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This is another photograph from my very fruitful trip to the Longsheng rice terraces in China. I had many adventures here including: a stubborn donkey, a mad tofu scientist, the mischievous and lovable little kid that seemed to track me everywhere I went, a chance meeting with a wise old man and a clandestine bootleg rice-wine party with some of the local farmers. Ahh, the memories and adventures that came out of this simple little fog-covered town could fill up a room with warmth and happiness.
I sometimes think about going back, but I know that such experiences are not likely to present themselves again so I simply integrate them into the fabric of my being, and look forward with anticipation for the next fun adventure.
and again I have bought mod at www.flickr.com/photos/shingles_cat/ :D
at my male and female characters became on one pathos dress more))
nostalgic pathos
.. (sc)analog archival project
©MadDreamer ©2👽23 /All rights reserved. Do not use without written permission from photographer/artist known as ME.
813 Mil Mi-35P Hind-F/ Panther (023364) Cyprus Air Force -
Andreas Papandreou Airbase , Pathos International Airport Cyprus 08-11-2019
Paturia, Bangladesh, 2008.
Drink my sorrow, o flies....
Which comes out as tears.
Share my pain of silence...
Which comes out as tears.
Captured from Paturia, Manikganj.
This old chair won't last much longer. It has been retired from use and is literally falling apart...almost melting into the ground, but it holds so many nice memories that I can't bring myself to throw it away...
Ruttenbai "Ruttie" Petit ("The Flower of Bombay") after marriage Maryam Jinnah (February 20, 1900 - February 15, 1929), was the second wife of Muhammad Ali Jinnah - an important figure in the Indian Independence Movement and later founder of Pakistan. She was the only daughter of Sir Dinshaw Petit, who in turn, was the son of Dinshaw Maneckji Petit, founder of the first cotton mills in India. The Petits were textile magnates and one of Bombay's wealthiest Parsi families.
"Ruttie" as she was affectionately called, was bright, gifted and graceful. Although she was 16 the year she met Mohammad Ali Jinnah, she was intellectually much more mature than other girls her age. She had diverse interests ranging from romantic poetry to politics. With her maiden aunt she attended all public meetings held in Bombay and was familiar with the movement for swaraj (home-rule). She was a fierce supporter of India for Indians and many years later when asked about rumours of Jinnah's possible knighthood and whether she would like to be Lady Jinnah, she snapped that she would rather be separated from her husband than take on an English title.
In the summer of 1916, Jinnah was invited to escape the Bombay heat at the summer home of his client and friend Sir Dinshaw. There, in Darjeeling, Jinnah was enchanted with Ruttie's precocious intelligence and beauty, and she in turn was enamoured by J, as she called him.
Jinnah approached Sir Dinshaw with a seemingly abstract question about his views on inter-communal marriages. Sir Dinshaw emphatically expressed his opinion that it would be an ideal solution to inter-communal antagonism. Jinnah could not have hoped for a more favourable response, and immediately asked his friend for his daughter's hand in marriage.
M. C. Chagla, who was assisting Jinnah at his chambers in those days, recalled later, "Sir Dinshaw was taken aback. He had not realized that his remarks might have serious personal repercussions. He was most indignant, and refused to countenance any such idea which appeared to him absurd and fantastic."
Jinnah pleaded his case, but to no avail. Not only was this the end of the friendship between the two men, but Sir Dinshaw forbade Ruttie to meet Jinnah as long as she lived under his roof. As she was still a minor, the law was on his side but Ruttie and Jinnah met in secret anyway, and decided to wait out the two years until she attained the age of maturity.
Shortly after her eighteenth birthday, Rattanbai converted to Islam and adopted the name Mariam. Two months later, on April 19, 1918, they were married at his house South Court in Bombay. The wedding ring which Jinnah gave Ruttie was a present from the Raja of Mahmudabad. The Raja and a few close friends of Jinnah were the only guests at the wedding, and later the couple spent part of their honeymoon at the Mahmudabad palace in Nainital. The rest of their honeymoon was spent at the Maidens Hotel, a magnificent property just beyond the Red Fort.
Ruttie and Jinnah made a head-turning couple. Her long hair would be decked in fresh flowers, and she wore vibrant silk and headbands lavish with diamonds, rubies and emeralds. And Jinnah in those days was the epitome of elegance in suits custom-made for him in London. According to most sources, the couple could not have been happier in those early years of their marriage. The only blot on their joy was Ruttie's ostracism from her family. Sir Dinshaw mourned Ruttie socially even after his granddaughter Dina was born.
By mid-1922, Jinnah was facing political isolation as he devoted every spare moment to be the voice of moderation in a nation torn by Hindu-Muslim antipathy. The increasingly late hours and the ever-increasing distance between them left Ruttie isolated.
In September 1922, she packed her bags and took her daughter to London. The echoes of her loneliness are apparent in a letter which she sent to her friend Kanji, thanking him for the bouquet of roses he had sent as a bon voyage gift; It will always give me pleasure to hear from you, so if you have a superfluous moment on your hands you know where to find me if I don't lose myself. And just one thing more, go and see Jinnah and tell me how he is, he has a habit of overworking himself and now that I am not there to tease and bother him he will be worse than ever.
Upon her return to India, Ruttie tried to see more of her husband but he was too busy campaigning for elections as an independent for the general Bombay seats. Ruttie withdrew into a world of spirits, séances and mysticism. Although she tried to interest Jinnah in the metaphysical, he had little time to devote to the whims of a wife half his age.
In 1925, Jinnah was appointed to a subcommittee to study the possibility of establishing a military college like Sandhurst in India. For this purpose he was to undertake a five-month tour of Europe and North America. Jinnah decided to take Ruttie with him - on what he hoped would be a second honeymoon. Instead the trip simply magnified the growing personal gulf between them. By 1927, Ruttie and Jinnah had virtually separated, and the move of the Muslim League's office to Delhi was just the final blow to a relationship that was already, in essence, over.
Ruttie's health deteriorated rapidly in the years after they returned from their final trip together. But she kept her interest in her pets and her close friends. Even as a frail, weakened woman, Ruttie attempted to remain in touch with those around her, going so far as to travel in bedroom slippers even though her feet were swollen and painful. Later she decided to live alone.
Ruttie lived at the Taj Hotel in Bombay, almost a recluse as she became more and more bed-ridden. Kanji continued to be her constant companion. By February 18, 1929 she had become so weak that all she could manage to say to him was a request to look after her cats. Two days later, Ruttie Petit Jinnah died. It was her 29th birthday. She was buried on February 22 in Khoja Isna Ashari Cemetery, Mazgaon, Bombay according to Muslim rites. Jinnah sat like a statue throughout the funeral but when asked to throw earth on the grave, he broke down and wept.
Later, Chagla said, "That was the only time when I found Jinnah betraying some shadow of human weakness. It's not a well publicised fact that as a young student in England it had been one of Jinnah's dreams to play Romeo at The Globe. It is a strange twist of fate that a love story that started like a fairy tale ended as a haunting tragedy to rival any of Shakespeare's dramas."
Proviamo a fare un giochino...
Una volta scrissi un lunga serie di motivi per cui amo mia moglie, oggi vorrei, sulla scia di quel testo, scrivere un altro centinaio di caratteristiche con relative motivazioni (quindi sarà una cosa lunga) da associare all’amore.
Partiamo.
1-Disinteressato. (perché altrimenti diventa squallido)
2-Incerto. (altrimenti perde il pathos)
3-Passionale. (altrimenti che amore è?)
4-Unilatero (sia nella persona amata che nella corresponsione, cioè può capitare di amare qualcuno ma che qualcuno non ami noi... anche in questo caso, se di amore si tratta deve comunque riuscire a sopravvivere. Altrimenti non è amore)
5-Avvampante (una delle caratteristiche principe, non foss’altro che per il fatto che l’Amore ci fa battere forte il cuore)
6-Inevitabile (cioè deve andare al di la della nostra volontà, deve essere una forza a cui possiamo solo scegliere di piegarci)
7-Casuale (perché non esiste nulla di più indegno di un amore “a progetto”... “mi innamorerò di quel\la tizio\a perché è così bello\ricco\famoso ecc.”)
8-Cangiante (perché amando sempre allo stesso modo anche il cuore più innamorato si inaridisce)
9-Disorientante (per la sua incontenibile forza che come un tifone ci invade e ingarbuglia ogni rotta)
10-Maturo (diversamente si chiama infatuazione)
11-Faticoso (stare dietro ai palpiti del cuore non può mai essere riposante)
12-Semplice (un cuore innamorato si contenta di poco)
13-Credulo (deve cioè avere un magazzino di fiducia illimitata sia verso il sentimento in sé sia verso quello a cui ci porterà)
14-Portante (dobbiamo essere certi di poterci contare, fare affidamento. Per avere sempre l’animo dalla parte giusta)
15-Imprevedibile (non necessariamente sempre in bene...)
16-Ostinato (contro tutto e tutti! E’ Amore punto e basta!)
17-Ritemprante (in grado di lottare e sostenersi meramente con la forza d’esso stesso)
18-Assoluto (più dell’amicizia più di ogni sentimento)
19-Illimitato (insensato porre dei limiti all’Amore...)
20-Tollerante (l’Amore non distingue uomo o donna, bianco o nero: il brivido è sempre quello)
21-Ribelle (chi se ne frega delle raccomandazioni?)
22-Despotico (sulle nostre facoltà mentali)
23-Fanatico (non ci si deve vergognare di provarlo)
24-Rivelato (perché quando si possiede qualcosa di bello, l’unico modo per renderlo veramente nostro è donarlo)
25-Ridicolo (chi è che non s’è mai reso ridicolo per Amore?)
26-Confortevole (nei momenti in cui la Vita non gira come dovrebbe almeno su questo dobbiamo poter contare)
27-Folle (quante pazzie si fanno per Amore?)
28-Visionario (quanti occhi ci vorrebbero per vedere tutto quello che si vede quando si è innamorati?)
29- Capriccioso (come un bambino che vuole un gelato)
30- Incollocabile (l’Amore non è passato né presente né futuro, l’Amore ha un tempo tutto suo all’interno del nostro cuore che non coincide con le misure del mondo)
31-Crudele (a volte lo è verso il nostro cuore, a volte verso altri cuori innamorati come il nostro)
32-Convulso (perché deve toglierci il respiro)
33-Allucinato (perché in Amore si stravede, come fa la regina Titania nella notte di mezza estate, quando prende quell’asino di Bottom per amante)
34-Coraggioso (nessuno è così pauroso da preferire lo stare sempre sospeso al cadere una volta per tutte)
35-Indimenticabile (e non parlo unicamente del “primo Amore”)
36-Devastante (quando arriva, quando se ne va...)
37-Romantico (beh, ovvio!)
38-Roboante (il battito di un cuore innamorato deve udirsi a chilometri di distanza)
39-Trasparente (non dobbiamo aver indugio a palesarlo nei momenti che viviamo)
40-Connaturato (deve nascere spontaneo, senza sforzo, sorprenderci e perché no smascherarci...)
41-Colorato (non unicamente di rosso, l’Amore rende i cieli più blu ed prati più verdi. Per questo a volte rende anche le nubi più scure)
42-Piagnone (non esiste Amore senza versare lacrime)
43-Gustoso (la parola Amore implica diversi sapori. Piccole magie che ne rendono il gusto esclusivo)
44-Profumato (la parola Amore implica anche diversi profumi che come un’alchimia devono legarsi a formare l’effluvio che stordisce i sensi)
45-Magico (è l’asso che salta fuori da dove non ti aspetti)
46-Leggero (per farci camminare i famosi tre metri sopra al cielo)
47-Penoso (accetta le pene dell’Amore se vuoi provare le sue gioie)
48-Rischioso (non esistono trincee per il cuore e quando lo si manda allo sbaraglio poi è difficile offrirgli un qualsiasi tipo di riparo)
49-Ammaliante (perché bisogna guardarlo con la stessa ammirazione di un cielo stellato da sdraiati per terra)
50-Curioso (di sapere se esiste un altro modo per amare di più)
51-Scorretto (perché laddove colpisce non fa prigionieri)
52-Benefico (perché amando tanto assieme al cuore si dilata la vita)
53-Ardito (in cima bisogna sempre arrivare, indipendentemente da sentieri accidentati, burroni e rocce scivolose)
54-Generoso (perché è importante vivere per qualcun altro se vogliamo vivere per noi stessi)
55-Implacabile (perché sin quando non te ne lasci vincere non deve dare tregua)
56-Sfruttante (perché vive solo chi fa uso di sé stesso)
57-Emozionante (l’inizio è l’affascino...)
58-Rifocillante (vera energia vitale per il corpo e lo spirito)
59-Radicato (affinché sia impossibile da estirpare)
60-Maestoso (quando nasce un Re devono esserci rintocchi di campane, carrozze ornate di fiori ed un tiro di cavalli bianchi)
61-Burlesco (bisogna anche saperlo irridere ed insieme ad esso irridersi)
62-Usurante (perché dove passa lascia solo devastazione)
63-Libero (perché e specie in Amore, i “guardiani” non fanno altro che aguzzare l’ingegno del prigioniero)
64-Sognante (per non avere limiti)
65-Pestilenziale (perché da una singola cellula deve essere in grado di ammorbare tutte le altre)
66-Dignitoso (per non sfociare nel degrado, morale e fisico)
67-Imperfetto (sennò sai che noia?)
68-Incontrollabile (perché quando lo si sente nascere, il difficile diventa non assecondarlo)
69-Puntiglioso (perché solo l’Amore attento ai dettagli è capace di arrivare in fondo ai cuori)
70-Invasore (perché quando qualcosa di immenso entra nel cuore, il resto rimpiccolisce)
71-Ingenuo (per conservare lo spirito del mondo)
72-Invidiabile (il cuore innamorato è più prezioso di un diamante)
73-Incantato (una rima felice, un tramonto, una frase di un notturno di Chopin... piccolezze che fanno felice il cuore innamorato)
74-Incorruttibile (senza possibilità di baratto alcuno)
75-Indeteriorabile (a dispetto del tempo e delle batoste della vita)
76-Rampicante (come glicini azzurri su di un muro incolpevole)
77-Spilorcio (perché viene e va ma non lascia mai elemosina)
78-Smisurato (come comete fuganti o pesci raminghi che non scorgono soglie di cielo o di mare)
79-Plateale (come un lungo bacio finale da film)
80-Carnale (di labbra da posare sulla pelle, di pelle da vestire di labbra)
81-Vaporoso (di una leggerezza che tutto sostiene)
82-Capiente (perché dopo un Amore c’è bisogno di più spazio)
83-Predone (che rapina i petti lasciandoli alla sua mercé)
84-Tributario (perché prima o dopo c’è sempre un prezzo da pagare)
85-Melodico (all’intonazione di violini suonati in guanti bianchi)
86-Esacerbante (l’Amore esaspera ogni nostro minuto in ogni singolo secondo)
87-Urticante (perché bisogna essere avvezzi nel maneggiarlo)
88-Seduttore soave (come una serpe senza veleno)
89-Improvviso (come il risveglio da un sogno che non vogliamo smettere)
90-Indefinibile (come una nube tonda a forma di lacrima)
91-Tridimensionale (perché oltre ad elevare ed espandere il cuore deve anche riuscire ad andare in profondità)
92-Sfavillante (come stella polare quando il cielo è di piombo)
93-Lenitivo (perché unico nel riuscire ad ammansire i sensi)
94-Pudico (perché al di la della nudità sappia essere dolce carne tremula)
95-Valorizzante (di fronte a Dio: perché amare è l’unica dote di cui potremo fare merito)
96-Romitorio (in quanto custode solitario di turbamenti)
97-Martoriante (nella mercuriale capacità di smagliare senza forare il collant delicato che custodisce l’emozione)
98-Suicidante (un sopportabile morire alla giornata)
99-Antico (perché il prototipo moderno è francamente piuttosto misero)
100- ...................(perché il 100 lo lascio alla libera interpretazione di ognuno)
Chi riesce ad amare in tutti questi modi a volte contraddittori, beato lui, possiede un cuore da campione.
(L’ho scritto qui perché sui baci perugina non ci entrava)
(Poi volevo dire anche un’altra cosa: tutta colpa di Gianluca che con le sue riflessioni sull’Amore ha spinto anche me a pensarci!)
Free Palestine
The West Bank and Gaza Strip have been under an illegal Israeli military rule since they were occupied in the 1967 war, and today are referred to as the “Palestinian Occupied Territories”. East Jerusalem was also annexed illegally by Israel in 1967. For 60 years the Palestinians have been denied the right to self-determination and statehood.
The graphic shows the continual "shrinking" of Palestine as the lifeblood of its people is "drawn out" by Israel, with the financial and moral? support of the United States government, this "support" gives life to what can only be described as an oppressive and brutal regime. The in-humane treatment the Palestinian population have to endure at the hands of Israel would be considered "ethnic cleansing" anywhere else in the world, so why is it that the international community turns a "blind eye" to the ongoing human rights violations being committed against the Palistinian people by Israel?
(Updated 5th January 2009)
The Israeli 'War on Gaza' that began on the 27th of December 2008 is a war against humanity, the killing of innocent men, woman and children can never be justified.
The use of F16 airstrikes and field artillary weapons that fire high explosive shells including 'white phosporus' munitions (classed as a chemical weapon and currently banned under the Geneva convention) at civilian targets is barbaric, Israels 'War on Gaza' is not only a disproportionate use of force but shows the vindictiveness of the Israeli people who whole heartedly support their governments 'war of terror' against the civilian population of Gaza as a 'collective'. This war by Israel is an act of villainy were collateral damage in the form of 'loss of innocent life' is deemed unimportant, this statement is backed up by the choice of high powered munitions currently being used in civilian areas by the Israeli armed forces. The difference in weapons systems is reflected in the casualty figures from each side which shows that the word 'precision guided' munitions is a 'loosely based term, as bombs do not discriminate in densely populated areas. The international and Arab communities long silence regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is a disgrace as is the defunct UNSC's inane rhetoric, the Gazan population as a 'collective' have been suffering under an Israeli seige for the last 18 months confined in the "worlds largest open air prison, Gaza", during this time the Israeli government have denied Gazans the most basic human rights, this treatment would be considered de-humanizing and criminal by any western government and considered to be a total violation of the human rights act, this statement can be backed up by the overwhelming number of United Nations resolutions against the Israeli government for their 'dire' ongoing treatment of the Palestinian people, although supported by a majority of UNSC members not one resolution has been passed out of 44 put forward since 1972 as 'all' were vetoed by Israels arms dealer and financier, the United States.
Israel is the American government's puppet in the Middle East as are the British government in Europe along with many other countries throughout the different continents of the world "were ever American interests may lie", Israel is a prime example as it is funded financially by the American government and therefore indirectly by the American taxpayer to the tune of 'Billions of dollars' each year, every penny of which is designated for military defence purposes i.e (Weapons), which leads onto the double standards applied by the United States regarding their irrational 'War on Terror' when they began to classify certain populations around the world as 'terrorist organisations' whilst supporting and arming various factions and groups themselves through 'back door' politics and "paperless" financing, these groups who were then deemed freeedom fighters when doing 'Americas bidding' are now viewed as terrorists?, America has often been involved in regime change in countries that were seen to be unco-operative or not pro-western, some examples of these double standards include Afghanistan were most of the weapons being used against the coalition forces today are ones that America supplied to the Muhdjadin and other localised factions to fight the Russians, Saddam Hussein in Iraq was also supported and equiped by the American government and more closer to home the IRA who had been carrying out many bombings across mainland Britain suddenly decided after 25 years to take the political road to peace and discontinue their armed struggle which coincidentally is when George 'despot' Bush launched his world de-stabilizing 'War on Terror' crusade after 9/11, why did the IRA stop when 9/11 happened?, they stopped because the long-time 'political goodwill' given to the IRA by the American government, and the financial support given through fund raising by certain elements of the American public to pay for arms to kill British people had dried up in an instant, so you could say that, 'on that one day in history the American support for the IRA cause well and truly ended'.
The point i am making is that the version of events put forward by western politicians who just toe the line because they are afraid to tread on Americas 'economically powerful toes' should be verified before being believed, this includes the sanitised "off the cuff" version of the Gaza conflict and the demonisation of all things Arab reported by western media organisations ("who can only guess what the Israeli military are doing in Gaza as they have all been denied access, why?"). Therefore western media reports are not always as fair and balanced as one is led to believe and in general due to cultural differences and a lack of understanding these sources of information do not give a fair account of the Palistinian people and their struggle for self determination and statehood.
(Updated 7th January 2009)
The following disproportionate use of force that resulted in the killing of innocent civilians in contradiction to (article 33, 4th ed, Geneva Convention) was comitted on the 6th January 2009 by Israel in the Gaza Strip and goes some way to substantiate a number of previous statements above regarding the international communities complicity in the tragic events 'being allowed' to unfold in Gaza, it also confirms Israels willingness to blatently breach international law on a day to day basis through it's total disregard for the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza.
The Israeli military on the 6th January 2009 launched airstrikes on three .U.N. run schools which were designated 'safe havens' for Palistinian 'non combatant' civilians, one of the schools UN-run al-Fakhora school in Jabalya refugee camp was hit by 3 missiles fired from an Israeli F16 jet killing 43 and injuring 55, all the victims were innocent men woman and children. Christopher Gunness of the .U.N. Relief and Works Agency, responsible for the school, said the agency is "99.9 percent certain there were no militants or military activity in its school". The Israeli military were well aware of the .U.N. schools position as they had been given it's GPS co-ordinates by .U.N. Officials at the school, the building had a large .U.N. Flag flying and the instalation is clearly marked .U.N., also the Israeli liason Officer to the .U.N. in Gaza had been informed of civilians sheltering in the school. Israel's claim that militants were operating outside the .U.N. school is unistablished and the third variation on their claim of a "return of fire" defence in wartime?. My point is even if this was the case the Israeli military has still knowingly breached international law under the Geneva Convention (article 33), how can firing high explosive shells within 'close' proximity of a group of (known) innocent civilians in order to hit a 'non-confirmed' target be justified? It is clearly a disproportionate use of force and under international law it is considered to be a 'war crime', there is a case to answer and if proven guilty Israel should be held to account at the Haig.
CONCLUSION
Palestinians killed during Israeli military offensive in Gaza, (27 Dec to 18 Jan)
Total dead: 1,434
Fighters: 235
Non-combatants: 906
Women: 121
Children under 16: 288
(Source: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights)
The logic behind the Israeli governments treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza during the siege and throughout this conflict is illogical, no one in their right mind could believe that inprisoning a population, punishing them as a 'collective', controlling their freedom of movement, denying them their basic human rights, laying siege to their home territory over a long period (18 mths), denying them their 'God' given right as any population has to self determination, killing their innocent men, woman and children with no regard for human life and with such barbarity, laying waste to their towns and cities, starving them, cuttting off their basic utilities and breaking down their social and enviromental infrastructures through psychological and forceful means in a vein attempt to make the population turn-in on their own democratically elected government is nonsensical. None of the above can be considered as measures to encourage moderate Palestinians to talk peace?, this Israeli conflict is not a 'hearts & mind' campaign as the Israelis portray, it is no more than 'state terrorism' that has not only put back the chance of any peace and co-operation between the Palestinians and Israelis in the near future it has also increased the prospect of more de-stabilization not only in the Middle East region but throughout the world. I find it very difficult to understand how a devout society like Israel with its 'own' history of persecution under a Nazi regime can so easily reconcile its barbaric persecution of innocent people with such ease of conscience?.
(Updated 17th July 2009)
Since the end of the Israeli 'War on Gaza' that began on the 27th of December 2008 a group of IDF soldiers calling themselves 'Breaking the Silence' have come forward to give first hand testimonies on a range of abuses that took place during the conflict which they believe stemmed from Israeli policy and rules of engagement, several testimonies describe rules of engagement which were either unclear, or which encouraged soldiers to prioritise protecting their own lives over determining whether a person in the vicinity was a civilian. Below in no particular order is a selection of sworn testimonies given by IDF operatives relating to abuses that were perpertrated during the conflict.
IDF Operative Testimony 51:
"We were told soldiers were to be secured by fire-power. The soldiers were made to understand that their lives were the most important, and that there was no way our soldiers would get killed for the sake of leaving civilians the benefit of the doubt… People were not instructed to shoot at everyone they see but they were told that from a certain distance when they approach a house, no matter who it is - even an old woman - take them down."
IDF Operative Testimony 49:
"Among other things, he strictly forbade us to climb up to roofs. He explained in fact that the air force has the 'go ahead' to fire at anyone seen on a roof."
IDF Operative Testimony 41:
"You can't identify too much at night and anything that moves you engage in order not to take risks. It was not defined this way officially, but it was obvious. Any movement on the ground at night was doomed."
IDF Operative's Testimonies 13 and 14: These describe an incident where an old man carrying a torch at night, walking towards an Israeli-held building.
IDF Operative Testimony 13:
An old man carrying a torch at night, walking towards an Israeli-held building, he approached from about 150 metres - and was allowed to approach to 25 metres with no deterrent fire, before he was shot dead.
IDF Operative Testimony 14:
"Everyone is shooting and shooting and the guy's screaming. The commander comes downstairs, glowing. 'Here's an opener for tonight'. He was asked why he wouldn't confirm deterrent fire. He said, "It's night time and this is a terrorist."
IDF Operative Testimony 1
[a soldier describing what he had heard from a commander]: "To every house we close in on, we send the neighbour in, 'the Johnnie'… Sometimes the force would enter while placing rifle barrels on a civilian's shoulder, advancing into a house and using him as a human shield. Commanders said these were the instructions and we had to do it…"
IDF Operative Testimony 2:
"Part of the concept of razing was what the Israeli army calls 'the day after' consideration. Obviously this campaign would end at some point… The question was in what condition we'd leave the area, whether more exposed, a state that would afford us better firing and observation conditions, and far greater control. This was the principle behind all that razing - namely razing for our benefit.
IDF Operative Testimony 52:
"Most of the destruction that went on there was not necessary."
IDF Operative Testimony 43 :
"One guy said he just couldn't finish this operation without killing someone… [describes the shooting of a man "apparently some sort of lookout"] … I can definitely say he was not armed. I can definitely say the soldier regarded this as some children's game and was delighted and laughing after this. I think that a normal person, even having killed an armed terrorist, would not be amused."
IDF Operative Testimony 50:
"The atmosphere was not one of fear but rather people too eager to shoot other people."
IDF Operative Testimony 39:
"The guys would simply break stuff. Some were out to destroy and trash the whole time. They drew a disgusting drawing on the wall. They threw out sofas. They took down a picture from the wall just to shatter it."
IDF Operative Testimony 52:
Q: Was there boredom at any point during these two weeks?
A: Much boredom.
Q: So what does one do to relieve this boredom?
A: I told you, fire at water tanks, I don't know, out of boredom. When there's nothing else to shoot at, you fire at water tanks."
IDF Operative Testimony 8:
Q: Why fire phosphorus?
A: Because it's fun. Cool… I don't know what it's used for… I don't understand what it's even doing in our supplies if we're not supposed to use such ammo. It's ridiculous.
IDF Operative Testimony 11:
"There was an area of about 200-300 square meters of glazed sand.... We understood this resulted from white phosphorus, and it was upsetting… in training you learn that white phosphorus is not used, and you're taught that it's not humane. You watch films and see what it does to people who are hit, and you say, 'There, we're doing it too.' That's not what I expected to see. Until that moment I had thought I belonged to the most humane army in the world."
IDF Operative Testimony 15:
[describing a talk by a military rabbi]: "Lots of pathos, the kind of religious discourse I'm a bit familiar with: war of choice, holy war - differing rules. He spoke less in religious terminology… and was much more into militant faith. He aimed at inspiring the men with courage, cruelty, aggressiveness, expressions such as 'no pity, God protects you, everything you do is sanctified'. The gist of these statements was perhaps to bring things into agreement with religion, with God and whoever this man was supposed to represent, that everything or nearly everything is permissible. "
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Quote - Sydney J. Harris
"Terrorism" is what we call the violence of the weak, and we condemn it; "war" is what we call the violence of the strong, and we glorify it".
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(View detail use - "All Sizes").
Limited Edition Prints | Blog | Google+
I am starting a new series of images which are digital paintings of my travel photos. I will keep adding to this collection over time. I hope you like them.
William Bouguereau, né le 30 novembre 1825 à La Rochelle où il est mort le 19 août 1905, est un peintre français. Il est un des représentants majeurs de la peinture académique française de la fin du XIXᵉ siècle
Zénobie trouvée par les bergers sur les bords de l’Araxe (1850)
Huile sur toile
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Contexte historique et artistique
Cette œuvre s’inscrit dans un moment crucial de la carrière de Bouguereau : le concours du Prix de Rome de 1850, sommet de la formation académique française. Le sujet imposé relève du “paysage historique”, une catégorie exigeante combinant narration antique et construction paysagère.
Le thème est tiré des Histoires de Tacite : Zénobie, épouse d’un roi arménien, est frappée, abandonnée dans le fleuve Araxe, puis miraculeusement sauvée par des bergers.
Deux éléments importants :
Le sujet mêle violence tragique et salut providentiel, typique de l’histoire antique vue par l’Académie.
Bouguereau ne présente pas ici le moment dramatique (l’agression), mais le moment de découverte et de compassion, ce qui est déjà un choix esthétique et moral.
L’œuvre du musée d’Orsay est une réduction très proche de la version finale (et non une simple esquisse rapide).
Analyse iconographique
La scène
Zénobie est étendue, presque inerte, entourée de bergers qui viennent de la découvrir.
La figure de Zénobie
Corps allongé → rappelle la tradition des figures pathétiques antiques (Andromaque, Didon, etc.).
Nudité partielle → à la fois justification antique et idéalisme académique du corps féminin.
Elle incarne une double tension :
victime (violence masculine, abandon)
figure héroïque survivante
Bouguereau privilégie une beauté intacte malgré la violence, ce qui est typique de son esthétique : la souffrance est esthétisée, presque adoucie.
Les bergers
Ils incarnent la pitié naturelle, opposée à la barbarie du roi.
Leurs gestes sont mesurés, presque théâtraux :
un se penche,
un autre observe,
un troisième participe.
On est dans une rhétorique gestuelle codifiée, héritée de la peinture d’histoire classique (Poussin, David).
Le paysage
Le paysage n’est pas un simple décor :
Il inscrit la scène dans un ailleurs antique (l’Araxe).
Il crée une atmosphère calme, contrastant avec la violence du récit.
C’est exactement ce qu’on attend du “paysage historique” :
une fusion entre narration et nature.
Composition et construction
Organisation spatiale
Composition en frise horizontale (adaptée au format réduit).
Zénobie forme l’axe central.
Les bergers structurent l’espace en demi-cercle.
Cela crée :
une focalisation immédiate sur la figure féminine
une circulation du regard fluide
Hiérarchie visuelle
Corps clair de Zénobie → point focal
Figures secondaires plus sombres
Paysage en retrait
Bouguereau applique ici les principes académiques :
lisibilité
hiérarchie
clarté narrative
Analyse stylistique et technique
Une esthétique académique exemplaire
Bouguereau est déjà pleinement formé :
dessin précis
anatomie idéalisée
surface lisse (peu de traces de pinceau)
On observe :
une peinture “finie” même à l’état d’esquisse
une volonté de convaincre le jury par la maîtrise technique
Le traitement du corps
Modelé doux
Lumière diffuse
Absence de brutalité visible
C’est une caractéristique essentielle :
la violence du sujet est neutralisée par la beauté plastique.
Couleur et lumière
Palette harmonieuse, sans contrastes violents
Lumière enveloppante
La lumière a une fonction morale :
elle sacralise la scène
elle transforme un drame en moment de rédemption
Lecture esthétique et idéologique
Une morale académique
Le tableau transmet plusieurs valeurs :
triomphe de la vie sur la mort
compassion humaine
dignité féminine idéalisée
La peinture d’histoire n’est jamais neutre :
elle enseigne autant qu’elle montre.
Une tension entre violence et beauté
C’est le point le plus intéressant :
Sujet : tentative de meurtre
Image : sérénité, douceur, harmonie
Cette contradiction révèle :
la volonté académique de sublimer le réel
une esthétique où la beauté prime sur la vérité brute
Importance dans la carrière de Bouguereau
Bouguereau a 25 ans : il démontre déjà une maîtrise exceptionnelle.
Même s’il n’obtient pas le premier prix officiel, ce travail contribue à son entrée à la Villa Médicis.
Cette œuvre annonce toute sa carrière :
idéalisation du corps féminin
narration claire
perfection technique
Ce qu’il faut vraiment retenir (lecture critique)
Ce tableau est fascinant parce qu’il montre déjà :
✔️ Les forces de Bouguereau
virtuosité technique
clarté narrative
maîtrise du corps
Mais aussi ses limites
émotion contrôlée, presque froide
absence de tension dramatique réelle
esthétisation de la souffrance
En résumé :
Bouguereau ne montre pas la tragédie — il la transforme en beauté.
Conclusion
Cette Zénobie est une œuvre charnière :
à la fois exercice académique et manifeste esthétique
synthèse parfaite des attentes du Prix de Rome
annonce d’un style qui dominera toute la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle académique
Ce qui la rend particulièrement intéressante en lumière en tant que photographe :
a construction extrêmement lisible
la gestion subtile de la lumière
et surtout cette capacité à transformer un drame en image calme et harmonieuse
CES PHOTOS NE SONT PAS À VENDRE ET NE PEUVENT PAS ÊTRE REPRODUITES, MODIFIÉES, REDIFFUSÉES, EXPLOITÉES COMMERCIALEMENT OU RÉUTILISÉES DE QUELQUE MANIÈRE QUE CE SOIT.
UNIQUEMENT POUR LE PLAISIR DES YEUX.
Veit Stoss (also: Veit Stoß and Stuoss; Polish: Wit Stwosz; Latin: Vitus Stoss; before 1450 – about 20 September 1533) was a leading German sculptor, mostly working with wood, whose career covered the transition between the late Gothic and the Northern Renaissance. His style emphasized pathos and emotion, helped by his virtuoso carving of billowing drapery; it has been called "late Gothic Baroque". He had a large workshop, and in addition to his own works there are a number by pupils. He is best known for the altarpiece in St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków, Poland.
Life
According to the contracts and other official documents written in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Stoss was born in a place pronounced as Horb or Horbn. Most researchers identify this place with Horb am Neckar near Stuttgart in Germany. However, there are artistic traces indicating that Stoss's early education could take place in the modern Switzerland. Moreover, his brother was certainly born in Aarau in northern Switzerland, which suggests that the artist's family lived in the region and that Stoss was rather born in the town of Horben, located 30 km southeast of Aarau. His exact date of birth is unknown though it must have been shortly before 1450. Nothing about his life is known for certain before 1473 when he moved to Nuremberg in Franconia and married Barbara Hertz. Their eldest son Andreas was born there before 1477, when Stoss moved to Kraków, the royal capital of Poland, where he was commissioned to produce the enormous polychrome wooden Altar of Veit Stoss (Ołtarz Wita Stwosza) at St Mary's Church in Kraków. His son Stanisław who was born in Kraków the next year was also a sculptor.
In Kraków
Veit lived and worked in Kraków for almost twenty years, from 1477–1496. His name is usually polonized as Wit Stwosz. The altar in Kraków was completed in 1489, and was the largest triptych of its time. Like Stoss' other large works, it required a large workshop including specialized painters and gilders. Other important works from Stoss' period in Poland were the tomb of Casimir IV in Wawel Cathedral, the marble tomb of Zbigniew Oleśnicki in Gniezno, and the altar of Saint Stanislaus. The Polish court was more aware of Italian styles than Nuremberg patrons of that time, and some of Stoss' Polish work used Renaissance classical ornament.
During World War II, on the order of Hans Frank – the Governor-General of that region of occupied Poland – the dismantled Altar was shipped to Nazi Germany around 1941. It was rediscovered in 1945 in Bavaria, hidden in the basement of the heavily bombed Nuremberg Castle. The High Altar underwent major restoration work in Poland and was put back in its place at the Basilica ten years later.
Nuremberg
In 1496, Stoss returned to Nuremberg with his wife and eight children. He reacquired his citizenship for three gulden and resumed his work there as a sculptor. Between 1500 and 1503 he carved an altar, now lost, for the parish church of Schwaz, Tyrol of the "Assumption of Mary". In 1503, he was arrested for forging the seal and signature of a fraudulent contractor and was sentenced to be branded on both of his cheeks and prohibited from leaving Nuremberg without the explicit permission of the city council. He was pardoned in 1506 by Emperor Maximilian and restored of his civil rights.
Despite the prohibition he went to Münnerstadt in 1504, to paint and gild the altarpiece that Tilman Riemenschneider had left in plain wood ten years earlier, presumably according to his contract (unlike Stoss, his workshop did not include painters and gilders). Leaving wood sculpture unpainted was a new taste at the time, and "perhaps the tastes of the city council were somewhat provincial." He also created the altar for Bamberg Cathedral and various other sculptures in Nuremberg, including the Annunciation and Tobias and the Angel. In 1506 he was arrested a second time. In 1507, Emperor Maximilian wrote a letter of pardon. The sole argument was made on the account of his genius. The council of the Imperial free city Nuremberg refused to give him a public notice. But Maximilian's intervention saved him from the dungeons and having his hands chopped off. He was able to resettle in Nuremberg from 1506, but was shunned by the council and received few large commissions from that time onwards. In 1512, the Emperor asked Stoss to help with the planning of his tomb monument, which was eventually placed in the Hofkirche, Innsbruck; it seems Stoss's attempts to cast in brass were unsuccessful.
During the period 1515–1520, Veit Stoss received a commission for sculptures by Raffaele Torrigiani, a rich Florentine merchant. In 1516 he made Tobias and the Angel (now in Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg), and a statue of Saint Roch for the Basilica of Santissima Annunziata in Florence. This wooden statue represents the saint in a traditional way: in the garb of a pilgrim, lifting his tunic to demonstrate the plague sore in his thigh. Even Giorgio Vasari, who did not think much of artists north of the Alps, praised it in his Le Vite and called it "a miracle in wood", though misattributing it.
Veit Stoss was buried at St. Johannis cemetery in Nuremberg. His artistic legacy was continued by his son Stanisław.
In popular culture
Veit Stoss is featured in Judith Weir's opera, The Black Spider. He is one of the singing sculptors in Act 3 Scene 2 inside the Wawel Cathedral. He is shown chiseling at the tomb of King Casimir IV. There is a Polish book (1913) and film (1961) Historia żółtej ciżemki (The story of a yellow crakow) about Veit Stoss in Cracow.
Kraków, also seen spelled Cracow or absent Polish diacritics as Krakow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 and has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, economic, cultural and artistic life. Cited as one of Europe's most beautiful cities, its Old Town with Wawel Royal Castle was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978, one of the world's first sites granted the status.
The city has grown from a Stone Age settlement to Poland's second-most-important city. It began as a hamlet on Wawel Hill and was reported by Ibrahim ibn Yaqub, a 10th-century merchant from Córdoba, as a busy trading centre of Central Europe in 985. With the establishment of new universities and cultural venues at the emergence of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 and throughout the 20th century, Kraków reaffirmed its role as a major national academic and artistic centre. As of 2023, the city has a population of 804,237, with approximately 8 million additional people living within a 100 km (62 mi) radius of its main square.
After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany at the start of World War II, the newly defined Distrikt Krakau (Kraków District) became the capital of Germany's General Government. The Jewish population of the city was forced into a walled zone known as the Kraków Ghetto, from where they were sent to Nazi extermination camps such as the nearby Auschwitz, and Nazi concentration camps like Płaszów. However, the city was spared from destruction and major bombing.
In 1978, Karol Wojtyła, archbishop of Kraków, was elevated to the papacy as Pope John Paul II—the first non-Italian pope in 455 years. Also that year, UNESCO approved Kraków's entire Old Town and historic centre and the nearby Wieliczka Salt Mine as Poland's first World Heritage Sites. Kraków is classified as a global city with the ranking of "high sufficiency" by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Its extensive cultural heritage across the epochs of Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture includes Wawel Cathedral and Wawel Royal Castle on the banks of the Vistula, St. Mary's Basilica, Saints Peter and Paul Church and the largest medieval market square in Europe, Rynek Główny. Kraków is home to Jagiellonian University, one of the oldest universities in the world and traditionally Poland's most reputable institution of higher learning. The city also hosts a number of institutions of national significance such as the National Museum, Kraków Opera, Juliusz Słowacki Theatre, National Stary Theatre and the Jagiellonian Library. The city is served by John Paul II International Airport, the country's second busiest airport and the most important international airport for the inhabitants of south-eastern Poland.
In 2000, Kraków was named European Capital of Culture. In 2013, Kraków was officially approved as a UNESCO City of Literature. The city hosted World Youth Day in 2016 and the European Games in 2023.
Kraków is one of the largest and oldest cities in Poland, with the urban population of 804,237 (June, 2023). Situated on the Vistula river (Polish: Wisła) in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. It was the capital of Poland from 1038 to 1596, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Kraków from 1846 to 1918, and the capital of Kraków Voivodeship from the 14th century to 1999. It is now the capital of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship.
Timeline of Kraków
Historical affiliations
Vistulans, pre X century
Duchy of Bohemia, X century–ca. 960
Duchy of Poland, ca. 960–1025
Kingdom of Poland, 1025–1031
Duchy of Poland, 1031–1320
∟ Seniorate Province, 1138–1227
Duchy of Kraków, 1227–1320
Kingdom of Poland, 1320–1569
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1569–1795
Austrian Empire, 1795–1809
∟ Galicia
Duchy of Warsaw, 1809–1815
Free City of Cracow, 1815–1846
Austrian Empire, 1846–1867
Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918
∟ Grand Duchy of Kraków (subdivision of Galicia)
Republic of Poland, 1918–1939
General Government, 1939–1945 (part of German-occupied Europe)
Provisional Government of National Unity, 1945–1947
Polish People's Republic, 1947–1989
Poland, 1989–present
Early history
The earliest known settlement on the present site of Kraków was established on Wawel Hill, and dates back to the 4th century. Legend attributes the town's establishment to the mythical ruler Krakus, who built it above a cave occupied by a ravenous dragon, Smok Wawelski. Many knights unsuccessfully attempted to oust the dragon by force, but instead, Krakus fed it a poisoned lamb, which killed the dragon. The city was free to flourish. Dragon bones, most likely that of mammoth, are displayed at the entrance of the Wawel Cathedral. Before the Polish state had been formed, Kraków was the capital of the tribe of Vistulans, subjugated for a short period by Great Moravia. After Great Moravia was destroyed by the Hungarians, Kraków became part of the kingdom of Bohemia. The first appearance of the city's name in historical records dates back to 966, when a Sephardi Jewish traveller, Abraham ben Jacob, described Kraków as a notable commercial centre under the rule of the then duke of Bohemia (Boleslaus I the Cruel). He also mentioned the baptism of Prince Mieszko I and his status as the first historical ruler of Poland. Towards the end of his reign, Mieszko took Kraków from the Bohemians and incorporated it into the holdings of the Piast dynasty.
By the end of the 10th century, the city was a leading center of trade. Brick buildings were being constructed, including the Royal Wawel Castle with the Rotunda of Sts. Felix and Adauctus, Romanesque churches, a cathedral, and a basilica. Sometime after 1042, Casimir I the Restorer made Kraków the seat of the Polish government. In 1079 on a hillock in nearby Skałka, the Bishop of Kraków, Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów, was slain by the order of the Polish king Bolesław II the Generous. In 1138, the Testament of Bolesław III Wrymouth came into effect upon his death. It divided Poland into five provinces, with Kraków named as the Seniorate Province, meant to be ruled by the eldest male member of the royal family as the High Duke. Infighting among brothers, however, caused the seniorate system to soon collapse, and a century-long struggle between Bolesław's descendants followed. The fragmentation of Poland lasted until 1320.
Kraków was almost entirely destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Poland in 1241, after the Polish attempt to repulse the invaders had been crushed in the Battle of Chmielnik. Kraków was rebuilt in 1257, in a form which was practically unaltered, and received self-government city rights from the king based on the Magdeburg Law, attracting mostly German-speaking burgers. In 1259, the city was again ravaged by the Mongols, 18 years after the first raid. A third attack, though unsuccessful, followed in 1287. The year 1311 saw the Rebellion of wójt Albert against Polish High Duke Władysław I. It involved the mostly German-speaking burghers of Kraków who, as a result, were massacred. In the aftermath, Kraków was gradually re-Polonized, and Polish burghers rose from a minority to a majority.
Further information: History of Poland in the Middle Ages
Medieval Kraków was surrounded by a 1.9 mile (3 km) defensive wall complete with 46 towers and seven main entrances leading through them (see St. Florian's Gate and Kraków Barbican). The fortifications were erected over the course of two centuries. The town defensive system appeared in Kraków after the city's location, i.e. in the second half of the 13th century (1257). This was when the construction of a uniform fortification line was commenced, but it seems the project could not be completed. Afterwards the walls, however, were extended and reinforced (a permit from Leszek Biały to encircle the city with high defensive walls was granted in 1285). Kraków rose to new prominence in 1364, when Casimir III of Poland founded the Cracow Academy, the second university in central Europe after the University of Prague. There had already been a cathedral school since 1150 functioning under the auspices of the city's bishop. The city continued to grow under the joint Lithuanian-Polish Jagiellon dynasty (1386–1572). As the capital of a powerful state, it became a flourishing center of science and the arts.
Kraków was a member of the Hanseatic League and many craftsmen settled there, established businesses and formed craftsmen's guilds. City Law, including guilds' depictions and descriptions, were recorded in the German language Balthasar Behem Codex. This codex is now featured at the Jagiellonian Library. By the end of the thirteenth century, Kraków had become a predominantly German city. In 1475 delegates of the elector George the Rich of Bavaria came to Kraków to negotiate the marriage of Princess Jadwiga of Poland (Hedwig in German), the daughter of King Casimir IV Jagiellon to George the Rich. Jadwiga traveled for two months to Landshut in Bavaria, where an elaborate marriage celebration, the Landshut Wedding took place. Around 1502 Kraków was already featured in the works of Albrecht Dürer as well as in those of Hartmann Schedel (Nuremberg Chronicle) and Georg Braun (Civitates orbis terrarum).
During the 15th century extremist clergymen advocated violence towards the Jews, who in a gradual process lost their positions. In 1469 Jews were expelled from their old settlement to Spiglarska Street. In 1485 Jewish elders were forced into a renunciation of trade in Kraków, which led many Jews to leave for Kazimierz that did not fall under the restrictions due to its status as a royal town. Following the 1494 fire in Kraków, a wave of anti-Jewish attacks took place. In 1495, King John I Albert expelled the Jews from the city walls of Kraków; they moved to Kazimierz (now a district of Kraków).
Renaissance
The Renaissance, whose influence originated in Italy, arrived in Kraków in the late 15th century, along with numerous Italian artists including Francesco Fiorentino, Bartolommeo Berrecci, Santi Gucci, Mateo Gucci, Bernardo Morando, and Giovanni Baptista di Quadro. The period, which elevated the intellectual pursuits, produced many outstanding artists and scientists such as Nicolaus Copernicus who studied at the local Academy. In 1468 the Italian humanist Filip Callimachus came to Kraków, where he worked as the teacher of the children of Casimir IV Jagiellon. In 1488 the imperial Poet Laureate and humanist Conrad Celtes founded the Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana ("Literary Society on the Vistula"), a learned society based on the Roman Academies. In 1489, sculptor Veit Stoss (Wit Stwosz) of Nuremberg finished his work on the high altar of St. Mary's Church. He later made a marble sarcophagus for his benefactor Casimir IV Jagiellon. By 1500, Johann Haller had established a printing press in the city. Many works of the Renaissance movement were printed there during that time.
Art and architecture flourished under the watchful eye of King Sigismund I the Old, who ascended to the throne in 1507. He married Bona Sforza of a leading Milan family and using his new Italian connections began the major project (under Florentine architect Berrecci) of remaking the ancient residence of the Polish kings, the Wawel Castle, into a modern Renaissance palace. In 1520, Hans Behem made the largest church bell, named the Sigismund Bell after King Sigismund I. At the same time Hans Dürer, younger brother of Albrecht Dürer, was Sigismund's court painter. Around 1511 Hans von Kulmbach painted a series of panels for the Church of the Pauline Fathers at Skałka and the Church of St. Mary. Sigismund I also brought in Italian chefs who introduced Italian cuisine.
In 1558, a permanent postal connection between Kraków and Venice, the capitals of the Kingdom of Poland and the Republic of Venice respectively, was established and Poczta Polska was founded. In 1572, King Sigismund II died childless, and the throne passed briefly to Henry of Valois, then to Sigismund II's sister Anna Jagiellon and her husband Stephen Báthory, and then to Sigismund III of the Swedish House of Vasa. His reign changed Kraków dramatically, as he moved the government to Warsaw in 1596. A series of wars ensued between Sweden and Poland.
After the partitions of Poland
In the late 18th century, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned three times by its expansionist neighbors: Imperial Russia, the Austrian Empire, and the Kingdom of Prussia. After the first two partitions (1772 and 1793), Kraków was still part of the substantially reduced Polish nation. In 1794 Tadeusz Kościuszko initiated a revolt against the partitioning powers, the Kościuszko Uprising, in Kraków's market square. The Polish army, including many peasants, fought against the Russian and Prussian armies, but the larger forces ultimately put down the revolt. The Prussian army specifically took Kraków on 15 June 1794, and looted the Polish royal treasure kept at Wawel Castle. The stolen regalia, valued at 525,259 thalers, was secretly melted down in March 1809, while precious stones and pearls were appropriated in Berlin. Poland was partitioned for the third time in 1795, and Kraków became part of the Austrian province of Galicia.
When Napoleon Bonaparte of the French Empire captured part of what had once been Poland, he established the Duchy of Warsaw (1807) as an independent but subordinate state. West Galicia, including Kraków, was taken from the Austrian Empire and added to the Duchy of Warsaw in 1809 by the Treaty of Schönbrunn, which ended the War of the Fifth Coalition. The Congress of Vienna (1815) restored the partition of Poland, but gave Kraków partial independence as the Free City of Cracow.
The city again became the focus of a struggle for national sovereignty in 1846, during the Kraków Uprising. The uprising failed to spread outside the city to other Polish lands, and was put down. This resulted in the annexation of the city state to the Austrian Empire as the Grand Duchy of Cracow, once again part of the Galician lands of the empire.
In 1850 10% of the city was destroyed in the large fire.
After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Austria granted partial autonomy to Galicia, making Polish a language of government and establishing a provincial Diet. As this form of Austrian rule was more benevolent than that exercised by Russia and Prussia, Kraków became a Polish national symbol and a center of culture and art, known frequently as the "Polish Athens" (Polskie Ateny) or "Polish Mecca" to which Poles would flock to revere the symbols and monuments of Kraków's (and Poland's) great past. Several important commemorations took place in Kraków during the period from 1866–1914, including the 500th Anniversary of the Battle of Grunwald in 1910, in which world-renowned pianist Ignacy Paderewski unveiled a monument. Famous painters, poets and writers of this period, living and working in the city include Jan Matejko, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Jan Kasprowicz, Juliusz Kossak, Wojciech Kossak, Stanisław Wyspiański and Stanisław Przybyszewski. The latter two were leaders of Polish modernism.
The Fin de siècle Kraków, even under the partitions, was famously the center of Polish national revival and culture, but the city was also becoming a modern metropolis during this period. In 1901 the city installed running water and witnessed the introduction of its first electric streetcars. (Warsaw's first electric streetcars came in 1907.) The most significant political and economic development of the first decade of the 20th century in Kraków was the creation of Greater Kraków (Wielki Kraków), the incorporation of the surrounding suburban communities into a single administrative unit. The incorporation was overseen by Juliusz Leo, the city's energetic mayor from 1904 to his death in 1918 (see also: the Mayors of Kraków).
Thanks to migration from the countryside and the fruits of incorporation from 1910 to 1915, Kraków's population doubled in just fifteen years, from approx. 91,000 to 183,000 in 1915. Russian troops besieged Kraków during the first winter of the First World War, and thousands of residents left the city for Moravia and other safer locales, generally returning in the spring and summer of 1915. During the war Polish Legions led by Józef Piłsudski set out to fight for the liberation of Poland, in alliance with Austrian and German troops. With the fall of Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poles liberated the city and it was included with the newly reborn Polish state (1918). Between the two World Wars Kraków was also a major Jewish cultural and religious center (see: Synagogues of Kraków), with the Zionist movement relatively strong among the city's Jewish population.
World War II
Poland was partitioned again at the onset of the Second World War. The Nazi German forces entered Kraków on September 6, 1939. The residents of the city were saved from German attack by the courageous Mayor Stanisław Klimecki who went to meet the invading Wehrmacht troops. He approached them with the call to stop shooting because the city was defenseless: "Feuer einstellen!" and offered himself as a hostage. He was killed by the Gestapo three years later in the Niepołomice Forest. The German Einsatzgruppen I and zbV entered the city to commit atrocities against Poles. On September 12, the Germans carried out a massacre of 10 Jews. On November 4, Kraków became the capital of the General Government, a colonial authority under the leadership of Hans Frank. The occupation took a heavy toll, particularly on the city's cultural heritage. On November 6, during the infamous Sonderaktion Krakau 184 professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University (including Rector Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński among others) were arrested at the Collegium Novum during a meeting ordered by the Gestapo chief SS-Obersturmbannführer Bruno Müller. President of Kraków, Klimecki was apprehended at his home the same evening. After two weeks, they were sent to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and in March 1940 further to Dachau. Those who survived were released only after international protest involving the Vatican. On November 9–10, during the Intelligenzaktion, the Germans carried out further mass arrests of 120 Poles, including teachers, students and judges. The Sicherheitspolizei took over the Montelupich Prison, which became one of the most infamous in German-occupied Poland. Many Poles arrested in Kraków, and various other places in the region, and even more distant cities such as Rzeszów and Przemyśl, were imprisoned there. Over 1,700 Polish prisoners were eventually massacred at Fort 49 of the Kraków Fortress and its adjacent forest, and deportations of Polish prisoners to concentration camps, incl. Ravensbrück and Auschwitz, were also carried out. The prison also contained a cell for kidnapped Polish children under the age of 10, with an average capacity of about 70 children, who were then sent to concentration camps and executed. From September to December 1939, the occupiers also operated a Dulag transit camp for Polish prisoners of war.
Many relics and monuments of national culture were looted and destroyed (yet again), including the bronze statue of Adam Mickiewicz stolen for scrap. The Jewish population was first ghettoized, and later murdered. Two major concentration camps near Kraków included Płaszów and the extermination camp of Auschwitz, to which many local Poles and Polish Jews were sent. Specific events surrounding the Jewish ghetto in Kraków and the nearby concentration camps were famously portrayed in the film Schindler's List, itself based on a book by Thomas Keneally entitled Schindler's Ark. The Polish Red Cross was also aware of over 2,000 Polish Jews from Kraków, who escaped from the Germans to Soviet-occupied eastern Poland, and then were deported by the Soviets to the USSR.
The Polish resistance movement was active in the city. Already in September 1939, the Organizacja Orła Białego resistance organization was founded. Kraków became the seat of one of the six main commands of the Union of Armed Struggle in occupied Poland (alongside Warsaw, Poznań, Toruń, Białystok and Lwów). A local branch of the Żegota underground Polish resistance organization was established to rescue Jews from the Holocaust.
The Germans operated several forced labour camps in the city, and in 1942–1944, they also operated the Stalag 369 prisoner-of-war camp for Dutch, Belgian and French POWs. In 1944, during and following the Warsaw Uprising, the Germans deported many captured Poles frow Warsaw to Kraków.
A common account popularized in the Soviet-controlled communist People's Republic of Poland, held that due to a rapid advance of the Soviet armies, Kraków allegedly escaped planned destruction during the German withdrawal. There are several different versions of that account. According to a version based on self-written Soviet statements, Marshal Ivan Konev claimed to have been informed by the Polish patriots of the German plan, and took an effort to preserve Kraków from destruction by ordering a lightning attack on the city while deliberately not cutting the Germans from the only withdrawal path, and by not aiding the attack with aviation and artillery. The credibility of those accounts has been questioned by Polish historian Andrzej Chwalba who finds no physical evidence of the German master plan for demolition and no written proof showing that Konev ordered the attack with the intention of preserving the city. He portrays Konev's strategy as ordinary – only accidentally resulting in little damage to Kraków – exaggerated later into a myth of "Konev, savior of Kraków" by Soviet propaganda. The Red Army entry into the city was accompanied by a wave of rapes of women and girls resulting in official protests.
Post-war period
After the war, the government of the People's Republic of Poland ordered the construction of the country's largest steel mill in the suburb of Nowa Huta. This was regarded by some as an attempt to diminish the influence of Kraków's intellectual and artistic heritage by industrialization of the city and by attracting to it the new working class. In the 1950s some Greeks, refugees of the Greek Civil War, settled in Nowa Huta.
The city is regarded by many to be the cultural capital of Poland. In 1978, UNESCO placed Kraków on the list of World Heritage Sites. In the same year, on October 16, 1978, Kraków's archbishop, Karol Wojtyła, was elevated to the papacy as John Paul II, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years.
Kraków's population has quadrupled since the end of World War II. After the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the subsequent joining of the European Union, Offshoring of IT work from other nations has become important to the economy of Kraków and Poland in general in recent years. The city is the key center for this kind of business activity. There are about 20 large multinational companies in Kraków, including centers serving IBM, General Electric, Motorola, and Sabre Holdings, along with British and German-based firms.
In recent history, Kraków has co-hosted various international sports competitions, including the 2016 European Men's Handball Championship, 2017 Men's European Volleyball Championship, 2021 Men's European Volleyball Championship and 2023 World Men's Handball Championship.
Head of Medusa from the first ships.
This is an example of refined craftsmanship. The detail of the hair, the scales, the snakes and nostrils were made using hand-held tools (burin and chisel). The resulting portrait combines the apotropaic function typical of the depictions of this monstrous figure with the pathos characterizing the humanized Medusa type. The bronze fittings are the most important set of objects found during work to salvage the Nemi ships. The head of Medusa was placed high up, as if to watch over the ship with her gaze.
The Ships.
The Nemi Ships were two ships built by the Roman emperor Caligula in the 1st century AD at Lake Nemi. Although the purpose of the ships is only speculated on, the two large ships are a unique example of ceremonial vessels, genuine palaces floating on the water of lake, created in the image of luxurious eastern residences of the Hellenistic period. The ships contained quantities of marble, mosaic floors, heating and plumbing such as baths among its amenities. The attribution to Caligula was confirmed by the discovery of some lead water pipes (fistulae) with inscriptions proving that the ships belonged to this emperor.
Although the ancient sources do not mention the Nemi ships, recent studies have succeeded in reconstructing the architecture of the vessels. The first was used as a sort of annexe to the sumptuous residence owned by the emperor on the banks of the lake. The second was used for ceremonial proposes, as proven by the discovery of cult objects connected with the goddess Isis.
Recovery from the lakebed succeeded in October 1932. The ships were put on display in a museum built on the shores of the Lake Nemi, where they were almost completely destroyed by fire in 1944 during the second word war.
Bronze, lost-wax casting
Age of Caligula
37 – 41 AD
Roma, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme
LAS FORMULAS DEL PATHOS Y SU SUPERVIVENCIA
Artículo de la Catedrática Victoria Cirlot.
En él "trata de plantear y comprender lo que el historiador del arte Aby Warburg denominó Pathosformel (fórmulas del pathos)"... "Se rastrea la aparición del concepto en su obra descifrando su significado y sus implicaciones para el análisis de las imágenes"... "Finalmente, el concepto es aplicado a una imagen fotográfica contemporánea lo que permite una comprensión mayor de su efecto en la recepción del público, estableciendo un diálogo entre la tradición iconográfica del pasado y la actualidad."
Artículo en English, Castellano www.raco.cat/index.php/Comparativecinema/article/view/cc....
Extracto del texto dónde se menciona la fotografía de referencia:
En Barcelona, el 1 de febrero de 1976, Manel Armengol realizó una serie de fotografías en blanco y negro que recogían puntualmente las cargas policiales contra los manifestantes, todavía en la llamada época de transición. De entre todas ellas, Georges Didi-Huberman escogió una para la portada del catálogo y el cartel de la exposición Insurreccions, inaugurada en el Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya en febrero de 2017 (DIDI-HUBERMAN, 2017). Aquí me interesa otra de las fotografías de la misma serie, la que según el propio testimonio del fotógrafo, lo invistió profesionalmente, dado el gran impacto que conoció en los medios de comunicación de todo el mundo. El interés que nos suscita ahora esta fotografía se debe a que resuelve la imagen según la misma fórmula del pathos de La muerte de Orfeo de Dürer (Fig. 7). Destacaré cómo el fotógrafo enmarcó la imagen, que se resuelve en el personaje de espaldas situado a la derecha del revoltijo de seres humanos caídos, que con el brazo derecho alzado está dispuesto a asestar el golpe con la porra. El revoltijo humano sustituye a Orfeo con su rodilla hincada en el suelo, aunque reitera la composición triangular del cantor y también repite el gesto protector del brazo. Frente a la ménade que vemos de cara en el dibujo de Dürer, y que funciona como una inversión simétrica de la ménade de espaldas, en la fotografía de Manel Armengol vemos a otro policía detrás del grupo de personajes caídos. Frente al claro eje vertical que marca el árbol en la composición de Dürer con el polémico cartel que parece hacer referencia a la homosexualidad del cantor (Orfeus der erst puseran, pues juró no amar a mujer si no era a su esposa Eurídice), en la fotografía son diversos árboles invernales y una cierta neblina, producida por los botes de humo lanzados por la policía, los que ocupan el fondo, en el que también interviene un letrero (Academia...). Pero todas estas variantes no pueden ocultar que ambas imágenes están recorridas por un mismo ritmo y que nos muestran una misma carga energética: el desencadenamiento de una violencia, contra la que la víctima (o las víctimas) nada pueden hacer. Se trata de una Pathosformel en la medida en que nos confronta ante una violencia extrema."
External surface: Battles over fallen heroes (fight for the body of Patroklos?). On both sides A and B, large apotropaic eyes like those on East Greek cups, with eyebrows and diminutive noses. Beneath and on either sides of the handles, warriors fight over a fallen hero.
Inner surface: Dionysos reclines on a sailing ship while seven dolphins swim in a coral-red sea around the boat
This black-figured eye-cup, signed by Exekias as potter and painter, is one of the most famous Athenian vases. Exekias was the greatest of black-figure artists, and he brought the style to its limits. It is hardly credible that so much human dignity and pathos can be expressed in so artificial a convention.
Exported from Athens in antiquity, this large cup with a diameter of 30.5 cm was found in an Etruscan tomb at Vulci.
Source Beth Cohen, “The Color of Clay”
CARC/CAVI @ www.beazley.ox.ac.uk
Attic black-figured kylix
Attributed to Exekias as potter & painter
Made in Athens, ca. 530 BC
From Vulci, Viterbo
Munich, Antikensammlungen.
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It has been a very busy past few months, but I finally unpacked my computer and got some much needed photo time last night. I couldn’t wait to process this picture of the Berkeley Marina. I arrived there just in time to see the sunset and had to scramble over some rocks to get to this position while there was still color in the sky. After the constant rush that has been my life over the past few months, it was very satisfying to stand still and simply observe the sunset over this beautiful marina.