View allAll Photos Tagged permanent
LA PRESENCIA-ARTE-PINTURA-PERMANENCIA-ETER-ACUARELAS-ARTISTA-PINTOR-ERNEST DESCALS-
Sabemos y a menudo notamos como hay seres humanos que siempre están cerca de nosotros, su PRESENCIA en el éter nos acompaña, este fenómeno sucede con personas de la familia, viejos amores e incluso con animales. A veces llegan desde el cielo, en otras de estados intermedios y en otras, de lugares oscuros, pero su presencialidad es manifiesta. Pintura con acuarelas sobre papel de 27 x 35 centímetros, pintar aquello que no vemos pero si sentimos, obras del artista pintor Ernest Descals con fenómenos reales pero que nos dicen son paranormales.
flickriver.com/photos/javier1949/popular-interesting/
Fondazione Prada Milán. Fundación Prada
Largo Isarco, 2, 20139 Milano, Italy
Arquirtectos OMA: Rem Koolhaas, Chris van Duijn. Director de Proyecto: Federico Pompignoli. Colaboradores locales: Alvisi Kirimoto & Partners, Atelier Vertical. 2008-2015
La nueva sede de la Fundación Prada en Milán, diseñada por el estudio de arquitectura OMA dirigido por Rem Koolhaas, amplía el repertorio de tipologías espaciales en las que el arte pueda exponerse y compartirse con el público.
Resultado de la transformación de una antigua destilería que data de 1910 en el complejo industrial Largo Isarco en el extremo sur de Milán. Una configuración arquitectónica articulada que combina los siete edificios existentes, almacenes, laboratorios y silos de elaboración, con nuevas construcciones - Podium, un espacio para exposiciones temporales; Cine, un auditorio multimedia; y Torre, de nueve pisos, para la exposición permanente y las actividades de la fundación, en torno a un gran patio. OMA plantea la coexistencia de dos dimensiones: la conservación y la creación de una nueva arquitectura. El complejo se extiende sobre una superficie total de 19.000 m2. La Torre, aún sin concluir en 2016, se abrirá al público en una etapa posterior.
Rem Koolhaas define la intervención: "Es sorprendente que la enorme expansión del sistema del arte ha tenido lugar en un número reducido de tipologías para la exhibición de arte. Para satisfacción de todos, el espacio industrial abandonado se ha convertido en la preferencia por defecto del arte. -atractiva porque sus condiciones predecibles no cuestionan las intenciones del artista -. Amenizada ocasionalmente con gestos arquitectónicos excepcionales, la nueva Fundación Prada se proyecta en un antiguo complejo industrial con una inusual diversidad de ambientes espaciales. Para este repertorio, agregamos tres nuevos edificios: un gran pabellón de exposiciones , una torre, y una sala de cine - por lo que la nueva Fundación representa una verdadera colección de espacios arquitectónicos. No es un proyecto de conservación ni de nueva arquitectura, dos condiciones que por lo general se mantienen separadas, enfrentándose en un estado de permanente interacción - un conjunto de fragmentos que no se congelan en una sola imagen, ni permiten que cualquier parte domine a los demás. Nuevo, viejo, horizontal, vertical, ancho, estrecho, blanco, negro, abierto, cerrado - todos estos contrastes establecen el rango de oposiciones que definen la nueva Fundación. Mediante la introducción de tantas variables espaciales, la complejidad de la arquitectura promoverá una programación abierta, donde arte y arquitectura se beneficiarán de los desafíos mutuos”.
Dentro del perímetro del complejo coexistían dos tipos de estructuras independientes: unas planas y cuadradas, y otra más verticales. El edificio cuadrado no ofrecía posibilidades atractivas por lo que fue demolido para permitir convertirse al patio en un elemento importante para el uso al aire libre. Los elementos que definen el complejo son: el Depósito, en el límite oeste del complejo. La Gran Sala, conocida como la Cisterna, se divide en tres habitaciones con tres 'púlpitos' interiores conectado con un balcón exterior. El Cine que actúa como una célula autónoma dentro del conjunto, con grandes puertas de doble hoja, que se abren al patio, lo que permite que el espacio pueda utilizarse para la organización de eventos al aire libre o como espacio adicional galería cubierta. En cuatro "casas" que dan al patio hacia el norte y un jardín abandonado al sur se sitúan oficinas y galerías permanentes. En su perímetro se encuentra la “Haunted House”, -“Casa Encantada”- un edificio existente, con su exterior cubierto totalmente en pan de oro, que alberga una instalación permanente especialmente concebida por Robert Gober y dos obras de Louise Bourgeois. En el interior, la escala íntima de sus interiores genera un ambiente "doméstico" para trabajos específicos. Al lado, el Podio se establece como el centro del conjunto, en la intersección de los dos ejes perpendiculares. Esta adición combina dos volúmenes de muy diferentes: un basamento sin columnas totalmente acristalado en la planta baja, y espacio superior revestido con espuma de aluminio. Ambas galerías proporcionan áreas polivalentes para exposiciones y eventos temporales.
El edificio de la entrada da la bienvenida al público con dos espacios nacidos de colaboraciones especiales: un espacio educativo para los niños, creado por Jeannette Ottilia Latis y desarrollado con estudiantes de la Escuela Nacional Superior de Arquitectura de Versalles; y el restaurante-cafetería, concebido por Wes Anderson, recreando el ambiente de un café típico del viejo Milán. El edificio que lo alberga mantiene un conjunto de estructuras de acero y su techo abovedado que se reproduce en "miniatura" el techo de cristal del Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, uno de los lugares simbólicos de Milán.
www.fondazioneprada.org/visit/visit-milano/
oma.eu/projects/fondazione-prada
www.archdaily.com/628472/fondazione-prada-oma
www.domusweb.it/it/architettura/2015/05/11/fondazione_pra...
aasarchitecture.com/2015/05/fondazione-prada-milan-by-oma...
OMA - Office for Metropolitan Architecture
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rem_Koolhaas
es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_for_Metropolitan_Architecture
...permanently stooped, while her friends walk tall, she is the most extrovert, personable and self assured woman of them all: a portrait from the streets of a small town in Madyha Pradesh, Central India
(© Handheld Films 2014)
The Red-winged Blackbird,is an abundant permanent
resident of Florida. Inland, Red-winged Blackbirds occur around
freshwater ponds and marshes in natural, agricultural,
and suburban settings. Along the coast and in the Keys,
they breed in salt marshes, mangroves, and buttonwoods.
Their food consists of the seeds of weeds and grasses,
various grains, and insects and other invertebrates.
I found this one in the marsh along Heron Hideout Trail, at Circle B Bar Reserve.
Polk County, Florida.
Closed permanently due to Covid fallout -11/2/2020
"The City Tavern in Philadelphia was erected at a great expense by a voluntary subscription of the principal gentleman of the city for the convenience of the public, and is much the largest and most elegant house occupied in that way in America." - Pennsylvania Packet, 1774
Olympus OM2, Kodachrome 64, digitised by photographing the original 35mm slide on a light pad; 12mm extension tube used. Tethered capture in Lightroom.
We are at about 3400m in the Shilla gorge. Progression down the gorge is only possible by crossing the river repeatedly. On this day I counted 26 crossings, 19 of which were with water at knee height or above.
The Flickr mapping gives Kashmir as the location, which may be politically true but culturally we are firmly in Ladakh, having left Kashmir behind.
HMS Belfast is a Town-class light cruiser that was built for the Royal Navy. She is now permanently moored as a museum ship on the River Thames in London and is operated by the Imperial War Museum.
Construction of Belfast, the first ship in the Royal Navy to be named after the capital city of Northern Ireland and one of ten Town-class cruisers, began in December 1936. She was launched on Saint Patrick's Day 1938. Commissioned in early August 1939 shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, Belfast was initially part of the British naval blockade against Germany. In November 1939, Belfast triggered a German mine and, in spite of fears that she would be scrapped, spent more than two years undergoing extensive repairs. Belfast returned to action in November 1942 with improved firepower, radar equipment and armour. She saw action escorting Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union during 1943 and in December 1943 played an important role in the Battle of North Cape, assisting in the destruction of the German warship Scharnhorst. In June 1944, Belfast took part in Operation Overlord supporting the Normandy landings. In June 1945, she was redeployed to the Far East to join the British Pacific Fleet, arriving shortly before the end of the Second World War. Belfast saw further combat action in 1950–52 during the Korean War and underwent an extensive modernisation between 1956 and 1959. A number of further overseas commissions followed before she entered reserve in 1963.
In 1967, efforts were initiated to avert Belfast's expected scrapping and to preserve her as a museum ship. A joint committee of the Imperial War Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the Ministry of Defence was established and then reported in June 1968 that preservation was practical. In 1971, however, the government decided against preservation, prompting the formation of the private HMS Belfast Trust to campaign for her preservation. The efforts of the Trust were successful and the government transferred the ship to the Trust in July 1971. Brought to London, she was moored on the River Thames near Tower Bridge in the Pool of London. Opened to the public in October 1971, Belfast became a branch of the Imperial War Museum in 1978. Since 1973 she has been home to the City of London Sea Cadets who meet on board twice a week.[8] A popular tourist attraction, Belfast received over 327,000 visitors in 2019.[9] As a branch of a national museum and part of the National Historic Fleet, Belfast is supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, admissions income and the museum's commercial activities.
Design
"A circular rack of conical shells. The shell cases are yellow, the rest of the room is white.
Shells in a rack in the underwater magazine serving the "A" turret of Belfast.
Belfast is a cruiser of the third Town class. The Town class had originated in 1933 as the Admiralty's response to the Imperial Japanese Navy's Mogami-class cruiser, an 11,200-ton cruiser mounting fifteen 6-inch (152 mm) guns with a top speed exceeding 35 knots (65 km/h; 40 mph). The Admiralty's requirement called for a 9,000-ton cruiser, sufficiently armoured to withstand a direct hit from an 8-inch (203 mm) shell, capable of 32 knots (59 km/h) and mounting twelve 6-inch guns. Seaplanes carried aboard would enable shipping lanes to be patrolled over a wide area and the class was also to be capable of its own anti-aircraft defence.[10] Under the Director of Naval Construction the new design evolved during 1933.[11] The lead ship of the new class, the 9,100-ton HMS Southampton, and her sister HMS Newcastle, were ordered under the 1933 estimates.[12] Three more cruisers were built to this design, with a further three ships built to a slightly larger 9,400-ton design in 1935–36.[12] By 1935, however, the Admiralty was keen to improve the firepower of these cruisers to match the firepower of the Japanese Mogami and American Brooklyn-class cruisers; both were armed with fifteen 6-inch guns.[11] The Admiralty rejected a design featuring five triple turrets as impractical, while an alternative design fitting four quadruple turrets was rejected as an effective quadruple turret could not be developed.[13] In May 1936 the Admiralty decided to fit triple turrets, whose improved design would permit an increase in deck armour.[14] This modified design became the 10,000-ton Edinburgh subclass, named after Belfast's sister ship HMS Edinburgh.[12] Belfast was ordered from Harland and Wolff on 21 September 1936,[15] and her keel laid on 10 December 1936.[15] Her expected cost was £2,141,514; of which the guns cost £75,000 and the aircraft (two Supermarine Walruses) £66,500.[16] She was launched on Saint Patrick's Day, 17 March 1938, by Anne Chamberlain, the wife of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain.[15] The launch was filmed by Pathé News.[17] From March to August 1939, Belfast was fitted out and underwent sea trials.[2][15]
Diagram of one of Belfast's boilers.
When completed, Belfast had an overall length of 613 feet 6 inches (187.0 m), a beam of 63 feet 4 inches (19.3 m) and a draught of 17 feet 3 inches (5.3 m). Her standard displacement during her sea trials was 10,420 long tons (10,590 t).[4] She was propelled by four three-drum oil-fired Admiralty water-tube boilers, turning Parsons geared steam turbines, driving four propeller shafts.[2] She was capable of 32.5 knots (60.2 km/h; 37.4 mph) and carried 2,400 long tons (2,400 t) of fuel oil.[4] This gave her a maximum range of 8,664 nautical miles (16,046 km; 9,970 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).[5]
Belfast's main armament comprised twelve Mk XXIII 6-inch guns in four triple turrets directed by an Admiralty Fire Control Table. With a rate of fire of up to eight rounds per gun per minute, her main battery was capable of a total maximum rate of fire of 96 rounds per minute.[5] Her secondary armament comprised twelve 4-inch guns in six twin mounts. Her initial close-range anti-aircraft armament was sixteen 2-pounder "pom-pom" guns in two eight-barrel mountings and two quadruple Vickers .50 machine guns. She also mounted six Mk IV 21-inch torpedo tubes in two triple mounts and fifteen Mk VII depth charges.[2][4]
Belfast was protected by a 4.5-inch (114 mm) main armour belt, with deck armour of 3 inches (76 mm) over her magazines and 2 inches (51 mm) over her machinery spaces.[4] Her six-inch turrets were protected by up to 4 inches (102 mm) of armour.[5]
One of Belfast's Supermarine Walrus aircraft, photographed in an Icelandic fjord, 1942–1943.
Belfast's aviation capability was provided by two catapult-launched Supermarine Walrus amphibious biplanes. These could be launched from a D1H catapult mounted aft of the forward superstructure and recoverable from the water by two cranes mounted on either side of the forward funnel. The aircraft, operated by the Fleet Air Arm's HMS Belfast Flight of 700 Naval Air Squadron, were stowed in two hangars in the forward superstructure.[3]
Second World War
1939–1942: commissioning, prize capture, mining and repairs
Belfast departed for Portsmouth on 3 August 1939 and was commissioned on 5 August 1939, less than a month before the outbreak of the Second World War. Her first captain was Captain G A Scott with a crew of 761 and her first assignment was to the Home Fleet's 2nd Cruiser Squadron. On 14 August, Belfast took part in her first exercise, Operation Hipper, in which she played the role of a German commerce raider attempting to escape into the Atlantic. By navigating the hazardous Pentland Firth, Belfast successfully evaded the Home Fleet.[18]
On 31 August 1939 Belfast was transferred to the 18th Cruiser Squadron. Based at Scapa Flow in the Orkney islands, 18th Cruiser Squadron was part of the British effort to impose a naval blockade on Germany. Germany invaded Poland the following day and Britain and France declared war on 3 September. At 11:40 that morning, Belfast received the message ‘Commence hostilities at once against Germany’.[19] On 8 September Belfast put to sea from Scapa Flow with the battlecruisers Hood, Renown, her sister ship Edinburgh and four destroyers, on a patrol intended to intercept German ships returning from Norway. In particular, they were to search for the Norddeutscher Lloyd liner Bremen, which had left New York (without passengers) on 30 August 1939. The Royal Navy was unaware that the liner had already docked safely in Murmansk on 6 September. No enemy vessels were found.[19] On 25 September, Belfast took part in a fleet operation to recover the submarine Spearfish, during which the ship was attacked by German aircraft, but suffered no damage.[20] On 1 October 1939 Belfast left Scapa Flow for a patrol in the North Sea. On 5 October Belfast intercepted and boarded a neutral Norwegian factory ship that was sailing in company with six whaling ships.[21] On 8 October the ship sighted the Swedish merchant ship C. P. Lilljevach but, in poor weather, did not intercept or board her. The following day she boarded Tai Yin, a Norwegian ship. Tai Yin had been listed by the Admiralty as suspicious, so a prize crew from Belfast sailed her to Kirkwall for investigation.[22] On 9 October Belfast intercepted a German liner, the 13,615-ton Cap Norte, 50 miles (80 km) north-west of the Faroe Islands. Disguised as a neutral Swedish vessel, SS Ancona, Cap Norte was attempting to return to Germany from Brazil; her passengers included German reservists.[18] Under the Admiralty's prize rules, Belfast's crew later received prize money.[23] On 12 October Belfast boarded the Swedish ship Uddeholm, which was also sailed to Kirkwall by a prize crew.[24] Returning to harbour, on the night of 13–14 October, Belfast was among the few ships anchored in Scapa Flow, following intelligence reports of an expected air raid. That night, the battleship Royal Oak was torpedoed by German submarine U-47, which had infiltrated the anchorage. On the morning following the sinking, Belfast left for Loch Ewe.[25]
On 10 November Belfast was taken off the northern patrol and reassigned to the 2nd Cruiser Squadron. This squadron was to form an independent striking force based at Rosyth. On 21 November, Belfast was to take part in the force's first sortie, a gunnery exercise. At 10:58 am she detonated a magnetic mine while leaving the Firth of Forth. The mine broke Belfast's keel and wrecked one of her engine and boiler rooms.[26] Twenty officers and men required hospital treatment for injuries caused by the explosion and a further 26 suffered minor injuries. One man, Painter 2nd Class Henry Stanton, was hospitalised but later died of a head injury, having been thrown against the deckhead by the blast.[27] The tugboat Krooman, towing gunnery targets for the exercise, released her targets and instead towed Belfast to Rosyth for initial repairs.[26]
Initial assessments of Belfast's damage showed that, while the mine had done little direct damage to the outer hull, causing only a small hole directly below one of the boiler rooms, the shock of the explosion had caused severe warping, breaking machinery, deforming the decks and causing the keel to hog (bend upwards) by three inches. On 4 January 1940 Belfast was decommissioned to care and maintenance status, becoming the responsibility of Rosyth Dockyard, and her crew dispersed to other vessels. By 28 June she had been repaired sufficiently to sail to Devonport, arriving on 30 June under the command of Lt Cdr H W Parkinson.[28]
Photograph of Belfast's damaged hull, taken while the ship was drydocked for repairs.
During her repairs, work was carried out to straighten, reconstruct and strengthen her hull. Her armour belt was also extended and thickened. Her armament was updated with newer 2-pounder pom-pom mountings and her anti-aircraft armament improved with eighteen 20 mm Oerlikon guns in five twin and eight single mountings, replacing two quadruple 0.5-inch Vickers guns. Belfast also received new fire control radars for her main, secondary and anti-aircraft guns. Her November 1942 radar fit included one Type 284 set and four Type 283 sets to direct the main armament, three Type 285 sets for the secondary guns and two Type 282 sets for the 2-pounder anti-aircraft guns. She also received a Type 273 general surface warning radar, Type 251 and 252 sets for identification friend or foe (IFF) purposes and a Type 281 and Type 242 for air warning. Her 1942 electronics suite also included a Type 270 echosounder.[6] Due to her increased topweight, a bulge was introduced into her hull amidships to improve stability and provide extra longitudinal strength. Her beam had increased to 69 ft (21 m) and her draught to 19 ft (5.8 m) forward and 20 ft 2 in (6.15 m) aft.[6]
1942–1943: recommissioning, Arctic convoys and Battle of North Cape
Main articles: Arctic convoys of World War II and Battle of North Cape
Rear Admiral Burnett in his cabin aboard HMS Belfast.
Belfast was recommissioned at Devonport on 3 November 1942, under the command of Captain Frederick Parham.[6][nb 1] On her return to the Home Fleet Belfast was made flagship of the 10th Cruiser Squadron, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Robert Burnett, who had previously commanded the Home Fleet's destroyer flotillas.[30] The squadron was responsible for the hazardous task of escorting Arctic convoys to the Soviet Union, operating from Scapa Flow and bases in Iceland. Her radar suite reduced Belfast's need for aerial surveillance and her aircraft were disembarked in June 1943.[31] Belfast spent 1943 engaged on convoy escort and blockade patrol duties, and on 5–6 October of the same year, formed part of the covering force during Operation Leader, an airstrike against German shipping in the waters of northern Norway near Bodø by the aircraft carrier USS Ranger.[32]
On 26 December 1943, Belfast participated in the Battle of North Cape. This battle, which occurred during the Arctic night, involved two strong Royal Navy formations; the first, Force One, comprised the cruisers Norfolk (with 8-inch guns), Sheffield and Belfast (the 10th Cruiser Squadron) with three destroyers; the second, Force Two, comprised the battleship Duke of York and the cruiser Jamaica with four destroyers. Bruce Fraser, C-in-C Home Fleet, expected and hoped that the German battleship Scharnhorst would sortie from its Norwegian base and attempt to attack Convoy JW 55B sailing from Scotland to Murmansk in the USSR. And indeed, on 25 December 1943, Christmas Day, Scharnhorst left port in northern Norway to attack Convoy JW 55B. The next day Force One, which had left Murmansk on the 23rd, encountered Scharnhorst, prevented her from attacking the convoy and forced her to retreat after being damaged by the British cruisers. As Scharnhorst attacked again at noon she was intercepted by Force Two and sunk by the combined formations. Belfast played an important role in the battle; as flagship of the 10th Cruiser Squadron, she was among the first to encounter Scharnhorst and coordinated the squadron's defence of the convoy. After Scharnhorst turned away from the convoy, Admiral Burnett in Belfast shadowed her by radar from outside visual range, enabling her interception by Duke of York.[33]
1944: Tirpitz and D-Day
After North Cape, Belfast refuelled at Kola Inlet before sailing for the United Kingdom, arriving at Scapa to replenish her fuel, ammunition and stores on New Year's Day 1944. Belfast sailed to Rosyth on 10 January, where her crew received a period of leave. February 1944 saw Belfast resume her Arctic convoy duties, and on 30 March 1944 Belfast sailed with the covering force of Operation Tungsten, a large carrier-launched Fleet Air Arm airstrike against the German battleship Tirpitz.[34] Moored in Altafjord in northern Norway, Tirpitz was the German navy's last surviving capital ship.[35] Forty-two Fairey Barracuda dive-bombers from HMS Victorious and HMS Furious made up the strike force; escorted by eighty fighters. Launched on 3 April, the bombers scored fourteen hits, immobilising Tirpitz for two months, with one Barracuda shot down.[34][35] Belfast underwent minor repairs at Rosyth from 23 April to 8 May, while her crew received a period of leave. On 8 May Belfast returned to Scapa Flow and carried the King during his pre-invasion visit to the Home Fleet.[36]
HMS Belfast's 4-inch guns bombarding German positions in Normandy at night.
For the invasion of Normandy Belfast, flying the flag of Rear-Admiral Frederick Dalrymple-Hamilton, was made headquarters ship of Bombardment Force E and was to support landings by British and Canadian forces in the Gold and Juno Beach sectors. On 2 June Belfast left the River Clyde for her bombardment areas. That morning Prime Minister Winston Churchill had announced his intention to go to sea with the fleet and witness the invasion from HMS Belfast. This was opposed by the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the First Sea Lord, Sir Andrew Cunningham. An intervention by the King eventually prevented Churchill from going.[36]
The invasion was to begin on 5 June but bad weather forced a 24-hour delay. At 5:30 am on 6 June, Belfast opened fire on a German artillery battery at Ver-sur-Mer, suppressing the guns until the site was overrun by British infantry of 7th Battalion, Green Howards. On 12 June Belfast supported Canadian troops moving inland from Juno Beach and returned to Portsmouth on 16 June to replenish her ammunition. She returned two days later for further bombardments. On the night of 6 July Belfast was threatened at anchor by German motor torpedo boats ("E-boats"). She evaded them by weighing anchor and moving to the concealment of a smoke screen.[37] Belfast fired her last round in anger in European waters on 8 July, in company with the monitor HMS Roberts and the battleship HMS Rodney, as part of Operation Charnwood.[nb 2] On 10 July she sailed for Scapa, the fighting in France having moved inland beyond the range of her guns.[37][39] During her five weeks off Normandy, Belfast had fired 1,996 rounds from her six-inch guns.[40]
1945: service in the Far East
On 29 July 1944, Captain Parham handed over command of HMS Belfast to Captain R M Dick, and until April 1945 Belfast underwent a refit to prepare for service against Japan in the Far East which improved her accommodation for tropical conditions and updated her anti-aircraft armament and fire control in order to counter expected kamikaze attacks by Japanese aircraft. By May 1945, Belfast mounted thirty-six 2-pounder guns in two eight-gun mounts, four quadruple mounts and four single mounts. She also mounted fourteen 20 mm Oerlikons.[41] Her two aftmost 4-inch mountings were removed and the remainder fitted with Remote Power Control. Her empty hangars were converted to crew accommodation and her aircraft catapult was removed.[7]
Belfast at anchor in Sydney Harbour, August 1945.
Her radar fit now included a Type 277 radar set to replace her Type 273 for surface warning. Her Type 281 air warning set was replaced by a single-antenna Type 281B set, while a Type 293Q was fitted for close-range height-finding and surface warning. A Type 274 set was fitted for main armament fire direction.[42][31] On 17 June 1945, with the war in Europe at an end, Belfast sailed for the Far East via Gibraltar, Malta, Alexandria, Port Said, Aden, Colombo and Sydney. By the time she arrived in Sydney on 7 August Belfast had been made flagship of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron of the British Pacific Fleet. While in Sydney Belfast underwent another short refit, supplementing her close-range armament with five 40 mm Bofors guns. Belfast had been expected to join in Operation Downfall, but this was forestalled by the Japanese surrender on 15 August 1945.[7]
Post-war service 1945–1950
Belfast arriving at Kure, Japan, in May 1950.
With the end of the war, Belfast remained in the Far East, conducting a number of cruises to ports in Japan, China and Malaya and sailing for Portsmouth on 20 August 1947. There she paid off into reserve and underwent a refit during which her turbines were opened for maintenance. She also received two more single Bofors guns, in place of two of her single 2-pounder mountings.[41] She was recommissioned on 22 September 1948 and, before returning to the Far East, visited her home city of Belfast, arriving on 20 October. The following day, 21 October 1948, the ship's company marked Trafalgar Day with a march through the city. The next day Belfast took charge of a silver ship's bell, a gift of the people of Belfast.[43] She sailed for Hong Kong on 23 October to join the Royal Navy's Far East Fleet, arriving in late December. By 1949, the political situation in China was precarious, with the Chinese Civil War moving towards its conclusion. As flagship of the 5th Cruiser Squadron, Belfast was the Far Eastern Station's headquarters ship during the April 1949 Amethyst Incident, in which a British sloop, HMS Amethyst, was trapped in the Yangtze River by the communist People's Liberation Army. Belfast remained in Hong Kong during 1949, sailing for Singapore on 18 January 1950. There she underwent a minor refit between January and March 1950, and in June she joined the Far East Fleet's summer cruise.[44] On 25 June 1950, while Belfast was visiting Hakodate in Japan, North Korean forces crossed the 38th Parallel, starting the Korean War.[45]
Korean War 1950–1952
March 1951: At anchor, Belfast fires a salvo against enemy troop concentrations on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula.
With the outbreak of the Korean War, Belfast became part of the United Nations naval forces. Originally part of the US Navy's Task Force 77, Belfast was detached in order to operate independently on 5 July 1950. During July and early August 1950, Belfast undertook coastal patrols and was based at Sasebo in Japan's Nagasaki Prefecture. From 19 July Belfast supported troops fighting around Yongdok, accompanied by USS Juneau. That day Belfast fired an accurate 350-round bombardment from her 6-inch guns and was praised by an American admiral as a "straight-shooting ship".[nb 3][46] On 6 August she sailed for the UK for a short (but needed) refit, after which she again set sail for the far east and arrived back at Sasebo on 31 January 1951.[46]
Belfast cruising alongside Ocean off Korea in 1952.
During 1951 Belfast mounted a number of coastal patrols and bombarded a variety of targets. On 1 June she arrived at Singapore for refitting, arriving back on patrol on 31 August. In September 1951 Belfast provided anti-aircraft cover for a salvage operation to recover a crashed enemy MiG-15 jet fighter. She conducted further bombardments and patrols before receiving a month's leave from operations, returning to action on 23 December.[47]
In 1952 Belfast continued her coastal patrol duties. On 29 July 1952 Belfast was hit by enemy fire while engaging an artillery battery on Wolsa-ri island. A 75 mm shell struck a forward compartment, killing a British sailor of Chinese origin in his hammock and wounding four other Chinese ratings. This was the only time Belfast was hit by enemy fire during her Korean service. On 27 September 1952 Belfast was relieved by two other Town-class cruisers, HMS Birmingham and HMS Newcastle, and sailed back to the UK. She had steamed over 80,000 miles (130,000 km) in the combat zone and fired more than 8,000 rounds from her 6-inch guns during the Korean War. She paid off in Chatham on 4 November 1952 and entered reserve at Devonport on 1 December.[48]
Modernisation and final commissions 1955–1963
After modernisation; showing the enclosed bridge, lattice mast and twin 40 mm Bofors mountings.
In reserve, Belfast's future was uncertain: post-war defence cuts made manpower-intensive cruisers excessively costly to operate and it was not until March 1955 that the decision was taken to modernise Belfast. Work began on 6 January 1956. Although described as only an extended refit, the cost of £5.5 million[49] was substantial for this large middle-aged cruiser. Changes included: individual MRS8 directors for the new twin Mk 5 40 mm and the twin 4-inch mount; the 4-inch guns training and elevation speed was increased to 20 degrees per second; and protecting key parts of the ship against nuclear, biological or chemical attack. This last consideration meant significantly enlarging and enclosing her bridge, creating a two-tiered, five-sided superstructure which radically altered her appearance. Her boiler rooms were also given remote control so they could still be run in the event of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack as the boiler rooms themselves were not protected. The most significant change was better accommodations for a smaller crew more fitting of post-war needs. Her tripod masts were replaced with lattice masts and timber decking replaced with steel everywhere except the quarterdeck. The overall effect was to create a cruiser significantly more habitable but different internally and to a degree in external appearance from wartime cruisers but still essentially a surface warfare, 'anti Sverdlov' cruiser, with anti-aircraft defence updated for point defence only out to 4 km (2.5 mi).[50]
Belfast recommissioned at Devonport on 12 May 1959.[51] Her close-range armament was standardised to six twin 40 mm Bofors guns and her close-range fire direction similarly standardised to eight close-range blindfire directors fitted with Type 262 radar.[31] Her 1959 radar fit included two Type 274 lock and follow radar directors for main armament direction against sea and land targets,[a] Type 277Q and 293Q for height-finding and surface warning, Type 960M for air warning and 974 for surface warning.[52] In order to save weight, her torpedo armament was removed.[52] Modern passive sonar Type 174 and 176 was installed and noise-reducing rubber insulation fitted to the propeller shaft.[53][page needed]
Belfast arrived in Singapore on 16 December 1959 and spent most of 1960 at sea on exercise, calling at ports in Hong Kong, Borneo, India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Australia, the Philippines and Japan. On 31 January 1961, Belfast recommissioned under the command of Captain Morgan Morgan-Giles. On her final foreign commission Belfast joined a number of exercises in the Far East and in December 1961 she provided the British guard of honour at Tanganyika's independence ceremony in Dar-es-Salaam.[54]
In 1961 plans were drawn up for the conversion of Belfast to a hybrid helicopter cruiser for amphibious operations. The two aft 6-inch turrets would be removed to accommodate a helicopter deck and two hangars capable of housing four Westland Wessex helicopters, while the 4-inch guns would be replaced by davits for four LCA landing craft. Only one of the ship's two boiler rooms would be used, which together with the reductions in armament would allow the ship's crew to be reduced so freeing up space to carry troops. Two infantry companies, 30 officers and 230 other ranks, would be carried. The plan was rejected in December 1961 as the time required to carry out the conversions was too great.[55]
Belfast at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1962.
The ship left Singapore on 26 March 1962 for the UK, sailing east via Hong Kong, Guam and Pearl Harbor, San Francisco, Seattle, British Columbia, Panama and Trinidad. She arrived at Portsmouth on 19 June 1962.
Recommissioned in July, she made a final visit to Belfast from 23 to 29 November before paying off into reserve on 25 February 1963. In July 1963 Belfast was recommissioned for the last time, with a crew of the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) and a number of Sea Cadets flying the flag of the Admiral Commanding Reserves, Rear Admiral Hugh Martell. Belfast sailed for Gibraltar in company with sixteen RNR minesweepers for a two-week exercise in the Mediterranean on 10 August.[56] Martell's obituarist considered this commission a well-judged contrivance which "did much to restore the confidence and image of the new RNR" which had undergone an acrimonious amalgamation with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve in 1958.[57]
Reserve, decommissioning and preservation efforts 1963–1971
Belfast returned to Devonport on 24 August 1963 and underwent a short refit to prepare her for paying off into reserve, which occurred in December 1963. In January 1966 parts of the ship and power systems were reactivated and from May 1966 to 1970 she served as an accommodation ship (taking over those duties from Sheffield), moored in Fareham Creek, for the Reserve Division at Portsmouth.[56] While Belfast lay at Fareham Creek the Imperial War Museum, Britain's national museum of twentieth-century conflict, became interested in preserving a 6-inch turret. The turret would represent a number of classes of cruiser (then disappearing from service) and would complement the museum's pair of British 15-inch naval guns.[38][56]
On 14 April 1967 museum staff visited Gambia, a Crown Colony-class cruiser also moored in Fareham Creek at the time. Following the visit the possibility was raised[by whom?] of preserving an entire ship. Gambia had already severely deteriorated, so attention turned to the possibility of saving Belfast. The Imperial War Museum, the National Maritime Museum and the Ministry of Defence established a joint committee, which reported in June 1968 that the scheme was practical and economic. However, in early 1971, David Eccles the Paymaster General decided against preservation.[56] On 4 May 1971 Belfast was "reduced to disposal" to await scrapping.[56]
HMS Belfast Trust 1971–1977
HMS Belfast
(Museum ship)
The bow of a large blue warship, moored on a river, with a bridge in the background.
HMS Belfast berthed in the Pool of London; Tower Bridge can be seen behind.
HMS Belfast is located in Central LondonHMS Belfast
Location within Central London
Established1971
LocationThe Queen's Walk, London, SE1 2JH
Visitors327,206 (2019)[9]
DirectorPhil Reed[58]
Public transit accessLondon Bridge station
Tower Hill Underground station
Websitewww.iwm.org.uk/visits/hms-belfast
Imperial War Museums
Churchill War RoomsHMS BelfastIWM DuxfordIWM LondonIWM North
Following the government's refusal, a private trust was formed to campaign for the ship's preservation. The Belfast Trust was established; its chairman was Rear-Admiral Sir Morgan Morgan-Giles, captain of Belfast from January 1961 to July 1962.[56] As Member of Parliament (MP) for Winchester, Morgan-Giles addressed the House of Commons on 8 March 1971. He described Belfast as being in "a really wonderful state of preservation" and that saving her for the nation represented a "case of grasping the last opportunity".[59] Among the MPs who spoke in support of Morgan-Giles was Gordon Bagier, MP for Sunderland South, who served as a Royal Marine gunner aboard Belfast and was present at both the sinking of Scharnhorst and the Normandy landings. Speaking for the government, the Under-secretary for the Navy, Peter Kirk, said that Belfast was "one of the most historic ships which the Navy has had in the last 20 years",[59] but that he could not prevent the stripping of the ship's removable equipment, as this was already too far advanced to be halted. He did, however, agree to postpone any decision on the scrapping of Belfast to allow the Trust to put together a formal proposal.[59]
Following the Trust's efforts, the government agreed to hand over Belfast to the Trustees in July 1971, with Vice Admiral Sir Donald Gibson as her first director. At a press conference in August the Trust announced "Operation Seahorse",[nb 4] the plan to bring Belfast to London. She was towed from Portsmouth to London via Tilbury, where she was fitted out as a museum.[60] She was towed to her berth above Tower Bridge on 15 October 1971 and settled in a huge hole that had been dredged in the river bed; then she was attached to two dolphins which guide her during the rise and fall of the tide.[61]
She was opened to the public on Trafalgar Day, 21 October 1971. The date was significant, as Belfast was the first naval vessel to be saved for the nation since HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.[62] Though no longer part of the Royal Navy, HMS Belfast was granted a special dispensation to allow her to continue to fly the White Ensign.[63]
Now a museum, the ship's opening was well received: in 1972 the HMS Belfast Trust won the British Tourist Authority's "Come to Britain" trophy.[64] Support for the ship's restoration was received from individuals, from the Royal Navy and from commercial businesses; in 1973, for example, the Worshipful Company of Bakers provided dummy bread for display in the ship's NAAFI and bakery.[64] By 1974, areas including the Admiral's bridge and forward boiler and engine rooms had been restored and fitted out. That year also saw the refurbishment of the ship's operations room by a team from HMS Vernon and the return of Belfast's six twin Bofors mounts, along with their fire directors.[64] By December 1975 Belfast had received 1,500,000 visitors.[64] In 1976 Belfast was reaffiliated with the successors to the British Army's Royal Ulster Rifles, the Royal Irish Rangers,[b][64] and in the same year the Royal Naval Amateur Radio Society restored the ship's Bridge Wireless Office to working order.[65][c]
Imperial War Museum 1978–present
By 1977, the financial position of the HMS Belfast Trust had become marginal, and the Imperial War Museum sought permission to merge the Trust into the museum. On 19 January 1978 the Secretary of State for Education and Science, Shirley Williams, accepted the proposal stating that HMS Belfast "is a unique demonstration of an important phase of our history and technology".[66] The ship was transferred to the museum on 1 March 1978,[64] and became the Imperial War Museum's third branch, Duxford aerodrome having been acquired in 1976. In October 1998, the HMS Belfast Association was formed to reunite former members of the ship's company.[67] The Imperial War Museum's Sound Archive also seeks to record oral history interviews with former crewmen.[64]
Preservation
A floating crane was moored alongside HMS Belfast during the installation of her new masts; September 2010.
Since being brought to London Belfast has twice been drydocked as part of the ship's long-term preservation. In 1982 she was docked at Tilbury and in June 1999 towed to Portsmouth. This was the first time she had been to sea in 28 years and thus required a certificate of seaworthiness from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.[64] While in dock, her entire hull was cleaned, blasted and repainted, her hull blanking plates inspected and an ultrasonic survey carried out.[68] She was not expected to require further drydocking until 2020.[64] While under tow to Portsmouth she was delayed by bad weather and arrived a day late: it had been intended that she would arrive on 6 June 1999, the fifty-fifth anniversary of the Normandy landings.[69]
During the maintenance work, Belfast's hull and topsides were repainted in her specific camouflage scheme officially known as Admiralty Disruptive Camouflage Type 25, which she had worn from November 1942 to July 1944. This was objected to by some, due to the anachronistic conflict between her camouflage, which reflects the majority of her active Second World War service, and her present configuration, which was the result of the ship's extended refit from January 1956 to May 1959.[64] With the establishment of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's (DCMS) Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships in 2006, Belfast was listed as part of the National Historic Fleet.[70][nb 5]
On 9 May 2010, a ceremony was held aboard Belfast to mark the 65th anniversary of end of the Second World War in Europe. Veterans of the Arctic convoys were in attendance to receive medals from the Russian Ambassador Yuri Fedotov. During the ceremony it was announced that, as part of the restoration of the ship, two new masts had been manufactured at the Severnaya Verf shipyard near Saint Petersburg.[72] The production of the masts, to replace corroded originals, had been supported by a number of Russian businesses at a reported cost of £500,000.[73][nb 6] The restoration of the masts involved removing the fittings from both masts, allowing them to be individually restored. The old masts were then cut down in sections, the new masts erected and the original fittings replaced.[76] On 19 October 2010, the new masts were dedicated at a ceremony attended by HMS Belfast veterans, by Prince Philip and officials from the Russian embassy and government.[77]
In 2017, it was announced that the third of the Royal Navy's Type 26 frigates would be named Belfast. At the same time, the IWM stated that the museum would be renamed as "HMS Belfast (1938)" as a means of avoiding confusion.[78][79]
Interpretation
Arctic messdeck in a forward compartment.
Museum-ship HMS Belfast, seen from a tourist boat.
When Belfast was first opened to the public, visitors were limited to the upper decks and forward superstructure.[64] As of 2011, nine decks are open to the public. Access to the ship is via a walkway which connects the quarterdeck with the pedestrianised footpath on the south bank of the River Thames. The Imperial War Museum's guidebook to HMS Belfast divides the ship into three broad sections.[80] The first of these, "Life on board the ship", focuses on the experience of serving at sea. Restored compartments, some populated with dressed figures, illustrate the crew's living conditions and the ship's various facilities such as the sick bay, galley, laundry, chapel, mess decks and NAAFI.[81] Since 2002, school and youth groups have been able to stay onboard Belfast overnight, sleeping in bunks on a restored 1950s mess deck.[64][82]
The second section, "The inner workings", below the waterline and protected by the ship's armoured belt, contains core mechanical, electrical and communication systems. As well as the engine and boiler rooms, other compartments include the transmitting station (housing the ship's Admiralty Fire Control Table, a mechanical computer), the forward steering position and one of Belfast's six-inch shell rooms and magazines.[83] The third section, "Action stations", includes the upper deck and forward superstructure with the ship's armament, fire control and command facilities.[84] Areas open to the public include the operations room, Admiral's bridge and gun direction platform. During 2011, two of these areas were reinterpreted. The operations room was restored to its appearance during Exercise Pony Express, a large British-Australian-American joint exercise held off North Borneo in 1961. The reinterpretation included an interactive audio-visual plotting table.[85][nb 7]
HMS Somerset alongside Belfast
In July 2011, the interior of Y Turret, the aftmost 6-inch turret, was redisplayed using audio-visual and atmospheric effects, seeking to evoke the experience of a gunner at the Battle of North Cape.[88] To emphasise the range of the ship's armament, the forward six-inch guns of A and B Turrets are trained on the London Gateway service area on the M1 motorway, approximately 12 miles (19 km) away on the outskirts of London.[89] A 4-inch gun mount and a shell hoist are kept in working order and used during blank-firing demonstrations by the Wavy Navy re-enactment group.[80][90] In addition to the various areas of the ship open to visitors, some compartments have been fitted out as dedicated exhibition space. Permanent exhibitions include "HMS Belfast in War and Peace" and "Life at Sea".[64] The cost of admission to HMS Belfast includes a multilingual audio guide.[91]
HMS Belfast also serves as the headquarters of the City of London Sea Cadet Corps,[92] and her prestigious location in central London as a result means she frequently has other vessels berthed alongside. In October 2007, Belfast hosted the naming ceremony of the lighthouse tender THV Galatea with the Queen and Prince Philip in attendance.[93]
2011 accident
On 29 November 2011, two workmen suffered minor injuries after a section of gangway, connected to the ship, collapsed during renovation works.[94] The ship was closed to visitors following the accident.[95] An investigation later established that the collapse of the gangway had been caused by a subcontractor cutting through the gangway's structure during refurbishment work.[96] Belfast re-opened on 18 May 2012.[97]
The closure delayed the construction of a new two-storey bank-side pavilion to replace Belfast's existing retail and admissions building. The structure, for which planning permission was received in October 2011, provides a ground floor café, shop and admissions area and a rooftop bar. Initially expected to be complete by summer 2012,[98] the pavilion opened in April 2013.[97]
Notes
The National Capitol Columns are a monument in Washington, D.C.'s National Arboretum. It is an arrangement of twenty-two Corinthian columns which were a part of the United States Capitol from 1828 to 1958, placed amid 20 acres (8.1 ha) of open meadow, known as the Ellipse Meadow.
The columns were quarried from sandstone near Aquia Creek in Virginia and transported to Washington on a barge. Old identification marks from the quarry are still visible on some stones.
They were originally built as part of the east portico of the Capitol in 1828, long before the familiar Capitol dome was completed. However, when the dome was completed in 1866, it appeared inadequately supported by the columns because the iron dome was significantly larger than the dome that the designer envisioned. To correct this visual illusion, an addition to the east side of the Capitol was constructed in 1958, and the columns were removed.
During the 1980s, Arboretum benefactor Ethel Garrett took up the cause of establishing a permanent home for the columns. Russell Page, a landscape designer and close friend of Garrett's, visited the Arboretum in September 1984, only months before his death. He determined that the east side of the Ellipse Meadow would be an ideal location, as the columns would be in scale with the more than 20 acres (8.1 ha) of open meadow available at the site.
The columns were relocated to this site and set on a foundation of stones from the steps that were initially on the east side of the Capitol. A reflecting pool, fed by a small rivulet of water running down a channel in the steps, reflects the columns and provides sound and movement.
A capital, or top portion, of one of the columns is located elsewhere in the meadow so that visitors can see the detail that the stone carver incorporated into the design. Acanthus leaves are clearly visible, and the many layers of paint applied while the column was in place at the Capitol are visible on portions of the stone.
Only 22 of the original 24 columns stand in the Ellipse Meadow. The remaining two columns are damaged and rest at the summit of Mount Hamilton, inside the Arboretum's Azalea Collection. Both are cracked in half, and neither has a base or capital.
The United States National Arboretum is an arboretum in northeast Washington, D.C., operated by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. It was established in 1927 by an act of Congress[1] after a campaign by USDA Chief Botanist Frederick Vernon Coville.
It is 446 acres (1.80 km2) in size and is located 2.2 miles (3.5 km) northeast of the Capitol building, with entrances on New York Avenue, NE and R Street, NE. The campus's gardens, collections, and features are connected by roadways that are 9.5 miles (15.3 km) long in total. In addition to the main campus in Washington, D.C., there are research locations at the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland and in McMinville, Tennessee.
The Arboretum functions as a major center of botanical research conducted by the USDA, including applied research on trees, shrubs, turf, and the development of new ornamental plants. In addition to a library and a historical collection (archive), the institution also has an extensive herbarium of over 800,000 specimens documenting wild and cultivated plant diversity.
The United States National Arboretum was formally established by an act of Congress on 4 March 1927. The act authorized the creation of the arboretum on what was then called Mount Hamilton, but it did not actually appropriate any funding to make that happen. That particular area was well-suited for the arboretum because it had varied soils and physiography, and no permanent buildings were then present. Ten months later, President Calvin Coolidge signed a law appropriating $300,000 for the National Arboretum. An initial 189 acres (76 ha) were purchased in 1928, with an additional 196 acres (79 ha) being acquired in 1934. Additional land was purchased in 1938, 1948, and 1949 that, along with subsequent minor expansions, contributed to the Arboretum's current footprint of 446 acres (180 ha).
On April 11, 1973, the U.S. National Arboretum was listed as a Category II Landmark in the National Register of Historic Places for its "importance which contributes significantly to the cultural heritage and visual beauty of the District of Columbia."
The construction of a Chinese garden, the National China Garden has been proposed for the National Arboretum since 2003. A groundbreaking was held in 2016 but the garden was reportedly cancelled due to counter-intelligence concerns regarding the construction of a large pagoda that could be used for collecting signals intelligence.
Gardens and collections
Museum, U.S. National Arboretum
Major gardens
Asian Collections
Japanese Woodland, Asian Valley, China Valley, and Korean Hillside
Fern Valley Native Plant Collections
Woodland, prairie, and Southeastern Coastal Plain
Flowering Tree Collection
The Friendship Garden and Arbor House
Gotelli Dwarf and Slow Growing Conifer Collection
Gotelli and Watnong Collections
Introduction Garden
National Bonsai & Penjing Museum
National Grove of State Trees
National Herb Garden
Historic roses, Knot Garden, and themed gardens
Washington Youth Garden
Single-genus groupings
National Herb Garden, U.S. National Arboretum
Azalea Collections
Glenn Dale Azalea Hillside, Morrison Garden, and Lee Garden
Dogwood Collection
Holly Collection
Magnolia Collection
National Maple Collection
National Boxwood Collection
Perennial Collections
The National Grove of State Trees (often just called the Grove) is a display of trees representing the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Fifty-one plots are arrayed over 30 acres (120,000 m²), each plot home to a grouping of a state's official tree species, or in a few cases, another species indigenous to the state but better suited to growing in the local climate.
Bald cypress that might be found in a Louisiana swamp grow just a short walk from pines and birches that grow in New England forests; young redwoods from California grow near cottonwoods that might grow in riverside forests in the otherwise treeless Great Plains States.
Although the mid-Atlantic region has mild weather, which allows the USDA to grow most of the designated species, it cannot successfully grow a few of the state trees such as the cabbage palmetto, which is the state tree of both Florida and South Carolina, or the kukui, which is Hawaii's state tree. Substitutes have been made for these species, so the arboretum could have a tree that is important in each of the states. Planting was undertaken in 1989 with the National Association of State Foresters, the American Forest Foundation, the USDA Forest Service, and the National Arboretum.
The centerpiece of the collection is the portal adjacent to the M Street parking lot. A wooden entrance arbor is dedicated to the memory of Jeanne Yeutter, wife of former Secretary of Agriculture Clayton Yeutter. Her sponsorship of the project helped the concept of a Grove of State Trees to be realized. The inscription on the arbor reads, "In Celebration of Jeanne Yeutter's Love of Trees". The arbor leads to a large plaza with a flagstone star and a wall adorned with pottery tiles designed and fabricated by Liza Bach, a Tennessee crafter. Each tile is individually cast with the name of each state and a raised image of the foliage of the state tree.
The collections of the National Bonsai and Penjing Museum are found throughout the Japanese, Chinese, and North American Pavilions, as well as a conservatory. The Mary E. Mrose Exhibit Gallery features season and rotating displays of bonsai as well as a collection of viewing stones.
Among the many bonsai accessions is a Japanese white pine cultivar, Pinus parviflora 'Miyajima', donated in 1975 by Masaru Yamaki to mark the United States' bicentenary. This tree was formerly in Hiroshima, Japan and survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The tree has been "in training" since 1625.
A Japanese temple bell hangs at the entrance to the Japanese Pavilion. Cast in bronze in 1798, the bell was donated by the National Bell Festival and installed on 1 January 2024. Featuring three panels of classical Japanese inscriptions, the bell stands 27 inches tall and weighs 80 pounds.
The National Capitol Columns, a set of twenty-two Corinthian columns which were once part of the East Portico of the United States Capitol building from 1828 to 1958, are located on a hilltop in the Ellipse Meadow. The foundation on which the columns sit is constructed from steps originally at the Capitol. The columns were moved from storage to the Arboretum starting in 1988 and dedicated in 1990.
Ruins of the United Brick Corporation Brick Complex sit along the northwestern border of the Arboretum. They can be easily viewed from the New York Avenue parking lot. The kilns and associated structures, which the USDA acquired in 1976, were added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1978. The site is not accessible to the public.
The U.S. National Arboretum is home to a pair of mated bald eagles named Mr. President and The First Lady. The pair began nesting at the Arboretum in 2014; the first eagles to nest there since 1947. An eagle nest cam sponsored by the American Eagle Foundation provides a livestream video feed of the nest during mating season.
A small collection of public artwork, including Split Ritual by American sculptor Beverly Pepper, can be found at the Arboretum. The piece is made of ductile iron and stands at 10 ft (3.0 m) H x 44 in (110 cm) W x 100 in (250 cm) D. It consists of four vertical pieces that resemble large tools. They are placed in a circle on top of a flat, doughnut-shaped foundation. The sculpture was dedicated in 1993.
In 2020, the U.S. National Arboretum re-introduced popular koi (fish) to the reflecting pool near the administration building.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly called Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with Maryland to its north and east. Washington, D.C., was named for George Washington, a Founding Father and first president of the United States. The district is named for Columbia, the female personification of the nation.
Washington, D.C., anchors the southern end of the Northeast megalopolis, one of the nation's largest and most influential cultural, political, and economic regions. As the seat of the U.S. federal government and several international organizations, the city is an important world political capital. The city had 20.7 million domestic visitors and 1.2 million international visitors, ranking seventh among U.S. cities as of 2022.
The U.S. Constitution in 1789 called for the creation of a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Congress. As such, Washington, D.C., is not part of any state, and is not one itself. The Residence Act, adopted on July 16, 1790, approved the creation of the capital district along the Potomac River. The city was founded in 1791, and the 6th Congress held the first session in the unfinished Capitol Building in 1800 after the capital moved from Philadelphia. In 1801, the District of Columbia, formerly part of Maryland and Virginia and including the existing settlements of Georgetown and Alexandria, was officially recognized as the federal district; initially, the city was a separate settlement within the larger federal district. In 1846, Congress returned the land originally ceded by Virginia, including the city of Alexandria. In 1871, it created a single municipality for the remaining portion of the district, although its locally elected government only lasted three years and elective city-government did not return for over a century. There have been several unsuccessful efforts to make the district into a state since the 1880s; a statehood bill passed the House of Representatives in 2021 but was not adopted by the U.S. Senate. Designed in 1791 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the city is divided into quadrants, which are centered around the Capitol Building and include 131 neighborhoods. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 689,545, making it the 23rd-most populous city in the U.S., third-most populous city in the Southeast after Jacksonville and Charlotte, and third-most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic after New York City and Philadelphia. Commuters from the city's Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the city's daytime population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, which includes parts of Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, is the country's seventh-largest metropolitan area, with a 2023 population of 6.3 million residents.
The city hosts the U.S. federal government and the buildings that house government headquarters, including the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court Building, and multiple federal departments and agencies. The city is home to many national monuments and museums, located most prominently on or around the National Mall, including the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument. It hosts 177 foreign embassies and serves as the headquarters for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, and other international organizations. Many of the nation's largest industry associations, non-profit organizations, and think tanks are based in the city, including AARP, American Red Cross, Atlantic Council, Brookings Institution, National Geographic Society, The Heritage Foundation, Wilson Center, and others.
A locally elected mayor and 13-member council have governed the district since 1973, though Congress retains the power to overturn local laws. Washington, D.C., residents are, on the federal level, politically disenfranchised since the city's residents do not have voting representation in Congress; the city's residents elect a single at-large congressional delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives who has no voting authority. The city's voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment.
The District of Columbia was created in 1801 as the federal district of the United States, with territory previously held by the states of Maryland and Virginia ceded to the federal government of the United States for the purpose of creating its federal district, which would encompass the new national capital of the United States, the City of Washington. The district came into existence, with its own judges and marshals, through the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801; previously it was the Territory of Columbia. According to specific language in the U.S. Constitution, it was 100 square miles (259 km2).
The district encompassed three small cities: Alexandria, formerly in Virginia, Georgetown, formerly Maryland, and the deliberately planned central core, the City of Washington. Both the White House and the United States Capitol were already completed and in use by 1800 as called for by the 1791 L'Enfant Plan for the City of Washington, although the city was not formally chartered until 1802. Beyond those cities, the remainder of the district was farmland organized by the 1801 Act into two counties, Washington County, D.C., on the Maryland side, and Alexandria County, D.C., on the Virginia side, encompassing today's Arlington County, Virginia, and the independent city of Alexandria.
The district was governed directly by the U.S. Congress from the beginning. Alexandria City and County were ceded back from the federal government to the commonwealth of Virginia in 1846, in a process known as retrocession, anticipating the 1850 ban on slave trading (but not slavery) in the district.
Washington and Georgetown retained their separate charters for seventy years, until the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871. That act cancelled the charters of the towns and brought the entire area within the district borders under one district government, ending any distinction between "the District of Columbia" and "Washington", making the two terms effectively synonymous.
Main article: History of Washington, D.C. § Establishment
Congress determined, in the Residence Act of 1790, that the nation's capital be on the Potomac, between the Anacostia River and today's Williamsport, Maryland, and in a federal district up to 10 miles square. The exact location was to be determined by President George Washington, familiar with the area from his nearby home and properties at Mt. Vernon, Virginia.
Its trans-state location reflected a compromise between the Southern and Northern states. Virginia lobbied for the selection, an idea opposed by New York and Pennsylvania, both of which had previously housed the nation's capital. Maryland, whose State House was older than that of Virginia, and like Virginia a slave state, was chosen as a compromise. At Washington's request the City of Alexandria was included in the district, though with the provision that no federal buildings could be built there. The new capital district was at about the center of the country.
About 2/3 of the original district was in Maryland and 1/3 in Virginia, and the wide Potomac in the middle. The future district was surveyed in 1791–92; 24 of its surviving stone markers are in Maryland, 12 in Virginia. (See Boundary Markers of the original District of Columbia.) Washington decided that the capital's location would be located between the mouth of the Anacostia River and Georgetown, which sits at the Potomac's head of navigation.
As specified by Article One of the United States Constitution, in fact as one of the enumerated powers of section 8, Congress assumed direct administrative control of the federal district upon its creation by the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1801. There was no district governor or executive body. The U.S. House created a permanent Committee on the District of Columbia in January 1808, and the U.S. Senate established its counterpart in December 1816. These committees remained active until 1946. Thus the U.S. Congress managed the detailed day-to-day governmental needs of the district through acts of Congress—an act authorizing the purchase of fire engines and construction of a firehouse, for instance, or an act to commission three new city streets and closing two others in Georgetown.
The five component parts of the district operated their own governments at the lower level. The three cities within the district (Georgetown, the City of Washington, and Alexandria) operated their own municipal governments, each with a continuous history of mayors. Robert Brent, the first mayor of the City of Washington, was appointed directly by Thomas Jefferson in 1802 after the city's organization that year.
The remaining rural territory within the district belonged either to Alexandria County D.C., (district land west of the Potomac outside the City of Alexandria, formerly in Virginia) or to Washington County, D.C., (the unincorporated east side, formerly in Maryland, plus islands and riverbed). Both counties operated with boards of commissioners for county-level government functions. Both counties were governed by levy courts made of presidentially appointed Justices of the Peace. Prior to 1812, the levy courts had a number of members defined by the president, but after that Washington County had 7 members. In 1848, the Washington County levy court was expanded to 11 members, and in 1863 that was reduced by two to nine members.
The language of the establishing act of 1801 omitted any provision for district residents to vote for local, state-equivalent, or federal representatives.
This omission was not related to any constitutional restriction or, apparently, any rationale at all. Legal scholars in 2004 called the omission of voting rights a simple "historical accident", pointing out that the preceding Residence Act of July 16, 1790, exercising the same constitutional authority over the same territory around the Potomac, had protected the votes of the district's citizens in federal and state elections. Those citizens had indeed continued to cast ballots, from 1790 through 1800, for their U.S. House representatives and for their Maryland and Virginia state legislators. James Madison had written in the Federalist No. 43 that the citizens of the federal district should "of course" have their will represented, "derived from their own suffrages." The necessary language simply did not appear in the 1801 legislation.
The prospect of disenfranchisement caused immediate concern. One voice from a public meeting in January 1801, before the bill's passage, compared their situation to those who fought against British taxation without representation in the Revolutionary War—20 years prior. Despite these complaints the bill went into effect as written. Given exclusive and absolute political control, Congress did not act to restore any of these rights until the 1960s. The district still has no voting representation in Congress, and the decisions of its long-sought local government established in 1973 are still subject to close congressional review, annulment, and budget control.
Residents of Alexandria saw no economic advantage from being in the District. No federal buildings could be built on the south side of the Potomac, nor did they have representation in Congress. Some resistance was expressed immediately. One leading figure in the fight to retrocede through the 1820s was Thomson Francis Mason, who was elected mayor of Alexandria, D.C., four times between 1827 and 1830. Also Alexandria was a center of the profitable slave trade – the largest slave-trading company in the country, Franklin and Armfield, was located there – and Alexandria residents were afraid that if the District banned the slave trade, as seemed likely, this industry would leave the city.
To prevent this, Arlington held a referendum, through which voters petitioned Congress and the state of Virginia to return the portion of the District of Columbia south of the Potomac River (Alexandria County) to Virginia. On July 9, 1846, Congress retroceded Alexandria County to Virginia, after which the district's slave traders relocated to Alexandria. The district's slave trade was outlawed in the Compromise of 1850. The penalty for bringing a slave into the district for sale, was freedom for the slave. Southern senators and congressmen resisted banning slavery altogether in the District, to avoid setting a precedent. The practice remained legal in the district until after secession, with the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act signed by Lincoln on April 16, 1862, which established the annual observance of Emancipation Day.
The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 created a single new district corporation governing the entire federal territory, called the District of Columbia, thus dissolving the three major political subdivisions of the district (Port of Georgetown, the City of Washington, and Washington County) and their governments. By this time the county also contained other small settlements and nascent suburbs of Washington outside its bounded limits, such as Anacostia, which had been incorporated in 1854 as Uniontown; Fort Totten, dating at least to the Civil War; and Barry Farm, a large tract bought by the Freedmen's Bureau and granted to formerly enslaved and free-born African Americans in 1867.
The newly restructured district government provided for a governor appointed by the president for a 4-year term, with an 11-member council also appointed by the president, a locally elected 22-member assembly, and a five-man Board of Public Works charged with modernizing the city. The first vice-chair of that Board of Public Works was real-estate developer Alexander Robey Shepherd, the architect and proponent of the consolidating legislation. From September 1873 to June 1874, Shepherd would serve as the second, and final, governor of the District.
The Seal of the District of Columbia features the date 1871, recognizing the year the district's government was incorporated.
Cats are always sleepy... Hard life.
This photo is copyrighted, you can't use it without my permission.
~ ~ My Website - My Blog - Facebook - 500px - Lenstats ~ ~
Doors Open Toronto 2014
The bank vault door of the Camera Permanent Building. The main branch / head office of the Canada Permanent Mortgage Corporation opened in 1930 at 320 Bay Street. The Art Deco style office tower was designed by F. Hilton Wilkes, with brass detailing, bronze ornamentation, carved stone work, and chandelier lighting in the main entry. In 2001, CIBC Mellon, bought and restored the building.
Processing alchemy with Nik Color Efex detail extractor and glamour glow.
Named: "Merida".
First flown as an A321-211 with the Airbus test registration D-AVZN, this aircraft was delivered to BBAM Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management and leased to Iberia as EC-IJN in Nov-02. It was converted to A321-212 standard in May-13. It was sold to Aircastle Leasing in Dec-18 while the lease to Iberia continued.
After a 23.3 year working life the aircraft was ferried to St. Athan, Wales, UK in Mar-25 and returned to the lessor as 2-CIJN. Permanently retired?
40047 (HM) departs from Healey Mills yard at 1134 on 17/09/82, with an Engineers train consisting of Tracklayer, Mess Van & a variety of loaded ballast wagons (Dogfish, Mermaids & Sealions), as 31132 / 40192 waited to follow.
After about 20 exposures, the camera started to shred the film, this is the remains of the last frame taken with a Praktica IV camera in week 157 of my 52 film cameras in 52 weeks project:
www.flickr.com/photos/tony_kemplen/collections/72157623113584240
Agfa Vista film from Poundland, developed in Tetenal C41 chemistry.
Two permanent way staff are deep in discussion by the Leeds / Liverpool canal bridge at Maghull during engineering work on a miserable Sunday 11th August 1985. The down line has been lifted overnight in preparation for new track being installed during the day. A 47 stands with a brake van towards Old Roan in the distance.
The wet weather gear being worn by the staff shows what an inclement summer's day it was!
For our Dailyu Challenge - Permanent
Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission. © Barbara Dickie. All rights reserved.
Epcot is the second of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, near the city of Orlando. It opened as EPCOT Center on October 1, 1982, and spans 300 acres (120 ha), more than twice the size of the Magic Kingdom park. It is dedicated to the celebration of human achievement, namely technological innovation and international culture, and is often referred to as a "Permanent World's Fair." In 2013, the park hosted approximately 11.22 million guests, making it the fifth most visited theme park in the world. The park is represented by Spaceship Earth, a geodesic sphere that also serves as an attraction. Epcot was known as EPCOT Center until 1994, when it was later renamed Epcot '94, then Epcot '95 the following year.
EPCOT is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow; a Utopian city of the future planned by Walt Disney, often interchanging "city" and "community." In Walt Disney's words: "EPCOT will take its cue from the new ideas and new technologies that are now emerging from the creative centers of American industry. It will be a community of tomorrow that will never be completed, but will always be introducing, and testing, and demonstrating new materials and new systems. And EPCOT will always be a showcase to the world of the ingenuity and imagination of American free enterprise." His original vision was for a model community which would have been home to twenty thousand residents and a test bed for city planning as well as organization. It was to have been built in the shape of a circle with businesses and commercial areas at its center with community buildings, schools, and recreational complexes around it while residential neighborhoods would line the perimeter. This radial plan concept is strongly influenced by British planner Ebenezer Howard and his Garden Cities of To-morrow. Transportation would have been provided by monorails and PeopleMovers (like that in Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland.) Automobile traffic would be kept underground, leaving pedestrians safe above ground. The original model of EPCOT can still be seen by passengers riding the Tomorrowland Transit Authority attraction in the Magic Kingdom park; when the PeopleMover enters the showhouse for Stitch's Great Escape!, the remaining portion of the model is visible on the left (when facing forward) behind glass. Walt Disney was not able to obtain funding and permission to start work on his Florida property until he agreed to first build Magic Kingdom. He died nearly five years before Magic Kingdom opened.
After Disney's death, The Walt Disney Company decided that it did not want to be in the business of running a city without Walt's guidance. The model community of Celebration, Florida has been mentioned as a realization of Disney's original vision, but Celebration is based on concepts of new urbanism which is radically different from Disney's modernist and futurist visions. However, the idea of EPCOT was instrumental in prompting the state of Florida to create the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) and the Cities of Bay Lake and Reedy Creek (now Lake Buena Vista), a legislative mechanism allowing the Walt Disney Company to exercise governmental powers over Walt Disney World. Control over the RCID is vested in the landowners of the district, and the promise of an actual city in the district would have meant that the powers of the RCID would have been distributed among the landowners in EPCOT. Because the idea of EPCOT was never implemented, the Disney Corporation remained almost the sole landowner in the district allowing it to maintain control of the RCID and the cities of Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista; Disney further cemented this control by deannexing Celebration from the RCID.
The original plans for the park showed indecision over the park's purpose. Some Imagineers wanted it to represent the cutting edge of technology, while others wanted it to showcase international cultures and customs. At one point, a model of the futuristic park was pushed together against a model of a World's Fair international theme, and the two were combined. The park was originally named EPCOT Center to reflect the ideals and values of the city. It was constructed for an estimated $800 million to $1.4 billion and took three years to build, at the time the largest construction project on Earth. The parking lot serving the park is 141 acres (57 ha) (including bus area) and can accommodate 11,211 vehicles (grass areas hold additional 500+ vehicles). Before it opened on October 1, 1982, Walt Disney World Ambassador Genie Field introduced E. Cardon Walker, Disney's chairman and CEO, who dedicated EPCOT Center. Walker also presented a family with lifetime passes for the two Walt Disney World theme parks. His remarks were followed by Florida Governor Bob Graham and William Ellinghouse, president of AT&T.
As part of the opening-day ceremony, dancers and band members performed We've Just Begun to Dream. The Sherman Brothers wrote a song especially for the occasion entitled "The World Showcase March". During the finale, doves and many sets of balloons were released. Performing groups representing countries from all over the world performed in World Showcase. Water was gathered from major rivers across the globe and emptied into the park's fountain of nations ceremonial containers to mark the opening. Located at the front of the park is a plaque bearing Walker's opening-day dedication, as seen above.
Future World consists of a variety of pavilions that explore innovative aspects and applications including technology and science. Future World also serves as the park's main entrance and features the park's iconic landmark, Spaceship Earth, a large geodesic sphere structure which houses a themed attraction inside. Originally, each pavilion of Future World featured a unique circular logo which was featured on park signage and the attractions themselves. The logos, including that of Epcot itself, have been phased out over recent years, but some remnants are still scattered throughout the park; the pavilions are now instead identified by name and recognized by the main attraction(s) housed inside. The various pavilions located in Future World include the following:
Spaceship Earth
Universe of Energy
Mission: Space
Test Track
Innoventions East
Innoventions West
The Seas with Nemo & Friends
The Land
Imagination!
Wonders of Life/Festival Center (Seasonal Operation)
Corporate sponsorships
Each pavilion was initially sponsored by a corporation which helped fund its construction and maintenance in return for the corporation's logos and some marketing elements appearing throughout the pavilion. For example, Universe of Energy was sponsored by Exxon from 1982 to 2004, and The Land was sponsored by Kraft from 1982 to 1993, then Nestlé from 1993 to 2009. Each pavilion contains a private "VIP area" for its sponsor with offices, lounges, and reception areas hidden away from regular park guests. While some pavilions still retain active sponsorships, in recent years several pavilions have lost sponsorships due to lack of interest from partner companies in renewing expiring agreements. After General Electric left Horizons in 1993, it closed for a couple of years, then reopened temporarily while neighboring attractions Universe of Energy and World of Motion were renovated. Horizons closed permanently on January 9, 1999 and was demolished in the summer of 2000 to make room for the opening of Mission: SPACE on October 9, 2003. Metlife sponsored Wonders of Life from 1989 to 2001, until that area was closed. However, the Wonders Of Life pavilion is still mostly intact and is used for both the Flower and Garden Festival and the Food and Wine Festival. Current active sponsorships include the following:
Test Track opened in the former World of Motion pavilion and is currently sponsored by Chevrolet
Mission: SPACE is currently sponsored by Hewlett-Packard
Spaceship Earth is currently sponsored by Siemens which also sponsors the park's nighttime show IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth.
Living with the Land is currently sponsored by Chiquita.
Individual small attractions and exhibits within or nearby the Innoventions pavilions are sponsored by various companies such as THINK presented by IBM, Where's the Fire? and Play It Safe presented by Liberty Mutual, Club Cool presented by Coca-Cola, The Great Piggy Bank Adventure presented by T. Rowe Price, Habit Heroes presented by Florida Blue Cross and The Sum Of All Thrills presented by Raytheon.
from Wikipedia
Wylie Permanent Camping Co. Series 2
The imposing lava arch of the North Entrance, through which the Wylie coaches have passed, was dedicated by Pres. Roosevelt, April 24, 1903. On its north face is the inscroption "For the benefit and enjoyment of the people."
postmarked 1907
7 Days of Shooting/Week #23/Contrasts/Unusual PoV Tuesday
The Edinburgh Christmas funfair has taken up residence beside the Scott Monument. One has stood there for a hundred and sixty eight years; the other will be dismantled in the new year.
I had a business meeting in mid-town Manhattan a couple of weeks ago -- and, as usual, I arrived at the appointed location quite early (I schedule things this way just in case there are traffic delays enroute).
So, with half an hour to kill, I found a quiet spot on the plaza of my client's office building, and pulled out my little pocket camera to photograph anyone interesting who happened to wander by. (By contrast, I had been using my iPhone to photograph random pedestrians on the street while I was traveling from home to my appointment.)
I thought this scene was somewhat intriguing, mostly because I couldn't figure out what the strange conical structure was all about. I don't think it was a spaceship at rest ... but hey, who knows? This is New York, where all kinds of things happen -- and if aliens ever did decide to visit the U.S., of course they would come to New York first. And they would probably be so intrigued that they would decide to stay forever, and they would leave their spaceship behind while they went shopping on Fifth Avenue ....
As for the flag in the background: I have to admit that I didn't recognize it right away. In fact, it took a fair amount of searching on the Internet (why do I even bother with these things?) to learn that it's the flag of Togo. But I'm sure you've been wondering, too, and you may well be interested to learn, as I did, that "the flag of Togo was officially adopted on April 27, 1960. It features a white 'Star of Hope' on a field of red, and the red of that field is said to represent the blood shed by countrymen during the internal struggle for independence. Green is symbolic of the country's agricultural wealth, while yellow is symbolic of mineral wealth. the five horizontal stripes represent the five regions of Togo."
Naturally, this raises the question: what the heck is the flag of Togo doing there in the background? I thought you might ask, so I looked that up too: it turns out that the Permanent Mission of Togo to the United Nations is located at 112 East 40th Street in New York City, which is indeed the cross-street in the background of this picture. I could give you the phone number and fax number of the "permanent mission," too, but then the place would be swamped with phone calls from people with oddball questions ... and they would somehow trace it back to me, and then I would be in all kinds of trouble. So you'll have to get that information on your own ...
Permanent resident in Las Vegas, Nevada, this yellow-headed, tiny & tough, acrobatic little songbird is one of the most characteristic species of the warm southwest deserts. Many at Sunset Park, although surprisingly, this one turned up foraging and flitting about above my car in the parking lot of a coffee shop!
The evolutionary relationships of the Verdin is unclear, and the species is currently thought to be the only American representative of a bird family that is otherwise restricted to Eurasia—the Penduline Tits.
Permanent speed restriction signs above three mainline tracks are hung in the catenary at Halethorpe MD along Amtrak's' P&W Line.
Rollei Retro 80S, Rolleicord lll
This U Pe Kin official sheet is a high-gravity diplomatic treasure for the Terence J. Cox Archive. It documents the service of one of Myanmar's (Burma's) most historically significant diplomats at a time when the nation was a leading voice in the early United Nations.
The Signatory: His Excellency U Pe Kin (1912–2004)
U Pe Kin (also spelled Pe Khin) was a titanic figure in Burmese history and diplomacy.
The Architect of Peace: Before his UN tenure, he was a primary negotiator of the 1947 Panglong Agreement, the foundational document that united Burma's ethnic groups and led to independence from British rule.
The UN Tenure: He served as the Permanent Representative of Burma to the United Nations in New York from 1952 to 1956.
Security Council Service: During his tenure, Burma served as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, making U Pe Kin the voice of his nation during the height of the Korean War and early Cold War decolonization.
Forensic Details & Provenance
The Address: 888 Madison Avenue, New York 21, N.Y. This was the official location of the Burmese Delegation during the early 1950s. It was a prime "diplomatic row" address, situated just blocks from the homes of other high-level delegates.
The Format: A single sheet of official delegation stationery. In the 2026 market, "Full Sheet" autographs on official letterhead are significantly more valuable than small clipped signatures because they preserve the administrative history of the mission.
The Collector: This pull confirms Terence J. Cox (or his source) was successfully targeting the "Founding Generation" of UN diplomats during the early 1950s.
U Pe Kin is regarded as a national hero in Myanmar. An official signed sheet from his UN tenure is a museum-quality artifact that bridges the gap between Burma's founding and its global presence in the 1950s.
Historical Significance:
U Pe Kin was a legendary Burmese diplomat and a central architect of the historic 1947 Panglong Agreement, which led to Burma’s independence. During his tenure as Permanent Representative (1952–1956), he represented his nation on the UN Security Council during the critical early years of the Cold War. This official document captures the "Golden Era" of Burmese diplomacy, when the nation was a leading voice for non-alignment and international peace.
UNTITLED Polychromed Ceramic Vessel, undated | Lidya Buzio (1948 - 2014) Lidya Buzio was born in Uruguay and later moved to the United States. She was known for ceramic pots that were decorated with scenes from New York City.
Artwork painted live for the Semi-Permannet x GPO party/exhibition
www.ambushgallery.com/past-events/semi-permanent-takes-ov...
In spring of 2007, the Albertina also received the previously based in Salzburg "Batliner Collection" as unrestricted permanent loan. The collection of Rita and Herbert Batliner includes important works by modern masters, from French impressionism to German expressionism of the "Blue Rider" and the "bridge" to works of the Fauvist or the Russian avant-garde from Chagall to Malevich.
de.wikipedia.org / wiki / Albertina_ (Vienna)
The Albertina
The architectural history of the Palais
(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)
Image: The oldest photographic view of the newly designed Palais Archduke Albrecht, 1869
"It is my will that the expansion of the inner city of Vienna with regard to a suitable connection of the same with the suburbs as soon as possible is tackled and at this on Regulirung (regulation) and beautifying of my Residence and Imperial Capital is taken into account. To this end I grant the withdrawal of the ramparts and fortifications of the inner city and the trenches around the same".
This decree of Emperor Franz Joseph I, published on 25 December 1857 in the Wiener Zeitung, formed the basis for the largest the surface concerning and architecturally most significant transformation of the Viennese cityscape. Involving several renowned domestic and foreign architects a "master plan" took form, which included the construction of a boulevard instead of the ramparts between the inner city and its radially upstream suburbs. In the 50-years during implementation phase, an impressive architectural ensemble developed, consisting of imperial and private representational buildings, public administration and cultural buildings, churches and barracks, marking the era under the term "ring-street style". Already in the first year tithe decided a senior member of the Austrian imperial family to decorate the facades of his palace according to the new design principles, and thus certified the aristocratic claim that this also "historicism" said style on the part of the imperial house was attributed.
Image: The Old Albertina after 1920
It was the palace of Archduke Albrecht (1817-1895), the Senior of the Habsburg Family Council, who as Field Marshal held the overall command over the Austro-Hungarian army. The building was incorporated into the imperial residence of the Hofburg complex, forming the south-west corner and extending eleven meters above street level on the so-called Augustinerbastei.
The close proximity of the palace to the imperial residence corresponded not only with Emperor Franz Joseph I and Archduke Albert with a close familial relationship between the owner of the palace and the monarch. Even the former inhabitants were always in close relationship to the imperial family, whether by birth or marriage. An exception here again proves the rule: Don Emanuel Teles da Silva Conde Tarouca (1696-1771), for which Maria Theresa in 1744 the palace had built, was just a close friend and advisor of the monarch. Silva Tarouca underpins the rule with a second exception, because he belonged to the administrative services as Generalhofbaudirektor (general court architect) and President of the Austrian-Dutch administration, while all other him subsequent owners were highest ranking military.
In the annals of Austrian history, especially those of military history, they either went into as commander of the Imperial Army, or the Austrian, later kk Army. In chronological order, this applies to Duke Carl Alexander of Lorraine, the brother-of-law of Maria Theresa, as Imperial Marshal, her son-in-law Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, also field marshal, whos adopted son, Archduke Charles of Austria, the last imperial field marshal and only Generalissimo of Austria, his son Archduke Albrecht of Austria as Feldmarschalil and army Supreme commander, and most recently his nephew Archduke Friedrich of Austria, who held as field marshal from 1914 to 1916 the command of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Despite their military profession, all five generals conceived themselves as patrons of the arts and promoted large sums of money to build large collections, the construction of magnificent buildings and cultural life. Charles Alexander of Lorraine promoted as governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1741 to 1780 the Academy of Fine Arts, the Théâtre de Ja Monnaie and the companies Bourgeois Concert and Concert Noble, he founded the Academie royale et imperial des Sciences et des Lettres, opened the Bibliotheque Royal for the population and supported artistic talents with high scholarships. World fame got his porcelain collection, which however had to be sold by Emperor Joseph II to pay off his debts. Duke Albert began in 1776 according to the concept of conte Durazzo to set up an encyclopedic collection of prints, which forms the core of the world-famous "Albertina" today.
Image : Duke Albert and Archduchess Marie Christine show in family cercle the from Italy brought along art, 1776. Frederick Henry Füger.
1816 declared to Fideikommiss and thus in future indivisible, inalienable and inseparable, the collection 1822 passed into the possession of Archduke Carl, who, like his descendants, it broadened. Under him, the collection was introduced together with the sumptuously equipped palace on the Augustinerbastei in the so-called "Carl Ludwig'schen fideicommissum in 1826, by which the building and the in it kept collection fused into an indissoluble unity. At this time had from the Palais Tarouca by structural expansion or acquisition a veritable Residenz palace evolved. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen was first in 1800 the third floor of the adjacent Augustinian convent wing adapted to house his collection and he had after 1802 by his Belgian architect Louis de Montoyer at the suburban side built a magnificent extension, called the wing of staterooms, it was equipped in the style of Louis XVI. Only two decades later, Archduke Carl the entire palace newly set up. According to scetches of the architect Joseph Kornhäusel the 1822-1825 retreaded premises presented themselves in the Empire style. The interior of the palace testified from now in an impressive way the high rank and the prominent position of its owner. Under Archduke Albrecht the outer appearance also should meet the requirements. He had the facade of the palace in the style of historicism orchestrated and added to the Palais front against the suburbs an offshore covered access. Inside, he limited himself, apart from the redesign of the Rococo room in the manner of the second Blondel style, to the retention of the paternal stock. Archduke Friedrich's plans for an expansion of the palace were omitted, however, because of the outbreak of the First World War so that his contribution to the state rooms, especially, consists in the layout of the Spanish apartment, which he in 1895 for his sister, the Queen of Spain Maria Christina, had set up as a permanent residence.
Picture: The "audience room" after the restoration: Picture: The "balcony room" around 1990
The era of stately representation with handing down their cultural values found its most obvious visualization inside the palace through the design and features of the staterooms. On one hand, by the use of the finest materials and the purchase of masterfully manufactured pieces of equipment, such as on the other hand by the permanent reuse of older equipment parts. This period lasted until 1919, when Archduke Friedrich was expropriated by the newly founded Republic of Austria. With the republicanization of the collection and the building first of all finished the tradition that the owner's name was synonymous with the building name:
After Palais Tarouca or tarokkisches house it was called Lorraine House, afterwards Duke Albert Palais and Palais Archduke Carl. Due to the new construction of an adjacently located administration building it received in 1865 the prefix "Upper" and was referred to as Upper Palais Archduke Albrecht and Upper Palais Archduke Frederick. For the state a special reference to the Habsburg past was certainly politically no longer opportune, which is why was decided to name the building according to the in it kept collection "Albertina".
Picture: The "Wedgwood Cabinet" after the restoration: Picture: the "Wedgwood Cabinet" in the Palais Archduke Friedrich, 1905
This name derives from the term "La Collection Albertina" which had been used by the gallery Inspector Maurice von Thausing in 1870 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts for the former graphics collection of Duke Albert. For this reason, it was the first time since the foundation of the palace that the name of the collection had become synonymous with the room shell. Room shell, hence, because the Republic of Austria Archduke Friedrich had allowed to take along all the movable goods from the palace in his Hungarian exile: crystal chandeliers, curtains and carpets as well as sculptures, vases and clocks. Particularly stressed should be the exquisite furniture, which stems of three facilities phases: the Louis XVI furnitures of Duke Albert, which had been manufactured on the basis of fraternal relations between his wife Archduchess Marie Christine and the French Queen Marie Antoinette after 1780 in the French Hofmanufakturen, also the on behalf of Archduke Charles 1822-1825 in the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory by Joseph Danhauser produced Empire furnitures and thirdly additions of the same style of Archduke Friedrich, which this about 1900 at Portois & Ffix as well as at Friedrich Otto Schmidt had commissioned.
The "swept clean" building got due to the strained financial situation after the First World War initially only a makeshift facility. However, since until 1999 no revision of the emergency equipment took place, but differently designed, primarily the utilitarianism committed office furnitures complementarily had been added, the equipment of the former state rooms presented itself at the end of the 20th century as an inhomogeneous administrative mingle-mangle of insignificant parts, where, however, dwelt a certain quaint charm. From the magnificent state rooms had evolved depots, storage rooms, a library, a study hall and several officed.
Image: The Albertina Graphic Arts Collection and the Philipphof after the American bombing of 12 März 1945.
Image: The palace after the demolition of the entrance facade, 1948-52
Worse it hit the outer appearance of the palace, because in times of continued anti-Habsburg sentiment after the Second World War and inspired by an intolerant destruction will, it came by pickaxe to a ministerial erasure of history. In contrast to the graphic collection possessed the richly decorated facades with the conspicuous insignia of the former owner an object-immanent reference to the Habsburg past and thus exhibited the monarchial traditions and values of the era of Francis Joseph significantly. As part of the remedial measures after a bomb damage, in 1948 the aristocratic, by Archduke Albert initiated, historicist facade structuring along with all decorations was cut off, many facade figures demolished and the Hapsburg crest emblems plunged to the ground. Since in addition the old ramp also had been cancelled and the main entrance of the bastion level had been moved down to the second basement storey at street level, ended the presence of the old Archduke's palace after more than 200 years. At the reopening of the "Albertina Graphic Collection" in 1952, the former Hapsburg Palais of splendour presented itself as one of his identity robbed, formally trivial, soulless room shell, whose successful republicanization an oversized and also unproportional eagle above the new main entrance to the Augustinian road symbolized. The emocratic throw of monuments had wiped out the Hapsburg palace from the urban appeareance, whereby in the perception only existed a nondescript, nameless and ahistorical building that henceforth served the lodging and presentation of world-famous graphic collection of the Albertina. The condition was not changed by the decision to the refurbishment because there were only planned collection specific extensions, but no restoration of the palace.
Image: The palace after the Second World War with simplified facades, the rudiment of the Danubiusbrunnens (well) and the new staircase up to the Augustinerbastei
This paradigm shift corresponded to a blatant reversal of the historical circumstances, as the travel guides and travel books for kk Residence and imperial capital of Vienna dedicated itself primarily with the magnificent, aristocratic palace on the Augustinerbastei with the sumptuously fitted out reception rooms and mentioned the collection kept there - if at all - only in passing. Only with the repositioning of the Albertina in 2000 under the direction of Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the palace was within the meaning and in fulfillment of the Fideikommiss of Archduke Charles in 1826 again met with the high regard, from which could result a further inseparable bond between the magnificent mansions and the world-famous collection. In view of the knowing about politically motivated errors and omissions of the past, the facades should get back their noble, historicist designing, the staterooms regain their glamorous, prestigious appearance and culturally unique equippment be repurchased. From this presumption, eventually grew the full commitment to revise the history of redemption and the return of the stately palace in the public consciousness.
Image: The restored suburb facade of the Palais Albertina suburb
The smoothed palace facades were returned to their original condition and present themselves today - with the exception of the not anymore reconstructed Attica figures - again with the historicist decoration and layout elements that Archduke Albrecht had given after the razing of the Augustinerbastei in 1865 in order. The neoclassical interiors, today called after the former inhabitants "Habsburg Staterooms", receiving a meticulous and detailed restoration taking place at the premises of originality and authenticity, got back their venerable and sumptuous appearance. From the world wide scattered historical pieces of equipment have been bought back 70 properties or could be returned through permanent loan to its original location, by which to the visitors is made experiencable again that atmosphere in 1919 the state rooms of the last Habsburg owner Archduke Frederick had owned. The for the first time in 80 years public accessible "Habsburg State Rooms" at the Palais Albertina enable now again as eloquent testimony to our Habsburg past and as a unique cultural heritage fundamental and essential insights into the Austrian cultural history. With the relocation of the main entrance to the level of the Augustinerbastei the recollection to this so valuable Austrian Cultural Heritage formally and functionally came to completion. The vision of the restoration and recovery of the grand palace was a pillar on which the new Albertina should arise again, the other embody the four large newly built exhibition halls, which allow for the first time in the history of the Albertina, to exhibit the collection throughout its encyclopedic breadh under optimal conservation conditions.
Image: The new entrance area of the Albertina
64 meter long shed roof. Hans Hollein.
The palace presents itself now in its appearance in the historicist style of the Ringstrassenära, almost as if nothing had happened in the meantime. But will the wheel of time should not, cannot and must not be turned back, so that the double standards of the "Albertina Palace" said museum - on the one hand Habsburg grandeur palaces and other modern museum for the arts of graphics - should be symbolized by a modern character: The in 2003 by Hans Hollein designed far into the Albertina square cantilevering, elegant floating flying roof. 64 meters long, it symbolizes in the form of a dynamic wedge the accelerated urban spatial connectivity and public access to the palace. It advertises the major changes in the interior as well as the huge underground extensions of the repositioned "Albertina".
Christian Benedictine
Art historian with research interests History of Architecture, building industry of the Hapsburgs, Hofburg and Zeremonialwissenschaft (ceremonial sciences). Since 1990 he works in the architecture collection of the Albertina. Since 2000 he supervises as director of the newly founded department "Staterooms" the restoration and furnishing of the state rooms and the restoration of the facades and explores the history of the palace and its inhabitants.