenor 59 cwt or 3 tons) hung and rung for change ringing and 22 carillon bells (tenor 23 cwt or 1.2 tons) which are played from a baton keyboard in the ringing chamber (all together 35 bells.)

 

The clock bells ring every quarter of an hour during the daytime and Great Peter strikes the hour. The change ringing bells are rung regularly on Sundays before church services and at other occasions, the ringers practise on Tuesday evenings. York Minster became the first cathedral in England to have a carillon of bells with the arrival of a further twenty-four small bells on 4 April 2008. These are added to the existing "Nelson Chime" which is chimed to announce Evensong around 5.00 pm each day, giving a carillon of 35 bells in total (three chromatic octaves). The new bells were cast at the Loughborough Bell Foundry of Taylors, Eayre & Smith, where all of the existing minster bells were cast. The new carillon is a gift to the minster. It will be the first new carillon in the British Isles for 40 years and first hand played carillon in an English cathedral. Before Evensong each evening, hymn tunes are played on a baton keyboard connected with the bells, but occasionally anything from Beethoven to the Beatles may be heard.[19]

  

Shrines

  

When Thomas Becket was murdered and subsequently enshrined at Canterbury, York found itself with a rival major draw for pilgrims. More specifically, pilgrims spent money and would leave gifts for the support of the cathedral. Hence Walter de Gray, supported by the King, petitioned the Pope. On 18 March 1226, Pope Honorius issued a letter to the effect that the name of William (Fitzherbert), formerly Archbishop of York, was "inscribed in the catalogue of the Saints of the Church Militant." Thus there was now St William of York (whose name is perhaps more often associated with the adjacent St William's College). York had its saint but it took until 1279, when William de Wickwane (William de Wykewayne) was elected archbishop, for the remains of the canonised William to be transferred to a shrine prepared for them behind the high altar.[20] This was placed on a platform raised upon the arches of the crypt removed to this position for that purpose. On 29 December King Edward I himself, together with the bishops who were present, carried on their shoulder the chest or feretory containing the relics to their new resting-place and Anthony Beck, consecrated the same day as Bishop of Durham, paid all the expenses.

 

The tomb of Walter de Gray was erected in the south transept. His remains were interred on "the vigil of Pentecost, 1255"[20] under his effigy "in full canonicals" carved in Purbeck marble under a canopy resting on ten light pillars. It was subsequently somewhat hidden behind a screen of ironwork erected by Archbishop William Markham in the early 19th century.

  

Organ

  

The choir

  

The fire of 1829 destroyed the organ and the basis of the present organ dates from 1832, when Elliot and Hill constructed a new instrument. This organ was reconstructed in 1859 by William Hill and Sons. The case remained intact, but the organ was mechanically new, retaining the largest pipes of the former instrument.

 

In 1903, J.W. Walker and Sons built a new instrument in the same case. They retained several registers from the previous instrument.

 

Some work was undertaken in 1918 by Harrison & Harrison when the Tuba Mirabilis was added and the Great chorus revised. The same firm rebuilt this Walker-Harrison instrument in 1931 when a new console and electro-pneumatic action were added together with four new stops. The smaller solo tubas were enclosed in the solo box. In 1960, J.W. Walker & Sons restored the actions, lowered wind pressures and introduced mutations and higher chorus work in the spirit of the neo-classical movement. They cleaned the organ in 1982.

 

The fire of 1984 affected the organ but not irreparably; the damage hastened the time for a major restoration, which was begun in 1991 and finished two years later by Principal Pipe Organs of York, under the direction of their founder, Geoffrey Coffin, who had at one time been assistant organist at the Minster.[21]

  

Organists

  

The organists of York Minster have had several official titles, the job description roughly equates to that of Organist and Master of the Choristers. The current Organist and Director of Music of the minster is Robert Sharpe. There is also an assistant director of music, David Pipe, and an organ scholar.

 

Among the notable organists of York Minster are four members of the Camidge family, who served as the cathedral's organists for over 100 years, and a number of composers including John Naylor, T. Tertius Noble, Edward Bairstow, Francis Jackson, and Philip Moore.

  

Dean and chapter

  

Dean: The Very Revd Vivienne Faull (since 1 December 2012 installation[22])

 

Precentor: The Revd Canon Peter Moger (since 12 September 2010 installation[23])

 

Pastor: The Reverend Michael Smith

 

Chancellor: The Reverend Canon Christopher Collingwood

 

Archdeacon: The Reverend Canon David Butterfield

  

Burials

  

Bosa of York, Bishop of York and Saint (died c. 705)

 

Eanbald I, Archbishop (780–796)

 

Osbald, King of Northumbria (died 799)

 

Ealdred (archbishop of York) (1061–1069)

 

Thomas of Bayeux, Archbishop (1070–1100)

 

Gerard, Archbishop (1100–1108)

 

Thomas II of York, Archbishop (1108–1114)

 

William of York, Archbishop (1141–1147, 1153–1154)

 

Henry Murdac, Archbishop (1147–1153)

 

Roger de Pont L'Eveque, Archbishop {1154–1181}

 

Walter de Gray, Archbishop (1216–1255)

 

Sewal de Bovil, Dean and Archbishop (1256–1258)

 

Godfrey Ludham, Archbishop (1258–1265)

 

William Langton, Archbishop (1265)

 

Walter Giffard, Archbishop (1266–1279)

 

John le Romeyn, Archbishop (1286–1296)

 

Henry of Newark, Archbishop (1296–1299)

 

William Greenfield, Archbishop (1306–1315)

 

Prince William of Hatfield, Infant son of Edward III (1337)

 

William Melton, Archbishop (1317–1340)

 

William Zouche, Archbishop (1342–1352)

 

Henry Percy, soldier (1364–1403)

 

Richard le Scrope, Archbishop (1398–1405)

 

Henry Bowet, Archbishop (1407–1423)

 

Thomas Savage, Archbishop (1501–1507)

 

Hugh Ashton, Archdeacon of York (died 1522)

 

John Piers, Archbishop (1589–1594)

 

George Meriton, Dean of York (1579–1624)

 

Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, (1730-1782)

 

John Farr Abbott, barrister (1756–1794)

  

Astronomical clock

  

The astronomical clock was installed in the North Transept of York Minster in 1955. The clock is a memorial to the airmen operating from bases in Yorkshire, County Durham and Northumberland who were killed in action during the Second World War.[24]

  

Illuminations

  

In November 2002, York Minster was illuminated in colour, devised by York-born Mark Brayshaw, for the first time in its history. The occasion was televised live on the BBC1 Look North programme. Similar illuminations have been projected over the Christmas period in subsequent years.

 

York Minster was also artistically illuminated on 5 November 2005, celebrating the 400th anniversary of the foiling of York-born Guy Fawkes' gunpowder plot. This was done by Patrice Warrener using his unique "chromolithe" technique with which he 'paints' with light, picking out sculpted architectural details.

 

In October 2010, York Minster's south transept was selected for "Rose", a son et lumiere created by international artists Ross Ashton and Karen Monid which lit up the entire exterior of the south transept of the minster and illuminated the Rose Window. There were also satellite illuminate events in Dean's Park.

Dunedin, NOVA ZELANDA 2023

 

Sacred Heart Basilica, located in North East Valley, is one of the most significant Roman Catholic churches in Dunedin, New Zealand. Designed by F.W. Petre, its construction began in 1889 and was completed in 1905, although the front façade wasn't finalized until later. It is notable for its Neo-Romanesque architecture, which sets it apart from many other Gothic churches in the city. The building features an impressive dome, a spacious nave, and a beautiful interior with intricate details. The basilica has served as a vital spiritual hub for the local Catholic community for over a century, hosting numerous events and services.

Ca' Rezzonico is a palazzo on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro sestiere of Venice, Italy. It is a particularly notable example of the 18th century Venetian baroque and rococo architecture and interior decoration, and displays paintings by the leading Venetian painters of the period, including Francesco Guardi and Giambattista Tiepolo. It is a public museum dedicated to 18th-century Venice (Museo del Settecento Veneziano) and one of the 11 venues managed by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.

Ca' Rezzonico stands on the right bank of the canal, at the point where it is joined by the Rio di San Barnaba. The site was previously occupied by two houses, visible in early paintings of Venice in 1500, which a century and a half later were in a sad state of decay. They belonged to the Bon family, one of Venice's patrician clans. In 1649 the head of the family, Filippo Bon, a Procurator of the city and patron of the arts, decided to transform the two houses into a single large palazzo on the site. For this purpose he employed Baldassarre Longhena (1597-1682), the greatest proponent of Venetian Baroque, a style slowly replacing the Renaissance and Palladian architectural style. Longhena was the designer of the famous dome of the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, a Venice baroque landmark. By 1661 Longhena had combined the two earlier structures, and work had begun on the facade facing the canal, and had reached as high as the first, or Noble, floor. However, neither architect nor client was to see the completion of the Palazzo Bon: Longhena died in 1682, and Filippo Bon saw his finances ruined by the cost of the palazzo. He was forced to halt the work.

Filippo Bon died in 1712, and the unfinished palace, already decaying, was inherited by his sons and then grandsons, but none had the funds to complete the construction. In 1750 The Bons offered the unfinished palazzo to Giambattista Rezzonico, a banker and fabric merchant from Lombardy, whose family had bought a title of Venetian nobility in 1648, following a war with Turkey, when the Venetian state coffers were depleted. Rezzonico paid 60,000 ducats for the unfinished building. Municipal inspectors examined the building, and concluded that most of the structure was a ruin, in danger of collapse. Only the rear part of the building, completed up to the second floor, had a roof and could be saved. Rezzonico hired the most prestigious architect of his time, Giorgio Massari (1687-1766), who had built the churches of the Jesuits and the church of the Pietà in Venice, as well as the palazzo of the Grassi family, which faced the Rezzonico palace on the other side of the Grand Canal.

A Canaletto painting of the early 18th century shows only the ground floor and first piano nobile completed, and a temporary roof protecting the structure from the elements. The Rezzonicos rushed the reconstruction along. In 1752, the accidental dropping of a piece of marble caused the scaffolding to collapse, dropping five stonemasons to the ground below. Massari largely followed the original plan of Longhena, but made a number of modifications to suit the lighter rococo tastes. He removed some ponderous double columns on the facade replacing them with more slender pillars, and eliminated a heavy plinth of columns, giving the building a lighter, more graceful appearance. He also installed a row of small oval windows above the larger windows on the second floor, adding light and a rococo touch.

The facade was finished between 1750 and 1752. Turning his attention to the interior, Massari broke with Venetian custom and put the major ceremonial room at the back of the building, not overlooking the canal. He doubled the height of the ceiling in this room and eliminated walls to create a more dramatic space. He laid out a ceremonial route that would take visitors from the dock and gateway on the Grand Canal to a fountain in the interior courtyard, surmounted by the coat of arms of the Rezzonico in marble; then taking a triumphal hallway to the monumental stairway which took them up to the grand salon or ballroom. As soon as the salons were completed, their ceilings were painted with frescoes by Giovanni Battista Crosato and in trompe-l'œil by Girolamo Mengozzi Colonna.

The interior work was nearly finished in 1756. The pinnacle of the Rezzonico's power and the Palazzo's grandeur came in 1758, when Carlo, the younger brother of Giambattista Rezzonico, was elected Pope as Clement XIII, the same year Ludovico Rezzonico married Faustina Savorgnan, uniting the two richest families in Venice. To mark that occasion, Rezzonico commissioned the most celebrated painter of Venice, the aging Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, to paint the ceilings of two salons, along painters with Gaspare Diziani and Jacopo Guarana.

The palace was the site of further celebrations in 1759, when Aurelio Rezzonico was elected Procurator of San Marco, and in 1762, when Ludovico Rezzonico was elected to the same position. For three nights, the facades and interiors of the palace were lit with torches and candles in celebration. Upon his election as Pope, Carlo Rezzonico transferred a large part of the family art collection from Venice to Rome.

Fifty years after the completion of the palace, in 1810, the last member of the Venetian branch of the Rezzonicos, cardinal Abbondio of Pisa, died, bringing an end to the family line. The palace nearly became a Jesuit College, but went instead through several families, and in 1832 to Carlo Pindemonte, the grandson of a Piedomontese poet and political figure, Ippolito Pindemonte. Pindemonte sold all the furnishings and art collections of the palazzo. Only the frescos remained in situ. In 1837, Pindemonte sold the empty building to Count Ladislao Zelinsky, who in turn rented the palazzo to the Baron von Bülow, then to count Zichj Cerner. From 1840 to 1857, it was rented to the Duke of Modena and his family, which included Don Carlo, the Duke of Madrid, the pretender to the Spanish throne.

Beginning in about 1850, the second floor of the palace was rented by the antiquarian and art dealer Jacobo Querci della Rovere, who used it as a gallery to sell paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Canaletto, and other old masters. In the 1880s, it became the home of the painter Robert Barrett Browning, whose father Robert Browning, the poet, died in his apartment on the mezzanine floor in 1889. At this time, the American portrait painter John Singer Sargent also had a studio in the palazzo.

In 1906 Browning received an offer from the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, to buy the building, but sold it instead to Count Lionello von Hierschel de Minerbi [it], a deputy of the Italian parliament and a collector of modern art. The Palazzo became the setting for spectacular costume balls, celebrations by torchlight and candlelight, and concerts.

American songwriter and composer Cole Porter rented Ca' Rezzonico for $4,000 a month in the 1920s. Porter engaged 50 gondoliers and employed a troupe of high-rope walkers to "perform in a blaze of colored lights".

The global depression of the 1930s brought an end to Minerbi's funds and extravagance, and he sought a buyer for the Palace. After four years of negotiations, in June 1935 the city of Venice purchased the Palazzo and began to transform it into a museum of Venetian art from the 18th century. Works of art of the 18th century, including ceiling frescoes, from other houses and collections owned by the municipality were brought together in the Ca' Rezzonico, to accompany the original frescoes on the ceilings. The city also purchased additional works by Tiepolo, Guardi, Canova and other artists to augment the collection. The building underwent a major restoration in the late 1970s and was completed in 2001.

A notable modernist brick building in South London (1939)

Olympus OM2n, Kodak Tri-x

By XPan II, 30/5.6. The Hanging Temple, also Hanging Monastery or Xuankong Temple (simplified Chinese: 悬空寺; traditional Chinese: 懸空寺; pinyin: Xuánkōng Sì) is a temple built into a cliff (75-metre (246 ft) above the ground) near Mount Heng in Hunyuan County, Datong City, Shanxi Province, China. The closest city is Datong, 64.23-kilometre (39.91 mi) to the northwest. Along with the Yungang Grottoes, the Hanging Temple is one of the main tourist attractions and historical sites in the Datong area. Built more than 1,500 years ago, this temple is notable not only for its location on a sheer precipice but also because it is the only existing temple with the combination of three Chinese traditional religions: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. The structure is kept in place with oak crossbeams fitted into holes chiseled into the cliffs. The main supportive structure is hidden inside the bedrock. The monastery is located in the small canyon basin, and the body of the building hangs from the middle of the cliff under the prominent summit, protecting the temple from rain erosion and sunlight. Coupled with the repair of the dynasties, the color tattoo in the temple is relatively well preserved.

La "Lagoa de a Frouxeira" (Laguna de la Fouxeira, también conocida como Laguna de Valdoviño) es un enclave húmedo de gran importancia en el Noroeste peninsular, en especial por su notable valor ornitológico, dado el papel que desenvuelve como lugar de descanso para numerosas aves durante los pasos migratorios de primavera y otoño.

 

The " Lagoa of a Frouxeira " ( Laguna de la Fouxeira , also known as Laguna de Valdoviño) is a wet area of ​​great importance in the peninsular Northwest , especially for its remarkable ornithological value , given the role that unfolds as a resting place for numerous migratory birds during spring and autumn steps.

Ceramics is the most notable craft activity in Úbeda, inherited from the mudéjar era. The crafted pieces are very random, but the most popular are the vitrified in green or brown colors, decorated with fretwork, incisions and filigree performed from white clay.

www.flickr.com/photos/ferranp/2584744641/sizes/l/

China, Harbin, City Impressions,…Beethoven bust ice carving on the road

Everywhere on the streets in Harbin & not only in city centre, large ice carvings are displayed.

The impressive "Ice & Snow Festival" is the greatest & unusual one in the world, therefor Harbin is also called the "Ice City".

“Disney Ice Festival” at the city centre Zhaolin Park is part of the Harbin "Ice & Snow Festival" / "Ice Lantern Festival". Besides the castle there are more than hundred sculptures of different sizes & motives in the Zhaolin Park organized by Disney, at night all sculptures are colourful lighted with LED.

 

Over a 100.000 Tons of Ice Blocks, cut from the around 1 mtr thick ice sheet covering the Song Hua River, are used for the festival sculptures & carvings from January till end of February. It is one of the largest of its kind & most interesting one in the World.

The carved fishermen Ice-lanterns can date back to ancient times. It was said that some fishermen made rough & simple ice-lanterns just for lighting. With the time passed, ice-lanterns embodied their cultural features & gradually the artistic fascination of making of ice-lanterns, ice sculptures started in the 1960th, leading to today's impressive Ice & Snow Festival.

 

Also in the city you will see everywhere ice carvings of all sizes, besides there are several expositions in different Park. The three major Parks are the Ice World, & the Snow Sculptures parks on Sun Island, they are more artistic, the Ice Carvings at the Zhao Lin Park by Disney in the centre of the City. Harbin Ice & Snow World are gigantic & LED illuminated at Night.

 

Harbin with population of almost 4.5 million, is heralded as the Ice City for its well-known unbelievably impressive ice & snow recreations during the yearly international “Ice & Snow Festival” from the end of December until beginning of March. Harbin is also well known besides his important historic & economic past & present for China, for its historical Russian heritage, this cultural influence is still notable till today.

Due to the Siberian high & Harbin in the Heilongjiang Province location above 45 degrees north latitude, the city is known for having the most bitterly cold winters among major Chinese cities. Winter Temperatures can drop to below -35° C., when I visited Harbin beginning of January the Temperature varied between -20°C & -26°C below, but with dry air.

 

As well the large Siberian Tiger & white tigers research centre, with about 500 tigers & a few other species, does an important work to prevent this species from extinction. The Research centre can be visited, tours in small a bus are available, passing through wide natural, separated, sections, however the focus point is to save the tigers.

 

👉 One World one Dream,

...Danke, Xièxie 谢谢, Thanks, Gracias, Merci, Grazie, Obrigado, Arigatô, Dhanyavad, Chokrane to you & over

11 million visits in my photostream with countless motivating comments

 

Notable places in the Louvre in Paris.

One of the more notable aspects of the Rolls Royce engined Class 127 diesel hydraulic multiple units used on the St Pancras – Bedford suburban services was volume of diesel fumes generated after they had been idling for any length of time. This is demonstrated here as M51644 + M59628 + M59612 + M51599) and their immediate surroundings are almost lost in a blanket of diesel fumes as they depart Bedford, 22nd April 1978. Another problem with these sets was that they were notorious to start in the winter and I have spent a couple of Sundays working at Bedford when all the sets stabled in the sidings are gently idling away to ensure availability for the Monday morning peak.

 

Vehicle History

This set was part of thirty four class 127 four car diesel multiple unit sets, each formed DMBS + TS (Trailer Second) + TSL (Trailer Second Lavatory) + DMBS. They were high density sets with no gangway connections, with seats for three hundred and fifty two 2nd class passengers. Unusually they were fitted with hydraulic transmissions and Rolls Royce engines. Although initially designed with the standard “Blue Square” coupling code it was soon found that they did not make good partners with the standard mechanical transmission fitted diesel multiple units due the transmissions changing gear at different times. They were therefore recoded “Red Triangle” to avoid this problem. They were built for and rarely ventured from the intensively worked St. Pancras to Bedford suburban service and remained on these duties until electrification in 1983 when the power cars were generally withdrawn, although a few went into parcels use. A number of the trailers were transferred to Tyseley and lasted until the early 1990’s. M51644 entered service in November 1959, was withdrawn in December 1983 and broken up in September 1985. M59628 entered service in August 1959, was withdrawn in June 1984 and broken up in December 1990. M59612 entered service in November 1959, was withdrawn in November 1990 and broken up in November 1991. M51599 entered service in June 1959, was withdrawn in August 1983 and broken up in July 1985.

 

Praktica LTL, Ektachrome 200

  

La Avenida de los Baobabs o Callejón de los Baobabs, es un grupo notable de baobabs de la especie Adansonia grandidieri que bordean un camino de tierra entre Morondava y Belon'i Tsiribihina en la región de Menabe, al oeste de Madagascar. Su sorprendente paisaje atrae a viajeros de todo el mundo, lo que lo convierte en uno de los lugares más visitados de la región. Ha sido un centro de esfuerzos locales de conservación. En julio de 2007, el Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Agua y Bosques le otorgó el estado de protección temporal, un paso para convertirlo en el primer monumento natural de Madagascar.

Numerosos baobabs se encuentran dentro del área protegida que abarca 3, 2 km² entre las poblaciones de Morondava y Belo sur Tsiribinha, pero solo un tramo de 250 m se conoce como la Avenida de los Baobabs. Un grupo de 20 a 25 Adansonia grandidieri, especie endémica de Madagascar, con una altura de aproximadamente 30 m y algunos más de 800 años. La zona es el último vestigio del bosque seco que cubría Madagascar occidental, junto a dos humedales protegidos por el Ramsar, hogar de diferentes especies de fauna.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenida_de_los_Baobabs

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia_grandidieri

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia

  

The Avenue of the Baobabs, or Alley of the Baobabs, is a prominent group of Grandidier's baobabs (Adansonia grandidieri) lining the unpaved Road No.8 between Morondava and Belon'i Tsiribihina in the Menabe region of western Madagascar. Its striking landscape draws travelers from around the world, making it one of the most visited locations in the region. It has been a center of local conservation efforts, and was granted temporary protected status in July 2007 by the Ministry of Environment, Water and e Forestry – a step toward making it Madagascar's first natural monument.

Along a 260 m (850 ft) stretch of the road is a grove of 20–25 Adansonia grandidieri baobabs. An additional 25 or so trees of this species are found growing over nearby rice paddies and meadows within 9.9 acres (4 ha) of land. The trees, which are endemic to Madagascar, are about 30 m (98 ft) in height.

The baobab trees, known locally as renala or reniala (from Malagasy reny ala "mother of the forest") are a legacy of the dense tropical forests that once thrived on Madagascar. The trees did not originally tower in isolation over the sere landscape of scrub, but stood in dense forest. Over the years, as the country's population grew, the forests were cleared for agriculture, leaving only the baobab trees, which the locals preserved as much for their own sake as for their value as a food source and building material.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenue_of_the_Baobabs

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia_grandidieri

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia

 

Grade II listed historic bridge originally constructed 1813 and widened 1938-40.

 

"Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area was 106,940, while that within its traditional boundary was 87,590. At the same census, the Borough of Bedford had a population of 157,479.

 

Bedford was founded at a ford on the River Great Ouse, and is thought to have been the burial place of Offa of Mercia. Bedford Castle was built by Henry I, although it was destroyed in 1224. Bedford was granted borough status in 1165 and has been represented in Parliament since 1265. It is known for its large population of Italian descent.

 

Bedford is on the Midland Main Line, with stopping services to London and Brighton operated by Thameslink, and express services to London and the East Midlands operated by East Midlands Railway.

 

Bedford's principal church is St Paul's, in the square of the same name at the historic centre of the town. It is the Civic Church of the Borough of Bedford and County of Bedfordshire and has a tall, iconic spire which is one of the dominant features of the town. There was an early Minster church on the site by 1066 and work on the present structure began in the early 13th century, but little remains from that period. John Bunyan and John Wesley both preached in the church. In 1865–1868 the tower and spire were completely rebuilt and the two transepts added and lesser alterations have been made since. From 1941 to the end of the Second World War the BBC's daily service was broadcast from St. Paul's. Another notable local church is St Peter's, on St Peter's Street, which contains some of the oldest architectural remains in Bedford, the most ancient being the two monoliths. St. Paul's Church also hosts the town's Visitor Information Centre." - info from Wikipedia.

 

Summer 2019 I did a solo cycling tour across Europe through 12 countries over the course of 3 months. I began my adventure in Edinburgh, Scotland and finished in Florence, Italy cycling 8,816 km. During my trip I took 47,000 photos.

 

Now on Instagram.

.... Notable Toronto alley for local graffiti artists to nurture legal street art. The entire alleyway south of Queen St West from John Street to Bathurst Street, has attracted street artists and tourists alike ....

The Pont du Gard

is a notable ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that crosses the Gard River in southern France.

It is part of a 50 km (31 mi) long aqueduct that runs between Uzès and Nîmes in the South of France.

It is located in Vers-Pont-du-Gard near Remoulins, in the Gard département.

The aqueduct was constructed in the 1st century AD and is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and the best preserved after the Aqueduct of Segovia.

It was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in 1985.

@Wikipedia

 

June 2012

Quadruple-named HST Power Car 43188 heads over Falling Sands viaduct during the 2023 Spring Diesel Festival. With the number of HSTs on the main line falling rapidly, they have now suddenly become notable haulage at heritage galas.

 

Locomotive: British Rail Class 43 High Speed Train/InterCity 125 Power Car 43188 "Y Cymro/The Weshman/Geriant Thomas/Newport Castle".

 

Location: Falling Sands viaduct, Kidderminster, Worcestershire.

Anagni Cathedral (Italian: Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata; Cattedrale di Anagni) is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Anagni, Lazio, Italy, notable as the summer residence of the Popes for centuries (before Castel Gandolfo). It is dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Stairwell on the left side of the church descends to the crypt, also called the Oratory of Thomas Becket, canonized in the town of Segni three years after his murder in 1170. The walls are covered with frescoes dating from 1231 to 1255 depicting biblical scenes, many severely damaged. Likely a number of artists worked in the crypt, including followers of Pietro Cavallini. Behind the altar, below a depiction of Christ and the Madonna is a depiction of St Thomas and other bishops. Other altars are dedicated to San Magno, patron of the town; also an altar dedicated to Saints Secondina, Aurelia, and Neomisia; an altar dedicated to Holy Martyrs; and finally an altar dedicated to Bishop Pietro da Salerno and the Holy Virgin Oliva. The mosaic pavement was completed by the Cosma family in 1231.

 

Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. It is designated Grade I on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England. It is divided into two parts, named the East and West cemetery. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves at Highgate Cemetery. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as well as for its de facto status as a nature reserve. - Wikipedia

Two notable liveries pass at Rotherham Masborough.

DBS Red is carried by 66101 working the 1017 6X01 Scunthorpe - Eastleigh , coming the other is 37025 carrying BR Large Logo livery with 37219 in charge of the 1Z01 1030 Derby RTC - Neville Hill .

 

28 6 16

Plaza Mayor, Almagro, Ciudad Real, Castilla-La Mancha, España.

 

La plaza medieval sufrió una notable transformación a lo largo del siglo XVI, coincidiendo con la llegada a Almagro de los Fúcar - castellanización del apellido flamenco Fugger -, banqueros súbditos del emperador Carlos V, a quienes se les había arrendado las minas de azogue de Almadén como privilegio por el apoyo económico de la banca familiar durante las guerras de Europa. Se levantaron nuevos edificios en la plaza y se debe a ellos la influencia de las galerías acristaladas, con recuerdos septentrionales, que ennoblecen y dan un aspecto singular a los dos lados mayores de esta Plaza Mayor de Almagro, denominación con la que tradicionalmente se le ha conocido, aunque en distintos momentos haya recibido otros nombre como de la Constitución, de la República, Real o de España, tras la última Guerra Civil. En la década de 1960 se comenzó su restauración que concluyó en 1967, tal como figura en una placa colocada en el edificio del Ayuntamiento. La obra, dirigida por el arquitecto Francisco Pons-Sorolla, devolvió al singular conjunto la nobleza y el esplendor del siglo XVI.

 

De planta rectangular irregular, uno de sus lados mayores se abre en la parte correspondiente al Palacio Maestral, y según planos antiguos tiene 125 varas de longitud por 44 de anchura, es decir, 104,5 por 37 metros, aproximadamente.

 

La mayor singularidad de esta plaza se centra en sus lados mayores, donde se levanta un armónico conjunto de viviendas que se disponen sobre soportales en dos alturas, sostenidas por ochenta y cinco columnas de piedra de orden toscano, sobre las que descansan las gruesas zapatas y vigas de madera pintadas de almagre. Estas edificaciones de modestos materiales tienen su mayor originalidad en el doble piso de galería acristalada, que proporciona un característico sabor y notable originalidad al conjunto por tratarse de un caso singular de la arquitectura castellana. Estas galerías estuvieron inicialmente abiertas, eran de carácter público y se utilizaban para presenciar los espectáculos que tenían lugar en la plaza. Posteriormente, fueron cerradas. Sus ventanas balconcillos, al igual que los barrotes torneados, debieron de estar pintados de almagre, pero posteriormente, con motivo de la proclamación del rey Carlos IV en 1788, se pintaron de verde turquesa . Sobre las galerías, sencillos canecillos soportan el alero, y en el tejado, cubierto con teja árabe se levantan buhardillas encaladas, blancas chimeneas y algunas veletas de hierro.

 

En el lado norte de la plaza, a la derecha desde el Ayuntamiento, se abre el callejón del Villar, donde puede observarse la estructura de la construcción de las viviendas, además de otros elementos, como una columna con capitel tallado en el que figura una jarra con azucenas. En el lado sur se localiza la antigua calle del Toril, hoy del Capitán Parras, en recuerdo de un hijo de este pueblo que murió en 1924, durante la Guerra de África. En esta calle se encuentra la casa de Diego de Molina el Viejo. El soportal y las galerías acristaladas se truncan con dos grandes columnas de granito que sostienen zapatas y una poderosa viga con escudos familiares. La portada enmarcada de piedra, de finales del siglo XVI, presenta un escudo con las armas de Molina, Dávila y Fajardo. Otras edificaciones mantienen algún tipo de interés, como dos casas con dinteles de piedra o la casa de los Rosales, con fachada de fines del siglo XVII.

 

The medieval square underwent a significant transformation throughout the 16th century, coinciding with the arrival in Almagro of the Fúcars - the Spanish version of the Flemish surname Fugger -, bankers subject to the Emperor Charles V, to whom the Almadén mercury mines had been leased as a privilege for the financial support of the family bank during the wars in Europe. New buildings were built in the square and it is to them that the glass galleries, with northern reminders, which ennoble and give a unique appearance to the two largest sides of this Plaza Mayor de Almagro, the name by which it has traditionally been known, began to be restored, such as the Constitution, the Republic, the Royal or Spain, after the last Civil War. In the 1960s, its restoration began and was completed in 1967, as shown on a plaque placed on the Town Hall building. The work, directed by the architect Francisco Pons-Sorolla, restored the nobility and splendour of the 16th century to the unique complex.

 

With an irregular rectangular floor plan, one of its larger sides opens onto the part corresponding to the Maestral Palace, and according to old plans it is 125 yards long by 44 wide, that is, approximately 104.5 by 37 metres.

 

The greatest uniqueness of this square is centred on its larger sides, where a harmonious group of houses is built, arranged on arcades on two levels, supported by eighty-five Tuscan stone columns, on which rest the thick wooden foundations and beams painted in red ochre. These buildings made of modest materials have their greatest originality in the double-storey glass gallery, which provides a characteristic flavour and notable originality to the complex, as it is a unique case of Castilian architecture. These galleries were initially open, were public and were used to watch the shows that took place in the square. Later, they were closed. Their small balconies, like the turned bars, must have been painted red ochre, but later, on the occasion of the proclamation of King Charles IV in 1788, they were painted turquoise green. Above the galleries, simple corbels support the eaves, and on the roof, covered with Arabic tiles, there are whitewashed dormers, white chimneys and some iron weather vanes.

 

On the north side of the square, to the right of the Town Hall, is the Villar alley, where you can see the structure of the construction of the houses, as well as other elements, such as a column with a carved capital depicting a jar with lilies. On the south side is the old Toril street, today called Captain Parras, in memory of a son of this town who died in 1924, during the African War. On this street is the house of Diego de Molina el Viejo. The arcade and the glass galleries are truncated by two large granite columns that support footings and a powerful beam with family shields. The stone-framed doorway, from the end of the 16th century, features a shield with the arms of Molina, Dávila and Fajardo. Other buildings maintain some kind of interest, such as two houses with stone lintels or the Rosales house, with a façade from the end of the 17th century.

Notable autumn scenery along the Rum River Trail in Anoka County, central Minnesota. Taken on 21 Sept. 2023.

 

Visitors: Please check out my photostream & albums for various seasonal pix of wildlife/scenics/florals.

In the remote expanse of Patagonia, where the earth rises to meet the sky, stands the majestic Gorra Blanca, a sentinel of nature’s grandeur. This towering peak, cloaked in the ethereal embrace of rime mushrooms—those delicate, frost-kissed formations that adorn its rocky visage—serves as a testament to the harsh yet beautiful climate that defines this region. Here, the weather is a capricious force, often unleashing fierce winds and sudden storms that sweep across the landscape, transforming the serene into the sublime in mere moments.

 

Cerro Gorra Blanca, part of the Southern Patagonian Ice Field, is surrounded by notable giants of the Andes, including the formidable Cerro Fitz Roy and the imposing Cerro Torre. These peaks, with their jagged silhouettes, create a dramatic backdrop against which the Ice Field surrounding Gorra Blanca can be observed. The glaciers, ever-shifting and alive, reveal a fragile beauty, their blue ice glistening under the fleeting sun, a reminder of the relentless passage of time.

 

The exploration history of this region is rich with tales of intrepid adventurers who sought to conquer its heights and unravel its mysteries. Ice field expeditions have drawn climbers and scientists alike, eager to study the glaciers and the unique ecosystems they support. Each expedition is a journey into the heart of nature, where the spirit of adventure intertwines with the quest for knowledge.

 

As one wanders through this pristine wilderness, the air thick with the scent of ancient stone and ice, a profound connection to the earth emerges. In the presence of Gorra Blanca, one cannot help but feel the weight of existence, a reminder of our humble place within the vast, unyielding tapestry of the natural world.

 

Find out more beautiful landscapes of untouched wilderness in my photos, stories and films on the website www.coronaviking.com

sus colores...

台北瑞芳金瓜石

Jinguashi (Chinese: 金瓜石; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kim-koe-chio̍h) is a town in Ruifang District, New Taipei City, Taiwan, notable for its historic gold and copper mines. It is also known as Kinkaseki in Japanese. From 1942–1945 it was used by the Japanese as a prisoner-of-war camp.

Although the minerals have since been depleted, the town still attracts many visitors to its Gold Ecological Park, which opened in October 2004. Jinguashi was named a potential World Heritage site in 2002.

金瓜石，是位於台灣本島東北部的一個聚落，行政區劃隸屬新北市瑞芳區，地處雪山山脈北側支稜與東北角海岸間。金瓜石與九份因地緣相近，在早期也同為重要礦區，故一般合稱「金九地區」。

本區域三面環山，東以半屏山（標高713公尺）與半屏溪流域的南雅里為界，南以燦光寮山（標高738.3公尺）及牡丹山（標高656.9公尺）與雙溪區接壤，西隔基隆山（標高586.8公尺）及金瓜山（標高571.2公尺）與九份相鄰。本區域地勢約為200到300公尺左右的丘陵地及山間河谷地，屬基隆火山群；區域內有金瓜石溪、外九份溪及內九份溪，向北切穿山谷注入東海。

金瓜石曾因開採金礦而與九份繁華一時，亦隨著礦產枯竭而迅速沒落，目前僅剩新山里、瓜山里、銅山里及石山里等四里及少數年長居民長住。自相鄰的九份因電影《悲情城市》一炮而紅，成功轉型為觀光勝地後，金瓜石也朝向觀光休閒方向重新發展。電影《無言的山丘》，即以日治時期的金瓜石礦業為背景。

La Avenida de los Baobabs o Callejón de los Baobabs, es un grupo notable de baobabs de la especie Adansonia grandidieri que bordean un camino de tierra entre Morondava y Belon'i Tsiribihina en la región de Menabe, al oeste de Madagascar. Su sorprendente paisaje atrae a viajeros de todo el mundo, lo que lo convierte en uno de los lugares más visitados de la región. Ha sido un centro de esfuerzos locales de conservación. En julio de 2007, el Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, Agua y Bosques le otorgó el estado de protección temporal, un paso para convertirlo en el primer monumento natural de Madagascar.

Numerosos baobabs se encuentran dentro del área protegida que abarca 3, 2 km² entre las poblaciones de Morondava y Belo sur Tsiribinha, pero solo un tramo de 250 m se conoce como la Avenida de los Baobabs. Un grupo de 20 a 25 Adansonia grandidieri, especie endémica de Madagascar, con una altura de aproximadamente 30 m y algunos más de 800 años. La zona es el último vestigio del bosque seco que cubría Madagascar occidental, junto a dos humedales protegidos por el Ramsar, hogar de diferentes especies de fauna.

 

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenida_de_los_Baobabs

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia_grandidieri

es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia

  

The Avenue of the Baobabs, or Alley of the Baobabs, is a prominent group of Grandidier's baobabs (Adansonia grandidieri) lining the unpaved Road No.8 between Morondava and Belon'i Tsiribihina in the Menabe region of western Madagascar. Its striking landscape draws travelers from around the world, making it one of the most visited locations in the region. It has been a center of local conservation efforts, and was granted temporary protected status in July 2007 by the Ministry of Environment, Water and e Forestry – a step toward making it Madagascar's first natural monument.

Along a 260 m (850 ft) stretch of the road is a grove of 20–25 Adansonia grandidieri baobabs. An additional 25 or so trees of this species are found growing over nearby rice paddies and meadows within 9.9 acres (4 ha) of land. The trees, which are endemic to Madagascar, are about 30 m (98 ft) in height.

The baobab trees, known locally as renala or reniala (from Malagasy reny ala "mother of the forest") are a legacy of the dense tropical forests that once thrived on Madagascar. The trees did not originally tower in isolation over the sere landscape of scrub, but stood in dense forest. Over the years, as the country's population grew, the forests were cleared for agriculture, leaving only the baobab trees, which the locals preserved as much for their own sake as for their value as a food source and building material.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenue_of_the_Baobabs

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia_grandidieri

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adansonia

 

Photo taken on Bald Point State Park beach with an iPad Air.

Comino Island, Malta

 

St. Mary’s Tower

 

St. Mary’s Tower or Santa Maria Tower, (Maltese: it-Torri ta’ Santa Marija) is a fortification on the island of Comino. One can see it easily from the ferry that crosses from Malta to Gozo.

 

In 1618 the military engineer Vittorio Cassar designed the tower for Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt of the Knights of Malta. Funds for its construction were raised primarily by means of the sale of Comino brushwood. Located roughly in the centre of the southern coast of the island, it formed part of a chain of defensive towers – the Wignacourt, Lascaris, and De Redin towers – installed at vantage points along the coastline of the Maltese Islands. St. Mary’s Tower greatly improved communications between the islands of Malta and Gozo. The tower also stopped Turkish corsairs from using the island’s creeks as a base from which to harry boats from Gozo. Batteries on the coast of Comino had a garrison of 130 men and housed eight 32-pounder and ten 24-pounder cannons, which dominated the North and South Comino Channels.

 

The tower is a large, square building with four corner turrets, and is located about 80 metres above sea level. The Tower itself is about 12 metres tall, with walls that are approximately 6 metres thick, and is raised on a platform and plinth that are approximately 8 metres high. During times of crisis its garrison numbered up to 60 soldiers. By 1791, its armament included two 12-pound iron cannon, one 10-pound bronze cannon, one 4-pound bronze cannon, and two 3-pound bronze cannon.

 

In the 17th century, Comino served as a place of imprisonment or exile for errant knights. Knights who were convicted of minor crimes were occasionally sentenced to the lonely and dangerous task of manning St. Mary’s Tower.

 

During the French Blockade (1798–1800), St. Mary’s Tower served as a prison for suspected spies. In the 1799 insurrection against the French, the insurgents transferred the tower’s cannons to Malta to bombard the French positions inside Valletta.

 

In 1829 the British Military abandoned the tower. For several decades it was deemed to be property of the local civil authorities, and may have been used as an isolation hospital, or even as a wintering pen for farm animals. The tower again saw active service during both World War I and World War II. Since 1982, the tower has been the property of the Armed Forces of Malta. It now serves as a lookout and staging post to guard against contraband and the illegal hunting of migratory birds at sea.

 

St. Mary’s Tower underwent extensive restoration between 2002 and 2004. Today, it remains the most notable structure on Comino, and provides a destination for tourists walking around the island.

 

The 2002 film, The Count of Monte Cristo starring Jim Caviezel, used St Mary’s Tower to represent the prison Château d’If. vassallohistory.wordpress.com/coastal-towers/

 

© photo rights reserved by B℮n

 

The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the city of Rome and one of the most famous fountains in the world. The fountain has appeared in several notable films, including Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita and the eponymous Three Coins in the Fountain. The fountain located at the Piazza di Trevi. The fountain was built on behalf of Pope Clement XII. The construction lasted from 1732 to 1762. The fountain was built against the rear facade of the Palazzo Poli. The name Trevi comes from the words tre via (three roads). In the past three roads came out on the square of the fountain. The theme of the structure is the ocean with majestic sea god Oceanus on a shell-shaped chariot drawn to the ocean by winged horses and young sea gods. One horse is quiet, the other is prancing. This symbolizes the two faces of the sea. In two niches there are left and right representations of Abundance and Health. At the top right is a picture of a virgin who would have designated a soldier the place of a source. The myth: when you stand with your back to the fountain, close your eyes, think of Rome and throw a coin in the water with your right hand over the left shoulder, you will one day return to Rome. Throwing two coins would allow the jumper to meet his lover in the 'Eternal City'. Throwing three coins would lead to a marriage or divorce. The many coins that end up in the fountain are spent by the municipality of Rome on good causes. For example, 1.4 million euros were fished out of the fountain in 2016.

 

We visit Rome on a hot summers day and temperatures soar to over 40ºC. The Trevi Fountain is the most beautiful and most spectacular fountain in Rome. Millions of people visit it every year to make a wish. We took it slow amid region’s most intense heat wave.

 

De Trevifontein is de grootste en bekendste fontein van Rome. Zij is gelegen aan een pleintje, het Piazza di Trevi. De fontein is gebouwd in opdracht van paus Clemens XII. De bouw duurde van 1732 tot 1762. De fontein is tegen de achtergevel van het Palazzo Poli gebouwd. De naam Trevi komt van de woorden tre via (drie wegen). Vroeger kwamen er namelijk drie wegen uit op het plein van de fontein. Het thema van het bouwwerk is de oceaan met majestueuze zeegod Oceanus op een schelpvormige strijdwagen die door gevleugelde paarden en jonge zeegoden naar de oceaan wordt getrokken. Het ene paard is rustig, het andere steigert. Dit symboliseert de twee gezichten van de zee. In twee nissen staan links en rechts de uitbeeldingen van Overvloed en Gezondheid. Rechts bovenaan ziet men een afbeelding van een maagd die een soldaat de plek van een bron aangewezen zou hebben. De mythe: Wanneer men met de rug naar de fontein staat, de ogen sluit, aan Rome denkt en met de rechterhand over de linkerschouder een muntje in het water gooit, zal men ooit terugkeren naar Rome. Het werpen van twee muntjes zou de gooier in staat stellen zijn geliefde te ontmoeten in de 'Eeuwige stad'. Drie muntjes gooien zou leiden tot een huwelijk of scheiding. De vele munten die in de fontein terecht komen besteedt de gemeente Rome aan goede doelen. Zo werd in 2016 1,4 miljoen euro uit de fontein gevist.

L'Estany de Banyoles, Banyoles, Girona.

 

L'Estany de Banyoles es el lago más grande de Catalunya, en la provincia de Girona. Es el principal símbolo de la ciudad de Banyoles. El lago y su cuenca lacustre son considerados el conjunto cárstico más extenso de España, constituyendo un sistema medioambiental de notable valor.

 

Situado en el oeste del término municipal de Banyoles, fue declarado por la Generalitat de Catalunya como zona integrante del Plan de Espacios de Interés Natural. En 2003 se incluyó en la lista Ramsar de Zonas Húmedas de Importancia Internacional, solicitándose por varios colectivos la instauración de un Parque Natural.

 

L'Estany de Banyoles es de origen tectónico y cárstico. Se formó en la época cuaternaria, hace unos 250 000 años. Los movimientos tectónicos producidos por la formación de los Pirineos abrieron la falla del Ampurdán. La erosión y otros fenómenos geológicos crearon la zona lacustre.

 

El primer Estany de Banyoles tenía una extensión muy superior a la actual, inundando las riberas unos 6 u 8 metros por encima del nivel actual de las aguas.

 

Las pesquerías son pequeñas construcciones que se encuentran en las aguas del lago en la orilla oriental y declaradas Bien Cultural de Interés Nacional (en la categoría de Jardín Histórico) por la Generalitat de Catalunya.

 

En total hay 20 pesquerías, cada una con un nombre particular. Su construcción comenzó a mediados del siglo XIX hasta 1931, y durante estos años han sido renovados y acondicionados.

 

Inicialmente, el papel de la pesquería era mantener el material para la pesca. Posteriormente, muchos de ellos aumentaron la superficie para poder almacenar un bote. Finalmente, con la llegada de la práctica del deporte y el ascenso de la burguesía banyolina, se adaptaron para poder nadar e incluso quedarse.

 

L'Estany de Banyoles is the largest lake in Catalonia, in the province of Girona. It is the main symbol of the city of Banyoles. The lake and its lacustrine basin are considered the most extensive karst complex in Spain, constituting an environmental system of remarkable value.

 

Located in the west of the municipality of Banyoles, it was declared by the Generalitat de Catalunya as an integral part of the Plan of Spaces of Natural Interest. In 2003 it was included in the Ramsar list of Wetlands of International Importance, requesting by several groups the establishment of a Natural Park.

 

L'Estany de Banyoles is of tectonic and karstic origin. It was formed in the Quaternary era, about 250,000 years ago. The tectonic movements produced by the formation of the Pyrenees opened the Ampurdán fault. Erosion and other geological phenomena created the lacustrine zone.

 

The first Estany de Banyoles had a much higher extension than the current, flooding the banks about 6 or 8 meters above the current level of water.

 

The fishery are small constructions that are found in the water of the lake on the east bank and declared Cultural Good of National Interest (in the category of Historic Garden) by the Generalitat de Catalunya.

 

In total there are 20 the fishery, each with a particular name. Its construction began in the mid-nineteenth century until 1931, and over these years they have been renovated and conditioned.

 

Initially, the role of the fishery was to keep the material for fishing. Subsequently, many of them increased the surface in order to be able to store a boat. Finally, with the arrival of the practice of sport and the rise of the banyolina bourgeoisie, they adapted to be able to swim and even to stay.

The 47th notable image of Cometan sees the Founder of Astronism smiling from ear to ear on a moonlit night sky at the Birling Gap near Eastbourne, East Sussex. Featured in this image from Cometan's summer trip to the South Downs are twinkling stars, a beautiful cloud formation and the Seven Sisters cliffs stretching for as far as the eye can see in the background. This photo really does have it all; cliffs, coast, the sea, the beach, clouds, night sky and the stars.

 

© 2021 Millettarian Photographic Institute.

sometimes we feel like this

some notable things about this: 1. i love taking pictures of my cuts and bruises but i didn’t expect it to be so incredibly difficult. 2. this was from last night when i banged my thigh directly into the metal staircase railing edge. 3. i think that’s it, actually, permantely black and blue for you.

Eguisheim (German: Egisheim) is a commune in the Haut-Rhin département of Alsace, France, notable for, and largely devoted to, producing Alsace wine of high quality.

The village centre is very picturesque and receives many tourists, as the Alsace "Wine Route" passes the village. German is spoken almost exclusively.

The commune was the birthplace of Pope Leo IX on June 21, 1002.

 

Eguisheim (Duits: Egisheim) is een dorp en gemeente in het Franse departement Haut-Rhin in de regio Elzas. De gemeente heeft een oppervlak van 14,2 km² en het aantal inwoners is 1541 (2004). Eguisheim ligt enkele kilometers ten zuiden van Colmar.

Eguisheim ligt aan de Route des vins d'Alsace.

In het dorp staan nog veel oude vakwerkhuizen, die in ringvormige straten rondom het dorpsplein met burcht en kapel zijn aangelegd.

Paus Leo IX (eigenlijk Bruno graaf van Egisheim en Dagsburg) werd hier in 1002.

 

Eguisheim (deutsch Egisheim, elsässisch Egsa) ist eine Gemeinde von 1.500 Einwohnern im Elsass, Frankreich. Sie liegt an der Elsässischen Weinstraße (Route des vins) wenige Kilometer südwestlich von Colmar.

Im Ort wurde 1002 Bruno von Egisheim-Dagsburg geboren, der als Leo IX. Papst wurde.

 

Info: Wikipedia

Frías, Burgos, Castilla y León, España.

 

Frías es un municipio y ciudad de España, al norte de la provincia de Burgos, comunidad autónoma de Castilla y León. La ciudad es la cabecera del municipio, enmarcado en la comarca de Las Merindades, partido judicial de Villarcayo.

 

Sobre el cerro de La Muela, y cercana al ancho y caudaloso río Ebro, se constituyó un enclave estratégico de paso de dicho río, desde la época romana y sobre todo en época medieval, que unía la costa cantábrica y la meseta, dando lugar a la notable prosperidad de Frías y de su conjunto monumental.

 

Mantiene una estructura urbana medieval que corona el castillo de los Velasco y la iglesia de San Vicente. Los edificios mantienen un sistema constructivo en el que van adosándose entre sí. La solana del piso superior emplea toba y entramado de madera.

 

Junto a los municipios de Oña y Poza de la Sal conforma la mancomunidad Raíces de Castilla.

 

Frías is a municipality and city in Spain, north of the province of Burgos, autonomous community of Castilla y León. The city is the head of the municipality, framed in the region of Las Merindades, judicial district of Villarcayo.

 

On the hill of La Muela, and close to the wide and mighty river Ebro, a strategic enclave was established for the passage of said river, since Roman times and especially in medieval times, which linked the Cantabrian coast and the plateau, giving rise to the notable prosperity of Frías and its monumental complex.

 

It maintains a medieval urban structure that crowns the castle of the Velasco family and the church of San Vicente. The buildings maintain a constructive system in which they are attached to each other. The sunroom on the upper floor uses tuff and timber framing.

 

Together with the municipalities of Oña and Poza de la Sal, it forms the Raíces de Castilla commonwealth.

Every notable town or city has its 'must see' facilities. One such is the famous Observatory Museum in Grahamstown, which houses the only Camera Obscura in the southern hemisphere, along with many other scientific and technological exhibits. www.safarinow.com/destinations/grahamstown/galleriesandmu..

A notable capture during a fleeting visit to Singapore in October 1992 was this prototype Alexander-bodied Mercedes-Benz 0305, the forerunner of a large fleet to operate in the City state, all of which had their bodywork assembled locally. SBS 5541Z, seen here on North Bridge Road, was, I believe, shipped from the UK as a complete vehicle.

 

This image is copyright and must not be reproduced or downloaded without the permission of the photographer.