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Agen,
pont de pierre.
Une gentille ville "fleurie" où les policiers sont harcelés par un affichage omniprésent de haine à leur encontre.
Que fait Môssieur le président-maire contre ce harcèlement de rue quotidien?
Pas grand chose, de toute évidence.
Et l'on s'étonne que des policiers finissent par se suicider...
On peut aussi remarquer le peu d'intelligence du placement de ce panneau de taille XL (par ailleurs usurpé et complètement inutile) qui barre la moitié de ce trottoir délabré!
Quelle considération pour les mal-voyants?
Aucune!
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Jean Dionis du Séjour, Comte de Beauregard, Président-Maire d'Agen, Grand Maître de l'Ordre du Copinage, de l'Incurie et du Mépris pour le peuple :
1988 : Directeur Général des Services de la ville d'Agen
1995 : Deuxième adjoint au maire, chargé des finances.
2002-2011 : Député-Maire du Lot-et-Garonne
Depuis 2008 : Maire d'Agen.
Depuis 2016 : Conseiller régional d'aquitaine
Depuis 2008 : Président de l'Agglomération d'Agen"
Un élu qui sévit à Agen depuis 35 ans !
Gandhara is the name given to an ancient region or province invaded in 326 B.C. by Alexander the Great, who took Charsadda (ancient Puskalavati) near present-day Peshawar (ancient Purusapura) and then marched eastward across the Indus into the Punjab as far as the Beas river (ancient Vipasa). Gandhara constituted the undulating plains, irrigated by the Kabul River from the Khyber Pass area, the contemporary boundary between Pakistan and Afganistan, down to the Indus River and southward towards the Murree hills and Taxila (ancient Taksasila), near Pakistan"s present capital, Islamabad. Its art, however, during the first centuries of the Christian era, had adopted a substantially larger area, together with the upper stretches of the Kabul River, the valley of Kabul itself, and ancient Kapisa, as well as Swat and Buner towards the north.
A great deal of Gandhara sculptures has survived dating from the first to probably as late as the sixth or even the seventh century but in a remarkably homogeneous style. Most of the arts were almost always in a blue-gray mica schist, though sometimes in a green phyllite or in stucco, or very rarely in terracotta. Because of the appeal of its Western classical aesthetic for the British rulers of India, schooled to admire all things Greek and Roman, a great deal found its way into private hands or the shelter of museums.
Gandhara sculpture primarily comprised Buddhist monastic establishments. These monasteries provided a never-ending gallery for sculptured reliefs of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. The Gandhara stupas were comparatively magnified and more intricate, but the most remarkable feature, which distinguished the Gandhara stupas from the pervious styles were hugely tiered umbrellas at its peak, almost soaring over the total structure. The abundance of Gandharan sculpture was an art, which originated with foreign artisans.
In the excavation among the varied miscellany of small bronze figures, though not often like Alexandrian imports, four or five Buddhist bronzes are very late in date. These further illustrate the aura of the Gandhara art. Relics of mural paintings though have been discovered, yet the only substantial body of painting, in Bamiyan, is moderately late, and much of it belongs to an Iranian or central Asian rather than an Indian context. Non-narrative themes and architectural ornament were omnipresent at that time. Mythical figures and animals such as atlantes, tritons, dragons, and sea serpents derive from the same source, although there is the occasional high-backed, stylized creature associated with the Central Asian animal style. Moldings and cornices are decorated mostly with acanthus, laurel, and vine, though sometimes with motifs of Indian, and occasionally ultimately western Asian, origin: stepped merlons, lion heads, vedikas, and lotus petals. It is worth noting that architectural elements such as pillars, gable ends, and domes as represented in the reliefs tend to follow the Indian forms
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Gandhara became roughly a Holy Land of Buddhism and excluding a handful of Hindu images, sculpture took the form either of Buddhist sect objects, Buddha and Bodhisattvas, or of architectural embellishment for Buddhist monasteries. The more metaphorical kinds are demonstrated by small votive stupas, and bases teeming with stucco images and figurines that have lasted at Jaulian and Mora Moradu, outpost monasteries in the hills around Taxila. Hadda, near the present town of Jalalabad, has created some groups in stucco of an almost rococo while more latest works of art in baked clay, with strong Hellenistic influence, have been revealed there, in what sums up as tiny chapels. It is not known exactly why stucco, an imported Alexandrian modus operandi, was used. It is true that grey schist is not found near Taxila, however other stones are available, and in opposition to the ease of operating with stucco, predominantly the artistic effects which can be achieved, must be set with its impermanence- fresh deposits frequently had to be applied. Excluding possibly at Taxila, its use emerges to have been a late expansion.
Architectural fundamentals of the Gandhara art, like pillars, gable ends and domes as showcased in the reliefs, were inclined to follow Indian outlines, but the pilaster with capital of Corinthian type, abounds and in one-palace scene Persepolitan columns go along with Roman coffered ceilings. The so-called Shrine of the Double-Headed Eagle at Sirkap, in actuality a stupa pedestal, well demonstrates this enlightening eclecticism- the double-headed bird on top of the chaitya arch is an insignia of Scythian origin, which appears as a Byzantine motif and materialises much later in South India as the ga1J.qa-bheru1J.qa in addition to atop European armorial bearings.
In Gandhara art the descriptive friezes were all but invariably Buddhist, and hence Indian in substance- one depicted a horse on wheels nearing a doorway, which might have represented the Trojan horse affair, but this is under scan. The Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, familiar from the previous Greek-based coinage of the region, appeared once or twice as standing figurines, presumably because as a pair, they tallied an Indian mithuna couple. There were also female statuettes, corresponding to city goddesses. Though figures from Butkara, near Saidan Sharif in Swat, were noticeably more Indian in physical type, and Indian motifs were in abundance there. Sculpture was, in the main, Hellenistic or Roman, and the art of Gandhara was indeed "the easternmost appearance of the art of the Roman Empire, especially in its late and provincial manifestations". Furthermore, naturalistic portrait heads, one of the high-points of Roman sculpture, were all but missing in Gandhara, in spite of the episodic separated head, probably that of a donor, with a discernible feeling of uniqueness. Some constitutions and poses matched those from western Asia and the Roman world; like the manner in which a figure in a recurrently instanced scene from the Dipankara jataka had prostrated himself before the future Buddha, is reverberated in the pose of the defeated before the defeater on a Trojanic frieze on the Arch of Constantine and in later illustrations of the admiration of the divinised emperor. One singular recurrently occurring muscular male figure, hand on sword, witnessed in three-quarters view from the backside, has been adopted from western classical sculpture. On occasions standing figures, even the Buddha, deceived the elusive stylistic actions of the Roman sculptor, seeking to express majestas. The drapery was fundamentally Western- the folds and volume of dangling garments were carved with realness and gusto- but it was mainly the persistent endeavours at illusionism, though frequently obscured by unrefined carving, which earmarked the Gandhara sculpture as based on a western classical visual impact.
The distinguishing Gandhara sculpture, of which hundreds if not thousands of instances have outlived, is the standing or seated Buddha. This flawlessly reproduces the necessary nature of Gandhara art, in which a religious and an artistic constituent, drawn from widely varied cultures have been bonded. The iconography is purely Indian. The seated Buddha is mostly cross-legged in the established Indian manner. However, forthcoming generations, habituated to think of the Buddha as a monk, and unable to picture him ever possessing long hair or donning a turban, came to deduce the chigon as a "cranial protuberance", singular to Buddha. But Buddha is never depicted with a shaved head, as are the Sangha, the monks; his short hair is clothed either in waves or in taut curls over his whole head. The extended ears are merely due to the downward thrust of the heavy ear-rings worn by a prince or magnate; the distortion of the ear-lobes is especially visible in Buddha, who, in Gandhara, never wore ear-rings or ornaments of any kind. As Foucher puts it, the Gandhara Buddha is at a time a monk without shaving and a prince stripped off jewellery.
The western classical factor rests in the style, in the handling of the robe, and in the physiognomy of Buddha. The cloak, which covers all but the appendages (though the right shoulder is often bared), is dealt like in Greek and Roman sculptures; the heavy folds are given a plastic flair of their own, and only in poorer or later works do they deteriorate into indented lines, fairly a return to standard Indian practice. The "western" treatment has caused Buddha"s garment to be misidentified for a toga; but a toga is semicircular, while, Buddha wore a basic, rectangular piece of cloth, i.e., the samghiifi, a monk"s upper garment. The head gradually swerves towards a hieratic stylisation, but at its best, it is naturalistic and almost positively based on the Greek Apollo, undoubtedly in Hellenistic or Roman copies.
Gandhara art also had developed at least two species of image, i.e. not part of the frieze, in which Buddha is the fundamental figure of an event in his life, distinguished by accompanying figures and a detailed mise-en-scene. Perhaps the most remarkable amongst these is the Visit to the Indrasala Cave, of which the supreme example is dated in the year 89, almost unquestionably of the Kanishka period. Indra and his harpist are depicted on their visit in it. The small statuettes of the visitors emerge below, an elephant describing Indra. The more general among these detailed images, of which approximately 30 instances are known, is presumably related with the Great Miracle of Sravasti. In one such example, one of the adjoining Bodhisattvas is distinguished as Avalokiteshwara by the tiny seated Buddha in his headgear. Other features of these images include the unreal species of tree above Buddha, the spiky lotus upon which he sits, and the effortlessly identifiable figurines of Indra and Brahma on both sides.
Another important aspect of the Gandhara art was the coins of the Graeco-Bactrians. The coins of the Graeco-Bactrians - on the Greek metrological standard, equals the finest Attic examples and of the Indo-Greek kings, which have until lately served as the only instances of Greek art found in the subcontinent. The legendary silver double decadrachmas of Amyntas, possibly a remembrance issue, are the biggest "Greek" coins ever minted, the largest cast in gold, is the exceptional decadrachma of the same king in the Bibliotheque Nationale, with the Dioscuri on the inverse. Otherwise, there was scanty evidence until recently of Greek or Hellenistic influences in Gandhara. A manifestation of Greek metropolitan planning is furnished by the rectilinear layouts of two cities of the 1st centuries B.C./A.D.--Sirkap at Taxila and Shaikhan Pheri at Charsadda. Remains of the temple at Jandial, also at Taxila and presumably dating back to 1st century B.C., also includes Greek characteristics- remarkably the huge base mouldings and the Ionic capitals of the colossal portico and antechamber columns. In contrast, the columns or pilasters on the immeasurable Gandhara friezes (when they are not in a Indian style), are consistently coronated by Indo-Corinthian capitals, the local version of the Corinthian capital- a certain sign of a comparatively later date.
The notable Begram hoard confirms articulately to the number and multiplicity of origin of the foreign artefacts imported into Gandhara. This further illustrates the foreign influence in the Gandhara art. Parallel hoards have been found in peninsular India, especially in Kolhapur in Maharashtra, but the imported wares are sternly from the Roman world. At Begram the ancient Kapisa, near Kabul, there are bronzes, possibly of Alexandrian manufacture, in close proximity with emblemata (plaster discs, certainly meant as moulds for local silversmiths), bearing reliefs in the purest classical vein, Chinese lacquers and Roman glass. The hoard was possibly sealed in mid-3rd century, when some of the subjects may have been approximately 200 years old "antiques", frequently themselves replicates of classical Greek objects. The plentiful ivories, consisting in the central of chest and throne facings, engraved in a number of varied relief techniques, were credibly developed somewhere between Mathura and coastal Andhra. Some are of unrivalled beauty. Even though a few secluded instances of early Indian ivory carving have outlived, including the legendary mirror handle from Pompeii, the Begram ivories are the only substantial collection known until moderately in present times of what must always have been a widespread craft. Other sites, particularly Taxila, have generated great many instances of such imports, some from India, some, like the appealing tiny bronze figure of Harpocrates, undoubtedly from Alexandria. Further cultural influences are authenticated by the Scytho Sarmatian jewellery, with its characteristic high-backed carnivores, and by a statue of St. Peter. But all this should not cloud the all-important truth that the immediately identifiable Gandhara style was the prevailing form of artistic manifestation throughout the expanse for several centuries, and the magnitude of its influence on the art of central Asia and China and as far as Japan, allows no doubt about its integrity and vitality.
In the Gandhara art early Buddhist iconography drew heavily on traditional sources, incorporating Hindu gods and goddesses into a Buddhist pantheon and adapting old folk tales to Buddhist religious purposes. Kubera and Harm are probably the best-known examples of this process.
Five dated idols from Gandhara art though exist, however the hitch remains that the era is never distinguished. The dates are in figures under 100 or else in 300s. Moreover one of the higher numbers are debatable, besides, the image upon which it is engraved is not in the conventional Andhra style. The two low-number-dated idols are the most sophisticated and the least injured. Their pattern is classical Gandhara. The most undemanding rendition of their dates relates them to Kanishka and 78 A.D. is assumed as the commencement of his era. They both fall in the second half of the 2nd century A.D. and equally later, if a later date is necessitated for the beginning of Kanishka`s time. This calculation nearly parallels numismatics and archaeological evidences. The application of other eras, like the Vikrama (base date- 58 B.C.) and the Saka (base date- 78 A.D.), would place them much later. The badly battered figurines portray standing Buddhas, without a head of its own, but both on original figured plinths. They come to view as depicting the classical Gandhara style; decision regarding where to place these two dated Buddhas, both standing, must remain knotty till more evidence comes out as to how late the classical Gandhara panache had continued.
Methodical study of the Gandhara art, and specifically about its origins and expansion, is befuddled with numerous problems, not at least of which is the inordinately complex history and culture of the province. It is one of the great ethnical crossroads of the world simultaneously being in the path of all the intrusions of India for over three millennia. Bussagli has rightly remarked, `More than any other Indian region, Gandhara was a participant in the political and cultural events that concerned the rest of the Asian continent`.
However, Systematic study of the art of Gandhara, and particularly of its origins and development, is bedeviled by many problems, not the least of which is the extraordinarily complex history and culture of the region.
In spite of the labours of many scholars over the past hundred and fifty years, the answers to some of the most important questions, such as the number of centuries spanned by the art of Gandhara, still await, fresh archaeological, inscriptional, or numismatic evidence.
Photo taken of Anna in our hotel room in Amritsar. It was a rather shabby looking place but this one window was amazing, the light was omnipresent and added a soft glow to everything. We had just had dinner at the giant dining hall of the Sikhs where they give out free food to everyone. The smile’s still lingering on her lips.
A lot of people have asked me what happened to Anna and me after we left India and she went back to the UK. We do keep in contact via email and telephone every now and then and we’re definitely still very good friends. The time difference really is a killer, but we do Skype whenever we can. So we haven’t lost contact, we just happen to be on two different continents living separate lives. I’m sure we’ll meet again : )
Those of you who don’t know who Anna is check out this earlier text and photo of Anna dancing like nobody’s watching www.flickr.com/photos/29101611@N05/3158687291/
Camera: Nikon D200, 50mm 1.4
The delivery team wait patiently while the commercials are finalised.
These carts are omnipresent in Hong Kong and seem to be the primary delivery vehicles.
Fallen faithfully, remembered with every breath. Lifted upwards, commitment when I step.
Forward
Progressive movement, guided by the light.
Supported, in omnipresent sight.
Maintenant nombreux,les Régio 2N sont désormais omniprésents sur la relation Vienne Villefranche sur Saône à l'instar de ce 20C.
Esthétiquement pas très réussi à mon goût,j'en profite quand même pour leur tirer le portrait avant que les pelliculages urbains ne les recouvrent.
GSM-R wireless mobile communication via mobil phones and radio devices in every driving cab makes the old dispatcher service telephones inside the omnipresent F-Boxes now obsolete ...
But for this still-life with the green front of the "Brenner-Taurus", ÖBB class 1116 159, departing "Vienna Matzleinsdorferplatz" the legendary F-Box is still essential ... ; )
Vienna Matzleinsdorferplatz, 02 / 19
les auberges d'alpage, une tradition omniprésente des montagnes germaniques, et ici on est quand même à 700m de dénivelée du fond de la vallée. Bien sûr le bâtiment est du faux rustique reconstitué et les boiseries des façades sont du placage, mais on voit un soin de fabrication remarquable : non seulement les tuiles, mais même les gouttières et leurs attaches sont en bois! Et le propriétaire laisse un banc abrité au sud pour permettre aux visiteurs de s'y asseoir pendant la période de fermeture hivernale!
Innocent? Boyish? Contemplative? Blank? Seductive?! He is a 3-yo lad.
** My sincere apologies but comments with pics / links to other photostreams and "non-comments" will be deleted. Please also refrain from posting invites to groups especially those that needs compulsory commenting. Thank you for visiting! **
Paris in the summer
is a dream.
The trees,
heavy with leaves,
shimmer in rare bouts
of sunlight
that pours
over the city streets
like white gold.
Even the rain
and omnipresent clouds
that blanket the bleached sky
shimmers against
Paris's candy-colored architecture,
as the days linger long,
like trailing words spilling slowly
off the phrases of lovers.
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Interested in viewing all of my France posts so far? Here they are:
Looking for these (and more) Paris photos to view larger? Here you go (click or tap on each photo to view larger):
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Information about my New York City photography book which is releasing in stores and online in the autumn of 2014 (including where to order it):
NY Through The Lens: A New York Coffee Table Book
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View my New York City photography at my website NY Through The Lens.
View my Travel photography at my travel blog: Traveling Lens.
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About Page | PR Page | Media Page
To use any of my photos commercially, feel free to contact me via email at photos@nythroughthelens.com
Colibrí Chupasavia, en Río Blanco.
Manizales, Colombia
Éstas fotos las tomé en compañía del Cimarrón Mayor.
Llama la atención la omnipresencia de la especie en el lugar y la mansedumbre de algunos ejemplares, éste dejó acercar el lente a unos pocos cms.
Mi especie favorita, entre los tominejos que he fotografiado.
Puede ver retratos de la especie, acercamientos extremos, en los comentarios debajo de ésta foto.
Especie casi endémica de Colombia; mas del 50% del área de distribución en el país.
Omnipresent funky haze has been around in the mornings, makes it hard to get contrast. It's part of the monsoonal flow. FDX dock vantage point.
Hay veces que una segunda mirada al sitio apropiado nos depara una imagen inesperada.
El reflejo sobre una zona cromada de un antiguo Citroën, modelo Lola, de los años 20, me permitió este efecto ojo de pez, en el que se plasma parte del propio coche, las nubes de un dia borrascoso y la omnipresente fachada de la catedral de Ceuta.
La cigogne est un symbole omniprésent en Alsace.
Entre Crêtes des Vosges et plaine d’Alsace, Riquewihr est une cité médiévale, située sur la route des Vins, au cœur du vignoble alsacien, classée parmi les « Plus Beaux Villages de France ». Admirablement fleurie au printemps et en été, cette magnifique ville a su allier depuis des siècles la qualité de son architecture à celle de ses vins, mondialement reconnus, d’où son nom de " Perle du vignoble alsacien ".
Riquewihr, un des lieux de visite incontournables d’Alsace, est un " musée à ciel ouvert " qui a su préserver son authenticité, derrière ses murs d’enceinte que seules les vignes assiègent désormais. Composée d’un tissu urbain très ancien, la ville est constituée entre autres de maisons à colombages, du 13e au 18e siècle, étroitement accolées et du Dolder, une porte de la Ville conservée sous forme de tour-beffroi datant du 13e siècle.
Our Silences is an itinerant sculpture created to make us reflect on the importance of free speech and self-censorship. It intends to incite an intimate dialogue with the spectator on one of the most fundamental human rights and, at the same time, to establish a symbolic interchange with the places where it is shown.
The ten monumental bronze busts with covered mouths and the so called “tactile box” for the blind and visually weak, are both designed to journey all over the world. Since 2009, the installation has been presented in Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia, Mexico and the United States in cities like San Diego and, very recently, in San Francisco, by the bay.
Rivelino’s appropriationist style —apparent in the way he freely uses typical antique sculptural forms in his proposal— clearly seeks to establish an immediate bond with the past and the memories of the spectator and, at the same time, a strong physical relationship between the work and the spectator Nevertheless, underlying all this is a profound reflection on liberty and its daily exercise.
The eleventh sculpture is an interactive cube (2m3) which allows spectators to perceive what cannot be perceived with the eye. Each side has two holes that incite the spectator to discover what is inside and what is found are four tiny sculptures that reproduce the ones outside. People can actually touch the sculptures by introducing their hands through the holes and experience tactile, thermic, and affective sensations.
The purpose of this huge steel cube is to attract all kinds of spectators, but especially young people, children, and those visually weak or blind. It is a unique sculpture because it offers, beyond our sense of sight, the opportunity of sharing in a simple way an extraordinary aesthetic experience. For all this, Our Silences is an inclusive, open, artistic and social project.
Rivelino, Member of the Young Mexican Sculpture, has developed an artistic proposal characterized by the research and construction of reliefs and also by being one of the most active artists in Mexico in the field of sculptural intervention on the public urban space.
For Rivelino, a relief is a surface which expresses itself through the aesthetics of the materials being used, a space that becomes a territory by being occupied with volumes and marks, and an object that claims to encapsulate stories. Materials for the sculptor are “a skin with inscriptions engraved of ancient rituals, beliefs and memories common to all mankind”.
His sculptures are characterized by a poetic which moves from the recognizable to the strange and mysterious. “Divided between anthropomorphic figures of hieratic expression and geometric omnipresent objects, his sculptures preserve the importance of the relief through added volumes or engravings carved on their surfaces.”
Rivelino’s interest in triggering a dialogue with collective memory has lead him to consider the urban space as an ideal encounter territory for imaginary pasts and presents, a place which embraces several memories.
His sculptures on streets, squares, iconic monuments or any other public space break with the identity and the history of those places “with themes that deal with social problems, ethics and human rights […] they alter the established aesthetic perception of spectators through a sculptural narrative that moves from the surreal to the real; from the possible to the impossible.”
An independent artist, Rivelino divides his activities between creation and social activism related to topics like economy and culture. In 2010 he participated at the Universal Expo in Shanghai with the relief “Natural Dialogues”. In 2011 he inaugurated the art gallery at the Secretaría de Economía in Mexico with the exhibition “Limits and Consequences”, and in 2012 he participated in the Economics World Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in the “Art and inequality” panel.
His artistic projects are always daring. His successful work Nuestros Silencios (“Our silences”) approaches the right to free speech and it has been exhibited in American and European cities since 2010. In 2012, he shattered the Mexican institutional artistic establishment with his work Raíces (“Roots”), a gigantic metaphor of Mexican identity. The work was a giant serpent which climbed and slithered amongst prehispanic, colonial, and modern buildings in downtown Mexico City.
In 2015 Rivelino participated in The Dual Year Mexico-United Kingdom festivities with his monumental sculpture You, a work that remained for five months on the iconic Trafalgar Square. During 2016 he participated on the project Obra en Obra (Work on Work) with a piece called ¿El ejército de quién? (Whose Army?), which consisted in more than ten thousand soldiers covered in gold leaf posing the question: Who do armies protect? At the beginning of 2017, the piece You was presented for the first time in Mexico, at the Macroplaza in Monterrey. Today, the piece is being exhibited at the Patio Mayor of the Instituto Cultural Cabañas in Guadalajara, Mexico.
San Francisco officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, financial, and cultural center in Northern California. With a population of 808,437 residents as of 2022, San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of California. The city covers a land area of 46.9 square miles (121 square kilometers) at the end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second-most densely populated large U.S. city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated U.S. county, behind only four New York City boroughs. Among the 92 U.S. cities proper with over 250,000 residents, San Francisco was ranked first by per capita income and sixth by aggregate income as of 2022. Colloquial nicknames for San Francisco include Frisco, San Fran, The City, and SF (although Frisco and San Fran are generally not used by locals).
Prior to European settlement, the modern city proper was inhabited by the Yelamu, who spoke a language now referred to as Ramaytush Ohlone. On June 29, 1776, settlers from New Spain established the Presidio of San Francisco at the Golden Gate, and the Mission San Francisco de Asís a few miles away, both named for Francis of Assisi. The California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, transforming an unimportant hamlet into a busy port, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time; between 1870 and 1900, approximately one quarter of California's population resided in the city proper. In 1856, San Francisco became a consolidated city-county. After three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, it was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, it was a major port of embarkation for naval service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. In 1945, the United Nations Charter was signed in San Francisco, establishing the United Nations and in 1951, the Treaty of San Francisco re-established peaceful relations between Japan and the Allied Powers. After the war, the confluence of returning servicemen, significant immigration, liberalizing attitudes, the rise of the beatnik and hippie countercultures, the sexual revolution, the peace movement growing from opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War, and other factors led to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement, cementing San Francisco as a center of liberal activism in the United States.
San Francisco and the surrounding San Francisco Bay Area are a global center of economic activity and the arts and sciences, spurred by leading universities, high-tech, healthcare, finance, insurance, real estate, and professional services sectors. As of 2020, the metropolitan area, with 6.7 million residents, ranked 5th by GDP ($874 billion) and 2nd by GDP per capita ($131,082) across the OECD countries, ahead of global cities like Paris, London, and Singapore. San Francisco anchors the 13th most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States with 4.6 million residents, and the fourth-largest by aggregate income and economic output, with a GDP of $729 billion in 2022. The wider San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland Combined Statistical Area is the fifth-most populous, with 9.0 million residents, and the third-largest by economic output, with a GDP of $1.32 trillion in 2022. In the same year, San Francisco proper had a GDP of $252.2 billion, and a GDP per capita of $312,000. San Francisco was ranked fifth in the world and second in the United States on the Global Financial Centres Index as of September 2023. Despite an ongoing post-COVID-19 pandemic exodus of over 30 retail businesses from the northeastern quadrant of San Francisco, including the downtown core, the city is still home to numerous companies inside and outside of technology, including Salesforce, Uber, Airbnb, X Corp., Levi's, Gap, Dropbox, and Lyft.
In 2022, San Francisco had more than 1.7 million international visitors - the fifth-most visited city from abroad in the United States after New York City, Miami, Orlando, and Los Angeles - and approximately 20 million domestic visitors for a total of 21.9 million visitors. The city is known for its steep rolling hills and eclectic mix of architecture across varied neighborhoods, as well as its cool summers, fog, and landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, and Alcatraz, along with the Chinatown and Mission districts. The city is home to a number of educational and cultural institutions, such as the University of California, San Francisco, the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the de Young Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Ballet, the San Francisco Opera, the SFJAZZ Center, and the California Academy of Sciences. Two major league sports teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors, play their home games within San Francisco proper. San Francisco's main international airport offers flights to over 125 destinations while a light rail and bus network, in tandem with the BART and Caltrain systems, connects nearly every part of San Francisco with the wider region.
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the most populated subnational entity in North America and the 34th most populous in the world. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions respectively, with the former having more than 18.7 million residents and the latter having over 9.6 million. Sacramento is the state's capital, while Los Angeles is the most populous city in the state and the second most populous city in the country. San Francisco is the second most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous, while San Bernardino County is the largest county by area in the country. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.
The economy of the state of California is the largest in the United States, with a $3.4 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022, behind Germany and ahead of India, as well as the 37th most populous. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second- and third-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.5 trillion respectively as of 2020). The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018, and is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people.
Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America and contained the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes, including large-scale immigration into California, a worldwide economic boom, and the California genocide of indigenous people. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, following the Compromise of 1850.
Notable contributions to popular culture, for example in entertainment and sports, have their origins in California. The state also has made noteworthy contributions in the fields of communication, information, innovation, environmentalism, economics, and politics. It is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, which has had a profound influence upon global entertainment. It is considered the origin of the hippie counterculture, beach and car culture, and the personal computer, among other innovations. The San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area are widely seen as the centers of the global technology and film industries, respectively. California's economy is very diverse: 58% of it is based on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific, and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5% of the state's economy, California's agriculture industry has the highest output of any U.S. state. California's ports and harbors handle about a third of all U.S. imports, most originating in Pacific Rim international trade.
The state's extremely diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. The Central Valley, a major agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate and monsoon seasonal weather. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains.
Settled by successive waves of arrivals during at least the last 13,000 years, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Various estimates of the native population have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000. The indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups, inhabiting environments from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups.
The first Europeans to explore the coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza, the Viceroy of New Spain, to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island. Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey. Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century.
The Portolá expedition of 1769-70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios, and pueblos. The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá, who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra, who came by sea from Baja California. In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and the Presidio of San Diego, the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay.
After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along the Californian coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco (Mission San Francisco de Asís), San Diego (Mission San Diego de Alcalá), Ventura (Mission San Buenaventura), or Santa Barbara (Mission Santa Barbara), among others.
Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into the interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga, a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River. After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga, would found the pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California.
The Spanish founded Mission San Juan Capistrano in 1776, the third to be established of the Californian missions.
During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast. Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and was abandoned by 1841.
During the War of Mexican Independence, Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain, which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited the trade prospects of Californians. Following Mexican independence, Californian ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over the transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent.
In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become a commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush.
From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials.
One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports.
After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. The armies of each met at the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles. Marsh had been forced against his will to join Micheltorena's army. Ignoring his superiors, during the battle, he signaled the other side for a parley. There were many settlers from the United States fighting on both sides. He convinced these men that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States.
In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide,[65] who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders.
The California Republic was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–48).
Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California, with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of the conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California.
Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769.
In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000.
The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin.
In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September 9 a state holiday.
During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of the Union. However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army were unofficially associated with the state of California, such as the "California 100 Company", due to a majority of their members being from California.
At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the First transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time.
Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere.
In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act.
Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which the indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's harsh governmental policies towards its own indigenous people did not improve. As in other American states, many of the native inhabitants were soon forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers such as miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1853 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. There were also massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed.
Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5 million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias whose purpose was to protect settlers from the indigenous populations. In later decades, the native population was placed in reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from the government to sustain the populations living on them. As a result, the rise of California was a calamity for the native inhabitants. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide.
In the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to the US and California specifically to attempt to purchase and own land in the state. However, the state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act, excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps such as at Tule Lake and Manzanar. In 2020, California officially apologized for this internment.
Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6.0% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 89.5% non-Hispanic white.
To meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education.
Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 8.7 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking third (behind New York and Michigan) among the 48 states. California however easily ranked first in production of military ships during the war (transport, cargo, [merchant ships] such as Liberty ships, Victory ships, and warships) at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. After World War II, California's economy greatly expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War. Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in California instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region in the area now known as Silicon Valley. As a result of these efforts, California is regarded as a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the United States center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world among nations.
In the mid and late twentieth century, a number of race-related incidents occurred in the state. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to violent riots, such as the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 Rodney King riots. California was also the hub of the Black Panther Party, a group known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice and for organizing free breakfast programs for schoolchildren. Additionally, Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 1970s.
During the 20th century, two great disasters happened in California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S. history.
Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after the passage of federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.
An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism.
Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses they never intended to live in, expecting to make a huge profit in a matter of months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as everyone assumed the prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as housing prices began to crash and the boom years ended. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared as many financial institutions and investors were badly hurt.
In the twenty-first century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred in the state. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive, most notably Camp Fire.
Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze that is known as "smog" has been substantially abated thanks to federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust.
One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States that occurred in California was first of which was confirmed on January 26, 2020. Meaning, all of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to China in Asia, as testing was restricted to this group. On this January 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 persons from Wuhan, China aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, and in this process, it may have granted and conferred to escalated within the land and the US at cosmic. On February 5, 2020, the U.S. evacuated 345 more citizens from Hubei Province to two military bases in California, Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, where they were quarantined for 14 days. A state of emergency was largely declared in this state of the nation on March 4, 2020, and as of February 24, 2021, remains in effect. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, due to increase, which was ended on January 25, 2021, allowing citizens to return to normal life. On April 6, 2021, the state announced plans to fully reopen the economy by June 15, 2021.
Elevándonos sobre la omnipresente neblina de Santiago de Chile, en vuelo a Isla de Pascua.
Flying over the omnipresent fog of Santiago (Chile) in our way to Easter Island.
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Le quartier du Petit Champlain repose au pied du Cap Diamant à Québec. Son nom vient de la rue du Petit-Champlain, une rue étroite dont les maisons à l'ouest longent la falaise.
S'ajoutent les rues Sous-le-Fort, du Cul-de-Sac, du Marché-Champlain et une partie de la rue Notre-Dame et du boulevard Champlain.
Des artisans et des commerçants se sont regroupés en coopérative en 1985 et y tiennent des boutiques. Les décorations soulignant fêtes populaires ou grands rassemblements sont omniprésentes mais particulièrement féériques durant la période de Noël.
Aux victimes des cons et des salauds qui ne supportent pas que d'autres gens puissent vivre leur vie.
"La vraie religion ne peut rien être d'autre que la bigoterie bien réglée érigée en monopole et maintenue par la terreur omniprésente."
2084-La Fin du Monde
Boualem Sansal
An omnipresent ghost, he stands behind you. Every second that passes falls into his grip. You are at his mercy. He dictates your every move. Always considered, always moving. Inescapable, irreparable. You long for him closer. You long to push him away. He haunts your past, your present, your future.
Time is waiting.
Again, this is not what I planned for today. I'LL GET THERE D: reality is, I have no time! Going to be a rubbish contact for a day or two, sorry already! But I have a big party and friends over, and then two massive exams on tuesday, neither of which I've revised enough for. Pretty please keep your fingers crossed for me?
I dislike this ¬¬ but it gets the point across.
this song is keeping me going.
this song puts tears in my eyes.
I keep alternating between the two.
View in lightbox if you can bear it. (:
I have no idea why this isn't the national flower of Iceland. It is nearly omnipresent, beautiful, and rather distinctive. The actual national flower is relatively disappointing--a small white thing that resembles a hundred other flowers.
This is SE Iceland taken just a bit off the Ring Road, west of Höfn.
Vue partielle de la grande salle de la bibliothèque nationale
La bibliothèque nationale située à la Valette abrite les archives du XIIe au XVIIIe siècle de l'ordre de Saint-Jean, dont la charte de Baudouin Ier de Jérusalem accordant des possessions en Galilée à l'ordre en 1107, ou la charte de Charles Quint accordant l'île de Malte à l'ordre en 1530. (source Wikipedia)
education.gov.mt/en/education/malta-libraries/Pages/defau...
En plus de ces chartes qui ont marqué l'histoire de la Méditerranée, la bibliothèque nationale de Malte conserve de très nombreux manuscrits écrits en vieux français car 12 grands maîtres de l'Ordre des chevaliers de Malte sur les 28 qui se sont succédés, étaient français.
Ce corpus de recherche exceptionnel a très peu été étudié par les universitaires francophones. La numérisation en haute définition de ces manuscrits et leur mise en ligne permettraient de mener les études indispensables pour mieux comprendre l'apport de la France à la culture et au patrimoine de Malte, apports qui ont été volontairement occultés par les anglais après la chute de Napoléon, comme ce fut aussi le cas des apports culturels de l'Italie pourtant omniprésents dans ces îles.
La culture maltaise étant historiquement cosmopolite comme l'était l'Ordre des chevaliers, ce rééquilibrage culturel et linguistique serait hautement souhaitable au moment où Malte s'apprête à prendre la présidence du conseil de l'Union Européenne de janvier à juin 2017 et à devenir capitale européenne de la culture en 2018.
Les archives de Malte
Oops! Sorry, one more photo please Baobao!
His silly P H O T O B O O K for sale.
** My sincere apologies but comments with pics / links to other photostreams and "non-comments" will be deleted. Please also refrain from posting invites to groups especially those that needs compulsory commenting. Thank you for visiting! **
Il sorriso di Wang è solo un gesto, un atteggiamento mimico ma è al contempo già parola vivificata da quel fuoco d'amore spontaneo, leggero, onnipresente, veicolato dal Qi universale. Le parole che usa sono semplicemente la sintesi assoluta di un pensiero posto tra spirito e materia. Ma anche il suo abbraccio, a cui sempre si accompagna il gioioso sorriso, si esprime oltre che nel gesto anche in quell'unica luminosità dello sguardo, che ci porta a pensare a lui come a un bonario "puer eterno" un eterno fanciullo che gioca perennemente con la vita, conoscendone, però, la struttura profonda.
Wang's smile is only a gesture, a mimic attitude but at the same time it is already a word vivified by that spontaneous, light, omnipresent fire of love, conveyed by the universal Qi. The words he uses are simply the absolute synthesis of a thought placed between spirit and matter. But also his embrace, which is always accompanied by the joyful smile, is expressed not only in the gesture but in that single brightness of the look, which leads us to think of him as a good-natured "eternal child", an eternal child who plays perpetually with life, knowing its deep structure.
Gandhara is the name given to an ancient region or province invaded in 326 B.C. by Alexander the Great, who took Charsadda (ancient Puskalavati) near present-day Peshawar (ancient Purusapura) and then marched eastward across the Indus into the Punjab as far as the Beas river (ancient Vipasa). Gandhara constituted the undulating plains, irrigated by the Kabul River from the Khyber Pass area, the contemporary boundary between Pakistan and Afganistan, down to the Indus River and southward towards the Murree hills and Taxila (ancient Taksasila), near Pakistan"s present capital, Islamabad. Its art, however, during the first centuries of the Christian era, had adopted a substantially larger area, together with the upper stretches of the Kabul River, the valley of Kabul itself, and ancient Kapisa, as well as Swat and Buner towards the north.
A great deal of Gandhara sculptures has survived dating from the first to probably as late as the sixth or even the seventh century but in a remarkably homogeneous style. Most of the arts were almost always in a blue-gray mica schist, though sometimes in a green phyllite or in stucco, or very rarely in terracotta. Because of the appeal of its Western classical aesthetic for the British rulers of India, schooled to admire all things Greek and Roman, a great deal found its way into private hands or the shelter of museums.
Gandhara sculpture primarily comprised Buddhist monastic establishments. These monasteries provided a never-ending gallery for sculptured reliefs of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas. The Gandhara stupas were comparatively magnified and more intricate, but the most remarkable feature, which distinguished the Gandhara stupas from the pervious styles were hugely tiered umbrellas at its peak, almost soaring over the total structure. The abundance of Gandharan sculpture was an art, which originated with foreign artisans.
In the excavation among the varied miscellany of small bronze figures, though not often like Alexandrian imports, four or five Buddhist bronzes are very late in date. These further illustrate the aura of the Gandhara art. Relics of mural paintings though have been discovered, yet the only substantial body of painting, in Bamiyan, is moderately late, and much of it belongs to an Iranian or central Asian rather than an Indian context. Non-narrative themes and architectural ornament were omnipresent at that time. Mythical figures and animals such as atlantes, tritons, dragons, and sea serpents derive from the same source, although there is the occasional high-backed, stylized creature associated with the Central Asian animal style. Moldings and cornices are decorated mostly with acanthus, laurel, and vine, though sometimes with motifs of Indian, and occasionally ultimately western Asian, origin: stepped merlons, lion heads, vedikas, and lotus petals. It is worth noting that architectural elements such as pillars, gable ends, and domes as represented in the reliefs tend to follow the Indian forms
.
Gandhara became roughly a Holy Land of Buddhism and excluding a handful of Hindu images, sculpture took the form either of Buddhist sect objects, Buddha and Bodhisattvas, or of architectural embellishment for Buddhist monasteries. The more metaphorical kinds are demonstrated by small votive stupas, and bases teeming with stucco images and figurines that have lasted at Jaulian and Mora Moradu, outpost monasteries in the hills around Taxila. Hadda, near the present town of Jalalabad, has created some groups in stucco of an almost rococo while more latest works of art in baked clay, with strong Hellenistic influence, have been revealed there, in what sums up as tiny chapels. It is not known exactly why stucco, an imported Alexandrian modus operandi, was used. It is true that grey schist is not found near Taxila, however other stones are available, and in opposition to the ease of operating with stucco, predominantly the artistic effects which can be achieved, must be set with its impermanence- fresh deposits frequently had to be applied. Excluding possibly at Taxila, its use emerges to have been a late expansion.
Architectural fundamentals of the Gandhara art, like pillars, gable ends and domes as showcased in the reliefs, were inclined to follow Indian outlines, but the pilaster with capital of Corinthian type, abounds and in one-palace scene Persepolitan columns go along with Roman coffered ceilings. The so-called Shrine of the Double-Headed Eagle at Sirkap, in actuality a stupa pedestal, well demonstrates this enlightening eclecticism- the double-headed bird on top of the chaitya arch is an insignia of Scythian origin, which appears as a Byzantine motif and materialises much later in South India as the ga1J.qa-bheru1J.qa in addition to atop European armorial bearings.
In Gandhara art the descriptive friezes were all but invariably Buddhist, and hence Indian in substance- one depicted a horse on wheels nearing a doorway, which might have represented the Trojan horse affair, but this is under scan. The Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, familiar from the previous Greek-based coinage of the region, appeared once or twice as standing figurines, presumably because as a pair, they tallied an Indian mithuna couple. There were also female statuettes, corresponding to city goddesses. Though figures from Butkara, near Saidan Sharif in Swat, were noticeably more Indian in physical type, and Indian motifs were in abundance there. Sculpture was, in the main, Hellenistic or Roman, and the art of Gandhara was indeed "the easternmost appearance of the art of the Roman Empire, especially in its late and provincial manifestations". Furthermore, naturalistic portrait heads, one of the high-points of Roman sculpture, were all but missing in Gandhara, in spite of the episodic separated head, probably that of a donor, with a discernible feeling of uniqueness. Some constitutions and poses matched those from western Asia and the Roman world; like the manner in which a figure in a recurrently instanced scene from the Dipankara jataka had prostrated himself before the future Buddha, is reverberated in the pose of the defeated before the defeater on a Trojanic frieze on the Arch of Constantine and in later illustrations of the admiration of the divinised emperor. One singular recurrently occurring muscular male figure, hand on sword, witnessed in three-quarters view from the backside, has been adopted from western classical sculpture. On occasions standing figures, even the Buddha, deceived the elusive stylistic actions of the Roman sculptor, seeking to express majestas. The drapery was fundamentally Western- the folds and volume of dangling garments were carved with realness and gusto- but it was mainly the persistent endeavours at illusionism, though frequently obscured by unrefined carving, which earmarked the Gandhara sculpture as based on a western classical visual impact.
The distinguishing Gandhara sculpture, of which hundreds if not thousands of instances have outlived, is the standing or seated Buddha. This flawlessly reproduces the necessary nature of Gandhara art, in which a religious and an artistic constituent, drawn from widely varied cultures have been bonded. The iconography is purely Indian. The seated Buddha is mostly cross-legged in the established Indian manner. However, forthcoming generations, habituated to think of the Buddha as a monk, and unable to picture him ever possessing long hair or donning a turban, came to deduce the chigon as a "cranial protuberance", singular to Buddha. But Buddha is never depicted with a shaved head, as are the Sangha, the monks; his short hair is clothed either in waves or in taut curls over his whole head. The extended ears are merely due to the downward thrust of the heavy ear-rings worn by a prince or magnate; the distortion of the ear-lobes is especially visible in Buddha, who, in Gandhara, never wore ear-rings or ornaments of any kind. As Foucher puts it, the Gandhara Buddha is at a time a monk without shaving and a prince stripped off jewellery.
The western classical factor rests in the style, in the handling of the robe, and in the physiognomy of Buddha. The cloak, which covers all but the appendages (though the right shoulder is often bared), is dealt like in Greek and Roman sculptures; the heavy folds are given a plastic flair of their own, and only in poorer or later works do they deteriorate into indented lines, fairly a return to standard Indian practice. The "western" treatment has caused Buddha"s garment to be misidentified for a toga; but a toga is semicircular, while, Buddha wore a basic, rectangular piece of cloth, i.e., the samghiifi, a monk"s upper garment. The head gradually swerves towards a hieratic stylisation, but at its best, it is naturalistic and almost positively based on the Greek Apollo, undoubtedly in Hellenistic or Roman copies.
Gandhara art also had developed at least two species of image, i.e. not part of the frieze, in which Buddha is the fundamental figure of an event in his life, distinguished by accompanying figures and a detailed mise-en-scene. Perhaps the most remarkable amongst these is the Visit to the Indrasala Cave, of which the supreme example is dated in the year 89, almost unquestionably of the Kanishka period. Indra and his harpist are depicted on their visit in it. The small statuettes of the visitors emerge below, an elephant describing Indra. The more general among these detailed images, of which approximately 30 instances are known, is presumably related with the Great Miracle of Sravasti. In one such example, one of the adjoining Bodhisattvas is distinguished as Avalokiteshwara by the tiny seated Buddha in his headgear. Other features of these images include the unreal species of tree above Buddha, the spiky lotus upon which he sits, and the effortlessly identifiable figurines of Indra and Brahma on both sides.
Another important aspect of the Gandhara art was the coins of the Graeco-Bactrians. The coins of the Graeco-Bactrians - on the Greek metrological standard, equals the finest Attic examples and of the Indo-Greek kings, which have until lately served as the only instances of Greek art found in the subcontinent. The legendary silver double decadrachmas of Amyntas, possibly a remembrance issue, are the biggest "Greek" coins ever minted, the largest cast in gold, is the exceptional decadrachma of the same king in the Bibliotheque Nationale, with the Dioscuri on the inverse. Otherwise, there was scanty evidence until recently of Greek or Hellenistic influences in Gandhara. A manifestation of Greek metropolitan planning is furnished by the rectilinear layouts of two cities of the 1st centuries B.C./A.D.--Sirkap at Taxila and Shaikhan Pheri at Charsadda. Remains of the temple at Jandial, also at Taxila and presumably dating back to 1st century B.C., also includes Greek characteristics- remarkably the huge base mouldings and the Ionic capitals of the colossal portico and antechamber columns. In contrast, the columns or pilasters on the immeasurable Gandhara friezes (when they are not in a Indian style), are consistently coronated by Indo-Corinthian capitals, the local version of the Corinthian capital- a certain sign of a comparatively later date.
The notable Begram hoard confirms articulately to the number and multiplicity of origin of the foreign artefacts imported into Gandhara. This further illustrates the foreign influence in the Gandhara art. Parallel hoards have been found in peninsular India, especially in Kolhapur in Maharashtra, but the imported wares are sternly from the Roman world. At Begram the ancient Kapisa, near Kabul, there are bronzes, possibly of Alexandrian manufacture, in close proximity with emblemata (plaster discs, certainly meant as moulds for local silversmiths), bearing reliefs in the purest classical vein, Chinese lacquers and Roman glass. The hoard was possibly sealed in mid-3rd century, when some of the subjects may have been approximately 200 years old "antiques", frequently themselves replicates of classical Greek objects. The plentiful ivories, consisting in the central of chest and throne facings, engraved in a number of varied relief techniques, were credibly developed somewhere between Mathura and coastal Andhra. Some are of unrivalled beauty. Even though a few secluded instances of early Indian ivory carving have outlived, including the legendary mirror handle from Pompeii, the Begram ivories are the only substantial collection known until moderately in present times of what must always have been a widespread craft. Other sites, particularly Taxila, have generated great many instances of such imports, some from India, some, like the appealing tiny bronze figure of Harpocrates, undoubtedly from Alexandria. Further cultural influences are authenticated by the Scytho Sarmatian jewellery, with its characteristic high-backed carnivores, and by a statue of St. Peter. But all this should not cloud the all-important truth that the immediately identifiable Gandhara style was the prevailing form of artistic manifestation throughout the expanse for several centuries, and the magnitude of its influence on the art of central Asia and China and as far as Japan, allows no doubt about its integrity and vitality.
In the Gandhara art early Buddhist iconography drew heavily on traditional sources, incorporating Hindu gods and goddesses into a Buddhist pantheon and adapting old folk tales to Buddhist religious purposes. Kubera and Harm are probably the best-known examples of this process.
Five dated idols from Gandhara art though exist, however the hitch remains that the era is never distinguished. The dates are in figures under 100 or else in 300s. Moreover one of the higher numbers are debatable, besides, the image upon which it is engraved is not in the conventional Andhra style. The two low-number-dated idols are the most sophisticated and the least injured. Their pattern is classical Gandhara. The most undemanding rendition of their dates relates them to Kanishka and 78 A.D. is assumed as the commencement of his era. They both fall in the second half of the 2nd century A.D. and equally later, if a later date is necessitated for the beginning of Kanishka`s time. This calculation nearly parallels numismatics and archaeological evidences. The application of other eras, like the Vikrama (base date- 58 B.C.) and the Saka (base date- 78 A.D.), would place them much later. The badly battered figurines portray standing Buddhas, without a head of its own, but both on original figured plinths. They come to view as depicting the classical Gandhara style; decision regarding where to place these two dated Buddhas, both standing, must remain knotty till more evidence comes out as to how late the classical Gandhara panache had continued.
Methodical study of the Gandhara art, and specifically about its origins and expansion, is befuddled with numerous problems, not at least of which is the inordinately complex history and culture of the province. It is one of the great ethnical crossroads of the world simultaneously being in the path of all the intrusions of India for over three millennia. Bussagli has rightly remarked, `More than any other Indian region, Gandhara was a participant in the political and cultural events that concerned the rest of the Asian continent`.
However, Systematic study of the art of Gandhara, and particularly of its origins and development, is bedeviled by many problems, not the least of which is the extraordinarily complex history and culture of the region.
In spite of the labours of many scholars over the past hundred and fifty years, the answers to some of the most important questions, such as the number of centuries spanned by the art of Gandhara, still await, fresh archaeological, inscriptional, or numismatic evidence.
"Omniprésente dans notre vie quotidienne (cannelle, liège, caoutchouc, encens, médicaments, gommes à mâcher, fibres, pigments etc...), l'écorce s'est littéralement banalisée."
Cédric POLLET ("Ecorces - Voyage Dans L'Intimité Des Arbres Du Monde.")
Banalisée commercialement certes, mais cette écorce verte tapissée d'épines du kapokier (Ceiba Pentandra), cet arbre des régions tropicales, n'a vraiment rien de banal.
With Northwest Indiana's omnipresent reeds/cattails waving in the breeze, MVPX 904 trails an eclectic assortment of power, including leader GECX 7309 and CN/GTW GP9RM 4610, on a manifest heading out of Kirk Yard in Gary, Indiana.
suite ( en particulier sur le célèbre pont de Bir hakeim qui est particulièrement bien exposé en fin de journée et qui m'a permis de faire ce joli cliché avec une lumière parfaite qui faisait un magnifique contraste avec le ciel menaçant d'arrière plan . je suis personellement sastifiait du résultat photo car ce n'était pas facile de suivre le métro sur le pont et de cadrer simultanément j'ai du m'y reprendre à plusieurs fois pour y arriver
PARA LA NAVIDAD!
Oh, Espíritu de Luz Eterna eleva el ojo de mi Concentración hacia el interior de tu morada eterna. Déjame estar y contemplar el valle astral de tu sabiduría divina y, permite, te lo pido encarecidamente, que mis ideas se llenen del brillo inmenso de tu gracia.
Aquí estoy, en esta gozosa Conciencia infinita y omnipresente realidad eterna. Te consagro, Oh Divino néctar de la paz, esta Navidad para brindarte mi gratitud eterna por esta felicidad de vida que me otorgas.
¡Oh Divina Omnipresencia!, humildemente aquí estoy preparado para la venida de mi redención, para recibir al niño interior que nace en este árbol de mi corazón. Tus regalos de amor, paz, perdón, compasión, abundancia, bondad, comprensión y conciencia espiritual están envueltos con el papel dorado de tu gozo divino, y atada tu bendita voluntad con el moño de luz de tu más pura verdad.
¡Oh Divina Lámpara de mi camino!, en este amanecer Navideño, despierta en mi tu aura gloriosa, para así abrir los regalos devotos de mi corazón hacia tu rostro de luz infinita. Estas ofrendas de compasión y calma están sellados con el abrazo de tu gozo divino y, atado con las cintas de tu eterna felicidad hacia el sonido cósmico de OM.
Acepta mi humilde alma como regalo y purifica las cualidades transparentes que hay en mí. Hazla brillar con tu poder inmenso. Acepta mi devoción hacia tu Luz, pues al darme a mí mismo hacia tu gracia, podré saciarme del poder de tu comunión divina. Así, mi corazón latirá no en mí, sino al sentir todas las cosas. En mi mente, en mi alma y en cada átomo refulgente de mi cuerpo, que vive de tu vasto alivio.
En este silencio inmenso, en esta serena calma, prepararé en la cuna de mi Conciencia astral toda tu luz, para así recibir al niño infinito que da paz y gozo renovado. Cada día que viva se transformará en una verdadera gracia de Navidad, tanto al abrazarme hacia tu luz divina, como al compartir mi vida con mis prójimos.
VOTOS NAVIDEÑOS
En la inmensidad divina del Espíritu me prepararé para el advenimiento del niño de amor omnipresente. Limpiaré la cuna de mi conciencia y mi corazón, que se encuentra manchada por el sarro del egoísmo, la rabia de la usura, la gangrena de la indiferencia, el ruido de la negatividad, la densidad del apego a los sentidos, la desgracia del miedo, el veneno de la crítica destructiva y la pena del resentimiento. La limpiaré practicando diario y profundamente el silencio, la introspección, la calma y el discernimiento. Mejoraré esa cuna con las sanadoras cualidades del amor fraternal, la reconciliación del alma, la humildad, la fe, el deseo perenne de alcanzar la percepción divina, de ser tocado por la gracia cósmica, la fuerza de voluntad, la concentración, la abnegación, la compasión, el autocontrol, la generosidad, la oración y la mesura para poder celebrar con amor universal el nacimiento del niño Dios que habita en mi energía vital.
Que este día de Navidad la PAZ se derrame en cada corazón, y vierta en cada ser la fragancia del amor, atraviese con sus rayos y limpie de preocupaciones todo ruido. Que la PAZ extinga toda inquietud y vivifique los pensamientos hacia la armonía. Que la PAZ sea el vino del Espíritu que fluya hacia todos los corazones de esta Tierra sagrada, y bebamos todos de esa copa eterna, para así apagar el drama de los sueños tristes y alegres que el escenario de los egos protagoniza. Oh, bendita Energía Cósmica, haz que tu espada de PAZ corte con su filo la dura y cruel batalla de las pruebas de los egos, y así puedan ver la única y verdadera realidad: la CONCIENCIA infalible del VER.
Gracias infinitas, Oh Energía Cósmica, por todos los parabienes que me has otorgado, y la gracia divina de disfrutar de esta vida gloriosa.
DELTON SANTAMARÍA
Escultura de la reina Juana I, a orillas del Duero, en Tordesillas.
Mantiene en su mano izquierda la corona de Castilla que nunca rodeo su cabeza.
Esta ciudad aún conserva un aire medieval que se respira en sus calles y plazas. Y aquí, en el Palacio Real, ubicado frente al río Duero, fue donde Juana I, reina de Castilla, pasó 46 años de su triste y arrebatada vida de desamor y soledad.
Un amor tan apasionado como no correspondido. Juana siguió amando a su esposo incluso después de muerto.
Hoy su hálito aún palpita en esta tierra castellana y su imagen está omnipresente en esta villa hidalga: estatuas, calle, plaza, imágenes que la recuerdan... Incluso se la puede ver indicando la puerta de algún mingitorio femenino. Eso sí, enfrente a ella está la imagen de Felipe el Hermoso. Faltaría más.
Hay que decir, también, que las aguas del Duero a su paso por Tordesillas bajan cargadas de murmullos de tiempos pretéritos; y sólo hay que sentarse en su orilla y escuchar.
En el rumor de las aguas del río se descubre el dolor de una reina encerrada en su Palacio Real durante casi medio siglo. Dolor que discurre junto al pesar y contrición de un rey consorte. Lamento que llega, desgraciadamente, demasiado tarde.
Escuchemos:
Felipe:
Con temprana edad dejé este ‘valle de lagrimas y alegrías’.
Las alegrías fueron mías. Tuyas todas las lagrimas.
Fuisteis una de las princesas más instruidas de Europa.
Y luego la reina más inteligente buena y generosa.
Malgasté mi vida y no os atendí como merecíais.
Ahora el tiempo es concluido y la vida terminada.
Hoy, inerte en Granada, sé que tardareis en venir, amada mía, si bien espero y paciente y anhelante permanezco.
Entonces, llegado ese momento, la eternidad será nuestra para siempre.
Os envío unas rosas rojas vestidas de soledad.
Desde este instante, hasta vuestra venida, únicamente el silencio me acompañará. No dudéis
Juana:
Gracias por las rosas rojas, esposo mío. Aunque no tan vestidas de soledad como pueda parecer. Vivo con vos. Porque jamás os alejasteis de mí del todo. Reináis en mi mente enajenada, y ni el asfixiante entorno en el que vivo, es capaz de evitar el deciros mi cotidiano ‘Os amo’... Y aunque fenecido y pétreo, os hallo hermoso. Hasta que la eternidad sea nuestra, en mi rostro se perpetuó la pura imagen de la desolación.
Felipe:
¡Que dolor me causa vuestro desconsuelo!
Desearía hacer mío ese sufrimiento, mitigar vuestra pena y aliviar vuestro dolor. Recordad, mi reina, vuestras propias palabra y apaciguar la aflicción: ‘Mientras yo viva, Felipe vivirá en mí, conmigo’.
Ahora, mi amada, sabed que me han hecho feliz y reconfortado vuestras postreras palabras. Deseo deciros, también, que estarán siempre conmigo, en mi corazón, igual que yo viviré en vos, hasta que llegue la dicha de estar juntos para siempre.
Beso vuestros reales pies con admiración, fidelidad y amor.
(No lo he dicho, aunque quizá se haya notado: la reina Juana es mi reina favorita.)
_______________________________________________
Felipe murió en Burgos, en septiembre del año 1506. Tenía 28 años, cinco hijos y su esposa Juana estaba embarazada del sexto. Tras su fallecimiento su cuerpo fue embalsamado y sepultado en la Cartuja de Miraflores.
Cuando éste llevaba varios meses sepultado, Juana, que creía que su esposo había sido hechizado por mujeres envidiosas y que su muerte era sólo aparente, hizo desenterrar el cuerpo embalsamado e inicia con él un largo peregrinaje fúnebre para llevarlo a Granada, tal como fue en vida el deseo del fallecido. Por el camino, en Torquemada, Juana tuvo una prueba de que su esposo estaba vivo, ya que el 14 de enero de 1507 alumbró a la infanta Catalina, futura reina de Portugal.
Es febrero de 1509 los restos de Felipe llegan a Tordesillas. Aquí se detiene la comitiva y sus restos mortales son depositados, no enterrados, en la capilla del Real Convento de Santa Clara en la que permanecerán hasta 1525, fecha en la cual se trasladan definitivamente a la catedral de Granada.
Juana, alejada de toda actividad política, ya no salió de Tordesillas donde permaneció recluida en el Palacio Real, hoy desaparecido, hasta su muerte el 12 de abril en 1555.
Únicamente se le permitió, alguna vez, subir al torreón de la iglesia de San Antolín, desde donde Juana dejaba que su vista se perdiera en la vasta extensión de la meseta castellana, y sentir así la libertad, aunque fuese fugazmente, de una vida que no le permitieron vivir.
Su cuerpo descansó en la cripta del Real Convento de Santa Clara, como lo había hecho anteriormente el cuerpo de su esposo Felipe. Allí permaneció casi 20 años, hasta que el rey Felipe II, su nieto, ordena su traslado a Granada, donde, por fin, se reúne con su amado Felipe.
Indagando en el Real Convento de Santa Clara he llegado a la conclusión que a Felipe le envenenaron y a Juana le hicieron pasar por loca. Esto no cambiará el curso de la historia, pero algún día hablaré de ello.
..................................................................SIGUIENTE
A la venta en Getty Images
Pocas veces nieva en Sierra Alhamilla. Pocas veces escala uno la montaña que hay sobre el tunel de Bayana para verla. Pocas veces abstrae uno la Alcazaba de la ciudad de Almería, omnipresente a sus piés. La suma de todas esas escaseces es lo que hace tan singular esta imagen de un motivo tan familiar.
Location: Berlin - 1608km from home.
The Macan has been a great success for Porsche in terms of sales, I think. It is omnipresent in Berlin, even when coming from Russia.
777 = Moscow
Paris in the summer
is a dream.
The trees,
heavy with leaves,
shimmer in rare bouts
of sunlight
that pours
over the city streets
like white gold.
Even the rain
and omnipresent clouds
that blanket the bleached sky
shimmers against
Paris's candy-colored architecture,
as the days linger long,
like trailing words spilling slowly
off the phrases of lovers.
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NY Through The Lens: A New York Coffee Table Book
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Un Teco traccionat per una de les aleshores omnipresents 269 circula arran del Mediterrani poc abans d'arribar a Vilanova i la Geltrú. [Diapositiva escanejada]
Un Teco traccionado por una de las entonces omnipresentes 269 circula a orillas del Mediterráneo poco antes de llegar a Vilanova i la Geltrú. [Diapositiva escaneada]
A container train hauled by one of the then ubiquitous class 269 locos skirts the Mediterranean Sea shortly before reaching Vilanova i la Geltrú. [Scanned slide]
"OMNIPRESENT SWASTIKA SIGNS ENCIRCLE HITLER PLATZ IN CHARLOTTENBURG
Foreign flags are displayed in honor of visiting Olympic contenders; flanking the Stars and Stripes are the colors of Uruguay, and Germany. This platz, or square - with near-by Broadcasting House, fair grounds, and athletic fields - is becoming a new bright-light center in west Berlin."
Finlay Photograph by Wilhelm Tobien
(This historic photograph is from a National Geographic article in the February 1937 issue titled "Changing Berlin". It offers a fascinating look at Berlin, Germany, a few years before the start of World War II.)