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Portrait of Jack Mundey.
Created by artist Alexandre Farto. A large portrait of Sydney environmental activist, Jack Mundey, on the stairs in The Rocks.
The portrait appears to be created by gouging out the plaster / render to reveal the brickwork underneath.
If you look carefully, you can see the stairs running diagonally above the eyes, with the forehead on the wall behind.
Shot through a dirty passenger side window.
Its current owner is: www.infotech.com/about
May 2017 A new Toronto Concert Hall.
History:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonic_Temple_(Toronto).
Construction began November 2, 1916 when the contract was signed and approved by the Board of The Masonic Temple Company for the tearing down of an existing church and excavation. The Masonic ceremony of laying the cornerstone occurring November 17, 1917 and the first Lodge meeting taking place on New Year's Day, 1918.[2] At its peak, the Masonic Temple was home to 38 different Masonic bodies: 27 Craft Lodges, six Chapters (York Rite), two Preceptories (Knights Templar), two Scottish Rite Bodies and Adoniram Council.[2]
The hall functioned as a ballroom in the 1930s and began to host rock acts in the late 1960s.[3]
In the years before its sale to CTV, the building housed live music clubs known as The Concert Hall, and earlier, in the late 1960s, The Rock Pile, a sitting-on-the-floor style concert venue that featured not only showcases for top local talent but also appearances by major international recording stars, including Toronto's first Led Zeppelin concert on February 2, 1969, during the band's inaugural North American Tour.
Although the location remained historically significant and was added to the City of Toronto Heritage Property Inventory in 1974, the building has changed hands a number of times. In 1997, it was threatened with demolition: a developer had planned a new highrise residential building marketed to Asians, solely to exploit its "lucky" address of 888 Yonge Street, [4] It was designated under the Ontario Heritage Act in the same year.[4]
Also in the 1990s, the studio was the home of Open Mike with Mike Bullard, and was one of CTV Toronto's news bureaus. Also, notably, it has been rented as a rehearsal space by the Rolling Stones. From March 2006, the building became the broadcast home of the new MTV Canada and has hosted the Polaris Music Prize since 2009.
The building's fate was once again placed under a cloud on November 2, 2012, when Bell Media announced the moving of MTV Canada studio production to 299 Queen Street West and that the building would be sold, possibly for condominiums.[4] Bell Media officially listed the property for sale on March 4, 2013.[5] On June 17, 2013, the building was purchased by the Info-Tech Research Group for $12.5 million.[6][1] Info-Tech announced that its plans for the building include staging an annual charity rock concert in the auditorium.[7]
In 2017, it was announced that the concert hall was to permanently reopen as a public year-round music venue beginning in June for the Toronto Jazz Festival.[3][6]
List of live shows:
Date Operating Name Act Notes
1968-09-20 The Rock Pile Blood, Sweat & Tears
1968-09-21 The Rock Pile Blood, Sweat & Tears Transfusion opened.
1968-10-05 The Rock Pile Procol Harum [8]
1968-10-27 The Rock Pile The Jeff Beck Group. Rod Stewart sang. I was there. The crowd was rude!
1968-11-09 The Rock Pile Iron Butterfly
1969-02-02 The Rock Pile Led Zeppelin [9]
1969-02-23 The Rock Pile Frank Zappa [10]
1969-03-02 The Rock Pile John Mayall
1969-03-08 The Rock Pile Savoy Brown Blues Band
1969-03-16 The Rock Pile Chuck Berry
1969-03-23 The Rock Pile Spirit
1969-03-29 The Rock Pile Jethro Tull
1969-04-05 The Rock Pile John Lee Hooker
1969-04-12 The Rock Pile The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
1969-04-19 The Rock Pile Family
1969-04-26 The Rock Pile Paul Butterfield
1969-05-04 The Rock Pile Sweetwater
1969-05-11 The Rock Pile Deep Purple
1969-05-17 The Rock Pile Kensington Market
1969-05-19 The Rock Pile The Who [11] Concert Poster
1969-05-24 The Rock Pile Frank Zappa
1969-07-08 The Rock Pile Grateful Dead [12]
1969-07-12 The Rock Pile McKenna Mendelson Mainline
1969-08-18 The Rock Pile Led Zeppelin [13]
1969-09-24 The Rock Pile The Mothers of Invention [14]
1969-12-31 Masonic Temple Auditorium Alice Cooper Teegarden & Van Winkle Keith McVie, Moonshine and more...
1979-11-15 The Concert Hall City Boy [15]
1980-08-21 The Concert Hall Magazine
1980-10-17 The Concert Hall Split Enz
1980-10-18 The Concert Hall Split Enz
1980-11-18 The Concert Hall Siouxsie & The Banshees [16]
1981-03-?? The Concert Hall Blue Peteras part of the "March Hop Jump"
1981-03-12 The Concert Hall Iggy Pop
1981-05-10 The Concert Hall Plasmatics [17]
1981-06-10 The Concert Hall Goddo [18]
1981-06-19 The Concert Hall Iron Maiden [19] Reckless opened, first Canadian Iron Maiden show
1981-06-21 The Concert Hall Iron Maiden
1981-07-24 The Concert Hall Kraftwerk [20]
1981-08-30 The Concert Hall The Cure [21] First show in Toronto
1981-10-23 The Concert Hall King Crimson 2 shows
1982-??-?? The Concert Hall Public Image Ltd.
1982-07-06 The Concert Hall Duran Duran
1982-10-28 The Concert Hall Iggy Pop with The Untouchables
1982-10-29 The Concert Hall Spoons Show simulcast on CITY-TV and CHUM-FM; later released on DVD
1982-12-17 The Concert Hall SpoonsSanta Geets Xmas Party presented by CFNY-FM
1983-01-?? The Concert Hall Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
1983-??-?? The Concert Hall Nina Hagen
1984-06-13 The Concert Hall MarillionThe Box opened
1984-07-13 The Concert Hall R.E.M.
1984-11-12 The Concert Hall The Cure
1984-12-21 The Concert Hall The Parachute Club
1985-01-19 The Concert Hall Metallica [22]
1985-03-10 The Concert Hall Run–D.M.C.
1985-03-31 The Concert Hall Venom/Slayer/Razor
1985-05-05 The Concert Hall Cabaret Voltaire
1987-??-?? The Concert Hall Boogie Down Productions with special guest Biz Markie
1987-05-31 The Concert Hall Skinny Puppy
1988-04-21 The Concert Hall Love and Rockets The Mighty Lemon Drops & The Bubblemen opened
1988-05-08 The Concert Hall Midnight Oil
1988-11-06 The Concert Hall Skinny Puppy
1990-01-12 The Concert Hall Voivod [23] Faith No More and Soundgarden opened
1990-03-30 The Concert Hall The Tragically Hip
1990-11-25 The Concert Hall Jane's Addiction The Buck Pets opened
1990-11-27 The Concert Hall The Pixies[24] Pere Ubu opened
1991-02-24 The Concert Hall The Charlatans venue moved from the Opera House
1991-04-14 The Concert Hall Happy Mondays Stereo MCs opened
1991-07-05 The Concert Hall The Tragically Hip
1991-07-09 The Concert Hall EMF
1991-09-29 The Concert Hall Jesus Jones
1991-10-29 The Concert Hall The Smashing Pumpkins [25]
1991-10-30 The Concert Hall The Smashing Pumpkins [26]
1991-11-23 The Concert Hall Billy Bragg Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy opened
1991-11-30 The Concert Hall The Pixies
1991-12-03 The Concert Hall Tin Machine [26] (David Bowie) It's My Life Tour
1992-03-30 The Concert Hall The Beautiful South The Waltons opened
1992-04-28 The Concert Hall The Charlatans Catherine Wheel opened
1992-05-04 The Concert Hall Soundgarden
1992-05-15 The Concert Hall Sugarcubes [27]
1992-05-15 The Concert Hall Beastie Boys [28]
1992-11-29 The Concert Hall Alice In Chains
1992-12-21 The Concert Hall Body Count
1993-01-25 The Concert Hall Ned's Atomic Dustbin
1993-01-29 The Concert Hall Slik Toxik
1993-02-19 The Concert Hall Inspiral Carpets
1993-03-06 The Concert Hall PanteraSacred Reich opened.
1993-03-31 The Concert Hall Rage Against the Machine
1993-04-13 The Concert Hall Midnight Oil
1993-04-27 The Concert Hall Phish
1993-05-17 The Concert Hall Danzig Nudeswirl and Proper Grounds opened.
1993-06-15 The Concert Hall The Flaming Lips Porno for Pyros opened.
1993-10-06 The Concert Hall Bad Religion Green Day and Doughboys opened.
1993-10-18The Concert Hall Stone Temple Pilots The Mighty Mighty Bosstones opened.
1993-10-24 The Concert Hall Primus Melvins opened.
1993-10-28 The Concert Hall Rage Against the Machine Quicksand opened.
1993-11-21 The Concert Hall The Lemonheads Redd Kross opened.
1993-12-06 The Concert Hall Green Day
1994-02-23 The Concert Hall Tool Failure opened.
1994-04-06 The Concert Hall Phish[29]
1994-05-16 The Concert Hall Rollins Band
1994-11-18 The Concert Hall Anvil
1996-04-03 The Concert Hall Foo Fighters
1996-04-18 The Concert Hall Rusty
1996-04-27 The Concert Hall Bob Dylan[30]
1996-04-28 The Concert Hall Bob Dylan[31] Aimee Mann opened.
1996-05-11 The Concert Hall Dave Matthews Band [32]
1996-05-31 The Concert Hall The Band High on the Hog tour. The Mahones opened.
1996-06-14 The Concert Hall Cocteau Twins
1996-07-06 The Concert Hall Finn Brothers
1996-08-18 The Concert Hall Steve Earle[33]
1996-09-20 The Concert Hall Sloan
1996-10-27 The Concert Hall Billy Bragg Robyn Hitchcock and Deni Bonet opened
1996-11-22 The Concert Hall James Brown
1997-04-18 The Concert Hall Rusty
1997-06-09 The Concert Hall The Tragically Hip [34]
1997-10-01 The Concert Hall Paul Weller
1998-06-27 The Concert Hall Cibo Matto
2016-05-06 Info-Tech Research Group Luke & The Apostles
2016-06-02 Info-Tech Research Group Platinum Blonde
2016-09-09 888 Yonge Karl Wolf GLB V after party.
Toronto’s architectural gems—the Masonic Temple at Davenport and Yonge from Now Magazine
24
FE
The Masonic Temple, at 888 Yonge Street, was constructed in 1917, during the chaotic days of the First World War. Today, the building is appreciated by those interested in the city’s architectural heritage, but judging by comments posted on the internet, it is viewed by some as an ugly structure of brick and limestone that is not worth preserving. Despite one’s view of the building, it has a rich heritage, and I believe that it is worthy of being saved from demolition. To aid in its preservation, in 1974 the Masonic Temple was designated a Heritage Property.
Designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival Style by architect W. J. Sparling, the six-storey structure contains an auditorium that has hardwood flooring and a decorated ceiling. It seats 1200 persons, including the wrap-around gallery. The Masonic Society (Freemasons) included the ballroom/concert hall in their new building as a means to raise revenue from rentals to support the costs of maintaining the premises.
John Ross Robertson (1841-1918) was a prominent Mason, and founder of the now defunct Toronto Telegram newspaper. He was one of the prime motivators behind the construction of the building, located on the northwest corner of Yonge Street and Davenport Road. When the Masons chose this site, a church was located on the property. It was estimated that the cost of the Temple would be $175,000, but by the time it was completed, the cost was $220,864. After the church on the site was demolished, construction began. The final stone for the new Temple was put in place on 17 November 1917 and the structure was consecrated with corn, oil, and wine. The first lodge meeting was held on 1 January 1918. On the upper floors, which were reserved solely for the use of the Masons, there were patterned tiled flooring and many Masonic carvings.
During the 1930s, the Masonic Temple was one of the most popular ballrooms in Toronto. Every New Year’s Eve, tickets disappeared long in advance of the date. Bing Crosby once crooned within its walls, and Frank Sinatra hosted an event there. Throughout the years, many famous entertainers have performed in the hall—Tina Turner, The Ramones, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin, who held their first Toronto concert there in 1969. In 1970, it was leased by a company known as the “Rockpile.” During the 1980s, it was rented by various groups, but the income never exceeded the costs of maintaining the building. In 1998, the property was sold to CTV, for use as a TV studio. The show, “Open Mike with Mike Bullard” was broadcast from the premises. In 2006, it became home to Bell Media (MTV), but they departed in 2012.
During the 1950s, I was in the Masonic Temple on several occasions to attend events. The view from the gallery, looking down onto the stage area was quite impressive. I remember the ornate plaster trim around the auditorium and the ornate carvings that decorated the space. As a teenager, I considered any event held within the walls of the Temple to be a special occasion, especially since the restaurants on Yonge Street were within walking distance. In that decade, the “Pickin’ Chicken,” south of College Street, Fran’s at Yonge and College, and Basil’s Restaurant at Yonge and Gerrard, were the gastronomic highlights of the “the strip.” Walking south from Davenport and Yonge to below College Street was less of a problem for me in those years, especially when my teenage hunger could be satiated by “chicken in a wicker basket with fries” at the PIckin’ Chicken, a toasted club sandwich at Basil’s, or rice pudding at Fran’s. Julia Child, eat your heart out!
Yonge Street has greatly changed today, although I am not certain that the culinary level of the avenue has improved much. However, the Masonic Temple remains, proudly resisting the onslaught of the modern era. I sincerely hope that a modern role will be found for the building, and that it will not be demolished. It would be a pity to have its ornate facade become a mere shell to add dignity to another faceless high rise condominium of glass and steel, lacking any value beyond the price of the suites per square foot.
The Rundāle Palace, Latvia.
What you're seeing here is a recreation of the original interior. The restoration cost over 8 million Euros, which, when you see the results, doesn't seem nearly enough to produce the splendors one encounters at every turn.
What's not clear to me is whether any of decoration is original and restored and how much is brand new. This always frustrates me because I'm hung up on the concept of authenticity. I'll just come right out and say I don't get the same satisfaction from replicas that I do from originals.
One way to resolve this conundrum is to say this is an authentic replica of an 18th century palace that was, as the text below explains, "demolished in 1812 during the Franco-Russian [Napoleonic] War," and then "demolished [again in 1919] by the men of the Bermondt-Avalov army," which was commanded by a Cossack warlord who decided to take over newly-independent Latvia instead of fighting the Bolsheviks.
Still, this begs the question of the meaning of such a place. A hot take is that it's an expression of Latvian nationalism. However, in the 18th century this region was ruled by Germans and then by Russians. Most ethnic Latvians were serfs. Perhaps the nationalist message is that the Latvians, once free from the rule of Baltic Germans, Czarist Russians, Nazis and the Soviets, had the wherewithal to recreate a palace once owned by an overlord and make it their own. To further make the point, the compound is now a major tourist attraction, so interiors once intended solely for the aristocracy, royalty and their hangers-on and servants are today filled to the brim with tourists like us.
Is is also a acknowledged center for the study of 18th-century interior design? The devil is in the details, and I haven't yet had time to delve into that.
If you're wondering why the point of view in these photos is from the top of the windows to the ceiling, it's because there were mobs of visitors that made it almost impossible to photograph whole walls, much less floors.
Here is the whole history of the construction of the palace from the palace's informative Web site. I recommend visiting it if for no other reason than to see the rooms devoid of visitors. Also, there's a section on the restoration.
The name of Rundāle comes from the German place-name Ruhenthal (Valley of Peace).
The Rundāle Palace built during the 16th century was located on the northern side of the pond. It can be seen in the design of F. B. Rastrelli as a small square field with towers in the corners.
Rundāle Manor was already created at the end of the 15th century. It belonged to the Grotthus family from 1505 to 1681 and the palace was mentioned in the list of Livonian castles in 1555.
Facade finishing components have been found in the territory of the palace – cast fragments and fragments of coats of arms carved in stone dating to the middle of the 17th century. In 1735 Ernst Johann von Biron bought the Rundāle property for 42 000 thalers.
The old palace was completely torn down, and the stones, bricks and even the mortar were used in the construction of the new palace.
Duke Ernst Johann died in 1772, and the palace was inherited by his widow Duchess Benigna Gottlieb; during her time orchards were formed around the palace. Duke Peter did not come to Rundāle often, he mostly resided in the smaller Vircava Palace near Jelgava.
In 1795 Duke Peter gave up his throne and the Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was added to the Russian Empire. Catherine II gave Rundāle Manor as a present to Count Valerian Zubov who died in 1804.
During the distribution of inheritance Rundāle became the property of his brother Prince Platon Zubov, the last favourite of Catherine II.
During the time of Zubov the palace was refurnished, however the building itself remained untouched, only entrance porticos were added to the central building and several fireplaces were built inside.
The palace was demolished in 1812 during the Franco-Russian War – mirrors were smashed, silk wallpaper was torn down, the library given as a present from Catherine II was destroyed.
Prince Platon Zubov died in Rundāle Palace on 7 April 1822. His widow married Count Andrey Shuvalov, and Rundāle Manor belonged to this family until the agrarian reform of the Republic of Latvia in 1920.
The Shuvalovs rarely stayed in the palace, excluding the time period from 1864 to 1866 when Count Pyotr Shuvalov was the governor-general of the Baltic region and used Rundāle Palace as his official summer residence.
During this time unsuccessful renovation of the palace rooms was carried out, however during the 1880’s careful renovation of the interior design was performed. At the end of the 19th century part of the palace’s furniture and works of art was taken to Saint Petersburg.
During the time from 1915 to 1918 a German army commandant’s office and an infirmary was established in the palace. In 1919 the palace was demolished by the men of the Bermondt-Avalov army.
The palace was renovated in 1923 and some of its rooms were used as the primary school of Rundāle Parish. In 1924 Rundāle Palace was handed over to the Latvian Union of Disabled Veterans, but in 1933 it was taken over by the Board of Monuments which started the renovation of the building and the restoration of some of the rooms, and the western building was constructed for the needs of the primary school.
In 1938 the palace was handed over to the State Historical Museum that was planning to create a church art and decorative art museum there. The palace was also open to the public during World War II.
In 1945 a grain storage was formed in the halls of the palace, and the palace was closed to the public after that.
In 1963 some of the palace’s rooms were given to the Museum of Regional Studies and Art of Bauska, but in 1972 a permanent Rundāle Palace Museum was created and its main aim was to renew the whole ensemble of the palace by mainly orientating towards the condition of the palace during the second part of the 18th century.
The first restored rooms in the eastern building of the palace were opened to the public in 1981, gradually being followed by new interiors. Restoration of the palace was finished in 2014.
Construction history
Count Ernst Johann von Biron bought the Rundāle manor complex on 26 June 1735. In August of the same year the court architect of Russia Francesco Rastrelli came to Courland. From September until December agreements were being concluded with carpenters, masons, brickmakers, construction material suppliers, potters – stove makers.
The construction project was ready in January of 1736. The eight pages of the project are located in the graphic art collection “Albertina” in Vienna. It consists of a situation plan, two floor plans, a sketch of four facades and the altar of the palace church.
The first construction period from 1736 to 1740.
On 24 May 1736 the foundation-stone of the palace was set. Construction of the foundation was completed on 6 July, whereas on 13 October the central building was built to the level of the windowsill of the second floor. The construction of 12 brick-kilns and 12 brick storages was finished in June. 268 masons were working in the palace, but Rastrelli requested 500 men.
Construction was stopped on 1 November due to cold.
The construction works were restarted on 12 April 1737. On 28 May the central building was finished, and on 18 June covering was started to be placed on the side buildings, whereas the construction of the central building roof was finished at the end of June.
When the works were stopped on 10 October, one side building was roofed over, and the other one was covered with a temporary roof. The foundations of the stables were also ready. The bricklaying works were finished on 1 October 1737.
After Biron was elected Duke, he ordered to simplify the building. The finishing materials were produced by the master carpenters and woodcarver A. Kamaev of the Imperial Construction Bureau of Saint Petersburg, master potter I. Ushakov of the Neva brick factory with his team and painters I. Mizinov, I. Pilugin and I. Yevdokimov. Austrian potters were working in Vircava. The finishing materials were also being produced in Saint Petersburg.
In 1738 the volume of work in Rundāle decreased, as construction works of Jelgava Palace began. Some of the produced components were also taken to Jelgava. However, the works were moving forward – chimneys and room arches were being built, roofs were being finished.
From 14 June, when the construction of the main residence in Jelgava began, the construction works in Rundāle were moving at a slower pace. Master carpenter Eger had finished oak-wood panels for 33 rooms, as well as 13 oak-wood parquet floors. Ceilings boards were put up in the rooms, so that the plastering works could be started. In September the carpenters started working on the outside staircases. The construction of the gate tower was also started.
Entwurf von Rastrelli: die Nordfassade des Schlosses Rundāle mit dem Torturm
Rastrelli’s design, nothern facade of the palace with the gate tower.
In 1739 the interior plastering works were supposed to be carried out, but the Duke ordered to decrease the amount of plasterers and to simplify the work. Stucco formations were made only for the main staircase rooms and halls, the other rooms were left with smooth ceilings. Only ten craftsmen were working in Rundāle.
On 1 February after the order of Empress of Russia Anna Ioannovna all of the Saint Petersburg Construction Office masons were sent to Courland.
The components made for Rundāle, including carved doors, panels, parquet, Austrian potter stoves, plafonds painted on canvas and cast-iron facade decorations made by Bartolomeo Tarsia that can be seen in the Jelagava Palace facade, were transported to the main residence in Jelgava.
N. Vasilyev assisted Rastrelli in managing the construction works. Russian chamberlain Ernst Johann von Buttlar was in charge of finances and organisation and he was sending reports to Saint Petersburg regarding the work process.
In 1740 the woodcut altar of the palace church was transported to Jelgava. Supposedly the room decoration in the palace had been finished, but not all of the wall panels had been mounted and some of the stoves were also not set up, as a lot of the materials were in storage.
Work was stopped after the palace revolution of 20 November in Russia and the arrest and exile of Duke Ernst Johann. The prepared finishing materials and construction components were sent to Saint Petersburg, and some of the built-in components, such as doors, wall panels and parquet, were broken.
Overall more than a thousand different profession craftsmen and workers were employed in the construction works of the palace.
The second construction period from 1764 to 1770.
In 1762 Ernst Johann von Biron was granted mercy and returned to Courland in January of 1763.
In January of 1764 Johann Gottfried Seidel was appointed the court architect of the Duke, but in August Francesco Rastrelli returned to work for the Duke and was appointed to the position of main administrator of the Duke’s buildings.
During this time he arranged his construction designs and carried out general supervision of the Duke’s construction works.
The unfinished gate tower was torn down and the stable building construction was started. Latvian carpenters and woodworkers were sent from the Duke’s domain manors to Rundāle up until 1768. In 1765 woodworker Blanks, sculptor Zībenbrods, locksmith Šreibfogels, gold plating master Johans Endress, potter Šēfers, locksmith Horstmanis and coppersmith Mēmels were working in the palace.
In 1766 Severin Jensen from Denmark started working as the court architect. His style can be seen in the gateposts and in the stable buildings, which obtained a semicircular shape in contrast to Rastrelli’s rectangular design. A dating – 16 May 1766 – has been made in the keystone of the northern facade window.
In 1768 the gate was built and the forgings were placed.
The palace interior planning was changed slightly. By merging five smaller rooms the grand dining-room – the Grand Gallery – was created, whereas a dance hall known as the White Hall was created in the place of the palace church. Both front staircases, the Small Gallery, the lobby and galleries of the first floor were preserved from the original interiors of the first construction period.
The stucco decorative finishing of the interiors was carried out by the Berlin sculptor and stucco marble master Johann Michael Graff together with his team – his brother Josef and assistants Bauman and Lanz – from 1765 to 1768.
Sculpturesque decorations were made in twenty-seven rooms, but in two rooms of the Duke’s apartments and in the hall – synthetic marble panels. Works were started in the central building first.
The Marble Hall and the marble panel of the Gold Hall in which the dating has been engraved on the door lining, were finished in 1767. In July of 1768 Graff received payment for his final works – the White Hall, Oval Cabinet, Duchess’ Boudoir and vases for the 22 stair banisters.
The ceilings were painted by the Italian painters Francesco Martini and Carlo Zucchi from Saint Petersburg. They started working in August of 1766, but only the name of Martini is mentioned in documents starting with March of 1768. Francesco Martini received his last payment in March of 1769.
Ceilings of eight rooms, as well as the walls of two rooms were painted. One of the ceiling paintings got destroyed. The repainted wall paintings were later uncovered in the Grand Gallery and in the second study of the Duke.
The Duke came to Rundāle Palace in April of 1767 and stayed there until December with interruptions, although the finishing works were still in progress. The palace was also inhabited in 1768. The final works were carried out in 1770 when a fellow of J. M. Graff placed mirrors in the White Hall.
20.04.2018
Tom and I worked together at Amazon building Fulfilment By Amazon. Tom and I met for a lunch this week. I convinced him to not do his usual "post" and this is what I got. I intentionally sat in the restaurant knowing his seat had the best light. Super happy with the way this portrait turned out and I really really love the Nikkor 55mm lens.
It's the Plaster Cobblestone texture created in the Filter Forge plugin. It can be seamless tiled and rendered in any resolution without loosing details.
You can see the presets and download this texture for free on the Filter Forge site here — www.filterforge.com/filters/10519.html (created by Tan Thor Jen)
To use this texture download Filter Forge 30-day trial version for free here — www.filterforge.com/download/
we are working on an edition of plaster hearts for the show at rare device. this was the first one we pulled from the mold. we cant wait to try more colors.
now for sale at:
Apparently the only thing keeping the Stowe Pool 'multistory' care park upright is this solitary plaster. As to how it got there, who knows, as to why I felt the need to take a photo of it, who knows. It taking a picture like this any easier when not looking down a viewfinder but on the back of a screen? Probably not, but then having a camera with me meant I did it, whereas with my phone I'd be less inclined owing to the terrible quality.
This is the type of thing I enjoy hunting out and shooting when taking photos, much more so than the generic holiday shots which have encompassed my photography over the last couple of years.
It seems as though I can only find the time for one or so hobbies at any time, not so much from an actual time perspective but mental ability to engage in too many creative tasks. So, guitar is temporarily taking a bit more of a back seat (but still being picked up every now and then) as I re-explore exploring. That said, all this will change shortly once there's an addition to the household.
another photo taken at Memorial Church, Harvard University in Cambridge Massachusetts, completed in 1932 and designed by architects Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch and Abbott; this is a detail of a pair of ornate columns; notice the intricacies of the capitals with the heads of people and animals incorporated into the design
Angkor Wat or "Capital Temple" is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. It was first a Hindu and later a Buddhist temple. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura, present-day Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum.
Breaking from the Shiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple-mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early Dravidian architecture, with key features such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.
The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer; Angkor, meaning "city" or "capital city", is a vernacular form of the word nokor (នគរ), which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara (नगर). Wat is the Khmer word for "temple grounds" (Sanskrit: वाट vāṭa ""enclosure").
HISTORY
Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometres north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was centred at Baphuon. It is in an area of Cambodia where there is an important group of ancient structures. It is the southernmost of Angkor's main sites.
According to one legend, the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by Indra to act as a palace for his son Precha Ket Mealea.
According to the 13th century Chinese traveler Daguan Zhou, it was believed by some that the temple was constructed in a single night by a divine architect. The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113-C. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have been known as "Varah Vishnu-lok" after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished.
In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometers to the north.
In the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected after the 16th century it was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.
One of the first Western visitors to the temple was António da Madalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of."
In the mid-19th century, the temple was visited by the French naturalist and explorer, Henri Mouhot, who popularised the site in the West through the publication of travel notes, in which he wrote:
"One of these temples - a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo - might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged."
Mouhot, like other early Western visitors, found it difficult to believe that the Khmers could have built the temple, and mistakenly dated it to around the same era as Rome. The true history of Angkor Wat was pieced together only from stylistic and epigraphic evidence accumulated during the subsequent clearing and restoration work carried out across the whole Angkor site. There were no ordinary dwellings or houses or other signs of settlement including cooking utensils, weapons, or items of clothing usually found at ancient sites. Instead there is the evidence of the monuments themselves.
Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation. Work was interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 1970s and 1980s, but relatively little damage was done during this period other than the theft and destruction of mostly post-Angkorian statues.The temple is a powerful symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great national pride that has factored into Cambodia's diplomatic relations with France, the United States and its neighbor Thailand. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of Cambodian national flags since the introduction of the first version circa 1863. From a larger historical and even transcultural perspective, however, the temple of Angkor Wat did not become a symbol of national pride sui generis but had been inscribed into a larger politico-cultural process of French-colonial heritage production in which the original temple site was presented in French colonial and universal exhibitions in Paris and Marseille between 1889 and 1937. Angkor Wat's aesthetics were also on display in the plaster cast museum of Louis Delaporte called musée Indo-chinois which existed in the Parisian Trocadero Palace from C. 1880 to the mid-1920s. The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD. Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time.
ARCHITECTURE
SITE AND PLAN
Angkor Wat, located at 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E, is a unique combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire's state temples and the later plan of concentric galleries. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods: the central quincunx of towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. Access to the upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to the lowest level. Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This has led many (including Maurice Glaize and George Coedès) to conclude that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary temple.Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs, which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction - prasavya in Hindu terminology - as this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order during Brahminic funeral services. The archaeologist Charles Higham also describes a container which may have been a funerary jar which was recovered from the central tower. It has been nominated by some as the greatest expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse. Freeman and Jacques, however, note that several other temples of Angkor depart from the typical eastern orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment was due to its dedication to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.
A further interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by Eleanor Mannikka. Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, she argues that the structure represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as the measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honor and placate the deities manifest in the heavens above." Mannikka's suggestions have been received with a mixture of interest and scepticism in academic circles. She distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham Hancock, that Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco.
STYLE
Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture - the Angkor Wat style - to which it has given its name. By the 12th century Khmer architects had become skilled and confident in the use of sandstone (rather than brick or laterite) as the main building material. Most of the visible areas are of sandstone blocks, while laterite was used for the outer wall and for hidden structural parts. The binding agent used to join the blocks is yet to be identified, although natural resins or slaked lime has been suggested. The temple has drawn praise above all for the harmony of its design. According to Maurice Glaize, a mid-20th-century conservator of Angkor, the temple "attains a classic perfection by the restrained monumentality of its finely balanced elements and the precise arrangement of its proportions. It is a work of power, unity and style." Architecturally, the elements characteristic of the style include: the ogival, redented towers shaped like lotus buds; half-galleries to broaden passageways; axial galleries connecting enclosures; and the cruciform terraces which appear along the main axis of the temple. Typical decorative elements are devatas (or apsaras), bas-reliefs, and on pediments extensive garlands and narrative scenes. The statuary of Angkor Wat is considered conservative, being more static and less graceful than earlier work. Other elements of the design have been destroyed by looting and the passage of time, including gilded stucco on the towers, gilding on some figures on the bas-reliefs, and wooden ceiling panels and doors.
FEATURES
OUTER ENCLOSURE
The outer wall, 1024 by 802 m and 4.5 m high, is surrounded by a 30 m apron of open ground and a moat 190 m wide. Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a sandstone causeway to the west; the latter, the main entrance, is a later addition, possibly replacing a wooden bridge. There are gopuras at each of the cardinal points; the western is by far the largest and has three ruined towers. Glaize notes that this gopura both hides and echoes the form of the temple proper. Under the southern tower is a statue of Vishnu, known as Ta Reach, which may originally have occupied the temple's central shrine.Galleries run between the towers and as far as two further entrances on either side of the gopura often referred to as "elephant gates", as they are large enough to admit those animals. These galleries have square pillars on the outer (west) side and a closed wall on the inner (east) side. The ceiling between the pillars is decorated with lotus rosettes; the west face of the wall with dancing figures; and the east face of the wall with balustered windows, dancing male figures on prancing animals, and devatas, including (south of the entrance) the only one in the temple to be showing her teeth. The outer wall encloses a space of 820,000 square metres, which besides the temple proper was originally occupied by the city and, to the north of the temple, the royal palace. Like all secular buildings of Angkor, these were built of perishable materials rather than of stone, so nothing remains of them except the outlines of some of the streets. Most of the area is now covered by forest. A 350 m causeway connects the western gopura to the temple proper, with naga balustrades and six sets of steps leading down to the city on either side. Each side also features a library with entrances at each cardinal point, in front of the third set of stairs from the entrance, and a pond between the library and the temple itself. The ponds are later additions to the design, as is the cruciform terrace guarded by lions connecting the causeway to the central structure.
CENTRAL STRUCTURE
The temple stands on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of three rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. Mannikka interprets these galleries as being dedicated to the king, Brahma, the moon, and Vishnu.
Each gallery has a gopura at each of the points, and the two inner galleries each have towers at their corners, forming a quincunx with the central tower. Because the temple faces west, the features are all set back towards the east, leaving more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the same reason the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.
The outer gallery measures 187 by 215 m, with pavilions rather than towers at the corners. The gallery is open to the outside of the temple, with columned half-galleries extending and buttressing the structure. Connecting the outer gallery to the second enclosure on the west side is a cruciform cloister called Preah Poan (the "Hall of a Thousand Gods"). Buddha images were left in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most have now been removed. This area has many inscriptions relating the good deeds of pilgrims, most written in Khmer but others in Burmese and Japanese. The four small courtyards marked out by the cloister may originally have been filled with water.
North and south of the cloister are libraries.
Beyond, the second and inner galleries are connected to each other and to two flanking libraries by another cruciform terrace, again a later addition. From the second level upwards, devatas abound on the walls, singly or in groups of up to four. The second-level enclosure is 100 by 115 m, and may originally have been flooded to represent the ocean around Mount Meru.
Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and gopuras of the inner gallery. The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods. This inner gallery, called the Bakan, is a 60 m square with axial galleries connecting each gopura with the central shrine, and subsidiary shrines located below the corner towers. The roofings of the galleries are decorated with the motif of the body of a snake ending in the heads of lions or garudas. Carved lintels and pediments decorate the entrances to the galleries and to the shrines. The tower above the central shrine rises 43 m to a height of 65 m above the ground; unlike those of previous temple mountains, the central tower is raised above the surrounding four. The shrine itself, originally occupied by a statue of Vishnu and open on each side, was walled in when the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhism, the new walls featuring standing Buddhas. In 1934, the conservator George Trouvé excavated the pit beneath the central shrine: filled with sand and water it had already been robbed of its treasure, but he did find a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf two metres above ground level.
DECORATION
Integrated with the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is Angkor Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes. The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Higham has called these, "the greatest known linear arrangement of stone carving".
From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and the Battle of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava clans). On the southern gallery follow the only historical scene, a procession of Suryavarman II, then the 32 hells and 37 heavens of Hindu mythology.
On the eastern gallery is one of the most celebrated scenes, the Churning of the Sea of Milk, showing 92 asuras and 88 devas using the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea under Vishnu's direction (Mannikka counts only 91 asuras, and explains the asymmetrical numbers as representing the number of days from the winter solstice to the spring equinox, and from the equinox to the summer solstice). It is followed by Vishnu defeating asuras (a 16th-century addition). The northern gallery shows Krishna's victory over Bana (where according to Glaize, "The workmanship is at its worst"). and a battle between the Hindu gods and asuras. The north-west and south-west corner pavilions both feature much smaller-scale scenes, some unidentified but most from the Ramayana or the life of Krishna. Angkor Wat is decorated with depictions of apsaras and devata; there are more than 1,796 depictions of devata in the present research inventory. Angkor Wat architects employed small apsara images (30–40 cm) as decorative motifs on pillars and walls. They incorporated larger devata images (all full-body portraits measuring approximately 95–110 cm) more prominently at every level of the temple from the entry pavilion to the tops of the high towers. In 1927, Sappho Marchal published a study cataloging the remarkable diversity of their hair, headdresses, garments, stance, jewelry and decorative flowers, which Marchal concluded were based on actual practices of the Angkor period.
CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
The stones, as smooth as polished marble, were laid without mortar with very tight joints that are sometimes hard to find. The blocks were held together by mortise and tenon joints in some cases, while in others they used dovetails and gravity. The blocks were presumably put in place by a combination of elephants, coir ropes, pulleys and bamboo scaffolding. Henri Mouhot noted that most of the blocks had holes 2.5 cm in diameter and 3 cm deep, with more holes on the larger blocks. Some scholars have suggested that these were used to join them together with iron rods, but others claim they were used to hold temporary pegs to help manoeuvre them into place. The monument was made out of millions of tonnes of sandstone and it has a greater volume as well as mass than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The Angkor Wat Temple consumes about 6 million to 10 million blocks of sandstone with an average weight of 1.5 tons each. In fact, the entire city of Angkor used up far greater amounts of stone than all the Egyptian pyramids combined, and occupied an area significantly greater than modern-day Paris. Moreover, unlike the Egyptian pyramids which use limestone quarried barely half a km away all the time, the entire city of Angkor was built with sandstone quarried 40 km (or more) away. This sandstone had to be transported from Mount Kulen, a quarry approximately 40 km to the northeast. The route has been suggested to span 35 kilometres along a canal towards Tonlé Sap lake, another 35 kilometres crossing the lake, and finally 15 kilometres upstream and against the current along Siem Reap River, making a total journey of 90 kilometres. However, Etsuo Uchida and Ichita Shimoda of Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan have discovered in 2012 a shorter 35-kilometre canal connecting Mount Kulen and Angkor Wat using satellite imagery. The two believe that the Khmer used this route instead.
Virtually all of its surfaces, columns, lintels even roofs are carved. There are miles of reliefs illustrating scenes from Indian literature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots as well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader and celestial dancing girls with elaborate hair styles. The gallery wall alone is decorated with almost 1000 square metres of bas reliefs. Holes on some of the Angkor walls indicate that they may have been decorated with bronze sheets. These were highly prized in ancient times and were a prime target for robbers. While excavating Khajuraho, Alex Evans, a stonemason and sculptor, recreated a stone sculpture under 1.2 m, this took about 60 days to carve. Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehner also conducted experiments to quarry limestone which took 12 quarrymen 22 days to quarry about 400 tons of stone. The labor force to quarry, transport, carve and install so much sandstone must have run into the thousands including many highly skilled artisans. The skills required to carve these sculptures were developed hundreds of years earlier, as demonstrated by some artifacts that have been dated to the seventh century, before the Khmer came to power.
ANGKOR WAT TODAY
The Archaeological Survey of India carried out restoration work on the temple between 1986 and 1992. Since the 1990s, Angkor Wat has seen continued conservation efforts and a massive increase in tourism. The temple is part of the Angkor World Heritage Site, established in 1992, which has provided some funding and has encouraged the Cambodian government to protect the site. The German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) is working to protect the devatas and other bas-reliefs which decorate the temple from damage. The organisation's survey found that around 20% of the devatas were in very poor condition, mainly because of natural erosion and deterioration of the stone but in part also due to earlier restoration efforts. Other work involves the repair of collapsed sections of the structure, and prevention of further collapse: the west facade of the upper level, for example, has been buttressed by scaffolding since 2002, while a Japanese team completed restoration of the north library of the outer enclosure in 2005. World Monuments Fund began conservation work on the Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery in 2008 after several years of conditions studies. The project restored the traditional Khmer roofing system and removed cement used in earlier restoration attempts that had resulted in salts entering the structure behind the bas-relief, discoloring and damaging the sculpted surfaces. The main phase of work ended in 2012, and the final component will be the installation of finials on the roof of the gallery in 2013. Microbial biofilms have been found degrading sandstone at Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, and the Bayon and West Prasat in Angkor. The dehydration and radiation resistant filamentous cyanobacteria can produce organic acids that degrade the stone. A dark filamentous fungus was found in internal and external Preah Khan samples, while the alga Trentepohlia was found only in samples taken from external, pink-stained stone at Preah Khan. Angkor Wat has become a major tourist destination. In 2004 and 2005, government figures suggest that, respectively, 561.000 and 677.000 foreign visitors arrived in Siem Reap province, approximately 50% of all foreign tourists in Cambodia for both years. The site has been managed by the private SOKIMEX group since 1990, which rented it from the Cambodian government. The influx of tourists has so far caused relatively little damage, other than some graffiti; ropes and wooden steps have been introduced to protect the bas-reliefs and floors, respectively. Tourism has also provided some additional funds for maintenance - as of 2000 approximately 28% of ticket revenues across the whole Angkor site was spent on the temples - although most work is carried out by foreign government-sponsored teams rather than by the Cambodian authorities. Since Angkor Wat has seen significant growth in tourism throughout the years UNESCO and its International Co-ordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC), in association with representatives from the Royal Government and APSARA, organized seminars to discuss the concept of "cultural tourism". Wanting to avoid commercial and mass tourism, the seminars emphasized the importance of providing high quality accommodation and services in order for the Cambodian government to benefit economically, while also incorporating the richness of Cambodian culture. In 2001, this incentive resulted in the concept of the "Angkor Tourist City" which would be developed with regard to traditional Khmer architecture, contain leisure and tourist facilities, and provide luxurious hotels capable of accommodating large amounts of tourists. The prospect of developing such large tourist accommodations has encountered concerns from both APSARA and the ICC, claiming that previous tourism developments in the area have neglected construction regulations and more of these projects have the potential to damage landscape features. Also, the large scale of these projects have begun to threaten the quality of the nearby town's water, sewage, and electricity systems. It has been noted that such high frequency of tourism and growing demand for quality accommodations in the area, such as the development of a large highway, has had a direct effect on the underground water table, subsequently straining the structural stability of the temples at Angkor Wat. Locals of Siem Reap have also voiced concern over the charming nature and atmosphere of their town being compromised in order to entertain tourism. Since this charming local atmosphere is the key component to projects like Angkor Tourist City, local officials continue to discuss how to successfully incorporate future tourism without sacrificing local values and culture. At the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2012, both parties have agreed Borobudur and Angkor Wat to become sister sites and the provinces will become sister provinces. Two Indonesian airlines are considering the opportunity to open a direct flight from Yogyakarta, Indonesia to Siem Reap.
WIKIPEDIA
Detail view of a vintage, two-layer asbestos-containing plaster material, showing chrysotile asbestos fiber bundles and animal hairs protruding from the plaster matrix.
Although conspicuous at the level of detail in this sample, asbestos fibers in most plaster materials are typically not readily visible by naked-eye observation. The larger asbestos fiber bundle pictured above is maybe a millimeter or two in length and requires optical magnification for simple viewing. Trying to eyeball the proverbial needles in a haystack could strain even the most focused eagle-eyed examiner and should be performed by trained microscopists using analytical methods in a specially controlled laboratory setting.
Also, keep in mind that only certain types of laboratory microscopy techniques can determine asbestos presence or absence in a bulk sample material. If dealing with older plaster material of unknown composition, it is generally recommended (required in certain cases) to conservatively assume that the plaster material contains asbestos until conclusive testing can be performed by a qualified asbestos laboratory.
The percentage of asbestos content reported for this plaster material sample was 5%. Some may consider this amount insignificant, but it's technically defined as an asbestos-containing material (ACM) being >1%, under federal US standards.
Consider a small residential renovation project that involves removal of several older plaster walls (and perhaps ceilings) that contain asbestos at this percentage. An estimated weight of the damaged plaster debris hypothetically might be about 1-ton or 2,000-lbs., which roughly means there would be around 100-lbs. of asbestos involved in the demolition or renovation debris materials and dust, at 5% asbestos. Even if at 1% asbestos, in this "renovation" example there would be an estimated 20-lbs. of fibrous asbestos material in the demolition dust and debris.
Also consider the fact that under certain conditions, small amounts of disturbed asbestos material could potentially produce tens, if not hundreds of thousands, millions, billions or more of microscopic airborne asbestos fibers. Further, some activity-based sampling studies have demonstrated that routine operations and maintenance tasks conducted on plaster materials have the potential to exceed the current OSHA PEL for airborne asbestos particles, even when the plaster contains < 1% asbestos, activities such as: coring, drilling, chiseling, installing screws & anchors, etc.