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In Montana Rodeo show near West Yellowstone the hot dog stand had served its last orders of the night.

Packaging and Dispatching Orders at Carters by Pete Edgeler

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From my family archives of photos taken by my late Father who worked as a photographer at Carters.

As we get older, we start to witness traces of our past decay and finally disappear in front of eyes. I came across this old favourite pub on my walk today and thought about all the stories and secrets its walls hold …

Dog and Squirrel for Lati Yellow by Babi chan

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Orders that I made these days!

If you liked, please, contact-me!

zikatrika@hotmail.com

www.facebook.com/MissStarryHat

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Coisinhas da Kelly! Espero que você goste!

O que eu mais gosto nesses kigurumis pequenininhos é a possibilidade de poder costurar pezinhos neles. Acho que ficam a coisa mais mordível dessa vida! *¬*

Vendas por encomen.da!

Se interessou? Mande-me uma mensagem!

e-mail: zikatrika@hotmail.com

www.facebook.com/MissStarryHat

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Até amanhã pretendo postar mais encomendas! O trabalho por aqui não para e eu ainda tenho muitas encomendas para fazer!

Caso você pediu algo comigo e ainda não está na minha galeria, por favor, espere só mais um pouquinho!

podem me mandar mensagens o quanto quiser, terei o prazer em responder! Caso eu não responda no flickr, me mandem um e-mail! ^^

Continuem vivendo com entusiasmo!

Amor,

Babi!

Public Art, Dornoch, Sutherland, Scotland. by PHOTOGRAPHY by DM & DBM.

Dornoch is a town, seaside resort, parish and former royal burgh in the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north shore of the Dornoch Firth, near to where it opens into the Moray Firth to the east.

The town is within the Highland local government council area. The town is near the A9 road, to which it is linked by the A949 and the B9168. The town also has a grass air strip suitable for small aircraft and helicopters.

The name 'Dornoch' is derived from the Gaelic for 'pebbly place', suggesting that the area contained pebbles the size of a fist (dorn) which could therefore be used as weapons. Archaeological excavations during the development of a new business park in 1997 revealed a building, evidence for ironworking and part of a whale, dating from 8th through the 11th centuries AD. The archaeologists surmised that the findings are of an industrial area on the edge of a settlement and that a settlement existed at Dornoch from at least the 8th century. However, the first direct reference to a settlement in Dornoch is not until the early 12th century when David I, recorded in the Dunfermline Abbey register, orders Rognvald, the Earl of Orkney, to respect the monks at Dornoch.

Dornoch has the thirteenth-century Dornoch Cathedral, the Old Town Jail, and the previous Bishop's Palace which is now the well-known hotel, Dornoch Castle and a notable golf course, the Royal Dornoch Golf Club, named the 5th best golf course outside the United States in 2005 by Golf Digest.

It is also notable as the last place a witch was burnt in Scotland. Her name was reported as Janet Horne; she was tried and condemned to death in 1727. There is a stone, the Witch's Stone, commemorating her death, inscribed with the year 1722. The golf course designer Donald Ross began his career as a greenkeeper on the Royal Dornoch links. The golf course is next to the award-winning blue flag beach.

Dornoch used to be connected to the main railway network at The Mound by a light railway. The railway was opened on 2 June 1902. Stations on the line were Dornoch, Embo, Skelbo, Cambusavie Halt and The Mound Junction. The stations were shut on 13 June 1960.

Dornoch Academy Modern Languages teacher Margaret C. Davidson, led the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies in the burgh from 1913, volunteered as a nurse in the Scottish Women's Hospitals in France in World War One, and returned to teach and serve as a Girl Guide leader in 1931.

On 21 December 2000, the pop star Madonna had her son Rocco christened in Dornoch Cathedral, the day before her wedding to Guy Ritchie in nearby Skibo Castle.

On 13 January 2005, Dornoch was granted Fairtrade Town status.

The Burghfield House Campus of the University of the Highlands and Islands in Dornoch is the home for the Centre for History teaching undergraduate and postgraduate history degrees to students around the UHI network and worldwide.

Dornoch was a parliamentary burgh, combined with Dingwall, Kirkwall, Tain and Wick in the Northern Burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1918. Cromarty was added to the list in 1832.

The constituency was a district of burghs known also as Tain Burghs until 1832, and then as Wick Burghs. It was represented by one Member of Parliament (MP). In 1918 the constituency was abolished and the Dornoch component was merged into the then new county constituency of Caithness and Sutherland.

Scotland's Westminster constituencies were redrawn for the 2005 UK general election, when Dornoch became part of the new Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency. Since 2017, the MP has been Jamie Stone of the Liberal Democrats.

In the Scottish Parliament, since 2011 Dornoch has been part of the Caithness, Sutherland and Ross constituency. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Since its creation, the constituency has been held by the Scottish National Party (SNP). As of 2021 the MSP is Maree Todd, who was first elected in May 2021.

It is also one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands Scottish Parliament region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

There is also elected local government councillors, and as of November 2011 there are elected community councillors.

Rosamunde Pilcher's last novel Winter Solstice is largely set in and around Dornoch, fictionalised under the name of Creagan

The Highlands is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands. The term is also used for the area north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east. The Great Glen divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands. The Scottish Gaelic name of A' Ghàidhealtachd literally means "the place of the Gaels" and traditionally, from a Gaelic-speaking point of view, includes both the Western Isles and the Highlands.

The area is very sparsely populated, with many mountain ranges dominating the region, and includes the highest mountain in the British Isles, Ben Nevis. During the 18th and early 19th centuries the population of the Highlands rose to around 300,000, but from c. 1841 and for the next 160 years, the natural increase in population was exceeded by emigration (mostly to Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, and migration to the industrial cities of Scotland and England.) and passim The area is now one of the most sparsely populated in Europe. At 9.1/km2 (24/sq mi) in 2012, the population density in the Highlands and Islands is less than one seventh of Scotland's as a whole.

The Highland Council is the administrative body for much of the Highlands, with its administrative centre at Inverness. However, the Highlands also includes parts of the council areas of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Moray, North Ayrshire, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

The Scottish Highlands is the only area in the British Isles to have the taiga biome as it features concentrated populations of Scots pine forest: see Caledonian Forest. It is the most mountainous part of the United Kingdom.

Between the 15th century and the mid-20th century, the area differed from most of the Lowlands in terms of language. In Scottish Gaelic, the region is known as the Gàidhealtachd, because it was traditionally the Gaelic-speaking part of Scotland, although the language is now largely confined to The Hebrides. The terms are sometimes used interchangeably but have different meanings in their respective languages. Scottish English (in its Highland form) is the predominant language of the area today, though Highland English has been influenced by Gaelic speech to a significant extent. Historically, the "Highland line" distinguished the two Scottish cultures. While the Highland line broadly followed the geography of the Grampians in the south, it continued in the north, cutting off the north-eastern areas, that is Eastern Caithness, Orkney and Shetland, from the more Gaelic Highlands and Hebrides.

Historically, the major social unit of the Highlands was the clan. Scottish kings, particularly James VI, saw clans as a challenge to their authority; the Highlands was seen by many as a lawless region. The Scots of the Lowlands viewed the Highlanders as backward and more "Irish". The Highlands were seen as the overspill of Gaelic Ireland. They made this distinction by separating Germanic "Scots" English and the Gaelic by renaming it "Erse" a play on Eire. Following the Union of the Crowns, James VI had the military strength to back up any attempts to impose some control. The result was, in 1609, the Statutes of Iona which started the process of integrating clan leaders into Scottish society. The gradual changes continued into the 19th century, as clan chiefs thought of themselves less as patriarchal leaders of their people and more as commercial landlords. The first effect on the clansmen who were their tenants was the change to rents being payable in money rather than in kind. Later, rents were increased as Highland landowners sought to increase their income. This was followed, mostly in the period 1760–1850, by agricultural improvement that often (particularly in the Western Highlands) involved clearance of the population to make way for large scale sheep farms. Displaced tenants were set up in crofting communities in the process. The crofts were intended not to provide all the needs of their occupiers; they were expected to work in other industries such as kelping and fishing. Crofters came to rely substantially on seasonal migrant work, particularly in the Lowlands. This gave impetus to the learning of English, which was seen by many rural Gaelic speakers to be the essential "language of work".

Older historiography attributes the collapse of the clan system to the aftermath of the Jacobite risings. This is now thought less influential by historians. Following the Jacobite rising of 1745 the British government enacted a series of laws to try to suppress the clan system, including bans on the bearing of arms and the wearing of tartan, and limitations on the activities of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Most of this legislation was repealed by the end of the 18th century as the Jacobite threat subsided. There was soon a rehabilitation of Highland culture. Tartan was adopted for Highland regiments in the British Army, which poor Highlanders joined in large numbers in the era of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1790–1815). Tartan had largely been abandoned by the ordinary people of the region, but in the 1820s, tartan and the kilt were adopted by members of the social elite, not just in Scotland, but across Europe. The international craze for tartan, and for idealising a romanticised Highlands, was set off by the Ossian cycle, and further popularised by the works of Walter Scott. His "staging" of the visit of King George IV to Scotland in 1822 and the king's wearing of tartan resulted in a massive upsurge in demand for kilts and tartans that could not be met by the Scottish woollen industry. Individual clan tartans were largely designated in this period and they became a major symbol of Scottish identity. This "Highlandism", by which all of Scotland was identified with the culture of the Highlands, was cemented by Queen Victoria's interest in the country, her adoption of Balmoral as a major royal retreat, and her interest in "tartenry".

Recurrent famine affected the Highlands for much of its history, with significant instances as late as 1817 in the Eastern Highlands and the early 1850s in the West. Over the 18th century, the region had developed a trade of black cattle into Lowland markets, and this was balanced by imports of meal into the area. There was a critical reliance on this trade to provide sufficient food, and it is seen as an essential prerequisite for the population growth that started in the 18th century. Most of the Highlands, particularly in the North and West was short of the arable land that was essential for the mixed, run rig based, communal farming that existed before agricultural improvement was introduced into the region.[a] Between the 1760s and the 1830s there was a substantial trade in unlicensed whisky that had been distilled in the Highlands. Lowland distillers (who were not able to avoid the heavy taxation of this product) complained that Highland whisky made up more than half the market. The development of the cattle trade is taken as evidence that the pre-improvement Highlands was not an immutable system, but did exploit the economic opportunities that came its way. The illicit whisky trade demonstrates the entrepreneurial ability of the peasant classes.

Agricultural improvement reached the Highlands mostly over the period 1760 to 1850. Agricultural advisors, factors, land surveyors and others educated in the thinking of Adam Smith were keen to put into practice the new ideas taught in Scottish universities. Highland landowners, many of whom were burdened with chronic debts, were generally receptive to the advice they offered and keen to increase the income from their land. In the East and South the resulting change was similar to that in the Lowlands, with the creation of larger farms with single tenants, enclosure of the old run rig fields, introduction of new crops (such as turnips), land drainage and, as a consequence of all this, eviction, as part of the Highland clearances, of many tenants and cottars. Some of those cleared found employment on the new, larger farms, others moved to the accessible towns of the Lowlands.

In the West and North, evicted tenants were usually given tenancies in newly created crofting communities, while their former holdings were converted into large sheep farms. Sheep farmers could pay substantially higher rents than the run rig farmers and were much less prone to falling into arrears. Each croft was limited in size so that the tenants would have to find work elsewhere. The major alternatives were fishing and the kelp industry. Landlords took control of the kelp shores, deducting the wages earned by their tenants from the rent due and retaining the large profits that could be earned at the high prices paid for the processed product during the Napoleonic wars.

When the Napoleonic wars finished in 1815, the Highland industries were affected by the return to a peacetime economy. The price of black cattle fell, nearly halving between 1810 and the 1830s. Kelp prices had peaked in 1810, but reduced from £9 a ton in 1823 to £3 13s 4d a ton in 1828. Wool prices were also badly affected. This worsened the financial problems of debt-encumbered landlords. Then, in 1846, potato blight arrived in the Highlands, wiping out the essential subsistence crop for the overcrowded crofting communities. As the famine struck, the government made clear to landlords that it was their responsibility to provide famine relief for their tenants. The result of the economic downturn had been that a large proportion of Highland estates were sold in the first half of the 19th century. T M Devine points out that in the region most affected by the potato famine, by 1846, 70 per cent of the landowners were new purchasers who had not owned Highland property before 1800. More landlords were obliged to sell due to the cost of famine relief. Those who were protected from the worst of the crisis were those with extensive rental income from sheep farms. Government loans were made available for drainage works, road building and other improvements and many crofters became temporary migrants – taking work in the Lowlands. When the potato famine ceased in 1856, this established a pattern of more extensive working away from the Highlands.

The unequal concentration of land ownership remained an emotional and controversial subject, of enormous importance to the Highland economy, and eventually became a cornerstone of liberal radicalism. The poor crofters were politically powerless, and many of them turned to religion. They embraced the popularly oriented, fervently evangelical Presbyterian revival after 1800. Most joined the breakaway "Free Church" after 1843. This evangelical movement was led by lay preachers who themselves came from the lower strata, and whose preaching was implicitly critical of the established order. The religious change energised the crofters and separated them from the landlords; it helped prepare them for their successful and violent challenge to the landlords in the 1880s through the Highland Land League. Violence erupted, starting on the Isle of Skye, when Highland landlords cleared their lands for sheep and deer parks. It was quietened when the government stepped in, passing the Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act, 1886 to reduce rents, guarantee fixity of tenure, and break up large estates to provide crofts for the homeless. This contrasted with the Irish Land War underway at the same time, where the Irish were intensely politicised through roots in Irish nationalism, while political dimensions were limited. In 1885 three Independent Crofter candidates were elected to Parliament, which listened to their pleas. The results included explicit security for the Scottish smallholders in the "crofting counties"; the legal right to bequeath tenancies to descendants; and the creation of a Crofting Commission. The Crofters as a political movement faded away by 1892, and the Liberal Party gained their votes.

Today, the Highlands are the largest of Scotland's whisky producing regions; the relevant area runs from Orkney to the Isle of Arran in the south and includes the northern isles and much of Inner and Outer Hebrides, Argyll, Stirlingshire, Arran, as well as sections of Perthshire and Aberdeenshire. (Other sources treat The Islands, except Islay, as a separate whisky producing region.) This massive area has over 30 distilleries, or 47 when the Islands sub-region is included in the count. According to one source, the top five are The Macallan, Glenfiddich, Aberlour, Glenfarclas and Balvenie. While Speyside is geographically within the Highlands, that region is specified as distinct in terms of whisky productions. Speyside single malt whiskies are produced by about 50 distilleries.

According to Visit Scotland, Highlands whisky is "fruity, sweet, spicy, malty". Another review states that Northern Highlands single malt is "sweet and full-bodied", the Eastern Highlands and Southern Highlands whiskies tend to be "lighter in texture" while the distilleries in the Western Highlands produce single malts with a "much peatier influence".

The Scottish Reformation achieved partial success in the Highlands. Roman Catholicism remained strong in some areas, owing to remote locations and the efforts of Franciscan missionaries from Ireland, who regularly came to celebrate Mass. There remain significant Catholic strongholds within the Highlands and Islands such as Moidart and Morar on the mainland and South Uist and Barra in the southern Outer Hebrides. The remoteness of the region and the lack of a Gaelic-speaking clergy undermined the missionary efforts of the established church. The later 18th century saw somewhat greater success, owing to the efforts of the SSPCK missionaries and to the disruption of traditional society after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. In the 19th century, the evangelical Free Churches, which were more accepting of Gaelic language and culture, grew rapidly, appealing much more strongly than did the established church.

For the most part, however, the Highlands are considered predominantly Protestant, belonging to the Church of Scotland. In contrast to the Catholic southern islands, the northern Outer Hebrides islands (Lewis, Harris and North Uist) have an exceptionally high proportion of their population belonging to the Protestant Free Church of Scotland or the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Outer Hebrides have been described as the last bastion of Calvinism in Britain and the Sabbath remains widely observed. Inverness and the surrounding area has a majority Protestant population, with most locals belonging to either The Kirk or the Free Church of Scotland. The church maintains a noticeable presence within the area, with church attendance notably higher than in other parts of Scotland. Religion continues to play an important role in Highland culture, with Sabbath observance still widely practised, particularly in the Hebrides.

In traditional Scottish geography, the Highlands refers to that part of Scotland north-west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which crosses mainland Scotland in a near-straight line from Helensburgh to Stonehaven. However the flat coastal lands that occupy parts of the counties of Nairnshire, Morayshire, Banffshire and Aberdeenshire are often excluded as they do not share the distinctive geographical and cultural features of the rest of the Highlands. The north-east of Caithness, as well as Orkney and Shetland, are also often excluded from the Highlands, although the Hebrides are usually included. The Highland area, as so defined, differed from the Lowlands in language and tradition, having preserved Gaelic speech and customs centuries after the anglicisation of the latter; this led to a growing perception of a divide, with the cultural distinction between Highlander and Lowlander first noted towards the end of the 14th century. In Aberdeenshire, the boundary between the Highlands and the Lowlands is not well defined. There is a stone beside the A93 road near the village of Dinnet on Royal Deeside which states 'You are now in the Highlands', although there are areas of Highland character to the east of this point.

A much wider definition of the Highlands is that used by the Scotch whisky industry. Highland single malts are produced at distilleries north of an imaginary line between Dundee and Greenock, thus including all of Aberdeenshire and Angus.

Inverness is regarded as the Capital of the Highlands, although less so in the Highland parts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire which look more to Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth, and Stirling as their commercial centres.

The Highland Council area, created as one of the local government regions of Scotland, has been a unitary council area since 1996. The council area excludes a large area of the southern and eastern Highlands, and the Western Isles, but includes Caithness. Highlands is sometimes used, however, as a name for the council area, as in the former Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern is also used to refer to the area, as in the former Northern Constabulary. These former bodies both covered the Highland council area and the island council areas of Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles.

Much of the Highlands area overlaps the Highlands and Islands area. An electoral region called Highlands and Islands is used in elections to the Scottish Parliament: this area includes Orkney and Shetland, as well as the Highland Council local government area, the Western Isles and most of the Argyll and Bute and Moray local government areas. Highlands and Islands has, however, different meanings in different contexts. It means Highland (the local government area), Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles in Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service. Northern, as in Northern Constabulary, refers to the same area as that covered by the fire and rescue service.

There have been trackways from the Lowlands to the Highlands since prehistoric times. Many traverse the Mounth, a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven. The most well-known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth, Elsick Mounth, Cryne Corse Mounth and Cairnamounth.

Although most of the Highlands is geographically on the British mainland, it is somewhat less accessible than the rest of Britain; thus most UK couriers categorise it separately, alongside Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, and other offshore islands. They thus charge additional fees for delivery to the Highlands, or exclude the area entirely. While the physical remoteness from the largest population centres inevitably leads to higher transit cost, there is confusion and consternation over the scale of the fees charged and the effectiveness of their communication, and the use of the word Mainland in their justification. Since the charges are often based on postcode areas, many far less remote areas, including some which are traditionally considered part of the lowlands, are also subject to these charges. Royal Mail is the only delivery network bound by a Universal Service Obligation to charge a uniform tariff across the UK. This, however, applies only to mail items and not larger packages which are dealt with by its Parcelforce division.

The Highlands lie to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, which runs from Arran to Stonehaven. This part of Scotland is largely composed of ancient rocks from the Cambrian and Precambrian periods which were uplifted during the later Caledonian Orogeny. Smaller formations of Lewisian gneiss in the northwest are up to 3 billion years old. The overlying rocks of the Torridon Sandstone form mountains in the Torridon Hills such as Liathach and Beinn Eighe in Wester Ross.

These foundations are interspersed with many igneous intrusions of a more recent age, the remnants of which have formed mountain massifs such as the Cairngorms and the Cuillin of Skye. A significant exception to the above are the fossil-bearing beds of Old Red Sandstone found principally along the Moray Firth coast and partially down the Highland Boundary Fault. The Jurassic beds found in isolated locations on Skye and Applecross reflect the complex underlying geology. They are the original source of much North Sea oil. The Great Glen is formed along a transform fault which divides the Grampian Mountains to the southeast from the Northwest Highlands.

The entire region was covered by ice sheets during the Pleistocene ice ages, save perhaps for a few nunataks. The complex geomorphology includes incised valleys and lochs carved by the action of mountain streams and ice, and a topography of irregularly distributed mountains whose summits have similar heights above sea-level, but whose bases depend upon the amount of denudation to which the plateau has been subjected in various places.

Climate

The region is much warmer than other areas at similar latitudes (such as Kamchatka in Russia, or Labrador in Canada) because of the Gulf Stream making it cool, damp and temperate. The Köppen climate classification is "Cfb" at low altitudes, then becoming "Cfc", "Dfc" and "ET" at higher altitudes.

Places of interest

An Teallach

Aonach Mòr (Nevis Range ski centre)

Arrochar Alps

Balmoral Castle

Balquhidder

Battlefield of Culloden

Beinn Alligin

Beinn Eighe

Ben Cruachan hydro-electric power station

Ben Lomond

Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Ben Nevis (highest mountain in Scotland and UK)

Cairngorms National Park

Cairngorm Ski centre near Aviemore

Cairngorm Mountains

Caledonian Canal

Cape Wrath

Carrick Castle

Castle Stalker

Castle Tioram

Chanonry Point

Conic Hill

Culloden Moor

Dunadd

Duart Castle

Durness

Eilean Donan

Fingal's Cave (Staffa)

Fort George

Glen Coe

Glen Etive

Glen Kinglas

Glen Lyon

Glen Orchy

Glenshee Ski Centre

Glen Shiel

Glen Spean

Glenfinnan (and its railway station and viaduct)

Grampian Mountains

Hebrides

Highland Folk Museum – The first open-air museum in the UK.

Highland Wildlife Park

Inveraray Castle

Inveraray Jail

Inverness Castle

Inverewe Garden

Iona Abbey

Isle of Staffa

Kilchurn Castle

Kilmartin Glen

Liathach

Lecht Ski Centre

Loch Alsh

Loch Ard

Loch Awe

Loch Assynt

Loch Earn

Loch Etive

Loch Fyne

Loch Goil

Loch Katrine

Loch Leven

Loch Linnhe

Loch Lochy

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park

Loch Lubnaig

Loch Maree

Loch Morar

Loch Morlich

Loch Ness

Loch Nevis

Loch Rannoch

Loch Tay

Lochranza

Luss

Meall a' Bhuiridh (Glencoe Ski Centre)

Scottish Sea Life Sanctuary at Loch Creran

Rannoch Moor

Red Cuillin

Rest and Be Thankful stretch of A83

River Carron, Wester Ross

River Spey

River Tay

Ross and Cromarty

Smoo Cave

Stob Coire a' Chàirn

Stac Polly

Strathspey Railway

Sutherland

Tor Castle

Torridon Hills

Urquhart Castle

West Highland Line (scenic railway)

West Highland Way (Long-distance footpath)

Wester Ross

Awaiting further orders by Dennis van Zuijlekom

On April 18th of 2015, my hometown of Ermelo (The Netherlands), celebrated its 70th anniversary year of the liberation from occupation by Nazi Germany during the Second World War.

On this exact day, seventy years ago, Canadian soldiers came into town via the Putterweg, hit a roadblock and met with some German resistance.

Today, festivities included a re-enactment of the fighting and liberation, in which cadets of the Royal Military School (the KMS in Ermelo) were dressed in period-accurate Canadian uniforms and ran through the Putterweg, guns blazing.

There was lots of music, a static show of military vehicles and demonstrations of armaments and equipment by our own armed forces; the 400th Medical Battalion (400 GNKBAT), 45th Mechanized Infantry Battalion (45 PAINFBAT RIOG), Communications (Regiment Verbindingstroepen) and one of the Engineering Battalions (Genie).

Taking Orders by Terry Pinnegar

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A quick tram stop in Beamish Museum town and the Edwardian conductor gets a chance to place his order with the Co-op storeman so that he can pick it up on his next journey.

Photo: Colin Slater

Working on orders by luxielou

Speyer, Baden-Württemberg, state of Germany (Domkirche St. Maria und St. Stephan), Speyer Cathedral, Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption-et-Saint-Étienne, la catedral de Espira, Duomo di Spira, Bazylika katedralna w Spirze by alfred lex

In the Nine Years War Speyer was occupied on 28 September in 1688 by French troops. When the French General Montclar finally announced that he had orders to destroy the entire city except the cathedral, brought the Speyerer citizens its furniture and household effects, as far as they could not carry it away with the carts provided by the French in the cathedral and piled it there several meters high. On 31 May 1689, the city was finally set on fire. After the fire had spread to the vicinity of the cathedral, it was succeded to prevent the flames from spreading by hammering of adjacent roofs and putting up water tanks. By a thunderstorm on the night of 2 June but the fire was so strongly fanned that even the multiple extinguishing of the burning west end could not prevent that the fire eventually spread to the poorly accessible east dome. In this chaos invaded French soldiers in the cathedral and plundered the upper imperial and royal tombs. Only the tombs of the Salian were spared except the grave of Henry V, as they were very deep in the ground and the soldiers apparently fled from the cathedral where they left their digging equipments. Those were found at the opening of imperial tombs in 1900. Also spared was the Madonna as it was stored in a shrine. It was after its rescue brought in the Frankfurter Catherine's church and during the recolonisation of Speyer returned in the cathedral. Because of the tremendous heat the vault in the western part became fragile and collapsed. The eastern part, however, resisted the flames. It was after the repopulation of Speyer closed by a wall and further used for worship. 1755 the upper portion of the residual west end with the two towers because of the danger of collapse had to be removed.

In the second half of the 18th century was enough money availabe to build the western part of the cathedral again. Under Franz Ignaz Michael Neumann, the son of the famous baroque architect Balthasar Neumann, 1772-1778 the yawning gap in the western part of the nave has been closed in its original form. The almost completely torn down west end was under inclusion of the Romanesque porch replaced by a contemporary Baroque facade. However, it had only 100-year existence. Still today the rupture especially in using other bricks can be seen, the overall picture, however, is uniform. This early act of reconstructive preservation of historical monuments in spite of everything can be explained by the rather scarce funds of the city: A baroque new construction of the main building as a consequence also would have had the new construction of the choir to obtain an aesthetically pleasing spatial impression.

In 1794, revolutionary troops devastated the cathedral, and the house of God was deconsecrated. In the process, the entire interior was lost, and the portrait of Mary there was destroyed. Under Napoleon Bonaparte, the French troops used the cathedral as a cowshed and as food and material store. After in the Peace of Luneville of 9 February 1801 the left-bank areas binding under international law were ceded to France, the ownership of the cathedral passed to the French government. In Concordat of July 15, 1801 respectively in the Bull of Circumscription "Qui Christi Domini vices" of the November 29, 1801 recognized Pope Pius VII the dissolution of the diocese of Speyer and the assignment of the local Catholic church to the diocese of Mainz. Since the cathedral was dilapidated, due to the building assessment of architect Peter Henrion it should be demolished in 1805, the remainder of the west-wing (west-bau) being turned into a triumphal arch. However, the city council of Speyer refused to take over the for the demolition necessary costs. After the bishop of Mainz, Joseph Ludwig Colmar, had used his good relations with the wife of Napoleon, Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais and the French Culture Minister, Jean Etienne Portalis to convince them of the outstanding cultural importance of the cathedral, Napoleon agreed to withdraw the already issued demolition disposal. By imperial decree of 23 September 1806, he ordered the return of the cathedral to the Catholics of Speyer, which in it were also made responsible for the future maintenance costs. As at this time the as a church foundation established Speyer Cathedral Parish was the only in the town existing Catholic legal person, this one took over in a public ceremony on 3 November 1806 from the hands of mayor Ludwig Sonntag, as the representative of the Frenche State, the ownership of the cathedral.

After Napoleon's defeat, the diocese on the left-Rhenish area was newly established in 1817, and the cathedral not only served as a parish, but in addition again as a bishop's church; 1818-1822 it was restored and 1822 newly consecrated. 1846-1853 created the painters Johann Schraudolph and Joseph Schwarzmann commissioned by Ludwig I of Bavaria frescoes in Nazarene style.

On behalf of the former Bavarian King Ludwig I, the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I and the Duke Adolph of Nassau, in 1854-1858 was undertaken the new construction of the west-bau in neo-Romanesque style. Heinrich Hübsch, one of the most renowned architects of early Historicism, oriented himself freely to the original west-bau taking up central tower and two smaller flanking towers, however, he deviated from the draft both in the choice of materials as in the proportions considerably. The renovation of the west facade and the decoration of the cathedral were considered in the 19th century as "great work". Ludwig I was convinced that for a long time nothing greater had been created as the frescoes in the cathedral of Speyer.

At the turn of the 20th century, there was a change of mood: Georg Dehio complained in 1916 even cautiously among the disasters that have hit the dome the changes of the 19th century were not the smallest.

Im Pfälzischen Erbfolgekrieg wurde Speyer am 28. September 1688 von Französischen Truppen besetzt. Als der französische General Montclar schließlich verkündete, er habe den Befehl, die gesamte Stadt außer den Dom zu zerstören, brachten die Speyerer Bürger ihre Möbel und ihren Hausrat, soweit sie ihn nicht mit den durch die Franzosen bereitgestellten Karren wegschaffen konnten, in den Dom und stapelten ihn mehrere Meter hoch. Am 31. Mai 1689 wurde die Stadt schließlich in Brand gesetzt. Nachdem sich das Feuer bis in die Umgebung des Domes ausgebreitet hatte, gelang es, das Übergreifen der Flammen durch das Einschlagen von benachbarten Dächern und das Aufstellen von Wasserbehältern zu verhindern. Durch einen Gewittersturm in der Nacht zum 2. Juni wurde das Feuer aber so stark angefacht, dass selbst das mehrfache Löschen des brennenden Westbaus nicht verhinderte, dass sich das Feuer schließlich bis in die schlecht zugängliche Ostkuppel ausbreitete. In diesem Chaos drangen französische Soldaten in den Dom ein und plünderten die oberen Kaiser- und Königsgräber. Nur die Gräber der Salier blieben bis auf das Grab Heinrichs V. verschont, da sie sehr tief im Boden lagen und die Soldaten den Dom offenbar fluchtartig verließen, wobei sie ihre Grabgeräte zurückließen. Diese fand man bei der Öffnung der Kaisergräber im Jahr 1900. Ebenfalls verschont blieb das Marienbildnis, da es in einem Schrein gelagert wurde. Es wurde nach seiner Bergung in die Frankfurter Katherinenkirche gebracht und bei der Wiederbesiedlung Speyers in den Dom zurückgebracht. Durch die gewaltige Hitze wurde das Gewölbe im Westteil brüchig und stürzte ein. Der Ostteil hingegen hielt den Flammen stand. Er wurde nach der Wiederbesiedlung Speyers durch eine Mauer abgeschlossen und wurde für Gottesdienste weiter benutzt. 1755 mussten der obere Bereich des stehen gebliebenen Westbaus mit den beiden Türmen wegen Einsturzgefahr abgetragen werden.

In der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts war genügend Geld vorhanden, den Westteil des Doms wieder aufzubauen. Unter Franz Ignaz Michael Neumann, dem Sohn des berühmten Barockbaumeisters Balthasar Neumann, wurde 1772–1778 die klaffende Lücke im westlichen Teil des Langhauses in der ursprünglichen Form geschlossen. Das fast völlig abgetragene Westwerk wurde unter Einbeziehung der romanischen Vorhalle durch eine zeitgemäße barocke Fassade ersetzt. Sie hatte jedoch nur gut 100 Jahre Bestand. Heute noch ist der Bruch vor allem an der Verwendung anderer Mauersteine zu erkennen, das Gesamtbild jedoch einheitlich. Dieser frühe Akt einer rekonstruktiven Denkmalpflege lässt sich mit den trotz allem eher begrenzten Geldmitteln der Stadt erklären: Ein barocker Neubau des Langhauses hätte auch den Neubau des Chors zur Folge haben müssen, um einen ästhetisch ansprechenden Raumeindruck zu erhalten.

Im Jahr 1794 verwüsteten Revolutionstruppen den Dom, und das Gotteshaus wurde profaniert. Dabei ging die ganze Innenausstattung verloren, auch das Marienbildnis wurde dabei zerstört. Unter Napoleon Bonaparte nutzten die französischen Truppen den Dom als Viehstall sowie als Futter- und Materiallager. Nachdem im Frieden von Lunéville vom 9. Februar 1801 die linksrheinischen Gebiete völkerrechtlich verbindlich an Frankreich abgetreten worden waren, ging das Eigentum am Dom an die französische Regierung über. Im Konkordat vom 15. Juli 1801 bzw. in der Zirkumskriptionsbulle „Qui Christi Domini vices“ vom 29. November 1801 anerkannte Papst Pius VII die Aufhebung des Bistums Speyer und die Zuordnung der dortigen katholischen Gemeinde zum Bistum Mainz. Da der Dom baufällig war, sollte er infolge eines Baugutachtens des Architekten Peter Henrion im Jahr 1805 abgerissen werden, wobei der Rest des Westbaus zum Triumphbogen umgebaut werden sollte. Der Stadtrat von Speyer weigerte sich jedoch, die für den Abriss notwendigen Kosten zu übernehmen. Nachdem der Mainzer Bischof Joseph Ludwig Colmar seine guten Beziehungen zur Frau Napoleons, Kaiserin Joséphine de Beauharnais sowie zum französischen Kultusminister Jean Etienne Portalis dazu genutzt hatte, diese von der überragenden kulturellen Bedeutung des Doms zu überzeugen, erklärte sich Napoleon einverstanden, die bereits erlassene Abrissverfügung zurückzunehmen. Mit kaiserlichem Dekret vom 23. September 1806 verfügte er die Rückgabe des Doms an die Katholiken von Speyer, die darin auch für die künftigen Unterhaltskosten verantwortlich gemacht wurden. Da zu diesem Zeitpunkt die als Kirchenstiftung errichtete Speyerer Domgemeinde die einzige in der Stadt existierende katholische juristische Person war, übernahm diese im Rahmen einer öffentlichen Zeremonie am 3. November 1806 das Eigentum an der Kathedrale aus der Hand des Bürgermeisters Ludwig Sonntag als dem Vertreter des französischen Staats.

Nach der Niederlage Napoleons wurde das Bistum 1817 auf linksrheinischem Gebiet neu errichtet, und der Dom diente nicht mehr nur als Pfarr-, sondern daneben auch wieder als Bischofskirche; 1818–1822 wurde er saniert und 1822 neu geweiht. 1846–1853 schufen die Maler Johann von Schraudolph und Joseph Schwarzmann im Auftrag Ludwig I. von Bayern Fresken im Nazarener Stil.

Im Auftrag des ehemaligen bayerischen Königs Ludwig I., des österreichischen Kaisers Franz Joseph I. und des Herzogs Adolph von Nassau kam es zu einer Neuerrichtung des Westbaus 1854–1858 im neoromanischen Stil. Heinrich Hübsch, einer der renommiertesten Architekten des frühen Historismus, orientierte sich frei am ursprünglichen Westbau, indem er Mittelturm und zwei kleinere Flankentürme aufgriff, wich jedoch von der Vorlage sowohl bei der Materialwahl wie bei den Proportionen erheblich ab. Die Erneuerung der Westfassade und die Ausmalung des Doms wurden im 19. Jahrhundert als „großes Werk“ angesehen. Ludwig I. war der Überzeugung, dass seit langer Zeit nichts Größeres geschaffen worden sei als die Fresken im Speyerer Dom.

Um die Wende zum 20. Jahrhundert kam es zu einem Stimmungsumschwung: Georg Dehio beklagte 1916 sogar vorsichtig, unter den Unglücken, die den Dom getroffen hätten, seien die Veränderungen des 19. Jahrhunderts nicht die kleinsten gewesen.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyerer_Dom

More Bricklink orders! by Evan V.W.N.

RARA 2021 13.5). Prof.ssa Elena Sorge - Volterra, Italia - L'Anfiteatro Che Non C'era / the Roman amphitheater at Volterra, Italy / Fb (2015-21). Dott.ssa Antonia Falcone (2021) e altre notizie e risorse archeologiche (Italiano & English). by Martin Conde

ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2021: Fango - Fango - Fango. Un Colosseo sconosciuto e affascinante scoperto a Volterra, Italia. Notizie e progressi dell'incredibile scoperta e l'eccellente documentazione degli scavi (2015-21). Fonte: Prof.ssa Elena Sorge, L'Anfiteatro Che Non C'era / Fb (Sett. e Ott. 2021) & Dott.ssa Antonia Falcone (2021), e altre notizie e risorse archeologiche in italiano e inglese. [Italiano / English]. wp.me/pbMWvy-22a

Foto: Anfiteatro di Volterra / Video; in: ArchaeoReporter (2020-2021).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51571487792

1). VOLTERRA / TUSCANY, ITALY— Colosseum Discovered in Volterra, Italy. Archaeology Magazine, USA (12 Nov. 2015).

Foto: VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano. ArcheoMedia (13/11/2015).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572273106

A Roman amphitheater thought to date to the first century A.D. has been discovered in the town of Volterra, once a well-known Etruscan city that fell under Roman rule. “It’s puzzling that no historical account records the existence of such an imposing amphitheater. Possibly it was abandoned at a certain time and gradually covered by vegetation,” archaeologist Elena Sorge of the Tuscan Superintendency told Discovery News.

Foto: VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano / Video; in: ArchaeoReporter (2020-21).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572948654

“This amphitheater was quite large. Our survey dig revealed three orders of seats that could accommodate about 10,000 people. They were entertained by gladiator fights and wild beast baiting,” Sorge explained. A survey conducted with ground-penetrating radar by Carlo Battini of the University of Genoa indicates that much of the amphitheater, which was constructed of stone in the same manner as the nearby theater, is under 20 to 32 feet of dirt.

Foto: VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano / Video; in: ArcheoMedia & ArchaeoReporter (2020-21).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572275916

Fonte / source:

--- Archaeology Magazine, USA (12 Nov. 2015).

www.archaeology.org/news/3876-151112-italy-volterra-amphi...

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51573198325

Foto: VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano / Video; in: ArchaeoReporter (2020-21).

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L’anfiteatro romano di Volterra (2020-21); in: Facebook & Instagram (10/2021).

Foto: VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano / Video; in: ArcheoMedia & ArchaeoReporter (2020-21)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51573198430

Foto: Prof.ssa Elena Sorge (a cura di), Volterra, L’Anfiteatro Che Non C’era / Facebook (10/2021).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572276146

--- Prof.ssa Elena Sorge (a cura di), Volterra, L'Anfiteatro Che Non C'era / Facebook (10/2021).

Questa pagina nasce per rimanere in costante aggiornamento sulla scoperta dell'anfiteatro di Volterra.

www.facebook.com/anfiteatro.volterra/

Foto: Prof.ssa Elena Sorge (a cura di), Volterra, L’Anfiteatro Che Non C’era / Facebook (10/2021).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51571462882

Foto: Prof.ssa Elena Sorge (a cura di), Volterra, L’Anfiteatro Che Non C’era / Facebook (10/2021).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572511923

--- Prof. Elena Sorge (ed.), Volterra, the lost Roman Amphitheatre. Five years of excavations, 2015-21. Facebook (10/2021).

www.facebook.com/anfiteatro.volterra/

Foto: Prof. Elena Sorge (ed.), Anfiteatro Romano – Profilo ufficiale dell’Anfiteatro di Volterra / Instragram (10/2021).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572276261

--- Prof. Elena Sorge (ed.), Anfiteatro Romano - Profilo ufficiale dell'Anfiteatro di Volterra / Instragram (10/2021).

www.instagram.com/anfiteatrovolterra/

Foto: Dott.ssa Antonia Falcone, Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano (2021). Archeologa e Blogger / Founder @ProfessioneArcheologo / Instagram (10/2021).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51573198730

--- Dott.ssa Antonia Falcone, Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano (2021). Archeologa e Blogger / Founder @ProfessioneArcheologo / Instagram (10/2021). www.instagram.com/archeoantonia/

Nota: Un ringraziamento molto speciale alla Dott.ssa Antonia Falcone che ha avuto la gentilezza di segnalarmi i significativi scavi presso il L'anfiteatro Romano Volterra (09/2021).

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Foto: SCOPERTE E SCAVI – VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano. ArcheoMedia (13/11/2015).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51573198440

2). SCOPERTE E SCAVI - VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano. ArcheoMedia (13/11/2015).

Un anfiteatro romano è stato scoperto nella città di Volterra, una città etrusca ben nota che cadde sotto il dominio romano nel I secolo a.C.

“E ‘sconcertante che nessun racconto storico registri l’esistenza di una tale imponente anfiteatro. Forse è stato abbandonato in un determinato momento e gradualmente ricoperto dalla vegetazione”, dice l’archeologa Elena Sorge della Soprintendenza toscana a Discovery News.

“Questo anfiteatro era abbastanza grande. La nostra indagine ha rivelato tre ordini di posti che potevano ospitare circa 10.000 persone. Sono stati fatti combattimenti di gladiatori e adescamento di animali selvaggi – dice Sorge. “Un sondaggio condotto con un radar da Carlo Battini dell’Università degli Studi di Genova ha indicato che gran parte dell’anfiteatro, che è stato costruito in pietra nello stesso modo come il vicino teatro, è sotto terra da 20 a 32 piedi di spessore.”

Il Colosseo a Volterra scoperta del secolo?

Stavano scavando per realizzare un’opera di bonifica vicino a Porta Diana, a sud della necropoli etrusca. A un certo punto la pala meccanica, tolto un primo strato di terra, urta una fila di grossi ciottoli ammonticchiati verso la collinetta del cimitero comunale. I lavori si fermano subito e qualcuno tra i responsabili del cantiere si mette a ripulire con le mani il terriccio che ancora copre quello che sembra essere un manufatto antico. Un gesto istintivo e prudente. Da queste parti, a Volterra e dintorni, quando si scava è facile imbattersi in reperti dell’età del ferro, etruschi, romani o medievali, e conviene bloccarsi al minimo sospetto. È così che sono affiorati i primi tratti di un muro, una ventina di metri, che qualche giorno dopo, con l’intervento della Soprintendenza ai beni archeologici della Toscana, appare con nitore in tutta la sua forma facendo sobbalzare il responsabile dell’ufficio, Andrea Pessina e il sindaco Marco Buselli.

Si tratterebbe infatti di una scoperta unica nel suo genere: un arco ellittico lungo ottanta metri che lascia presupporre l’esistenza in quel sito di un edificio pubblico di origini romane adibito, probabilmente, a giochi gladiatori. La struttura, peraltro, assomiglia molto al Teatro di Vallebona, dell’epoca di Augusto, che sorge dall’altra parte della città. Bisogna scavare di più, ora, per fare emergere il resto di questo “piccolo Colosseo”, che si nasconderebbe ancora sotto terra. I finanziamenti sono stati promessi. E il “museo a cielo aperto” di Volterra si arricchirà, speriamo presto, di un altro prezioso gioiello. Una prova di civiltà.

Fonte / source:

--- ArcheoMedia (13/11/2015); S.v., Archaeology Magazine, USA (12 Nov. 2015).

www.archeomedia.net/volterra-si-scoperto-lanfiteatro-romano/

Foto: SCOPERTE E SCAVI – VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano. ArcheoMedia (13/11/2015).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572511498

3). SCOPERTE E SCAVI - VOLTERRA (Pi). L’anfiteatro romano. ArcheoMedia (27/11/2020).

L’anfiteatro romano di Volterra nel 2015 era “L’Anfiteatro che non c’era”, una sorta di claim pubblicitario che campeggia ora sulla vivacissima e seguita pagina Facebook dello scavo archeologico. Non c’era perchè nessuno ne sospettava neppure l’esistenza: nessuna fonte antica, nessun reperto riconosciuto, nessun sospetto che un edificio mastodontico giacesse silenzioso da forse oltre 1600 anni, in una vallecola verde di erba, di ortaggi e alberi da frutto a poca distanza dalla necropoli etrusca del Portone, con le cosiddette tombe dei Marmini.

Questa necropoli è, di fatto, la “fornitrice” di una gran parte del materiale conservato al museo Guarnacci, uno dei più antichi d’Europa. Un’area scavata dall’Ottocento in poi e non certo ignorata da generazioni di archeologi, di ricerche, di sopralluoghi.

Benchè poco più a sud del teatro romano di Vallebuona, la cui scoperta risale agli anni ’50 del XX secolo, e poco più a nord della Porta Diana, questo lacerto bucolico nell’area urbana di Volterra sembrava solo un vasto terreno collinare di fianco al cimitero, quello moderno, senza nessuna traccia visibile anche ad occhio esperto. E neppure i simpatici signori che si affacciavano dalla loro casa verso la vallata dell’Era, breve e vivace fiume che si butta in Arno, avevano mai sospettato che la loro scoscesa proprietà potesse nascondere una delle più importanti scoperte dell’archeologia classica recente in Italia.

Eppure, proprio le acque che poi finiscono nell’Era, avevano deciso di fare la loro parte nella scoperta. Il regime torrentizio del fiume è alimentato da quelle che gli arrivano veloci dai poggi soprastanti. Per tenerle sotto controllo da secoli i fossi e i torrenti più o meno regolati, che qui chiamano botri, sono essenziali. Il deflusso idrico dal colle di Volterra si era ridotto troppo a seguito di una serie di frane dovute al maltempo, e il Consorzio Idraulico del Basso Valdarno nell’estate del 2015 aveva iniziato i lavori di ripristino. E qui, per fortuna, scatta il buonsenso dell’archeologia preventiva, sotto il controllo della Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pisa (Sorge, 2016, p.249).

Il botro di Docciola fluiva attraverso un argine malmesso, dove l’acqua aveva scoperto un muro in panchino, la pietra che rappresenza l’essenza stessa della città, la spina dorsale dei suoi edifici. Una decina di metri in tutto, ma non dritti, curvi. E non molto curvi, una cosa appena accennata. Poi altri 7 metri, un po’ curvi. Poi altri 20 metri, ancora curvi. Insomma, un totale di 42 metri, manco a dirlo, tutti curvi.

“Sta a vedere che… Va beh, proviamo sulla parte opposta della vallecola…”. Ed ecco un altro saggio di scavo, e ancora due spezzoni murari. Non vi diciamo che aspetto avevano, avete già indovinato. Insomma, a settembre 2015 era chiaro che la struttura fosse ellittica, gigantesca, e appartenente (per tipologie murarie) a un edificio pubblico di epoca romana. Insomma, se due più due faceva ancora quattro, un edificio con ellittico con un asse di 87 metri ed uno di 68 non poteva che essere un anfiteatro. L’anfiteatro che non c’era. E che ad un lustro di distanza c’è eccome, e non smette di riservare grosse sorprese. Ecco il motivo per cui abbiamo scelto di raccontare i primi cinque anni di questa indagine archeologica nel primo videoreportage di ArchaeoReporter.

La sorpresa arriva in un altro settembre, quello del 2020, alle 15 del primo giorno. Il buco che si apre è quello tipico di una tana di un animale, magari un comune topo. Elena Sorge, l’archeologa della soprintendenza che si culla il suo scavo fin dal primo giorno, sa che bisogna procedere con prudenza comunque, come lo sanno i suoi collaboratori. Infatti il foro si allarga, poi ancora, s’intravvede un arco perfettamente conservato. Arriva una torcia elettrica, e si fa fatica a scrutare il fondo: è una galleria perfettamente conservata, almeno fin dove s’intuiscono possibili crolli più avanti. Serviva per portare gli spettatori da un ordine dell’anfiteatro all’altro.

Foto: VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano / Video; in: ArcheoMedia & ArchaeoReporter (2020-21)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572511568

Quando nella prima settimana di settembre 2020 è apparso il sistema di ambulacri sotterranei, ben conservati (che verranno esplorati nel 2021, con l’aiuto dei vigili del fuoco di Pisa), si è aggiunto un altro tassello importante alla compensione del monumento. E questo vale anche per la scoperta del cuniculo circumpodiale, ossia il corridoio provvisto di volta che circondava l’arena. Ancora più recente la scoperta del corridoio voltato che circondava l’arena, con probabili funzioni di servizio per gladiatori, addetti ai servizi e forse anche le belve per gli spettacoli (Sorge, 2020). Da ultimo, appare evidente come sotto l’arena stessa si trovi un altro sistema sotterraneo, che si dovrà valutare con quali funzioni con il proseguimento degli scavi. Ci si può forse aspettare, ma qui mi gioco la carta della scommessa più che dell’ipotesi, un sistema complesso paragonabile ad anfiteatri tipo quello di Capua.

Ce n’è comunque abbastanza ritenere il monumento come un privilegiato campo d’azione da cui ricavare preziosi dati, soprattutto da mettere in confronto con altri edifici analoghi ancora solo parzialmente indagati. Una pietra angolare per la ricerca archeologica legata agli edifici pubblici romani in Italia

Nota tecnica: Lo scavo è diretto da Elena Sorge, funzionario della Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Pisa, con a collaborazione di professionisti, tecnici dell’Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Cuturale del CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche), studiosi dell’Università degli Studi di Firenze e di Pisa e della Detroit Foundation. Nel 2020 è eseguito da Cooperativa Archeologia.

Nota sui Finanziamenti: tra i primi a finanziare gli scavi la Fondazione e la Cassa di Risparmio di Volterra; poi la Direzione Generale Archeologia; il Comune di Volterra che ha acquisito e reso di proprietà pubblica il terreno dell’area di scavo; la Regione Toscana e i finanziamenti legati al concorso Art Bonus.

22 novembre 2020: ci segnalano cortesemente che negli ultimi 50 anni in effetti in Italia è stato scavato (e pubblicato) anche l’anfiteatro di Cividate Camuno, scoperto nel 1984 assieme al teatro (e non è l’unico soggetto di ricerca, agggiungiamo). Senz’altro diverso come “impatto”, non paragonabile come stato di conservazione e dimensioni, ma molto importante per gettare luce sui processi della presenza romana nell’arco alpino.

BIBLIOGRAFIA / REFERENCES

– Battini, C. and Sorge, E. (2016). Dynamic Management of Survey Data and Archaeological Excavation. The Case Study of the Amphitheatre of Volterra. Scientific Research and Information Technology Vol. 6, Issue 2 pp. 119-132

– Brothers, A.J. (1989). Buildings for Entertainment. In Barton, J.M, Roman Public Buindings. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, pp.97-125

– Sorge, E. (2016). La scoperta dell’Anfiteatro di Volterra. Notiziario della Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana 11/2015, Saggi (p. 241-276). Firenze: All’Insegna del Giglio

– Sorge, E. (2020) L’Anfiteatro che non c’era: la scoperta, lo scavo e la valorizzazione dell’anfiteatro romano di Volterra. Internal Report. Unpublished in november 2020.

Fonte / source:

--- SCOPERTE E SCAVI - VOLTERRA (Pi). L’anfiteatro romano. ArcheoMedia (27/11/2020).

www.archeomedia.net/volterra-pi-lanfiteatro-romano/

Foto: Anfiteatro di Volterra / Video (18 Novembre 2020 – 22 Dicembre 2020); In: ArchaeoReporter (10/10/2021).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51573195955

--- Anfiteatro di Volterra / Video (18 Novembre 2020 - 22 Dicembre 2020); In: ArchaeoReporter (10/10/2021).

www.archaeoreporter.com/tag/anfiteatro-di-volterra/

Foto: Volterra, the lost Roman Amphitheatre. Five years of excavations, a VIDEO DOCUMENTARY (English subtitles). ArchaeoReporter (18 November 2020). www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572957294/

4). "Volterra, the lost Roman Amphitheatre. Five years of excavations, a VIDEO DOCUMENTARY (English subtitles). ArchaeoReporter (18 November 2020).

For five years, excavations have been underway in the ‘lost’ Roman amphitheatre of Volterra. ArchaeoReporter could not have chosen a better location for its first story. The report features aerial images taken with a drone, as well as close-ups of the site, which was discovered in 2015 and continuously challenges what is known about classical archaeology. The amphitheatre was once home to fierce gladiators and gruesome battles, but more importantly it is considered to be a symbol of the romanisation of Etruria. Elena Sorge, the scientific director at the Archaeological Superintendence of Pisa and Livorno [Officially: Soprintendenza archeologica di Pisa e Livorno], guides us through the work site, where archaeological investigations and restoration efforts are carried out simultaneously, unearthing new findings month after month. 2020 has marked the discovery of the underground passageways and tunnels, as well as of the vaulted corridor, coins and other finds that are critical for dating the site, which is currently thought to come from the Julio-Claudian era.

--- Volterra, the lost Amphitheatre - (Italian with English subtitles - Audio enhanced) / You-Tube; in: ArchaeoReporter (14 Dec. 2020) [14:25]. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxaCdXHGA9Y

This discovery was actually made by accident during the maintenance work being carried out on a moat previously excavated in the 1950s. It is a small, rapid stream of water flowing down the Volterra hill, right behind Porta Diana and a little downhill from the Roman theatre. The Superintendence has entrusted the monitoring of the area to professional archaeologists, a typical example of preventive archaeology. It is important to remember that in many excavation sites there is an archaeological risk. It really says a lot that, in Italy, being able to learn about and enhance one’s own land is considered to be a risk, instead of a potential source of valuable research, both in archaeology and in other fields of study. In short, the wall discovered in July, 2015, has a slightly accentuated curve, which is indicative of something unconventional, together with the fact that the construction technique is similar to that of the theatre from the Augustan age.

--- Anfiteatro di Volterra, in "diretta" dallo scavo archeologico 2021 - Prima puntata. ArchaeoReporter (09/10/2021) [15:50].

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGLrtQsmI3A

Technical note: The archaeological site is supervised by Elena Sorge, a member of Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Pisa, in collaboration with Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale – CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche), University of Firenze and University of Pisa, and with Detroit Foundation.

Fonte / source:

--- ArchaeoReporter (18 November 2020).

www.archaeoreporter.com/en/2020/11/18/volterra-roman-amph...

5). L'Anfiteatro di Volterra: le scoperte dello scavo archeologico più sbalorditivo del 2020. Finestre sull'Arte (29/12/2020).

Verrà ricordato come lo scavo archeologico del 2020: l'Anfiteatro di Volterra, scoperto nel 2015, è stato scavato approfonditamente a partire dal 2019 e quest'anno ha rivelato scoperte eccezionali.

Nell’archeologia, il 2020 sarà ricordato probabilmente come l’anno dell’Anfiteatro di Volterra: quest’anno, infatti, la campagna di scavo dell’importantissimo sito archeologico scoperto appena cinque anni fa è ripresa con vigore dando alla luce esiti sorprendenti e inaspettati. Il risultato più eclatante, lo scorso 1° settembre, è stato sicuramente il rinvenimento del sistema di ambulacri sotterranei, finora sepolti nella collina, che in antico gli spettatori utilizzavano, come negli stadi moderni, per raggiungere le gradinate dalle quali assistevano agli spettacoli.

Foto: VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano / Video; in: ArchaeoReporter (2020-21)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572275846

Nelle settimane successive è stato scoperto anche il corridoio voltato che circondava l’arena, detto “cuniculo circumpodiale”, e che serviva invece ai gladiatori e in generale a coloro che si esibivano nell’arena (era il punto da cui entravano anche le eventuali belve sfruttate per i giochi: non si trattava però di tigri o leoni, animali che si esibivano nelle strutture più grandi in quanto animali di pregio e difficili da far arrivare oltre che da addestrare alla lotta, bensì, con più probabilità, di orsi, lupi o comunque animali più facilmente reperibili).

Foto: VOLTERRA (Si). Scoperto l’anfiteatro romano / Video; in: ArchaeoReporter (2020-21)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572275861

Lo scavo è seguito dalla Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio delle province di Pisa e Livorno ed è diretto dall’archeologa Elena Sorge: dal 2019 (anno in cui sono cominciate le operazioni) ha potuto contare su finanziamenti per poco più di ottocentomila euro, arrivati grazie al concorso Art Bonus e alla partecipazione della Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Volterra, della Regione Toscana e del Comune di Volterra. Serviranno altri tre milioni per completare lo scavo: ma sono risorse ben investite, perché a Volterra sta emergendo una struttura di eccezionale rilevanza, peraltro ben conservata.

Fonte / source:

--- Finestre sull'Arte (29/12/2020).

www.finestresullarte.info/archeologia/anfiteatro-di-volte...

Foto: Alla scoperta dell’Anfiteatro di Volterra: tesoro perduto e poi ritrovato. Intoscana / Tv & You-Tube (27/09/2021)

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51571462782

6). VOLTERRA / CULTURA - Alla scoperta dell’Anfiteatro di Volterra: tesoro perduto e poi ritrovato. Intoscana / Tv & You-Tube (27/10/2021).

Apertura straordinaria degli scavi archeologici. Sparito dalle carte e dalle cronache antiche già dal III secolo dopo Cristo, il Teatro riaffiora per un caso fortuito nel 2015.

A Volterra una delle scoperte archeologiche più importanti della storia: l’anfiteatro romano. Sparito dalle carte e dalle cronache antiche già dal III secolo dopo Cristo riaffiora per un caso fortuito nel 2015.

Da quel momento torna alla luce in tutto il suo splendore “L’Anfiteatro che non c’era” grazie alle ricerche e agli scavi guidati dalla Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio delle province di Pisa e Livorno. Pietra dopo pietra, l’anfiteatro romano con i suoi tre ordini della grande ampiezza di 32 metri per 64 riscrive la storia della Volterra romana come nuovo importante centro del potere imperiale nell’antichità.

--- VOLTERRA / CULTURA - Intoscana / Tv & You-Tube (27/10/2021).

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G-_XlKLFxk&t=41s

Le celebrazioni della Giornata degli Etruschi 2021 voluta dal Consiglio regionale della Toscana e dedicata alla ricerca, tutela e promozione della cultura e delle origini del territorio toscano non potevano che svolgersi a Volterra che affonda le proprie radici nella civiltà del rame del III millennio avanti Cristo, e si riscopre grazie alle recenti ricerche nella Necropoli delle Colombaie non più solo città delle urne, ma vera città etrusca e grazie all’Anfiteatro Romano come prestigioso centro della Roma antica.

Foto: Alla scoperta dell’Anfiteatro di Volterra: tesoro perduto e poi ritrovato. Intoscana / Tv & You-Tube (27/09/2021).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572957589

“Volterra Cantiere Aperto” grazie agli investimenti congiunti di Regione Toscana, Ministero della Cultura, Comune di Volterra, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Volterra e privati che superano in totale i 3 milioni di euro. Un cantiere destinato a durare anni, soprattutto se parliamo degli scavi archeologici dell’Anfiteatro romano, che non resterà per molto di solo appannaggio dei ricercatori, ma si trasformerà già dal 2022 in un sito visitabile in sicurezza.

Foto: Alla scoperta dell’Anfiteatro di Volterra: tesoro perduto e poi ritrovato. Intoscana / Tv & You-Tube (27/09/2021).

www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/51572957559

Nel servizio le interviste alla professoressa Elena Sorge della Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio delle province di Pisa e Livorno, responsabile degli scavi all’Anfiteatro romano di Volterra, al presidente del Consiglio regionale della Toscana Antonio Mazzeo, al sindaco di Volterra Giacomo Santi e all’assessore alla cultura del Comune di Volterra Dario Danti.

Fonte / source:

--- Intoscana / Tv & You-Tube (27/10/2021).

www.intoscana.it/it/dettaglio-video/alla-scoperta-dellanf...