View allAll Photos Tagged precisely
"The button eyes" Eagle owl staring quite precisely,,closely.,,,The Eagle owl is also "mascot" of Finnish football team.
Genevieve is the one with the flag held high. I was chosen because I am precisely 72 inches tall and have a very cute butt in Bellbottom dungarees.
[Explore 31/08/2013]
..or more precisely grazing at The Devil's Kneading Trough, Wye on the North Downs. When I saw the group of white cows munching grass on the edge of the hill my immediate thought was that this would make a fun panoramic image. The multi-RAW files were stitched in CS6 and tweaked in Lightroom 5.
This is possibly my last post on Flickr with the D5000, as today I treated myself to a Nikon D7100 ;) I'm very excited to try it out!
Page 1, Explore
The general term ice age or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. There have been at least four major ice ages in the Earth's past. Outside these periods, the Earth seems to have been ice-free even in high latitudes. There is evidence that greenhouse gas levels fell at the start of ice ages and rose during the retreat of the ice sheets, but it is difficult to establish cause and effect (see the notes above on the role of weathering). Greenhouse gas levels may also have been affected by other factors which have been proposed as causes of ice ages, such as the movement of continents and vulcanism. Although the last glacial period ended more than 8,000 years ago, its effects can still be felt today. For example, the moving ice carved out landscape in Canada, Greenland, northern Eurasia and Antarctica. The erratic boulders, till, drumlins, eskers, fjords, kettle lakes, moraines, cirques, horns, etc., are typical features left behind by the glaciers.
Photo of hummocks taken at the IJsselmeer (IJmeer) near Amsterdam. A hummock is a boss or rounded knoll of ice rising above the general level of an ice-field, Hummocky ice is caused by slow and unequal pressure in the main body of the packed ice, and by unequal structure and temperature at a later period.
Een ijstijd of glaciatie is een geologisch tijdvak waarin ijskappen voorkomen. In het Engels wordt dit een periode van ice-house genoemd, als tegenhanger van een ijskaploze periode, de greenhouse ("broeikas"). Aangezien er gletsjers liggen op bijvoorbeeld Groenland of Antarctica, leven we tegenwoordig in een ijstijd. Men neemt aan dat dit in de gehele geologische geschiedenis van de Aarde minstens vijfmaal het geval is geweest, waarvan eenmaal zelfs zo sterk dat de ijskappen van de polen vrijwel tot aan de evenaar waren opgerukt. Ook zijn er periodes dat er aanzienlijke opwarming optrad waarbij die ijskappen grotendeels waren weggesmolten. Het klimaat op Aarde wordt beïnvloed door vele factoren, zoals de intensiteit van de zonnestraling, de ligging van de continenten, de continentverplaatsingen, vulkanisme, de zeestromen, de bedekking van het land door vegetatie, het weerkaatsingsvermogen van het aardoppervlak en vele kleine andere factoren. Met behulp van klimaatmodellen wordt door wetenschappers een reconstructie van het klimaat en de klimaatveranderingen in het verleden gemaakt. Alhoewel er een zekere consensus bestaat onder wetenschappers, zijn er nog vele onzekerheden en tegenstrijdigheden in dit onderzoek.
Hierboven een foto van kruiend ijs. Zoetwatermeren kunnen spectaculair bevriezen. Grotere meren zoals het IJsselmeer (IJmeer) hierboven hebben bijna altijd wel golven, en dit werkt directe bevriezing van het wateroppervlak tegen. Eerst vormen zich kleine ijsschotsen, die naar de kust drijven onder invloed van de wind. Deze schotsen vormen zo een ijsveld op het water dat de golven dempt, en uiteindelijk vriezen alle schotsen aan elkaar vast tot een massa. Voordat dit gebeurt schuren de schotsen voortdurend langs elkaar heen en schrapen zo stukjes ijs van elkaar af; elke schots krijgt zo een witte rand. Zulk ijs is dus totaal niet geschikt om op te schaatsen. Wanneer grotere delen van het meer bevriezen beginnen de platen, die soms een paar vierkante kilometer groot zijn, langzaam tegen elkaar te bewegen onder invloed van de wind en stroming. Dit heeft kruiend ijs tot gevolg: de ijsschotsen worden met kracht gebroken en op elkaar gestapeld langs de dijken langs het meer. Dit hoeft niet alleen bij dun ijs te gebeuren; soms kruit het ijs bij een dikte van meer dan 20 cm. De stapels ijs worden dan hoog, en het geluid is oorverdovend.
"Lucem Diffundo (I Spread the Light)"
Palmer's Island LightNew Bedford Harbor, Massachusetts
February 11, 2022 at 9:02PM
The City's Motto is "Lucem Diffundo." This translates precisely as " I Diffuse Light." It can also be interpreted as "I Spread the Light." It has often been incorrectly translated as "I Light the World." The author of the motto remains undiscovered, however, there is a good chance that it was Abraham Howland, the city's first mayor, or one of his circle of friends. It has been widely printed that "Lucem Diffundo" is an allusion to New Bedford's leading role in the whale oil trade. This is certainly a reasonable assumption, however, the motto has at least two other meanings.
"Lucem Diffundo" is a 'personification' of the lighthouse depicted in the center of the seal. The lighthouse is saying to the viewer, "I diffuse Light." Palmer's Island Lighthouse still stands in New Bedford's inner harbor and was restored and re-lighted by the city in 1999 on the light's 150th anniversary. The original seal, first crudely drawn in 1847, depicted only the lighthouse with the motto, "Lucem Diffundens," which translates to "Diffusing Light," or the lighthouse as saying "I am diffusing light." Howland and the new city fathers were predominately Quakers. Followers of the religious teachings of Englishman, George Fox, the Quakers referred to themselves as the "Society of Friends" and "Children of the Light." Their spiritual mission in life was to spread (diffuse) the "Inner Light of Christ" to all they encountered. So here they were, the Children of the Light, employed in the lighting industry, supplying whale oil to the entire world for lighting! In addition, New Bedford held all the federal contracts which supplied whale oil for the young nation's system of lighthouses. Imagine the power and significance of "Lucem Diffundo" to them as they spread spiritual and physical light to all they met. Surely, the Scripture from St. Matthew held great meaning to them: "I am the Light of the World. A city that is set on a hill shall not be hid." Indeed, the biblical references in the seal's design remain to this day.
In the foreground is the Fairhaven shore, with the Acushnet River almost seeming like the River Jordan, with the city set on its hill in the distance, like the promised land. In the harbor is depicted a steamship, representing the future and a whale ship representing the past, with Palmer's Island and its Lighthouse in the center, a spiritual and physical beacon to all who arrived in this world port built by light. Certainly, the Quakers saw their wealth and success as a sign of divine approval.
The spirit of "Lucem Diffundo" lives on today, though less widely known. It is this spirit which keeps its adherents resilient and tenacious in the face of all obstacles for the betterment of this great city by the sea. Source: FOTW Homepage
Palmer Island Light Station is a historic lighthouse in New Bedford Harbor in New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. The lighthouse was built in 1849 out of stone rubble. It was discontinued when the harbor's hurricane barrier was built in the early 1960s, as its location immediately north of the barrier was no longer an outlying danger and there are lights on either side of the barrier opening.
From 1888 until 1891 it served, with Fairhaven Bridge Light, as a range light to guide vessels past Butler Flats, a rocky shoal on the west side of the entrance channel.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Palmer Island Light Station on March 26, 1980.
It is a paradox that you stand in the old world when making a new world or, more abstract, that what is new is still defined by the old (even and precisely when developed in contradistinction to the old). One more reason not to overestimate the autonomy of the new. Fuji X-E2, a 2x teleconverter and the Helios 44M-7 at approx. F8.
"Why did the Yearling cross the road...?"
Moose of the Canadian Rockies
Moose (Alces alces) are the largest members of the deer family, and their size is precisely why they are one of nature’s most resilient cold-climate species. Their adaptive mechanism to conserve body heat is best described by a zoological principle known as, ‘Bergmann’s Rule.’ The rule applies to the ratio of body surface to weight in warm-blooded animals. Moose have a relatively small surface area compared to their volume. Regardless of external temperatures, Moose maintain a relatively constant internal temperature—meaning they require only minor metabolic and environmental adjustments to live comfortably in North America’s lowest-temperature regions. Moose range from the Arctic coasts of North America, Europe, and Asia, down to the southern limits of the boreal forest. In North America, they reach their southern extent in New York State to the east and Utah to the west.
The Moose is a browser, or ‘eater of twigs’ as the Algonquian Native name translates. In a single day, an adult can consume about 44 pounds of vegetation. They graze on aquatic plants such as water lilies and duckweed and make use of their impressive stature to tear off twigs high in the willow trees. Summer waterways are important feeding areas and also provide escape routes from wolves, bears, and mesopredators like the red fox and coyote.
For more Info: www.nathab.com/know-before-you-go/alaska-northern-adventu...
A brief moment in time, in this timeless and remote corner of Wales, high above the Conwy Valley.
Edit: Just thought of this line by TS Eliot, it fits my thoughts precisely: "Here, the intersection of the timeless moment"
Back from a holiday from France and more precisely Brittany and parts of Normandy, the first week a lot of clouds and rain, unfortunately the sun broke through here at this world famous heritage site and then disappeared for the rest of the afternoon....
This is precisely what we must prevent: being satisfied that it is over and attempt to patch up one's life, without demanding responsibility, because nothing we have lived will ever end if we are satisfied with having obtained a free time that can be revoked in any moment. We will have to find the jailers.
*Horizon:
The line that separates earth from sky. More precisely, it is the line that divides all of the directions you can possibly look into, into two categories: those which intersect the Earth, and those which do not. At many locations, the true horizon is obscured by trees, buildings, mountains, etc. The resulting intersection of earth and sky is instead known as the visible horizon.
Depth of Field! . St-Ursule, Québec, Canada.
PixQuote:
" I have two pairs of eyes – one to paint and one to take photographs."
-Jacques Henri Lartigue
Note:
Historically, the distance to the visible horizon has been extremely important as it represented the maximum range of communication and vision before the development of the radio and the telegraph.
The boundless spirit who bears in himself the totality of Being reaches beyond the “greatest”, so that to him it is small, and he reaches into the smallest, because to him nothing is too small. Precisely this overstepping of the greatest and reaching down into the smallest is the true nature of absolute spirit.
-JOSEPH CARDINAL RATZINGER, INTRODUCTION
TO CHRISTIANITY
This scene is precisely what I seek in a good summer holiday - to find myself in the middle of nowhere with an open road and blue skies.
Middle of Nowhere, Nevada USA
(July 24, 2012)
Most citizens of Eisenach, a former communist town in central Germany, know precisely how their long-running Bach legacy began. They tell the tale of the Hungarian miller Vitus Bach who, fleeing persecution for his Lutheran beliefs in the 16th century, ended up in Eisenach, where his religion's founder, Martin Luther had spent his childhood and translated the New Testament.
Around a century later, in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was born. His father, Ambrosius Bach, was the town musician and Bach junior often accompanied him to the town hall tower where twice a day he played sonatas, dances and chorales on his trumpet.
Eisenach is now launching a campaign to publicise its association with the most famous of all baroque musicians after decades during which the composer was hijacked by various ideologies, including nazism and communism.
- The Guardian 7/4/07
Nature. The most beautiful thing in the world is, precisely, the conjunction of learning and inspiration. Oh, the passion for research and the joy of discovery!
My wife did a remarkable job of staying precisely still for the 13-second exposure that was needed for this shot. The Atlantic Ocean was anything but calm, but such is the beauty of long exposures. The post-rain clouds were deadly, and were balanced against the foreground using two stacked 1-stop GND filters and a 3-stop ND filter.
ISO 100, F11, 13-second exposure, Canon L-Series 17-40MM @25MM. Tripod.
Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/davebroshaphotography
The Monostor Fortress - the largest modern fortress in Central Europe - was built between 1850 and 1871. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the neoclassical military monument is a fascinating sight with its huge walls of precisely hewn stone, the 3-4 metre thick earthen ramparts covering the defences and its network of underground passages (kazamata) several kilometres long.
Its monumental dimensions are evidenced by the following figures: The fortress covers 25 hectares, the total area including the firing ranges is 70 hectares, the floor area of the buildings is 25 680 m2 and the number of rooms is 640.
After the fortress was built, it served generations of soldiers of the Hungarian Defence Forces. Its tasks included the defence of the central fortress (North - Komárom) and the control of shipping on the Danube. It was never used in combat and served mainly as a training centre and weapons depot. During the First World War it was used as a conscription and training centre. During the Second World War, the 22nd Infantry Regiment had its headquarters at Fort Monostor, and the soldiers of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments were stationed there. After the Second World War.
Between 1945 and 1990, the Red Army's Army Group South set up the largest ammunition depot in Central Europe in the fort. With their withdrawal, the military function of the fortress ended forever.
Today the fort is a popular destination with a military history exhibition, Cold War vehicles, a bread museum, a boat exhibition and numerous events.
This 360° panorama was captured from the Atacama Desert in Chile, one of the most suitable places on Earth for astronomical observation, and more precisely from the European Observatory of "La Silla". Note that the dome in the foreground is the home of the TRAPPIST Telescope, which discovered the famous system of 7-earth-size exoplanets around a red-dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1!)
Anyway, this image not only shows the Milky Way spanning over the entire field of view but also an impressive amount of strange colorful wave-like structures in the whole sky!
This orange/red light emitted at 85 km altitude (and higher) does not originate from artificial light pollution or high altitude clouds.
This rare phenomenon called Airglow is entirely natural and originates from an interaction between the Ultra-violet light of our Sun and the particles of the upper layers of the atmosphere.
During the day, the highly energetic UV light of the sun hits the atoms of oxygen, sodium, nitrogen...etc of the Earth's atmosphere. This absorption of energy puts them in an excited state that only waits for an external process to be able to release this excess of energy.
Using Chemiluminescence, the atoms of the atmosphere are slowly releasing this absorbed UV-llight into visible light, before going back to their stable energy state.
The emission of light, whose color depends on the chemical element involved in the reaction (oxygen for red airglow, sodium for green airglow), continues even during night-time when the sun has set for few hours.
As a fluid, Airglow follows the air flow of the atmosphere and the variation of gravity field caused by the topography of the ground, which produces the so-called "gravity waves" (not gravitational waves!).
These gravity waves are what make the main spatial feature of airglow in the sky: wave-like and ripple-like structures, with strong inhomogeneities.
Red and orange airglow (even a little bit of green) were very strong during that night in Chile! Even though this natural phenomenon is very common in this region of the world, it is usually not as intense as it was during that night!
You can also spot the zodiacal light, a tilted cone of blue light starting from the lower horizon and extending to the galactic center.
This leads to a new definition of what a high-quality sky for stargazing really is: not a dark-sky but a sky under which the rarest and the dimmest natural phenomena can be seen, revealing the true colors of the sky!
The two photographers next to the TRAPPIST observatory are Norédine and Olivia, two astronomy social enthusiasts of our group of 8 which was chosen by ESO to participate to its #MeeESO event.
The other observatories visible in this image are (from right to left) : the Danish 0.5-meter telescope, the ESO-0.5-meter telescope, the ESO-1.52-meter telescope and finally the tiny illuminated dome in the top horizon is the huge ESO-3.6-meter telescope.
17 images were captured and stitched together to form this 360° panoramic view. Neither photo blending/digital art nor over-exaggerated colors/contrasts. The success of this panorama holds in the fact that I used an ultra wide angle lens : a Sigma 14 mm F/1.8 which enabled me to capture far less images and to spend far less time than if I had used a standard lens (35 mm focal length).
TECHNICAL DETAILS
📷 Canon 6D + Sigma Art 14 mm + Standard Tripod
→ Single 20 seconds exposure
→ ISO 6400
→ 14 mm
→ f/1.8
→ 17-image stitching to make this 360 panorama
→ No photo blending, each image of this panoram is a "one-shot".
Softwares: Dxo Optics pro 9 for noise reduction / Microsoft ICE for panorama / Photoshop/Lightroom for all the edits.
Death Valley, California
A wall of dust preceding a late afternoon rain storm is moving over Death Valley's Cottonball Basin. Our view point is part way up the east side of the valley, on the Beatty Cutoff Road.
When the dust finally obscured the valley, I drove back down into the cloud. A few minutes later the dust turned to rain, dropping roughly a half centimeter (one quarter inch) before clearing. The wet ground that evening was entirely dry by the next morning.
Experiencing rain in Death Valley is not precisely like Hell freezing over, but it is something close.
Learning how to love is like learning how to tie your shoes...and that’s precisely why I wear slippers.
-- Jarod Kintz
Leaning Tower of Pisa and Pisa Cathedral
Schiefer Turm von Pisa und Dom zu Pisa
The Piazza dei Miracoli (Italian: [ˈpjattsa dei miˈraːkoli]; English: Square of Miracles), formally known as Piazza del Duomo (English: Cathedral Square), is a walled 8.87-hectare area located in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy, recognized as an important centre of European medieval art and one of the finest architectural complexes in the world.Considered sacred by the Catholic Church, its owner, the square is dominated by four great religious edifices: the Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistry, the Campanile, and the Camposanto Monumentale (Monumental Cemetery). Partly paved and partly grassed, the Piazza dei Miracoli is also the site of the Ospedale Nuovo di Santo Spirito (New Hospital of the Holy Spirit), which houses the Sinopias Museum (Italian: Museo delle Sinopie) and the Cathedral Museum (Italian: Museo dell'Opera del Duomo).
The name Piazza dei Miracoli was coined by the Italian writer and poet Gabriele d'Annunzio who, in his novel Forse che sì forse che no (1910), described the square as the "prato dei Miracoli", or "meadow of miracles". The square is sometimes called the Campo dei Miracoli ("Field of Miracles"). In 1987, the whole square was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
(Wikipedia)
The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Italian: torre pendente di Pisa), or simply, the Tower of Pisa (torre di Pisa [ˈtorre di ˈpiːza; ˈpiːsa], is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation. The tower is one of three structures in the Pisa's Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo), which includes the cathedral and Pisa Baptistry.
The height of the tower is 55.86 metres (183 feet 3 inches) from the ground on the low side and 56.67 m (185 ft 11 in) on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 2.44 m (8 ft 0 in). Its weight is estimated at 14,500 tonnes (16,000 short tons). The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase.
The tower began to lean during construction in the 12th century, due to soft ground which could not properly support the structure's weight. It worsened through the completion of construction in the 14th century. By 1990, the tilt had reached 5.5 degrees. The structure was stabilized by remedial work between 1993 and 2001, which reduced the tilt to 3.97 degrees.
Architect
There has been controversy surrounding the identity of the architect of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. For many years, the design was attributed to Guglielmo and Bonanno Pisano, a well-known 12th-century resident artist of Pisa, known for his bronze casting, particularly in the Pisa Duomo. Pisano left Pisa in 1185 for Monreale, Sicily, only to come back and die in his home town. A piece of cast bearing his name was discovered at the foot of the tower in 1820, but this may be related to the bronze door in the façade of the cathedral that was destroyed in 1595. A 2001 study seems to indicate Diotisalvi was the original architect, due to the time of construction and affinity with other Diotisalvi works, notably the bell tower of San Nicola and the Baptistery, both in Pisa.
Construction
Construction of the tower occurred in three stages over 199 years. On 5 January 1172, Donna Berta di Bernardo, a widow and resident of the house of dell'Opera di Santa Maria, bequeathed sixty soldi to the Opera Campanilis petrarum Sancte Marie. The sum was then used toward the purchase of a few stones which still form the base of the bell tower. On 9 August 1173, the foundations of the tower were laid. Work on the ground floor of the white marble campanile began on 14 August of the same year during a period of military success and prosperity. This ground floor is a blind arcade articulated by engaged columns with classical Corinthian capitals. Nearly four centuries later Giorgio Vasari wrote: "Guglielmo, according to what is being said, in the year 1174, together with sculptor Bonanno, laid the foundations of the bell tower of the cathedral in Pisa".
The tower began to sink after construction had progressed to the second floor in 1178. This was due to a mere three-metre foundation, set in weak, unstable subsoil, a design that was flawed from the beginning. Construction was subsequently halted for the better part of a century, as the Republic of Pisa was almost continually engaged in battles with Genoa, Lucca, and Florence. This allowed time for the underlying soil to settle. Otherwise, the tower would almost certainly have toppled. On 27 December 1233, the worker Benenato, son of Gerardo Bottici, oversaw the continuation of the tower's construction.
On 23 February 1260, Guido Speziale, son of Giovanni Pisano, was elected to oversee the building of the tower. On 12 April 1264, the master builder Giovanni di Simone, architect of the Camposanto, and 23 workers went to the mountains close to Pisa to cut marble. The cut stones were given to Rainaldo Speziale, worker of St. Francesco. In 1272, construction resumed under Di Simone. In an effort to compensate for the tilt, the engineers built upper floors with one side taller than the other. Because of this, the tower is curved. Construction was halted again in 1284 when the Pisans were defeated by the Genoese in the Battle of Meloria.
The seventh floor was completed in 1319. The bell-chamber was finally added in 1372. It was built by Tommaso di Andrea Pisano, who succeeded in harmonizing the Gothic elements of the belfry with the Romanesque style of the tower. There are seven bells, one for each note of the musical major scale. The largest one was installed in 1655.
History following construction
Between 1589 and 1592, Galileo Galilei, who lived in Pisa at the time, is said to have dropped two cannonballs of different masses from the tower to demonstrate that their speed of descent was independent of their mass, in keeping with the law of free fall. The primary source for this is the biography Racconto istorico della vita di Galileo Galilei (Historical Account of the Life of Galileo Galilei), written by Galileo's pupil and secretary Vincenzo Viviani in 1654, but only published in 1717, long after his death.
During World War II, the Allies suspected that the Germans were using the tower as an observation post. Leon Weckstein, a U.S. Army sergeant sent to confirm the presence of German troops in the tower, was impressed by the beauty of the cathedral and its campanile, and thus refrained from ordering an artillery strike, sparing it from destruction.
Numerous efforts have been made to restore the tower to a vertical orientation or at least keep it from falling over. Most of these efforts failed; some worsened the tilt. On 27 February 1964, the government of Italy requested aid in preventing the tower from toppling. It was, however, considered important to retain the current tilt, due to the role that this element played in promoting the tourism industry of Pisa.
Starting in 1993, 870 tonnes of lead counterweights were added, which straightened the tower slightly.
The tower and the neighbouring cathedral, baptistery, and cemetery are included in the Piazza del Duomo UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was declared in 1987.
The tower was closed to the public on 7 January 1990, after more than two decades of stabilisation studies and spurred by the abrupt collapse of the Civic Tower of Pavia in 1989. The bells were removed to relieve some weight, and cables were cinched around the third level and anchored several hundred meters away. Apartments and houses in the path of a potential fall of the tower were vacated for safety. The selected method for preventing the collapse of the tower was to slightly reduce its tilt to a safer angle by removing 38 cubic metres (1,342 cubic feet) of soil from underneath the raised end. The tower's tilt was reduced by 45 centimetres (17+1⁄2 inches), returning to its 1838 position. After a decade of corrective reconstruction and stabilization efforts, the tower was reopened to the public on 15 December 2001, and was declared stable for at least another 300 years. In total, 70 metric tons (77 short tons) of soil were removed.
After a phase (1990–2001) of structural strengthening, the tower has been undergoing gradual surface restoration to repair visible damage, mostly corrosion and blackening. These are particularly pronounced due to the tower's age and its exposure to wind and rain. In May 2008, engineers announced that the tower had been stabilized such that it had stopped moving for the first time in its history. They stated that it would be stable for at least 200 years.
Earthquake survival
At least four strong earthquakes have hit the region since 1280, but the apparently vulnerable tower survived. The reason was not understood until a research group of 16 engineers investigated. The researchers concluded that the tower was able to withstand the tremors because of dynamic soil-structure interaction (DSSI): the height and stiffness of the tower, together with the softness of the foundation soil, influences the vibrational characteristics of the structure in such a way that the tower does not resonate with earthquake ground motion. The same soft soil that caused the leaning and brought the tower to the verge of collapse helped it survive.
Technical information
Elevation of Piazza del Duomo: about 2 metres (6 feet, DMS)
Height from the ground floor: 55.863 m (183 ft 3+5⁄16 in),[37] 8 stories
Height from the foundation floor: 58.36 m (191 ft 5+1⁄2 in)
Outer diameter of base: 15.484 m (50 ft 9+5⁄8 in)
Inner diameter of base: 7.368 m (24 ft 2+1⁄16 in)
Angle of slant: 3.97 degrees[40] or 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in) from the vertical
Weight: 14,700 metric tons (16,200 short tons)
Thickness of walls at the base: 2.44 m (8 ft 0 in)
Total number of bells: 7, tuned to musical scale, clockwise:
1st bell: L'Assunta, cast in 1654 by Giovanni Pietro Orlandi, weight 3,620 kg (7,981 lb)
2nd bell: Il Crocifisso, cast in 1572 by Vincenzo Possenti, weight 2,462 kg (5,428 lb)
3rd bell: San Ranieri, cast in 1719–1721 by Giovanni Andrea Moreni, weight 1,448 kg (3,192 lb)
4th bell: La Terza (1st small one), cast in 1473, weight 300 kg (661 lb)
5th bell: La Pasquereccia or La Giustizia, cast in 1262 by Lotteringo, weight 1,014 kg (2,235 lb)
6th bell: Il Vespruccio (2nd small one), cast in the 14th century and again in 1501 by Nicola di Jacopo, weight 1,000 kg (2,205 lb)
7th bell: Dal Pozzo, cast in 1606 and again in 2004, weight 652 kg (1,437 lb)
Number of steps to the top: 296
About the 5th bell: The name Pasquareccia comes from Easter, because it used to ring on Easter day. However, this bell is older than the bell-chamber itself, and comes from the tower Vergata in Palazzo Pretorio in Pisa, where it was called La Giustizia (The Justice). The bell was tolled to announce executions of criminals and traitors, including Count Ugolino in 1289. A new bell was installed in the bell tower at the end of the 18th century to replace the broken Pasquareccia.
The circular shape and great height of the campanile were unusual for their time, and the crowning belfry is stylistically distinct from the rest of the construction. This belfry incorporates a 14 cm (5+1⁄2 in) correction for the inclined axis below. The siting of the campanile within the Piazza del Duomo diverges from the axial alignment of the cathedral and baptistery of the Piazza del Duomo.
Guinness World Records
Two German churches have challenged the tower's status as the world's most lopsided building: the 15th-century square Leaning Tower of Suurhusen and the 14th-century bell tower in the town of Bad Frankenhausen. Guinness World Records measured the Pisa and Suurhusen towers, finding the former's tilt to be 3.97 degrees. In June 2010, Guinness World Records certified the Capital Gate building in Abu Dhabi, UAE as the "World's Furthest Leaning Man-made Tower"; it has an 18-degree slope, almost five times more than the Tower of Pisa, but was deliberately engineered to slant. The Leaning Tower of Wanaka in New Zealand, also deliberately built, leans at 53 degrees to the ground.
(Wikipedia)
Pisa Cathedral (Italian: Cattedrale Metropolitana Primaziale di Santa Maria Assunta; Duomo di Pisa) is a medieval Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the Piazza dei Miracoli in Pisa, Italy, the oldest of the three structures in the plaza followed by the Pisa Baptistry and the Campanile known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The cathedral is a notable example of Romanesque architecture, in particular the style known as Pisan Romanesque. Consecrated in 1118, it is the seat of the Archbishop of Pisa. Construction began in 1063 and was completed in 1092. Additional enlargements and a new facade were built in the 12th century and the roof was replaced after damage from a fire in 1595.
History
Construction on the cathedral began in 1063 (1064 according to the Pisan calendar of the time) by the architect Buscheto, and expenses were paid using the spoils received fighting against the Muslims in Sicily in 1063. It includes various stylistic elements: classical, Lombard-Emilian, Byzantine, and Islamic, drawing upon the international presence of Pisan merchants at that time. In the same year, St. Mark's Basilica began its reconstruction in Venice, evidence of a strong rivalry between the two maritime republics to see which could create the most beautiful and luxurious place of worship.
The church was erected outside Pisa's early medieval walls, to show that Pisa had no fear of being attacked.[citation needed] The chosen area had already been used in the Lombard era as a necropolis and at the beginning of the 11th century a church had been erected here, but never finished, that was to be named Santa Maria.[citation needed] Buscheto's grand new church was initially called Santa Maria Maggiore until it was officially named Santa Maria Assunta.
In 1092 the cathedral was declared primatial church, archbishop Dagobert having been given the title of Primate by Pope Urban II. The cathedral was consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasius II, who belonged to the Caetani family which was powerful both in Pisa and in Rome.
In the early 12th century the cathedral was enlarged under the direction of architect Rainaldo, who increased the length of the nave by adding three bays consistent with the original style of Buscheto, enlarged the transept, and planned a new facade which was completed by workers under the direction of the sculptors Guglielmo and Biduino. The exact date of the work is unclear: according to some, the work was done right after the death of Buscheto about the year 1100, though others say it was done closer to 1140. In any case, work was finished in 1180, as documented by the date written on the bronze knockers made by Bonanno Pisano found on the main door.
The structure's present appearance is the result of numerous restoration campaigns that were carried out in different eras. The first radical interventions occurred after the fire of 1595, following which the roof was replaced and sculptors from the workshop of Giambologna, among whom were Gasparo Mola and Pietro Tacca, created the three bronze doors of the facade. In the early 18th century began the redecoration of the inside walls of the cathedral with large paintings, the "quadroni", depicting stories of the blesseds and saints of Pisa. These works were made by the principal artists of the era, and a group of citizens arranged for the special financing of the project. Successive interventions occurred in the 19th century and included both internal and external modifications; among the latter was the removal of the original facade statues (presently in the cathedral museum) and their replacement with copies.
Other notable interventions include: the dismantling of Giovanni Pisano's pulpit between 1599 and 1601 that only in 1926 was reassembled and returned to the cathedral (with some original pieces missing, including the staircase); and the dismantling of the monument to Henry VII made by Lupo di Francesco that was found in front of the door of San Ranieri and later substituted by a simpler, symbolic version.
Description
The original building plan was a Greek cross with a grand cupola at the crossing, but today the plan is a Latin cross with a central nave flanked by two side aisles on each side, with the apse and transepts having three naves. The inside offers a spatial effect similar to that of the great mosques thanks to the use of raised lancet arches, the alternating layers of black and white marble, and the elliptical dome, inspired by the Moors. The presence of two raised matronea in the nave, with their solid, monolithic columns of granite, is a clear sign of Byzantine influence. Buscheto welcomed Islamic and Armenian influence.
Exterior
The rich exterior decoration contains multicolored marble, mosaic, and numerous bronze objects from the spoils of war, among which is the griffin. The arrival of the griffin in Pisa has been attributed to numerous Pisan military victories of the 11th and 12th centuries, including the 1087 Mahdia Campaign and the 1113-1115 Balearic Expedition. The griffin was placed on a platform atop a column rising from the gable above the apse at the east end of the roof, probably as continuation of the original construction that started in 1064. In the early 19th century the original sculpture, which can now be seen in the cathedral museum, was removed from the roof and replaced with a copy. The high arches show Islamic and southern Italian influence.Ref? The blind arches with lozenge shapes recall similar structures in Armenia. The facade of grey and white marble, decorated with colored marble inserts, was built by Master Rainaldo. Above the three doorways are four levels of loggia divided by cornices with marble intarsia, behind which open single, double, and triple windows.
The cathedral was heavily damaged by a fire in 1595. The heavy bronze doors of the façade were newly designed, executed and completed in 1602 by sculptors around Giambologna on the expense of Ferdinando I de' Medici, the Grand Duke of Tuscany. At the top there is a Madonna and Child and, in the angles, the four evangelists. The tomb of Buscheto is found to the left of the north door of the facade.
Contrary to what might be thought, from the beginning the faithful entered the cathedral through the Gate of Saint Rainerius, found in the south transept of the same name, which faces the bell tower. For townsfolk approaching by via Santa Maria it was the shortest way to enter the cathedral. The door wings were cast about 1180 by Bonanno Pisano, and it is the only door not destroyed in 1595. The 24 bronze reliefs show stories of the New Testament. This bronze portal is one of the first produced in Italy during the Middle Ages, and is a forerunner of the bronze doors created by Andrea Pisano for the Baptistery in Florence (1329–1336).
Of further interest
At the end of the 10th century Pisa established March 25 as the beginning of its new year. This date was considered very important because it is both the Feast of the Annunciation (occurring nine months before Christ's birth on December 25) and it falls very close to the spring equinox. To mark the beginning of the Pisan new year a system was devised in the cathedral whereby a beam of light shines through a round window on the south side of the nave and, precisely at noon on March 25, lands on the same spot every year: on top of a shelf affixed to a pylon on the opposite side of the church. This shelf rests on a marble egg, a symbol of birth and new life. In 1750 the first day of the new year was officially changed to January 1, but this event is still celebrated every year accompanied by solemn religious and civic celebrations.
The lamp at the center of the nave is called Galileo's lamp, because a legend says that the great scientist formulated his theory of isochronism of the pendulum while watching its oscillations from the roof of the nave. The original, however, smaller and very different than this one, is found today in the Camposanto.
On the north side, to the left side of the facade in front of the Camposanto at about eye level, is an original piece of Roman marble (as testified to by its decoration that can still in part be seen), on which are a series of small black marks. Legend says that these marks were left by the devil when he climbed up to the dome attempting to stop its construction, and so they are referred to as the scratches of the devil. (The legend also says that out of spite the number of scratches always changes when counted.)
Legend has it that the amphora placed on a small column on the right side of the apse was used by Christ at the wedding feast of Cana when he turned water into wine.
Pope Gregory VIII is buried in the cathedral.
(Wikipedia)
Die Piazza dei Miracoli (italienisch Platz der Wunder), wie die Piazza del Duomo im Volksmund auch genannt wird, ist der Domplatz der toskanischen Stadt Pisa. Der Name stammt vom italienischen Dichter und Schriftsteller Gabriele D’Annunzio. Er beschrieb in seinem Buch Forse che sì forse che no den Platz als Wiese der Wunder. Die Piazza dei Miracoli ist eine Grünfläche nahe der Stadtbefestigung im nordwestlichen Teil der Altstadt. Die dezentrale Lage am Rande des Historischen Stadtkerns ist ungewöhnlich. Auf dem Platz steht das berühmte Ensemble, bestehend aus dem Baptisterium als größte Taufkirche der Welt, dem Friedhof Camposanto Monumentale und dem kreuzförmigen Dom Santa Maria Assunta mit seinem Campanile, dem Schiefen Turm. Sie gehören zu den Meisterwerken der mittelalterlichen Architektur und hatten einen großen Einfluss auf die monumentalen Kunst in Italien vom 11. bis zum 14. Jahrhundert. Seit 1987 gehört der Platz zum UNESCO-Welterbe.
(Wikipedia)
Der Schiefe Turm von Pisa (italienisch Torre pendente di Pisa) ist das wohl bekannteste geneigte Gebäude der Welt und Wahrzeichen der Stadt Pisa in Italien.
Der Turm war als freistehender Glockenturm (Campanile) für den Dom in Pisa geplant. 12 Jahre nach der Grundsteinlegung am 9. August 1173, im Jahr 1185, als der Bau bei der dritten Etage angelangt war, begann sich der Turmstumpf in Richtung Südosten zu neigen. Daraufhin ruhte der Bau rund 100 Jahre. Die nächsten vier Stockwerke wurden dann mit einem geringeren Neigungswinkel als dem bereits bestehenden gebaut, um die Schieflage auszugleichen. Danach musste der Bau nochmals unterbrochen werden, bis 1372 auch die Glockenstube vollendet war.
Der Grund für seine Schieflage liegt in dem Untergrund aus lehmigem Morast und Sand, der sich unter dem Gewicht verformt. Neuesten Ausgrabungen zufolge steht der Turm am Rande einer ehemaligen Insel direkt neben einem antiken, zur Bauzeit bereits versandeten Hafenbecken. Die Schieflage des Turms beträgt nach dem Ende der Sanierungsarbeiten rund vier Grad, entsprechend einer Auslenkung an der Spitze von 3,9 m (bei rund 55,8 m Höhe). Im Inneren des Turmes hängt ein Pendel, das oben in der Mitte befestigt ist und durch die Schieflage unten beinahe die Seitenwand berührt.
Der Legende nach hat der aus Pisa stammende Galileo Galilei bei Fallversuchen vom Turm die Fallgesetze entdeckt.
Im Jahre 1987 wurde das Ensemble auf der Piazza del Duomo aus dem Turm, dem Dom, dem Baptisterium und dem Camposanto von der UNESCO zum Weltkulturerbe erklärt.
Architektur
Der 56 Meter hohe und 12 Meter durchmessende Campanile besteht aus 14.500 Tonnen weißen Carrara-Marmors und hat sieben Glocken, die aber längere Zeit wegen der Einsturzgefahr nicht läuten durften. Er sollte der Höhepunkt der ganzen Anlage der Piazza dei Miracoli sein. Er unterscheidet sich von den üblichen quadratischen Türmen Mittelitaliens und steht in einem großen Gegensatz zu den spitz zulaufenden Türmen des nördlichen Europa. Er ruht auf einem spiralförmigen Fundament aus 700 m³ Bruchstein und Mörtel. Neben dem Eingang sind Monat und Jahr des Baubeginns eingemeißelt: August 1173. In Urkunden wird jedoch stets 1174 genannt, denn für die Pisaner begann nach damaligem Kalender das neue Jahr bereits am 25. März. Giorgio Vasari bezeichnete Bonanno Pisano und einen gewissen Guglielmo als ursprüngliche Architekten des Turms.
Der Campanile hatte – außer dass er die Glocken tragen sollte – noch eine andere Funktion. Bei äußerer Gefahr flüchtete damals der Klerus in den Turm. Maueröffnungen und -vorsprünge im Zylinderschacht machten es möglich, bei Bedarf in jedem Stockwerk Gebälk und Fußböden einzuziehen.
Jedes Stockwerk hat eine Tür hinaus auf die Säulengalerie, die aus jeweils 30 Säulen besteht. Auf der Südseite führen oben sechs Stufen zur Glockenstube hinauf, auf der Nordseite nur vier. Die Treppe zur obersten Aussichtsterrasse soll Brunelleschi inspiriert haben, einen ähnlichen Aufgang zur Laterne auf der Kuppel des Doms in Florenz zu bauen.
Vom 7. Januar 1990 an musste der 14.500 Tonnen schwere Turm für Besucher gesperrt werden, da die Schräglage zu gefährlich wurde. Es gab eine weltweite Aufforderung an Baustatiker, die besten Lösungen zur Stabilisierung auszuarbeiten und einzureichen.
Nach 13-jährigen Sanierungsmaßnahmen, bei denen der Turm wieder um 44 Zentimeter aufgerichtet wurde, ist er seit Dezember 2001 wieder für Touristen geöffnet. Besucher können gegen Entgelt den Turm in Gruppen von maximal 40 Besuchern für eine Dauer von 15 Minuten besteigen.
Der Schiefe Turm von Pisa ist nicht das schiefste Gebäude bzw. der schiefste Turm der Welt, wie häufig vermutet wird. Dennoch gehört er zu den schiefsten Bauwerken, die – aufrecht geplant – unabsichtlich in eine Schieflage geraten sind.
Glocken
Die sieben Kirchenglocken des Domes werden aus statischer Vorsicht nur noch mittels innenliegender elektromagnetischer Schlaghämmer angeschlagen, und zwar mittags um 12 Uhr und jeweils vor den Messen.
Zuvor wurden die Glocken entsprechend ihrer Namen liturgisch eingesetzt, so etwa die Terza zur Terz, der dritten Stunde des liturgischen Tages, also um 9 Uhr vormittags, oder die Vespruccio zur Vesper, 18 Uhr. Das Läuten erfolgte von Hand; an Festtagen wurden die Glocken voll – a slancio – ausgeschwungen.
Die kleinste Glocke von 1501, Vespruccio genannt, hat eine sehr schlanke, zuckerhutartige Form. Die Glocke Del Pozzo ist ein originalgetreuer Nachguss der Vorgängerin, 1606 von Nicolaus Castellum gegossen.
Sanierungsmaßnahmen
Versuche im Mittelalter, den Bau durch besondere Baumaßnahmen wie geneigte Böden sowie dünnere und leichtere Mauern auf der überhängenden Seite zu retten, zeigten keine ausreichende Wirkung, so dass von den ursprünglich geplanten 100 Metern Höhe nur 54 Meter gebaut wurden.
Seit dem Beginn exakter Messungen 1911 nahm die Neigung stetig zu, und die Rate der Zunahme verdoppelte sich von den 1930er-Jahren bis 1990. In diesem Jahr betrug die jährliche Zunahme der Neigung 6 Bogensekunden. Außerdem zeigte die Vermessung, dass es sich um eine Rotationsbewegung handelte, wobei das Zentrum des Kreises in Höhe des Bodens der ersten Galerie senkrecht über dem Mittelpunkt des Turms auf Bodenebene liegt, der selbst keine vertikale Bewegung ausführte. Bei zwei heftigen Starkregenereignissen konnte 1995 eine Neigungszunahme in der Größenordnung einer Bogensekunde in wenigen Stunden festgestellt werden. Daraus wurde geschlossen, dass die Ursache nicht – wie üblicherweise angenommen – im Kriechen der weichen marinen Tonschicht (Horizont B ab einer Tiefe von etwa 10 m bis zu einer Tiefe von 40 m, wo Horizont C mit dichtem marinen Sand beginnt) lag, sondern an dem darüberliegenden Horizont A (Sand, sandige und tonige Schluffe), in der regelmäßig im September bis Dezember auftretende Unwetter mit heftigen Niederschlägen eine verstärkte Rotationsbewegung auslösten.
Seit der vorübergehenden Schließung 1990 waren diverse Sanierungsmaßnahmen unternommen worden. Im Mai 1992 wurde der Campanile mit Stahlreifen im zweiten Geschoss gesichert, da sich dort gefährliche Risse im tragenden Marmor gezeigt hatten. Insgesamt wurden 18 dieser Reifen angebracht. Zusätzlich wurden im Juli 1993 im Fundament 600 Tonnen Bleibarren als Gegengewicht auf der Nordseite eingelagert. Dadurch konnte die Schieflage des Turmes 1993 um eine Bogenminute verringert werden. 1995 wurden weitere Sanierungsmaßnahmen (Bodenvereisung und Stahlkabel-Verankerung) durchgeführt, da man die Bleigewichte als störend empfand. In der Folge erhöhte sich dabei allerdings die Neigung. Daraufhin wurde die höhere Seite des Fundaments an seinem Vorsprung außen am Turm im September 1995 erneut, diesmal mit 900 Tonnen Bleibarren, beschwert (siehe Bild), was die Neigung stoppte.
Ein Komitee internationaler Fachleute, das über die Sanierungsmaßnahmen des Turmes befinden sollte (1990 bis 2001 unter Leitung von Michele Jamiolkowski), konnte sich auf keine bestimmten Maßnahmen festlegen und wurde deshalb zum Ende 1996 von der italienischen Regierung aufgelöst. Nach dem großen Erdbeben vom September 1997 wurde das Komitee jedoch wieder eingesetzt. Man einigte sich im Herbst 1998 mehrheitlich auf eine neue Maßnahme zur Sanierung des Campanile, die sogenannte Bodenextraktions-Methode (geplant von John Burland nach einer Idee des Ingenieurs Fernando Terracina aus dem Jahr 1962). Dazu wurden im folgenden Jahr schräge Löcher in den Boden (Tiefe rund 4 bis 5 m, innerhalb von Horizont A) unter dem nördlichen Teil des Turmes gebohrt, so dass etwa 50 m³ Material entfernt wurde. Das Erdreich sackte langsam nach, schließlich auch der Boden des Turmes, und der ganze Turm richtete sich zunehmend nach Norden auf. Die Gesamtneigung des Turmes wurde von 5,5 Grad vor dem Beginn der Sanierungsarbeiten (um 1990) auf etwa vier Grad verringert. Damit ist der Turm voraussichtlich für die nächsten 300 Jahre gesichert. Nach dem Abschluss der Sanierungsmaßnahmen wurde der Turm am 15. Dezember 2001 wieder zur Besichtigung freigegeben.
Zur Sicherung während dieser Arbeiten wurde der Turm 1998 mit zwei starken Stahlseilen von 103 Metern Länge so befestigt, dass er nicht durch unerwartete Bewegungen einstürzen konnte.
Bei Bauarbeiten zur Sicherung des Gebäudes ist eine alte Römerstraße entdeckt worden, die noch in alten Plänen verzeichnet war, außerdem ein mittelalterliches Grab samt vollständigem Skelett.
(Wikipedia)
Der Dom Santa Maria Assunta (italienisch Cattedrale Metropolitana Primaziale di Santa Maria Assunta) ist eine Kirche in Pisa, zu der der weltweit berühmte Schiefe Turm von Pisa gehört. Sie ist die Kathedrale des Erzbistums Pisa.
Der Dom steht auf dem weitläufigen Rasenplatz der Piazza del Duomo, auf dem sich auch die drei dazugehörenden Bauwerke Baptisterium, Camposanto Monumentale und der Campanile („Der Schiefe Turm von Pisa“) befinden. Dieser Platz wurde vom Dichter D’Annunzio als Piazza dei Miracoli (Platz der Wunder) bezeichnet und wird noch heute so genannt. Trotz einer Bauzeit von über 200 Jahren wurde durch den gleichbleibenden Baustoff Carrara-Marmor und die einheitliche Fassadengestaltung ein zusammenhängendes Bild geschaffen. Der Dom wurde zum Vorbild für spätere Dombauten wie z. B. in Florenz und Siena und galt jahrhundertelang als monumentalster Bau der christlichen Geschichte.
Papst Gelasius II. weihte 1118 den damals noch unvollendeten Dom ein. Er trägt das Patrozinium der Himmelfahrt Mariens.
Baugeschichte
Buscheto di Giovanni Giudice begann mit dem Bau des Doms im Jahre 1063 auf dem Schwemmboden vor der alten Stadtmauer. Finanziert wurde das Bauwerk mit den im gleichen Jahr von den Sarazenen vor Palermo eroberten Schätzen. Durch den weichen Untergrund sank auch der Dom im Osten leicht ein. Die kreuzförmige Grundfläche des Doms war zu diesem Zeitpunkt in Italien neu. Über der Vierung der fünfschiffigen Basilika mit dem dreischiffigen Querhaus erhebt sich eine elliptische Kuppel mit einem oktogonalen Ansatz. Sie wurde erst 1380 durch Lupo di Gante und Puccio di Gadduccio im gotischen Stil nachträglich hinzugefügt.
Die Fassade wurde am Ende des 12. Jahrhunderts von Rainaldo geschaffen und wurde als Pisaner Romanik in der gesamten Toskana zum Vorbild. Bei der westlichen Fassade erheben sich über den sieben Blendarkadenbögen im Erdgeschoss mit seinen drei Portalen vier Galerien mit insgesamt 52 Säulen. Auf dem Giebel der 35,5 m breiten und 34,2 m hohen Fassade steht eine Madonna mit Kind von Andrea Pisano. An ihrer Seite stehen Engel, die zusammen mit den beiden Evangelisten auf der ersten Galerie durch Schüler von Giovanni Pisano entstanden. Das mittlere Portal ist dem Leben Marias gewidmet. Im linken Bogen der Fassade ist das Grab des ersten Dombaumeisters Buscheto mit einer antiken Sarkophagspolie und einer langen Huldigung in die Wand eingefasst.
Die drei Bronzetore aus dem 17. Jahrhundert ersetzen die von Bonanno Pisano geschaffenen Tore von 1180, die bei einem schweren Feuer 1595 zerstört wurden. Die neuen Türen mit umfangreichen Reliefszenen wurden bis 1602 durch Schüler Giambolognas, Francavilla, Mocchi und Tacca, in loser Anlehnung an das alte Vorbild gegossen. Die Porta di San Ranieri am südlichen Seitenschiff ist dem Campanile zugewandt. Hier ist das restaurierte Original des Meisters Bonanno Pisano von 1186 noch erhalten. Es ist nach dem Schutzpatron Pisas benannt und stellt u. a. Szenen aus dem Leben Christi dar.
Am gesamten Gebäude findet man vielfach zusammenhanglose Zeichen auf den Außenwänden. Der Grund dafür liegt darin, dass man antike Baumaterialien wiederverwendete oder Materialien aus eroberten Städten holte.
Datierungsprobleme
Im Hinblick auf die Datierung des Baus und die historische Herleitung ihrer einzelnen Bauformen gibt es in der Forschung seit langem unterschiedliche Ansichten. Eine verbreitete Theorie nennt konkrete Zahlen und die Namen verschiedener Baumeister. Andere Kunsthistoriker halten diese Geschichten für bereits im Mittelalter erfundene Legenden.
Nach der ersten Theorie war der Seesieg bei Palermo über die damals im Mittelmeer herrschenden Sarazenen im Jahr 1063 Anlass zum Bau der Gesamtanlage. In Venedig spielten diese sarazenischen Seeräuber ebenfalls eine Rolle. Auch dort war die Abwendung dieser Gefahr Anlass gewesen, den Markusdom neu zu bauen, und zwar im selben Jahr 1063, in dem die Anlage in Pisa möglicherweise begonnen wurde. Auch die Pisaner hatten durch diesen Seesieg reiche Beute gemacht und den Ertrag zur Glorifizierung ihrer Stadt genutzt; Pisa war im 11. Jahrhundert die mächtigste Stadt der Toskana.
Nach der zweiten Ansicht ist lediglich erwiesen, dass im Jahr 1118 die Kathedrale im Bau befindlich war. Das sei das einzige zuverlässige Datum. Man habe damals die eher zufällige Anwesenheit des Papstes Gelasius II. genutzt, um eine angemessene Weihe zu vollziehen. Der Bau musste für diesen Fall schon weit genug fortgeschritten gewesen sein, so dass sich die angesetzten Entstehungszeiten der beiden Theorien nicht wesentlich unterscheiden.
Die Kathedrale gehört zusammen mit dem Markusdom in Venedig zu den ersten Monumentalbauten des mittelalterlichen Italiens. Daher stellt sich die Frage, auf wen die entscheidenden Bauideen zurückgehen. Die Stadt Pisa popularisierte schon sehr früh eine eigene lokalpatriotische Version, die dem Baumeister die gesamte Anlage als geniale, völlig eigenständige Idee zuschrieb, ohne dass fremde Einflüsse eine Rolle spielten. Demzufolge soll der erste Baumeister der Kathedrale Buscheto gewesen sein, über den nur sehr wenig bekannt ist. Vasari berichtet in seinen Vite, "Busketos" sei griechischer Herkunft gewesen – also kein geborener Pisaner. Dies wird mancherorts bestritten und vor allem lokal dadurch unterstrichen, dass man ihn „Buscheto Pisano“ nennt. Belegt ist seine Eigenschaft als Prokurator der Pfarre und als Mitglied der Dombauhütte.
Keine Einigkeit besteht in der Forschung, wer die Idee zu der Kathedrale hatte und was seine stilistischen Vorbilder waren. Pisa hatte – wie Venedig – als Seemacht intensive Handelsbeziehungen im östlichen Mittelmeer. Deshalb liegt es nahe, dass die östliche Baukunst hier Einfluss ausüben konnte. Auf jeden Fall war der Baumeister mit dem byzantinischen Kulturraum vertraut. Seine Baukunst nimmt Anleihen auf bei persischen Moscheen und bei frühchristlichen Kirchen in Armenien und Georgien. Zudem vereint sie Elemente der italienischen Romanik mit Motiven aus der Stadtmauer von Kairouan. Inschriften im Dom belegen die Mitarbeit von Heiden: Türken, Afrikanern, Persern und Chaldäern.
Auch wenn sich die Bauzeit des Pisaner Doms lange hinzog, ist der Gesamteindruck einheitlich. Der ersten Theorie zufolge verlief die weitere Entwicklung folgendermaßen: Vor Fertigstellung des Doms habe der neue Baumeister Rainaldus um 1100 den ursprünglichen Grundriss geändert. Er ließ das Langhaus verlängern, den Obergaden erhöhen – die ursprüngliche Höhe ist noch am Querhaus erkennbar – und das untere Geschoss der Fassade errichten. Vollendet worden soll der Bau bis 1160 durch den Innsbrucker Meister Wilhelm gen. Guglielmus (auch Guilielmus)., der um diese Zeit auch die erste Kanzel für den Dom schuf.
Rechts über dem mittleren Portal der Westfassade sind zwei Inschriften in die Wand eingelassen, deren erste Rainaldo als Bauherrn rühmen. Als demütige Replik folgt ein Bibelzitat aus der Vulgata (Psalm 21, Vers 22):
Hoc opus eximium tam mirum tam pretiosum
Rainaldus prudens operator et ipse magister
constituit mire sollerter et ingeniose
De ore leonis libera me domine et
a cornibus unicornium humilitatem meam
Dieses hervorragende Werk, ebenso wunderbar wie kostspielig,
errichtete Rainald, der kluge Erbauer und selbst [Bau]meister,
in wundervoller, kunstvoller und erfinderischer Weise.
Aus dem Rachen des Löwen befreie mich, o Herr,
und von den Hörnern der Einhörner meine Niedrigkeit.
Bedeutung der Fassade für die Datierung
Die Westfassade des Doms stellt für die abendländische Architekturgeschichte eine entscheidende Neuerung dar, den Übergang von der glatten Wand zur plastisch gestalteten Schaufläche. Daher ist auch die Frage ihrer genauen Datierung wichtig, denn ähnlich gestaltete Fassaden wurden auch andernorts gebaut, etwa in Lucca an der Kathedrale San Martino, dessen Baumeister Guidetto da Como, der auch in Pisa tätig war, auf der Fassade mit dem Datum 1204 verewigt wurde.
Die kritischere zweite Theorie akzeptiert lediglich, dass in der zweiten Hälfte des 12. Jahrhunderts im Westen des Hauptschiffes drei Joche angefügt und die heutige Fassade begonnen wurden. Namen werden in dieser Theorie nicht genannt. Demnach könnte die gesamte Fassade auch erst um 1200 fertig und möglicherweise von Anfang an in ihrer heutigen Form geplant gewesen sein. Andere Schätzungen nehmen sogar erst die Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts an – also hundert Jahre nach dem Datierungszeitraum der ersten Theorie.
Trotzdem spricht viel dafür, dass man zwei verschiedene Phasen in der Entwicklung des Dekorationssystems unterscheiden kann. Die ursprüngliche Konzeption hätte demnach vorgesehen, die Außenmauern im Erdgeschoss durch folgende Elemente zu gliedern: erstens durch Blendbögen, sodann durch waagerechte Streifen aus farbigem Marmor – nach dem Vorbild des Baptisteriums in Florenz – und durch eingelegte Ornamente und Medaillons. Dieses Schema gilt für das ganze Kathedraläußere, an den Seitenwänden auch für die oberen Geschosse. Doch in den über dem Erdgeschoß liegenden Etagen der Westfassade übertraf man diesen Formenreichtum noch um ein Vielfaches. Statt flächiger Aufblendung ließ man in vier Galerien übereinander eine plastische Dekorationsschicht aus Säulen und verzierten Bögen vor der eigentlichen Kirchenmauer deutlich hervortreten.
Legenden
Im Hauptschiff hängt ein bronzener Leuchter von Vincenzo Possenti aus dem Jahre 1587, der Entwurf stammt aber von Giovanni Battista Lorenzi. Es gibt die Geschichte, dass an dem Leuchter Galileo Galilei die Gesetze der Pendelschwingung gefunden haben soll. Sollte es ein Leuchter in dieser Kirche gewesen sein, der ihn auf das Gesetz brachte, kann es allerdings nicht dieser Leuchter gewesen sein, da Galileo Galilei das Gesetz um 1584 veröffentlicht hat.
Zwischen dem nördlichen Seitenschiff und der westlichen Fassade findet man an der Außenwand des Doms an einem Pfeiler einen Stein mit vielen schwarzen Punkten. Von diesem Stein erzählt man sich, dass er vom Teufel sei. Zählt man zweimal hintereinander die Punkte nach, so kommt man jeweils auf ein anderes Ergebnis.
(Wikipedia)
That's precisely the type of guy your mother warned you for! Even though he drives a bourgious Opel Kadett. Somewhere along the nice Italian Alpine lakes perhaps?
Edit: location is Portofino, Italy.
#MazeOfMetamorphosis According to an estimation by the Japanese government, there are about one million people in the Country who live a life of self reclusion. They remain inside their house for years without any social interaction. Hikikomori phenomenon is a typical cultural syndrome that can be understood not only as an escape from too demanding school and work standards but also as an extreme protest against violent conformism.
After a three-months-long continuous research I finally came in contact with a self isolated man who accepted to be portrayed by me. I knew it was going to be difficult to gain his trust, precisely because those who isolate themselves from the world do it by definition because they don't want to have contact with it. I was ready for his refusal, even at the last moment, and I would have respected his will. Anyway, he accepted me to enter his house.
I asked to Fumihiro Yoshino (a butoh performer) to become the space of the room. I used a plexiglass cube to represent this space too, as a barrier. As I learned from butoh dance, I didn't ask Yoshino for anything in particular, just to be the space of the room, waiting for things to happen. My project on the one hand wants to illustrate social issues, but on the other wants to do it in an unusual and artistic way, letting things happen in front of me, and butoh dance has proved to be an excellent means, precisely because it is a form of non-conceptual, meaningless art that freely leads people to occupy a space and change in it. The metamorphosis concerns the subject, but also the viewer.
Precisely the least, the softest, lightest, a lizard's rustling, a breath, a flash, a moment
Das Wenigste gerade, das Leiseste, einer Eidechse Rascheln,
ein Hauch, ein Husch, ein Augenblick
(Friedrich Nietzsche)
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Leica x1
it's good being back on Flickr. Photography, and more precisely the art of composition and framing is so valuable not only for my photography side, but also "de facto" for my concept art side.
i could spend hours trying to define and improve a compo within photoshop. and photography does help a lot. framing a scene in a snap, doing the best choice in order to get a theme or a subject speak to the eye is an excitement in so many ways.
oh and it's fun having a photo in Explore. like in the good old days.
thanks Steven for pointing that out.
A crane is being assembled, Germany 06/08/17 at 09:18 am.
About the series (to which the Photo above belongs)
First I would like to mention: Fuck you reality! Fuck you so much and fuck your unbearable pigheadedness!
At least for me a somewhat uncomfortable truth: almost all my photos show trivialities. Nothing of political or general social significance, no dramas, no stories, nothing about love or hatred and hardly anything about people or their relationships. I have not even dealt with the beauty of nature carefully and that would be an obvious topic for a contact-avoiding hobby-photographer.
Most of the photos were shot during walks around my neighborhood. I have arranged them, so that the sequence may cause associations.
Fuck you reality, fuck you so much, I want to be cheated!
About the post-processing
For editing I've used the Lightromm plug-in "Silver Efex Pro 2". More precisely: Preset "Film Noir 3" as a basis (nr. 32), but with some modifications. Apart from other small corrections (eg in contrast or exposure) I removed the artificial grain and the frame of the preset and I added a blue toning for all the photos of the series. And: For almost all photos I used a green or blue color filter.
Ukrainians!
All our defenders!
Today I want to say special words of gratitude. Gratitude to all our people who defend our state, defend independence.
Ukraine held out after a full-scale attack by Russia. Ukraine managed to unite the world around the struggle for freedom. Ukraine managed to liberate a significant part of the territory the Russian troops invaded. Ukraine liberates people from Russian captivity.
And Ukraine managed to change the course of the war so that every occupier, even the most inadequate one, felt that we can win and are moving towards victory.
I am thankful to everyone who fights and works for this! For the sake of our victory.
It is precisely to the fact of Ukrainian strength that the leadership of Russia reacts, changing tactics and trying to draw even more Russian citizens and resources into the war.
Russia's decision on mobilization is a frank admission that their regular army, which has been prepared for decades to take over a foreign country, did not withstand and crumbled. And now, due to mobilization, Russia's war against Ukraine for the majority of Russian citizens is not something on TV or on the Internet, but something that has entered every Russian home.
I’ve held a meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief today. The questions are clear. Frontline. Provision of our military. And new threats created by Russia.
I will note right away: any decisions of the Russian leadership do not change anything for Ukraine. We should care only about our tasks. This is the liberation of our country, the protection of our people and the mobilization of global support for the implementation of our tasks.
Diplomatic mobilization of the entire international community is now taking place.
The circle of those who support us now is not limited to our traditional partners and those who openly supported our state after February 24. Now almost everyone supports us - this is the reaction to new Russian escalation steps.
In particular, the farce with the preparation of sham referenda in the occupied territory demonstrates what happened in 2014 in Crimea and Donbas.
And I am grateful to everyone in the world who supported us. Who clearly condemned another Russian lie.
Grateful to President Biden and all American friends. To President Macron, Chancellor Scholz, the President of Finland and all our Polish brothers, the Baltic states, Mr. Borrell, Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, the OSCE and all Europeans from Iceland to Romania, who will never be deceived by Russia again.
I am thankful to Britain for the support! Türkiye! Thank you Canada! Thanks also to all those who now privately express their support for Ukraine.
When Russia declares that it supposedly wants negotiations, but announces mobilization... When Russia knows Ukraine's clear position about the impossibility of a diplomatic process after Russia holds any sham referenda...
Everything is clear to everyone. Russia itself buries the prospect of negotiations with its own hands.
I will explain to the Russians what is happening in Russian.
Protests against mobilization took place in the cities of Russia - albeit not massive, but they took place. And they take place. And this is an indicator. Not only in Moscow and St. Petersburg. We know the real mood in the regions of Russia.
We see that people in Dagestan, in Buryatia, in other national republics and regions of Russia understand that they were simply thrown. Thrown to death.
Why, for example, Dagestanis or anyone else should die in the Kharkiv region or near Donetsk? Because one person in Russia decided so - for all the citizens of Russia. There is no other reason. That’s what he wants.
You are already accomplices in all these crimes, murders and torture of Ukrainians.
Because you were silent. Because you are silent.
And now it's time for you to choose. For men in Russia, this is a choice to die or live, to become a cripple or to preserve health. For women in Russia, the choice is to lose their husbands, sons, grandchildren forever, or still try to protect them from death, from war, from one person.
Just think about the number of people they want to take away!
We know for sure that the conscription letters for 300,000 people were printed and signed in advance, even before this decision on mobilization appeared. Our intelligence has proven it. But the Russian leadership is preparing to take up to a million men into the army - this is the key thing they are now silent about.
We know that they will take everyone indiscriminately. Not only the military in the reserve, but any men. Anyone who will be so intimidated that he will be more afraid of avoiding war than of dying in war.
55 thousand Russian soldiers died in this war in six months. Tens of thousands are wounded and maimed. Want more? No? Then protest. Fight back. Run away. Or surrender to Ukrainian captivity. These are options for you to survive.
Russian mothers! Have no doubt that the children of the top officials of your state will not be sent to the war against Ukraine. Those who make decisions in your country take care of their children. And they do not even bury your children.
And we return ours.
A very important briefing was held today. Head of the Office Yermak, Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Budanov, Head of the Security Service Maliuk, Minister of Internal Affairs Monastyrskyi. They told the details of our operation to release 215 warriors, the details of the exchange. We do everything so that society and the world can see how Ukraine protects people and basic human values.
Once again, I congratulate 215 families and our entire country on the return of the heroes.
I am thankful to everyone who helps Ukraine!
Eternal glory to all who fight for Ukraine!
Glory to our indomitable and brave people!
Glory to Ukraine!
Nature. The most beautiful thing in the world is, precisely, the conjunction of learning and inspiration. Oh, the passion for research and the joy of discovery!
A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
The city of Petra, capital of the Nabataean Arabs, is one of the most famous archaeological sites in the world.
t is not known precisely when Petra was built, but the city began to prosper as the capital of the Nabataean Empire from the 1st century BC, which grew rich through trade in frankincense, myrrh, and spices.
Petra was later annexed to the Roman Empire and continued to thrive until a large earthquake in 363 AD destroyed much of the city in the 4th century AD.
The earthquake combined with changes in trade routes, eventually led to the downfall of the city which was ultimately abandoned.
Petra is also known as the rose-red city, a name it gets from the wonderful colour of the rock from which many of the city’s structures were carved.
The Nabataeans buried their dead in intricate tombs that were cut out of the mountain sides and the city also had temples, a theater, and following the Roman annexation and later the Byzantine influence, a colonnaded street and churches.
In addition to the magnificent remains of the Nabataean city, human settlement and land use for over 10,000 years can be traced in Petra, where great natural, cultural, archaeological and geological features merge.
On December 6, 1985, Petra was designated a World Heritage Site.
Not precisely a 45 degree view but close.
House On The Rock, Wisconson, USA
SLR Magic 25mm f1.4 Cine
Stroboscope.
I thought I would try and avoid meters and rules for this week’s Macro Mondays group’s theme measurement, mainly because I had done them before.
This is the device on my vinyl record turntable for making sure it is rotating at precisely the right speed. This is important because the pitch that the recorded music is played is directly proportional to the rotation rate of the record.
Old high-end turntables like this one had a direct drive motor on which the speed could be finely adjusted to correct any change.
The table’s stroboscope is a light of regularly fluctuating brightness shining onto the spinning plate. The fluctuations are caused by the mains alternating current which in the UK fluctuates at 50 cycles a second, though in America and some other countries with lower voltages the electricity fluctuates at 60 cycles to carry more power in compensation.
In the picture you can see four rings around the spinning table. The rings are all made as a string of black and white blocks a bit like Morse code.
In daylight all four would be equally blurred but in the light of the stroboscope you can see the third ring outwards is seen as black and white blocks. That’s because the lamp is only lighting the blocks when they are in one position, and is dim while they move on to the next position, taking the place of the block in front of it. Minor deviations from the target speed cause the blocks to move slowly around, and you can then adjust the motor speed until they still.
There are four rings, two for the two turntable speeds (for singles and LPs) for each of the two electricity alternating rates (50 and 60 cycles per second). A neon bulb is used because it fluctuates in brightness much more during the alternating current cycle than a hot filament would, which explains the orange colour. The bulb lights a plastic prism which directs the light down by inner reflection.
In physics omega is often used as the symbol for angular velocity (rotation speed) hence the title.
The image is just over two inches in total width, so within the group limits. The device is not interested in measuring the size of the deviation, just whether it exists and in which direction so that it can be eliminated.
Thank you for taking time to look. I hope you enjoy the image! Happy Macro Mondays :)
[Tripod mount; remote release; self-lit. The shutter speed was limited to show the blur.
A focus stack of eight images in Affinity Photo (not enough really for this aperture as you can see by the bands of softness in the turntable plinth surface; I should have used a smaller aperture).
A bit of tidying up from stacking artefacts around the prism edge.
A little tweaking in Curves LAB mode for colour and luminosity.
Finally sharpened using Unsharp Mask.
Yep, a dark vignette would be entirely pointless (though I was tempted!) :) ]
[...] No one can construct for you the bridge upon which precisely you must cross the stream of life, no one but you yourself alone [...]
-- Quote by Friedrich Nietzsche
Nikon D200, Samyang 8mm, f/3.5 fisheye, 8mm - f/10 - 1/160s HDR 5xp +2/-2EV
Madrid, Spain (June, 2019)
The autumnal equinox arrives precisely at 4:21 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2015 in the U.S.A. People celebrate this moment across the world because that is exactly the time when the sun passes directly over the equator.
What time will the equinox be where I live?
Eastern Daylight Time: 4:21 a.m.
Central Daylight Time: 3:21 a.m.
Mountain Daylight Time: 2:21 a.m.
Pacific Daylight Time: 1:21 a.m.
For everywhere else around the world, convert your time here.
It was at the limit of the bearable in terms of effort, but meanwhile the frustration about the weather is so great that one is willing to go a little further than usual.
So when the weather looked promising in the southern part of Austria on January 25th, I searched for a place at the foot of the Grossglocker mountain, more precisely in Ferleiten, using Google Earth. According to the forecast, it was supposed to be clear all night and the valley there extends exactly to the north-east - where the comet is located. Blue light pollution zone on top of that!
So I drove off in the evening full of hope, only to find out after 2 ½ hours that 5km before Ferleiten the road is closed due to an avalanche (Google Maps: Why woun't you say anything!?)
Unfortunately, exactly at this point there is also the border between high fog cover and clear sky and all around no place to be found, where you can take pictures undisturbed throughout the night.
So plan "B" then:
An hour's drive on to the Felbertauern Pass - further to the southwest and up to 1650m altitude - no other alternative available. In front of the long tunnel right before the pass I saw the stars twinkle in the south. But when I got to the top of the pass, I was sobered: Just like during the whole journey from my home to East Tyrol - high fog as far as the eye can see! What a nightmare!
I decide to wait and, after almost an hour, my patience was rewarded - it's clearing up! Despite the suboptimal conditions - the toll and service station is brightly lit, and an accommodation facility below has "festival lighting" on all night - I managed to expose the comet for some 3 1/2 hours.
At 5 o'clock in the morning I packed up at -22°C and drove home for three hours - finally some time to sleep!
So this is what I ended up with as a reward: A rare ion tail separation event - wow!
Taken on January 26th 2023 1:00 UT with a QHY600M on a Skywatcher Esprit 100/550 telescope, tracked with an EQ6-R, guided with MGEN-3:
40x 60sec. Antlia V-Pro Red
40x 60sec. Antlia V-Pro Blue
40x 60sec. Antlia V-Pro Green
165x 30sec. Antlia V-Pro Luminance
Processed with Astro Pixel Processor, Pixinsight, StarXTerminator and Photoshop.
He's a pedigree Highland Cow - and he has got an incredible haircut if you ask me.
He lives in Scotland - to be precisely he lives in Kilmahog which is here.
btw: Hamish was featured on the blog of the Breathtaking Group. Thanks for that!
© National Geographic Yourshot (Editor's Favourite, August 2018). Story and assignment: “Rethinking Portraiture.”
"To possess the world in the form of images is, precisely, to re-experience the unreality and remoteness of the the real." Susan Sontag, On Photography
A married Dani woman with carrying net prepares for a pig feast inside the oval courtyard of a traditional fortress-like compound high in a remote corner of West Papua's central highlands, 1600m/5200ft above sea level - Grand Valley of the Balim River, Irian Jaya, Indonesia.
A Dani warrior appears in the faded backdrop as he prepares for a ritualized mock battle that will take place outside the compound. He is adorned with an upturned boar’s tusk nose piece, bird-of-paradise plumes, arm bands of dog fur, white clay body markings, and the iconic koteka or penis gourd – all part of traditional Dani ornamentation and battle dress.
The indigenous peoples of West Papua migrated from southeast Asia and the Australian continent about 30,000 to 50,000 years ago during the Ice Age when sea levels were lower and distances between islands shorter. Western "first contact” with West Papua's Grand Valley Dani was established in 1938 during American-led botanical and zoological expeditions to the central highlands, less than sixty years before this photograph was taken.
High resolution Noritsu Koki QSS digital film scan, shot with a compact semi-automatic Pentax point-and-shoot film camera, circa 1996.
© All rights to these photos and descriptions are reserved and protected by international copyright laws. Any use of this work requires my prior written permission.
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Ethnographic efforts at demystifying Dani neolithic cultural practices and ritualized warfare in the region are associated with the early ground-breaking 1961 Harvard-Peabody Expedition. They include anthropologist Karl Heider’s accounts in “The Dugum Dani: A Papuan Culture in the Highlands of West New Guinea,” Aldine Publishing (1970) and “Grand Valley Dani: Peaceful Warriors” (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology), Wadsworth Publishing (1996); also filmmaker Robert Gardner’s classic ethnographic documentary, “Dead Birds” (1965) and Peter Matthiessen’s “Under the Mountain Wall: A Chronicle of Two Seasons in Stone Age New Guinea,” Viking Press (1962).
The spirit of Alpen Fest (Livigno) is precisely to bring the public closer to what are the origins of a territory that today presents itself as a modern alpine resort, but which has its roots in agricultural work and in close contact with animals, especially cows
I liked this one because of how my new camera focuses so precisely. My old camera stopped focusing at all, by the end, and for a couple of years before that, it was a struggle to get anything to focus.
But my new camera is a joy when it comes to focusing. I was focusing on the little tombstone near the tree, shining in the light, and it is so clear you can read the name on it! I was a good 60 yards away, probably.
Anyway, another one from Spring Grove cemetery and arboretum, a couple of weeks ago when there were still leaves on the trees.
At the time of the eruption, the town could have had some 20,000 inhabitants, and was located in an area in which Romans had their holiday villas. Prof. William Abbott explains, "At the time of the eruption, Pompeii had reached its high point in society as many Romans frequently visited Pompeii on vacations." It is the only ancient town of which the whole topographic structure is known precisely as it was, with no later modifications or additions. It was not distributed on a regular plan as we are used to seeing in Roman towns, due to the difficult terrain. But its streets are straight and laid out in a grid, in the purest Roman tradition; they are laid with polygonal stones, and have houses and shops on both sides of the street. It followed its decumanus and its cardo, centered on the forum.
This is Gulf of Trieste, or more precisely part of it which can be seen from Trieste's Faro della Vittoria and leads towards Grignano and Miramare Castle. Entire Gulf of Trieste is shared by Italy, Slovenia and Croatia - in fact entire Slovenian sea is part of it - and it would be a bit complicated to try to take a picture of it with my smartphone.