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Bain News Service,, publisher.
Socialists meeting in Union Square, New York
5/1/08 (date created or published later by Bain)
1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller.
Notes:
Forms part of: George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress).
Title from unverified data provided by the Bain News Service on the negatives or caption cards.
Subjects:
New York
Format: Glass negatives.
Rights Info: No known restrictions on publication. For more information, see George Grantham Bain Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/274_bain.html
Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
Part Of: Bain News Service photograph collection (DLC) 2005682517
General information about the George Grantham Bain Collection is available at hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.ggbain
Higher resolution image is available (Persistent URL): hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ggbain.00342
Call Number: LC-B2- 66-13
Oor Wullie (English: Our Willie) is a Scottish comic strip published in the D.C. Thomson newspaper The Sunday Post.
It features a character called Wullie Russell .
Wullie is the familiar Scots nickname for boys named William.
His trademarks are spiky hair, dungarees and an upturned bucket, which he uses as a seat - most strips since early 1937 begin and end with a single panel of Wullie sitting on his bucket.
The earliest strips, with little dialogue, ended with Wullie complaining ("I nivver get ony fun roond here!").
The artistic style settled down by 1940 and has changed little since. A frequent tagline reads, "Oor Wullie! Your Wullie! A'body's Wullie!" (Our Willie! Your Willie! Everybody's Willie!).
Created by Thomson editor R. D. Low and drawn by cartoonist Dudley D. Watkins, the strip first appeared on 8 March 1936.
Watkins continued to draw Oor Wullie until his death in 1969, after which the Post recycled his work into the 1970s.
New strips were eventually commissioned from Tom Lavery, followed by Peter Davidson and Robert Nixon. Ken H. Harrison drew the strip from 1989 until 1997, when Davidson resumed duties.
Between January 2005 and 2006 storylines were written by broadcaster Tom Morton from his home in Shetland,[1] and subsequently they were written by Dave Donaldson, managing director of Thomson's comics division.
The current writer is former Dandy editor Morris Heggie.
The Oor Wullie bucket Trail begins on the 17th June 2019 and is even bigger than the last one 3 years ago.
In 2016 Dundee held a bucket trail with over 50 sculptures all painted with different designs to celebrate 80 years of Oor Wullie.
This was a huge success with the sculptures raising over £800,000 at auction for the local childrens charity.
They have decided to bring it back this year but on a far bigger scale with 150 sculptures and this time you will be able to find them not only in Dundee, but Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and a few dotted in other towns and cities across the country.
At the end of the summer these will once again be auctioned off and the money will be split between 3 childrens charities.
Oor Wullie’s BIG Bucket Trail runs for 11 weeks from 17th June 2019 – 30th August 2019, culminating in a series of Farewell Events and nationwide auctions in each of the five host cities, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness.
Scotland’s first ever national public art trail aims to unite the country as it raises awareness and vital funds for Scotland’s children’s hospital charities.
Funds raised through the trail will support Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity,Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity,and the ARCHIE Foundation, helping children in hospital across the country.
Oor Wullie’s BIG Bucket Trail is a Wild in Art event, and would not be possible without the support of DC Thomson Media.
The program that was published when this building was dedicated in 1912 included the following:
History of the NSGW Building
by Lewis F. Byington, Past Grand President
The new Native Sons’ Building, just completed and situated on the east side of Mason Street, between Geary and Post Streets, is unquestionably the best appointed and arranged fraternal building in California, and for the lodge and social purposes the most centrally located of any in San Francisco. It stands on the same block as the St. Francis Hotel and within a radius of two blocks are Union Square at the heart of the city, the Hotel Bellevue, the Stewart Hotel, the Olympic Club, the Bohemian Club, the Union League Club, and the Elks’ Club, the Columbia, Alcazar and Orpheum Theatres, and most of the leading hotels, clubs, restaurants, and places of amusement in San Francisco.
It is a “Class A,” steel frame structure, eight stories in height, with a beautiful and ornamented façade of granite, terra cotta and brick. Around the two main entrances to the building are placed medallions of distinguished men, who are thus honored and commemorated for their services in connection with the discovery and civilization of California. They are: Cabrillo, discoverer of California; Father Junipero Serra, civilizer and founder of missions; General John A. Sutter, typical pioneer; General John C. Fremont, U.S.A., the Pathfinder; Admiral John Drake Sloat, U.S.N., who raised the American flag at Monterey; James W. Marshall, the discoverer of gold; Peter Burnett, the first American governor of California; General M. G. Vallejo, typical Hispano-Californian; General A. M. Winn, Founder of the Order of the Native Sons of the Golden West.
Set in the front of the building at the height of the second story are six terra cotta panels, the work of Domingo Mora and his son, Joseph J. Mora, artistically designed and depicting important historical events, namely: “The Discovery of California”; “Civilization”; “The Raising of the Bear Flag”; “The Raising of the American Flag”; “The Pioneers”; “The Discovery of Gold.” The sculptured heads of grizzly bears, which mark the line of the third floor, have been designed as emblematic of California, while the sculptured phoenix, placed over the doorways, typifies San Francisco.
The phoenix was a wonderful bird, fabled to exist for 500 years, the only of its kind. It built a funeral pile of spices and aromatic gums, lighted the pile with the fanning of its wings, and was burned upon it, but from its ashes revived in the freshness of youth. It is the emblematic bird of San Francisco, adopted and placed upon its seal in early days after the city had been four times destroyed by fire. During a recent visit to Europe, Mr. James D. Phelan, the president of the Hall association, found in the Vatican at Rome the most ancient sculptured representation of the phoenix and which is attributed to the famous Greek sculptor Praxiteles. Mr. Phelan secured a splendid reproduction in marble of this work of art and presented it to the Hall Association, and it is now in the new building.
The building contains one of the largest and best-appointed assembly halls for dances, concerts and entertainments in California; also fourteen well-lighted, handsomely furnished, and artistically arranged lodge rooms; the offices of the Grand Secretary; Library and Reading Rooms. Over the main assembly hall is the largest steel truss ever built in California, and which supports the floors above. The eighth floor is arranged for club room purposes and is admirably designed for this object. The rooms are spacious, high and well lighted, both from above and from the front and sides. In the front an artistic loggia has been placed from which the city to the west may be viewed, while at the rear a pergola, over which vines will be twined, furnishes an artistic, sheltered, open-air places for the members to sit. The Grand Parlor has taken steps to secure all books, data and records bearing upon the history and development of California and these doubtless will be stored here. In time, an Historical Museum will also be maintained within the building.
In the main hall are twenty circular windows, which it has been decided to use for art glass portraits of twenty Native Sons and Native Daughters who have won distinction in the arts and sciences, literature and drama. The names of the following have so far been selected: Gertrude Atherton, literature; Sybil Sanderson, music; Mary Anderson, drama. Upon the walls of the upper floors will be hung portraits of the distinguished men and women, not natives of California, who have in this State won distinction in literature, science and the arts. The grandeur of the Yosemite and our mountains and lakes may also be depicted upon other windows and these features will add materially to the beauty of our building and will make it unique among the structures of the country. The building will stand as the home of the Order in the State, and as the noblest and most enduring monument to the perpetuity of the organization and for the advancement of its principles of Friendship, Loyalty and Charity.
The architects of the building are Righetti and Headman (E.H. Hildebrand, associate). The superintendant of construction was Mr. P.J. Walker and his foreman Mr. J.S. Fifield.
Since the destruction of the Native Sons’ Building by the fire of April 18, 1906, it has been the desire of the members to see erected in this city, and upon the lot where that building stood, a home for the fraternity, within which the local lodges may meet and where members from all over California may find an hospitable welcome amidst pleasant and comfortable surroundings. That desire has now been realized.
The Hall Association of the Native Sons of the Golden West was incorporated April 5, 1893, for the purpose of securing a site upon which to erect a home for the Order. The first Board of Directors selected was composed of the following members of the fraternity: John H. Grady, Henry Lundstedt, Dr. C.W. Decker, W.W. Shannon, T.E. Keough, George D. Clark, John T. Greany, John A. Steinbach, W.H. Miller, J.R. Kropp, Adolph Eberhart, Lewis F. Byington, T. C. Conmy, John H. Nelson, T.P. Leonard, Joseph B. Keenan, H..J. Seitz, G.H.S. Dryden, W. J. Wynn, W. E. Foley, Daniel Suter, C.H. Hobson, J.P. Donovan, R. Horber, C.H. Mass, J.W. Reinfeld, H.G.W. Dinkelspiel, Sol. Bloom, J.R. Howell, Louis Nonnenmann, H.E. Coffey, Jas. P. Sweeney, L.L. Dennery, L.M. Bannan, W.P. Johnson, and A.E. Holmes.
The Association purchased from the Congregation Ohabai Shalome, for $42,500, the lot located on the east side of Mason Street, sixty-eight feet and nine inches north of Geary Street, and having a frontage of sixty-eight feet and nine inches and a depth of one hundred and thirty-seven feet and six inches. One of the first synagogues erected in this city stood upon the lot.
Competitive plans for a lodge building were invited and those submitted by Mr. A.C. Lutgens were selected and the handsome five-story “Class C” building erected which stood until destroyed in the early morning of April 19, 1906, by the disastrous fire which then swept the city. It was erected at a cost of about $82,000, and contained a large assembly hall, the offices of the Grand Secretary, the Library and Reading Room and seven lodge rooms. The corner stone was laid on Washington’s birthday, 1895, and the building was dedicated February 9, 1896. Shortly after its completion, Irving M. Scott presented to the Hall Association a magnificent painting by William Keith, California’s greatest landscape artist. It depicted one of California’s fruitful valleys and was entitled “The Heritage of the Native Sons.” It was burned with the building.
When the Association concluded to rebuild upon the old site, it was determined to erect a “Class A” building in line with the spirit of progress which animated the citizens of the new San Francisco. The capital stock of the Association was, therefore, increased to $400,000 (50,000 shares of a par value of $8.00 each).
The corner stone of the new building was laid February 22, 1911. It is the old corner stone saved from the fire with a new stone covering it. Upon the old stone appears the inscription:
HALL OF
NATIVE SONS OF THE GOLDEN WEST
WASHINGTON’S BIRTHDAY
A.D. 1895”
And upon the stone above is carved:
BUILDING DESTROYED BY FIRE, APRIL 19, 1906
CORNER STONE RELAID FEBRURARY 22, 1911
“Program: Dedication of NSGW Building 1912”. Published by NSGW, San Francisco, Cal.
BRINGING IN THE FEED
The crew at EC Farms loads bales in the Rural Municipality of Lorne in southern Manitoba.
...en concert au Parc Expo à Colmar le 02 aout 2017 .
LP - Muddy Waters [Live Session] :
www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6SprGmHTy4
www.flickriver.com/photos/philippe_haumesser/popular-inte...
www.facebook.com/philippe.haumesser.9
TOUS DROITS RÉSERVÉS ©Toute photographie de ma galerie ne peut être reproduite, copiée, éditée, publiée, transmise ou téléchargé de quelque façon sans mon autorisation écrite.
ALL RIGHT RESERVED ©
All material in my gallery MAY NOT be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my written permissio
Published: ettg.eu/corona-virus-covid19/profiteers-of-the-pandemic-c...
www.politicalresearch.org/2020/06/02/globalist-within
Frankfurt Kaufland.
The Spiegel and all other politically correct German media are fighting against fake-news and conspiracy theories. But the Spiegel implies, without proof, that the corona virus in China was intentionally constructed. A conspiracy theory.
Note: this photo was published in an Aug 7 2011 issue of Everyblock NYC zipcodes blog titled "10024."
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What do New Yorkers do on a hot Sunday afternoon at the end of July?
Typically, between one and two million (yes, million) of them head to a nearby park to relax and enjoy themselves. That might mean heading to Central Park, or Prospect Park, or one of the dozens of other parks scattered throughout the five boroughs of the city. But if you live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, one of the more tempting choices is Riverside Park, which stretches along the Hudson River from 59th Street up to 125th Street, and even further north (if you're somewhat adventurous) to the George Washington Bridge.
It's a relatively narrow park, but there's enough grass to stretch out and sunbathe, or enjoy a picnic. Or you can find a shady spot under a tree, and read a book or the Sunday New York Times. Swimming in the river is not encouraged, but fishing is okay; or you can rent a (free) kayak down by the 70th Street pier, and paddle around in the river to enjoy a cool breeze. For the more athletically inclined, there are tennis courts (at 96th Street), soccer fields (a little further north), and baseball diamonds (a little further south).
But since there's a wide, paved walkway that stretches along the entire distance of the park, a lot of people seem compelled -- even in hot, humid weather -- to jog, run, walk, skate, or bicycle along the river. It's a great opportunity to show off your fancy bike, or your fancy skates, or your handsome/beautiful body; and it's hard to beat the view and the scenery.
I came down here to Riverside Park some four months ago to photograph the biking/jogging/skating action, which you see on Flickr in a set I called Riverside Park - first day of spring, Mar 20, 2011. But it was still pretty cold, so most people were bundled up to stay warm.
Today, on this last day of July, nobody was bundled up. True, nobody was running naked, and I didn't see anyone in a bikini; but brief shorts and t-shirts were pretty universal ... except for the guys who wore shorts and no shirt at all.
In my usual fashion, I took quite a few photos -- 800 in all, as people continued skating, jogging, walking, and riding past me. About 10% of them were out of focus, or cut off (a running body with no head is not all that interesting), and another 80% were okay, but relatively boring. So, as usual, 90% of the photos got deleted, and I've got 80 "keepers" to share with everyone on Flickr.
I have a feeling that I won't bother with any more summer photos along the river, like this. But I may come back in the fall, when the leaves have turned and the air is crisp and cool. Who knows what everyone will be wearing at that point?
ELLIPHANT (Steve Madden Summer Music Series)
Rough Trade (Record Shop)
Williamsburg, Brooklyn (NY)
Thursday, August 4th, 2016
© 2016 LEROE24FOTOS.COM
For; LOVE ELLIPHANT
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED,
BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
I submitted 4 images to 7x7 magazine (a local monthly magazine about San Francisco) for a feature they were doing about NOPA, the neighborhood that i live in, and they chose to run 3 of them!! Very excited!
Published by W O Saul, Southbourne-on-Sea; printed in Germany.
Postally unused. I have two more: one postally unused and the other postmarked Westbourne, 1906.
Justin Morales "On Location"
March 20th, 2016
New York City
© 2016 LEROE24FOTOS.COM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED,
BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
MØ
Secret Solstice Festival
June, 2015
Reykjavik, Iceland
© 2015 LEROE24FOTOS.COM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED,
BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
This is a look into a brochure that introduces a collection of 130 CDs, called "Musik in Deutschland 1950-2000", published by the "Deutscher Musikrat" two decades ago.
But who, may you well ask, is the "Deutscher Musikrat"? The name sounds uncannily Orwellian, as if it were a secretive government agency that dictates what kind of music should be made and heard in Germany. The reality is not quite that sinister. "Rat" doesn’t mean "rat". It is an NGO, they have a website and they have even answered my e-mail. But they do have the mysterious smell of a secret society. After 20 years I still don’t really know who they are and what they are up to.
I know only one thing: The CDs promoted here constitute a monument to German post-war music and I am proud to own the whole set. No other country has done that. It would take almost a week to listen to the 1750 pieces of music - 6 days and 17 hours non-stop. If these were vinyl records the set would comprise of more than 200 LPs. Every CD comes with a booklet of up to 32 pages with informative text, scores of scores, photos and almost all the lyrics. The booklets alone would be a valuable document for everybody interested in modernist culture. Reading them I learnt a lot not only about music, but also about poetry, literature, dance, theatre, film and other forms of art.
The curators of the collection were careful to present composers from both German states without bias and prejudice. Thanks to this you can hear many gems that would otherwise be forgotten and impossible to find, even in the age of the mouse click. Where else can you hear "Socialist Realism"? I knew examples of Socialist Realism in painting, sculpture and architecture but never heard Socialist Realism music before – but, hey, now I can listen to recitals of Stalinist propaganda as well as speeches of Lenin and Honnecker put into grandiose song arrangements.
Where else can you hear music from an electronic opera, written by the Chinese-born composer Boris Blacher in 1966? And where else can you enjoy a live recording of a hilarious Wolf Vostell performance of 1969?
This is all good news. Now for the snags.
It is always easy to complain about the selection on a music compilation. It goes without saying that not all 1750 pieces are good and there a hundreds that I don’t care much about, but let’s not dwell on this, because there are less forgivable problems:
Every booklet starts with an introduction that says that the curators had to do a "strict selection", but it does not disclose what their selection criteria were (secret society again!). May there be a clue in the title of the collection "Musik in Deutschland 1950-2000" perhaps? No! All criteria in that name are violated. Many of the featured musicians and composers are not German, some recordings were made in other countries and some works were created long before 1950. The most recent work is "Fälschung" by Orm Finnendahl - written in 2003 (but a great piece, so it’s fine with me)! Some tracks are not even music. At one point Oskar Pastior is reading his poems, one of the aesthetic nadirs of the set, if you ask me.
Could it be that the selection focuses on what was widely heard by the people of Germany after the 2nd World War? Wrong again! I am sure that 99% of Germans have never listened to any of the music in this collection. This is because it has a strong focus on what most people would call "classical music" (I personally would prefer to call it "music by modernist composers" or "art music" because much of it is not "classical" at all) which is enjoyed by only a small minority of music lovers. True, there is one box with jazz and one with pop music, but the jazz is mostly of the "artsy" kind (often not very different from the “classical” music of the same period) and the pop box is only an afterthought and not really part of the set (it is, for example, not mentioned in the brochure shown above). I have no problem with this, but I still don’t know what the selection criteria were.
The worst mistake in any music compilation would be to include a song more than once, particularly when strict selection criteria are claimed. But even this mistake has been made - twice: The "Fünf Neapolitanische Lieder" by Hans Werner Henze are presented twice, and so are 2 "Hölderin Fragments" by Wolfgang Rihm, although on different CDs and performed by different singers.
Even worse are the editing problems. The booklets are informative and well written, but look cheap. A terrible sans-serif typeface is used throughout and typos are not unheard of. Formatting is awful. The captions are printed onto the photos with disregard of the background and often impossible to decipher. It is obvious that the authors are experts, but no professional editor was involved. The beautiful line "it was evening all afternoon" by Wallace Stevens is clumsily translated as "Es war den Nachmittag über Abend" instead of the more accurate and elegant "Am ganzen Nachmittag war Abend", to give just one example of the many mistranslations.
The whole set is organised in a complex multi-layered system, which is explained at the back of each CD. It says that there are 19 boxes of CDs, structured in 6 categories and 26 sub-categories. That sounds simple. But the actual CDs are difficult to align with this system. At the same time there is another underlying structure: Every category (or sub-category?) is sub-divided into „Serie“ and „Portraits“. Don’t waste your precious time trying to understand the difference, because whatever the rationale behind this is, it brakes down with the box "Angewandte Musik", if not earlier. It is obvious that the concept of this project has changed several times during its short lifetime and there were multiple attempts to categorise the music - all failed. The names of the categories and the discs must have changed several times as well, and some CDs were announced but have never materialised (e.g. "Musizieren im Alltag") whereas others do exist but seem to never have been part of the plan (e.g. "Free Jazz" - appropriately, because free jazz abhors planning). The names of some CDs even change between the cover and the disc inside. A CD called "Solo & Klavier" contains a few songs with guitar (instead of piano).
It seems that the publishers were overwhelmed by their own complex system and the multiple layers of categories they tried to establish.
However, by far the worst problem with this collection is the marketing - how it was sold. When it all started at the beginning of the millennium the discs were sold one by one. I first bought one, to see if it is any good and then more and more. When I had a few dozen CDs they stopped selling them individually and you could only buy whole boxes, containing 5 to 10 discs each. At that time I had decided to collect the whole set, which meant that I had to start buying boxes with CDs that I already owned. That was annoying - but it got worse. In 2010 they stopped selling the boxes and you could only buy the whole set. I had already bought 14 of the 19 boxes at that stage.
So, with a heavy heart and after long hesitation, I bought the whole set in 2011 although at that time only a third of the CDs were still missing in my shelf. Shortly after that, the whole series was taken off the market and became unavailable in any form. I don’t regret the purchase, it’s a great thing to have, even in a time when CDs have become an obsolete format. Today some of the CDs are sold on the second hand market for more money than I paid for the entire set of 130 items, even if you include the money I wasted on the single discs and boxes.
Any reference to this comprehensive compilation has been deleted from the Musikrat’s website although this must have been one of the most impressive and interesting projects they have ever done. I cannot imagine how many hours of hard work went into this, but in the end it must have been a huge financial disaster for everybody involved. I’m sure they had a grandiose vision when it all started, with ideas aplenty, but the implementation lacked continuity, leadership and there was no demand. Although they finally managed to publish all 130 CDs it is, in hindsight, an excellent case study of an over-ambitious and failed endeavour. We can learn from this, not only about business and project management, but about human nature.
Some statistical analysis: The most extensively featured composer is Hans Werner Henze with 57 works, adding up to more than 5 hours playing time. Paul Dessau comes second with 50 pieces in the set, but they are mostly short (3½ minutes on average) so he comes only 7th when considering playing time (a bit less than 3 hours). Friedrich Schenker is second in terms of time (3½ hours of his music can be heard in the collection) and the Argentinian Mauricio Kagel comes third with 3 hours and 17 minutes. He and Wolfgang Rihm both have 36 pieces of music in the compilation.
Mr. Karlheinz Stockhausen, the most famous German post-war composer, is an also-run with only 10 works in the set. They add up to 2 hours, which is not much, if you compare him to less-known composers like Georg Katzer (2½ hours) and Friedrich Goldmann (3 hours). I can think of 2 reasons. One is probably the restrictive copyright protection of the Stockhausen œuvre (the same reason why Kraftwerk is conspicuously absent in the pop box). But I believe another one to be the determination of the curators to represent both German states equally, which led to an over-representation of the East-German music scene, simply because there was less of it. Just as Wartburg would be more dominant than Borgward in a book about the German post-war car industry that tries to represent both German states in a balanced way.
Having listened to the whole set several times, I am now able to draw wide-reaching, sweeping and judgemental conclusions about German post-war culture. Here are examples:
(1)
At first the differences between the cultures of capitalist West Germany and the East German one-party-state seem obvious. A superficial listening suggests that the East was being restricted by political diktat and a closed society, while the West was open for experimentation and inspiration from everywhere and everything. But after a while you realise that the reality was more complicated and on this compilation you find surprisingly daring works from the East as well as a fair share of conservative dullness from the West. Overall, I found it more interesting to note what the two states had in common. For example:
(2)
The old prejudice that German culture is heavy and humourless is, all in all, confirmed. It is difficult to find any light-hearted melody in this set. Admittedly, there is some humour, some of it by composers of non-Germanic provenance (Ligeti and Kagel), but this is clownish stuff that hasn’t stood the test of time and wasn't really funny in the first place.
(3)
More than in any other epoch, in post-war Germany composers felt the need to put their works into a political and sociocritical context – on both sides of the fence. Even creators of completely abstract instrumental compositions tried to express sophisticated views with their music, which is, most of the time, not obvious to the listener until he reads the booklet.
(4)
In the West as well as in the East two types of artists dominate: Leftist intellectuals and confessing Christians. And surprisingly it’s the Christians who are often more daring in their musical experiments. Even more surprisingly, Marxist views are as dominant among western composers as they are in the East. An opera about free trade, entrepreneurship and representative democracy would have been as taboo in 1960s Western Germany as it would have been in the East. I know why, but I stop now. I talk too much...
I'm so excited I just had to share one of my photos has been published on the coupons for the 17th Annual Carolina Renaissance Festival in Huntersville, NC.
My photo is the lower left one of Serendipity (lady in Red blowing bubbles) and the little girl trying to catch them. Serendipity is from clan Tynker
You can see my original photo here www.flickr.com/photos/grantbrummett/3363299133/
Thanks so much Ron for letting me know these hit the streets, you can see Ron's wonderful work at www.flickr.com/photos/45019444@N07/
My image taken originally taken with a Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera and Canon EF 85mm F/1.2L II USM Lens.
Published in the March 2023 issue of The Walleye, Hailey Shchepanik poses after a dive near Silver Islet, Ontario. Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario (Canada), Hailey has been busy climbing the ladder in the scientific diving community. Hailey is a marine scientist who has had the fortunate opportunity to work on projects in Saudi Arabia (PhD), USA, and Korea.
Note: this photo was published in a Jan 5, 2010 blog titled "Here's to 2010, the Year of the Job." And it was published in a Feb 12, 2010 blog titled "Four Reasons Why Google Buzz is Doomed." It was also published in a May 27, 2010 blog titled "Short Circuit: is being connected burning you out?" And it was published in an undated (mid-Nov 2010) Digital Camera Super Shop blog, with the same title and detailed notes as what I had written on this Flickr page.
Moving into 2011, the photo was published in a Jan 6, 2011 blog titled "5 Most Popular Really Natural Posts of 2010." It was also published in a Feb 16, 2011 blog titled "Mobile sites vs. mobile queries."
Moving into 2012, the photo was published in a Jan 24, 2012 blog titled "EL WI-FI, FUTURO ESCUDERO DE INTERNET EN EL MÓVIL."
Moving into 2013, the photo was published in a Jan 18, 2013 blog titled "WYOD (wear your own device): “Get Smart” meets “Mr. Gadget”."
Moving into 2014, the photo was published in an undated (mid-Sep 2014) Australian blog titled "Joggers: beware of SODs syndrome."
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New Yorkers will tell you that nobody in his or her right mind goes to Times Square on New Year's Eve. Well, anyway, nobody from Manhattan -- you can never tell what those crazy folks in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, or the Bronx might do (and we won't even try to imagine what those crazy folks in New Jersey might do). Actually, even residents of Manhattan have been known to experience the New Year's Eve count-down once in their lives, just so they can tell everyone else that they know what they're talking about. In my case, I think it was back in 1969; at this point, I can't even remember for sure which year it was ...
Why do New Yorkers do their best to stay away from Times Square on New Year's Eve? Well, have you ever looked at the television screen in the midst of all that mayhem? There are a gazillion other people out there, jammed against each other, shoulder to shoulder — and they're all drunk, and they're all screaming at the top of their lungs. You can't just drive to a nearby corner and park your car, with a plan of getting back in your car and fleeing after you've seen what a crazy idea it was. And you can't take a taxi right to the middle of Times Square — at least, not after mid-afternoon on New Year's Eve. Even worse, there are no public bathrooms anywhere to be found, so you're in trouble if you drink too much beer ... except that the cops do their best, quite understandably, to make sure nobody in the Times Square area (which is broadly defined to cover an area of several square blocks) is drinking or doing anything that might look dangerous.
Consequently, it often seems that most of the crowd has chosen to get roaring drunk before they arrive on the scene. All of which might be great fun if the weather is clear, and the temperature is somewhere above the freezing mark. But if it's 30 degrees or lower, and it's drizzling or raining or snowing, this is not a place where you want to spend six or eight hours standing around with two million of your best (drunken) friends...
Thus, it should not surprise you to hear that I was not in Times Square to watch the ball drop on New Year's Eve of 2009 (or, for that matter, any other year going back to 1969). However, I had a business meeting in mid-town Manhattan, in the late morning of Dec 31st; and on the chance that something interesting might be going on, I brought my camera with me. To reach my meeting, I took a subway to Times Square, and it was snowing heavily when I came out of the station; thus, I was hoping for some dramatic scenery when my meeting ended and I had a little free time before heading back uptown to my office.
Alas, the snow had pretty much been replaced by a combination of drizzle and occasional raindrops when I finished my meeting and walked over to Times Square. Hence you won't see any dramatic blizzard-like shots in this Flickr set; no views of frozen revelers with zillions of snowflakes falling all around them. But there were some interesting people wandering around, and it was interesting to see how many foreign tourists had arrived to spend all afternoon, all evening, and potentially all night in what has become the most well-known site of New Year's celebrations in the U.S., if not the world. It was also interesting to see that the cleaning crews were already beginning to assemble, and that other workers were dragging along large bundles of balloons, hats, and other novelties to be distributed to the crowds later on...
... and later on, after a very pleasant dinner in Greenwich Village with several family members, I ended up back at home, watching the revelry on television as the countdown came to an end. The TV coverage was obviously far more extensive than what I could accomplish with just one DSLR camera; and it was also infinitely more sophisticated, with high-end TV cameras located on strategic vantage points all around the square. On the other hand, the TV images appear, and then disappear, often leaving no lasting impression. By contrast, these still images will hopefully be interesting to look at months, if not years, from now. For better or worse, they'll be here whenever you'd like to see them...
The Postcard
A postcard published by J. Beagles & Co. of London E.C. The firm of J. Beagles & Co. was started by John Beagles (1844-1909).
The company produced a variety of postcards including an extensive catalogue of celebrity (stage and screen) portrait postcards. After Beagle’s death, the business continued under its original name until it closed in 1939.
The image is a real photograph, and the card was printed in England. The photography was by W. & D. Downey.
The card was posted in Blackpool on Tuesday the 2nd. May 1905 to:
A.L. Owens,
Glyn Tivy,
Cardigan,
South Wales.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Will you please send a
'real photo' actress in
exchange for this, to:
M. Stainsby,
14, Albert Terrace,
Blackpool,
Lancs."
Miss Maude Fealy
Maude Fealy was an American stage and silent film actress whose career survived into the sound era.
-- Maude Fealy - The Early Years
Maude Mary Hawk was born on the 4th. March 1883 in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of James Hawk and actress and acting coach, Margaret Fealy.
Her mother re-married to Rafaello Cavallo, conductor of the Pueblo, Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and Fealy lived in Colorado off and on for most of her life.
At the age of three, Maude made her first stage appearance in her mother's 1884 production of 'Faust', and made her Broadway debut in the 1900 production of 'Quo Vadis', again with her mother.
-- Maude Fealy's Acting Career
Fealy toured England with William Gillette in 'Sherlock Holmes' from 1901 to 1902. Between 1902 and 1905, she frequently toured with Sir Henry Irving's company in the United Kingdom, and by 1907 was the star in productions touring the United States.
Fealy appeared in her first silent film in 1911 for Thanhouser Studios, making another 18 between then and 1917, after which she didn't perform in film for another 14 years.
During the summers of 1912 and 1913, she organised and starred with the Fealy-Durkin Company that put on performances at the Casino Theatre at the Lakeside Amusement Park in Denver, and the following year began touring the western half of the U.S.
Fealy had some commercial success as a playwright-performer. She co-wrote 'The Red Cap' with Grant Stewart, a noted New York playwright and performer, which ran at the National Theatre in Chicago in August 1928.
Other plays written or co-written by Fealy include 'At Midnight'.
Maude also co-wrote 'The Promise' with the highly regarded Chicago playwright Alice Gerstenberg.
Throughout her career, Fealy taught acting in many cities where she lived, in the early years with her mother. Maude taught under names which included Maude Fealy Studio of Speech, Fealy School of Stage and Screen Acting, and Fealy School of Dramatic Expression. Maude taught in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Burbank, California; and Denver, Colorado.
By the 1930's, Maude was living in Los Angeles where at the age of 50 she returned to secondary roles in film, including a credited appearance in 'The Ten Commandments' (1956). Later in her career, she wrote and appeared in pageants, programs, and presented lectures for schools and community organisations.
-- The Personal Life of Maude Fealy
In Denver, Colorado, Maude met a drama critic from a local newspaper named Louis Hugo Sherwin (the son of opera singer Amy Sherwin). The two married in secret on the 15th. July 1907 because, as they expected, her domineering mother did not approve. The couple soon separated, and divorced in Denver in 1909.
Fealy then married an actor named James Peter Durkin. He was a silent film director with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company. This marriage ended in divorce for non-support in 1917.
Soon after this Fealy married John Edward Cort. This third marriage ended in a 1923 annulment, and was her last marriage. She bore no children in any of the marriages.
-- The Death of Maude Fealy
Maude was hospitalized with arteriosclerosis for the last two years of her life. Maude died in her sleep at the age of 88 on November 9, 1971, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.
Maude was laid to rest in the Abbey of the Psalms Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
-- A Final Thought From Maude Fealy
"I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, though since
my mother married a second time and went to live
in Denver, I've always claimed to be a Western girl.
You know the California girls are famed as the best
actresses. So it's too bad that mamma did not go to
San Francisco instead of Denver. Then I should have
been ever so much greater."
W. & D. Downey
W. & D. Downey were Victorian studio photographers operating in London from the 1860's to the 1910's.
William Downey (14th. July 1829 - 7th. July 1915 in Kensington), who came to be known as the Queen's Photographer, was born in King Street in South Shields, a decade before commercial photography had become a reality.
William was initially a carpenter and boatbuilder, but in 1855 he set up a studio in South Shields with his brother Daniel (1831 - 15th. July 1881), and later established branches in Blyth, Morpeth and Newcastle.
Their first Royal commission was to provide photographs for Queen Victoria of the Hartley Colliery Disaster in January 1862.
In 1863 they opened a studio at 9, Eldon Square in Newcastle, in a building that was demolished in 1973. The same year William set up a studio in the Houses of Parliament and produced portraits of every parliamentarian of the day. The whereabouts of these photographs is unknown to this day.
William opened another studio at 57 & 61 Ebury Street in London in 1872 with Daniel continuing to manage the Newcastle branch.
The London studio enjoyed the patronage of Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales, with William taking photos at Balmoral and Frogmore during the 1860's. The first Royal image was of the Princess of Wales at the York Agricultural Show in 1865. The studio also produced the iconic carte-de-visite portrait of the Princess of Wales piggybacking Princess Louise. The studio received a Royal Warrant in 1879.
The green half-penny stamp that was issued in 1911 and 1912 is known as the 'Downey Head'. It features an image of of King George V which was engraved from a photograph by W and D Downey.
Downey used Joseph Swan's carbon process for their best work. In the 1880's Mawson, Swan & Morgan of Newcastle were the world's largest manufacturers of photographic dry plates, the convenience of which made photography a commercial reality. George Eastman spent some time there during the eighties, and afterwards invented the Box Brownie and roll film, ending the monopoly of studios on permanent images.
William Downey's son, William Edward Downey (1855–1908), managed most of the royal sittings during the Edwardian era.
Gladys Cooper, a child photographic model of the time, reminisces about the Downeys in her autobiography:
"I can remember the Downeys quite well – they were father and son. "Old" Downey was a very tall old man with a long white beard, and very red-rimmed eyes. He always wore a long frock-coat with a red ribbon in his buttonhole, and looked a dignified old gentleman, who was quite capable of receiving and greeting Royals with just the right manner of respectful homage.
It was considered a great honour to be photographed by "Old" Downey himself. He never "took" anyone lower than one of the Princesses, or perhaps a duchess now and then, if he felt in the mood. His staff treated him rather like Royalty itself, and, when he rode abroad in his carriage, they would stand round with rugs, cushions, etc., until he waved them aside in lordly fashion.
"Young" Downey (he was always known as "Young" Downey to distinguish him from his father) was a big man – or so he seemed to me then – with a bald head. He was an artist in his work, and used to say that he always knew the best side of anybody's face after one good look at them. He certainly made some fine photographs of the famous beauties of his time, and possessed the art of retaining character in the face of his sitter. I used to enjoy my visits to the Downey père et fils. "Young" Downey was very fond of children, and my sisters Doris and Grace and I had plenty of fun playing about in the great studio, or dressing ourselves up in the wonderful assortment of garments that he kept there".
William Downey's Personal Life and Death
William senior was married to Lucy, who had been born in Speenhamland, Berkshire in 1843, and they had one son and one daughter. He joined the Photographic Society (later The Royal Photographic Society) in December 1870. The 1891 and 1901 census records show that he was living at 10 Nevern Square, Warwick Road, Earl's Court, Kensington.
Downey's prized silver collection was stolen from his Earl's Court home in November 1914 – the burglary is said to have brought on his death 7 days before his 86th. birthday.
Sidney Skolsky
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 2nd. May 1905 marked the birth of Sidney Skolsky. He was an American writer, best known as a Hollywood gossip columnist.
He ranked with Hedda Hopper (with whom he shared a birthday) and Louella Parsons as the premier Hollywood gossip columnists of the first three decades of the sound picture era.
A radio personality in addition to having his own syndicated newspaper column, Skolsky was also a screenwriter and movie producer who occasionally acted on the radio and in the movies. Skolsky claimed to be the person who gave the nickname 'Oscar' to the Academy Award and was credited for the introduction of the use of the word 'beefcake'.
Biography of Sidney Skolsky
Skolsky was born in NYC to a Jewish family, the son of dry goods store proprietor Louis Skolsky and his wife Mildred. He studied journalism at New York University before becoming a Broadway press agent.
When he became the New York Daily News gossip columnist in 1928, the 23-year-old Skolsky was the youngest Broadway gossip columnist plying his trade on the Great White Way. He also had a Sunday column, 'Tintypes', profiles of actors, directors and other production personnel and Hollywood creative types, that continued in print for 52 years, until a couple years before his death.
Sidney moved to Hollywood in 1933, where he moonlighted as a story editor for Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures. He also had a regular column in Photoplay, the country's premiere movie magazine. His column was bylined 'From a Stool at Schwab’s', the Hollywood drugstore he made famous.
He helped promulgate the myth that Lana Turner had been discovered at Schwab's, when it actually had been another Sunset Boulevard establishment, The Top Hat Cafe, which was closer to Lana's alma mater, Hollywood High.
He helped champion, and was very close to Marilyn Monroe, supporting her during her divorce from Joe DiMaggio.
In 1946, Sidney became a movie producer with 'The Jolson Story' (1946), which was nominated for several Academy Awards. He followed it up with 1953 bio 'The Eddie Cantor Story'.
Starting in 1954, KABC-TV Los Angeles featured him in his own TV show, 'Sidney Skolsky’s Hollywood'. He wrote five books about Hollywood and the movies, including a 1975 autobiography, 'Don’t Get Me Wrong, I Love Hollywood'.
The Death and Legacy of Sidney Skolsky
Skolsky died on the 3rd. May 1983 from complications due to Parkinson's disease and atherosclerosis. He had been married for 54 years to Estelle Lorenz, with whom he had had two daughters.
Sidney's writings are part of the permanent collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Margaret Herrick Library.
An alert friend/contact V.I.D.S sent me this, this morning!
The total circulation of the magazine includes 7.4 million copies being shipped to members' homes and 600,000 available in Sam's Club locations nationwide.
Snowdonia, or Eryri is a mountainous region and national park in North Wales. It contains all 15 mountains in Wales over 3000 feet high, including the country's highest, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), which is 1,085 metres (3,560 ft) tall. These peaks are all part of the Snowdon, Glyderau, and Carneddau ranges in the north of the region. The shorter Moelwynion and Moel Hebog ranges lie immediately to the south.
The national park has an area of 823 square miles (2,130 km2) (the fourth-largest in the UK), and covers most of central and southern Gwynedd and the western part of Conwy County Borough. This is much larger than the area traditionally considered Snowdonia, and in addition to the five ranges above includes the Rhinogydd, Cadair Idris, and Aran ranges and the Dyfi Hills. It also includes most of the coast between Porthmadog and Aberdyfi. The park was the first of the three national parks of Wales to be designated, in October 1951, and the third in the UK after the Peak District and Lake District, which were established in April and May 1951 respectively. The park received 3.89 million visitors in 2015.
The name Snowdon means 'snow hill' and is derived from the Old English elements snāw and dūn, the latter meaning 'hill'. Snowdonia is simply taken from the name of the mountain.
The origins of Eryri are less clear. Two popular interpretations are that the name is related to eryr, 'eagle', and that it means 'highlands' and is related to the Latin oriri ('to rise'). Although eryri is not any direct form of the word eryr in the meaning 'eagle', it is a plural form of eryr in the meaning 'upland'.
Before the boundaries of the national park were designated, "Snowdonia" was generally used to refer to a smaller upland area of northern Gwynedd centred on the Snowdon massif. The national park covers an area more than twice that size, extending south into the Meirionnydd area.
This difference is apparent in books published before 1951. In George Borrow's 1907 Wild Wales he states that "Snowdon or Eryri is no single hill, but a mountainous region, the loftiest part of which is called Y Wyddfa", making a distinction between the summit of the mountain and the surrounding massif. The Mountains of Snowdonia by H. Carr & G. Lister (1925) defines "Eryri" as "composed of the two cantrefs of Arfon and Arllechwedd, and the two commotes of Nant Conwy and Eifionydd", which corresponds to Caernarfonshire with the exception of southwest Llŷn and the Creuddyn Peninsula. In Snowdonia: The National Park of North Wales (1949), F. J. North states that "When the Committee delineated provisional boundaries, they included areas some distance beyond Snowdonia proper".
Snowdonia National Park, also known as Eryri National Park in English and Parc Cenedlaethol Eryri in Welsh, was established in October 1951. It was the third national park in the United Kingdom, following the Peak District and Lake District in April and May of the same year. It covers 827 square miles (2,140 km2) in the counties of Gwynedd and Conwy, and has 37 miles (60 km) of coastline.
The park is governed by the Snowdonia National Park Authority, which has 18 members: 9 appointed by Gwynedd, 3 by Conwy, and 6 by the Welsh Government to represent the national interest. The authority's main offices are at Penrhyndeudraeth.
The park authority used Snowdonia and Snowdon when referring to the national park and mountain in English until February 2023, when it resolved to primarily use the Welsh names, Eryri and Yr Wyddfa. There will be a transitional period of approximately two years in which the authority will continue to use the English names in parentheses — for example "Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)" — where the context requires.
Unlike national parks in other countries, national parks in the UK are made up of both public and private lands under a central planning authority. The makeup of land ownership in the national park is as follows:
More than 26,000 people live within the park, of whom 58.6% could speak Welsh in 2011. While most of the land is either open or mountainous land, there is a significant amount of agricultural activity within the park.
The national park does not include the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, which forms a unique non-designated enclave within the park boundaries. The town was deliberately excluded from the park when it was established because of its slate quarrying industry. The boundaries of the Peak District National Park exclude the town of Buxton and its adjacent limestone quarries for a similar reason.
The geology of Snowdonia is key to the area's character. Glaciation during a succession of ice ages, has carved from a heavily faulted and folded succession of sedimentary and igneous rocks, a distinctive rocky landscape. The last ice age ended only just over 11,500 years ago, leaving a legacy of features attractive to visitors but which have also played a part in the development of geological science and continue to provide a focus for educational visits. Visiting Cwm Idwal in 1841 Charles Darwin realised that the landscape was the product of glaciation. The bedrock dates largely from the Cambrian and Ordovician periods with intrusions of Ordovician and Silurian age associated with the Caledonian Orogeny. There are smaller areas of Silurian age sedimentary rocks in the south and northeast and of Cenozoic era strata on the Cardigan Bay coast though the latter are concealed by more recent deposits. Low grade metamorphism of Cambrian and Ordovician mudstones has resulted in the slates, the extraction of which once formed the mainstay of the area's economy.
The principal ranges of the traditional Snowdonia are the Snowdon massif itself, the Glyderau, the Carneddau, the Moelwynion and the Moel Hebog range. All of Wales' 3000ft mountains are to be found within the first three of these massifs and are most popular with visitors. To their south within the wider national park are the Rhinogydd and the Cadair Idris and Aran Fawddwy ranges. Besides these well-defined areas are a host of mountains which are less readily grouped though various guidebook writers have assigned them into groups such as the 'Arenigs', the 'Tarrens' and the 'Dyfi hills'.
Snowdon's summit at 1085 metres (3560 feet) is the highest in Wales and the highest in Britain south of the Scottish Highlands. At 905 metres (2970 feet) Aran Fawddwy is the highest in Wales outside of northern Snowdonia; Cadair Idris, at 893 metres (2930 feet), is next in line.
Rivers draining the area empty directly into Cardigan Bay are typically short and steep. From north to south they include the Glaslyn and Dwyryd which share a common estuary, the Mawddach and its tributaries the Wnion and the Eden, the smaller Dysynni and on the park's southern margin the Dyfi. A series of rivers drain to the north coast. Largest of these is the Conwy on the park's eastern margin which along with the Ogwen drains into Conwy Bay. Further west the Seiont and Gwyrfai empty into the western end of the Menai Strait. A part of the east of the national park is within the upper Dee (Dyfrydwy) catchment and includes Bala Lake, the largest natural waterbody in Wales. A fuller list of the rivers and tributaries within the area is found at List of rivers of Wales.
There are few natural waterbodies of any size in Wales; Snowdonia is home to most. Besides Bala Lake, a few lakes occupy glacial troughs including Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris at Llanberis and Tal-y-llyn Lake south of Cadair Idris. Llyn Dinas, Llyn Gwynant, and Llyn Cwellyn to the south and west of Snowdon feature in this category as do Llyn Cowlyd and Llyn Ogwen on the margins of the Carneddau. There are numerous small lakes occupying glacial cirques owing to the former intensity of glacial action in Snowdonia. Known generically as tarns, examples include Llyn Llydaw, Glaslyn and Llyn Du'r Arddu on Snowdon, Llyn Idwal within the Glyderau and Llyn Cau on Cadair Idris.
There are two large wholly man-made bodies of water in the area, Llyn Celyn and Llyn Trawsfynydd whilst numerous of the natural lakes have had their levels artificially raised to different degrees. Marchlyn Mawr reservoir and Ffestiniog Power Station's Llyn Stwlan are two cases where natural tarns have been dammed as part of pumped storage hydro-electric schemes. A fuller list of the lakes within the area is found at List of lakes of Wales. In 2023, the park standardised its Welsh language lake names, to be also used in English.
The national park meets the Irish Sea coast within Cardigan Bay between the Dovey estuary in the south and the Dwyryd estuary. The larger part of that frontage is characterised by dune systems, the largest of which are Morfa Dyffryn and Morfa Harlech. These two locations have two of the largest sand/shingle spits in Wales. The major indentations of the Dovey, the Mawddach and Dwyryd estuaries, have large expanses of intertidal sands and coastal marsh which are especially important for wildlife: see #Natural history. The northern tip of the national park extends to the north coast of Wales at Penmaen-bach Point, west of Conwy, where precipitous cliffs have led to the road and railway negotiating the spot in tunnels.
There are only three towns within the park boundary, though there are several more immediately beyond it. Dolgellau is the most populous followed by Bala on the eastern boundary and then Harlech overlooking Tremadog Bay. More populous than these is the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog, which is within an exclave, that is to say it is surrounded by the national park but excluded from it, whilst the towns of Tywyn and Barmouth on the Cardigan Bay coast are within coastal exclaves. Llanrwst in the east, Machynlleth in the south and Porthmadog and Penrhyndeudraeth in the west are immediately beyond the boundary but still identified with the park; indeed the last of these hosts the headquarters of the Snowdonia National Park Authority. Similarly the local economies of the towns of Conwy, Bethesda, and Llanberis in the north are inseparably linked to the national park as they provide multiple visitor services. The lower terminus of the Snowdon Mountain Railway is at Llanberis. Though adjacent to it, Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr are less obviously linked to the park.
There are numerous smaller settlements within the national park: prominent amongst these are the eastern 'gateway' village of Betws-y-Coed, Aberdyfi on the Dovey (Dyfi) estuary and the small village of Beddgelert each of which attract large numbers of visitors. Other sizeable villages are Llanuwchllyn at the southwest end of Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid), Dyffryn Ardudwy, Corris, Trawsfynydd, Llanbedr, Trefriw and Dolwyddelan.
Six primary routes serve Snowdonia, the busiest of which is the A55, a dual carriageway which runs along the north coast and provides strategic road access to the northern part of the national park. The most important north–south route within the park is the A470 running from the A55 south past Betws-y-Coed to Blaenau Ffestiniog to Dolgellau. It exits the park a few miles to the southeast near Mallwyd. From Dolgellau, the A494 runs to Bala whilst the A487 connects with Machynlleth. The A487 loops around the northwest of the park from Bangor via Caernarfon to Porthmadog before turning in land to meet the A470 east of Maentwrog. The A5 was built as a mail coach road by Thomas Telford between London and Holyhead; it enters the park near Pentrefoelas and leaves it near Bethesda. Other A class roads provide more local links; the A493 down the Dovey valley from Machynlleth and up the coast to Tywyn then back up the Mawddach valley to Dolgellau, the A496 from Dolgellau down the north side of the Mawddach to Barmouth then north up the coast via Harlech to Maentwrog. The A4212 connecting Bala with Trawsfynydd is relatively modern having been laid out in the 1960s in connection with the construction of Llyn Celyn. Three further roads thread their often twisting and narrow way through the northern mountains; A4085 links Penrhyndeudraeth with Caernarfon, the A4086 links Capel Curig with Caernarfon via Llanberis and the A498 links Tremadog with the A4086 at Pen-y-Gwryd. Other roads of note include that from Llanuwchllyn up Cwm Cynllwyd to Dinas Mawddwy via the 545 metre (1788') high pass of Bwlch y Groes, the second highest tarmacked public road in Wales and the minor road running northwest and west from Llanuwchllyn towards Bronaber via the 531 metre (1742') high pass of Bwlch Pen-feidiog.
The double track North Wales Coast Line passes along the northern boundary of the park between Conwy and Bangor briefly entering it at Penmaen-bach Point where it is in tunnel. Stations serve the communities of Conwy, Penmaenmawr, Llanfairfechan and Bangor. The single-track Conwy Valley Line runs south from Llandudno Junction, entering the park north of Betws-y-coed which is served by a station then west up the Lledr valley by way of further stations at Pont-y-pant, Dolwyddelan and Roman Bridge. After passing through a tunnel the passenger line now terminates at Blaenau Ffestiniog railway station. Prior to 1961 the route continued as the Bala and Ffestiniog Railway via Trawsfynydd to Bala joining another former route along the Dee valley which ran southwest via Dolgellau to join the still extant coastal Cambrian Line south of Barmouth. The Pwllheli branch of the Cambrian Line splits from the Aberystwyth branch at Dovey Junction and continues via stations at Aberdovey, Tywyn, Tonfanau, Llwyngwril, Fairbourne and Morfa Mawddach to Barmouth where it crosses the Mawddach estuary by the Grade II* listed wooden Barmouth Bridge, a structure which also provides for walkers and cyclists. Further stations serve Llanaber, Tal-y-bont, Dyffryn Ardudwy, Llanbedr, Pensarn and Llandanwg before reaching Harlech. Tygwyn, Talsarnau and Llandecwyn stations are the last before the line exits the park as it crosses the Dwyryd estuary via Pont Briwet and turns westwards bound for Pwllheli via Penrhyndeudraeth, Porthmadog and Criccieth.
Many sections of dismantled railway are now used by walking and cycling routes and are described elsewhere. The Bala Lake Railway is a heritage railway which has been established along a section of the former mainline route between Bala and Llanuwchllyn. Other heritage railways occupy sections of former mineral lines, often narrow gauge and are described in a separate section.
The national park is served by a growing bus network, branded Sherpa'r Wyddfa (formerly Snowdon Sherpa). Together with the TrawsCymru network of buses this provides a car-free option to tourists and locals wishing to travel across the National Park.
The network was relaunched in July 2022 with a new brand, Sherpa'r Wyddfa, to reflect the National Park's new push for the promotion of Welsh place names. As such the publicity and websites for the newly branded service only use these Welsh names, even for English language users.
Snowdonia is one of the wettest parts of the United Kingdom; Crib Goch in Snowdonia is the wettest spot in the United Kingdom, with an average rainfall of 4,473 millimetres (176.1 in) a year over the 30-year period prior to the mid-2000s. (There is a rainfall gauge at 713 metres, 2340' on the slopes below Crib Goch.)
The earliest evidence for human occupation of the area dates from around 4000–3000 BCE with extensive traces of prehistoric field systems evident in the landscape. Within these are traces of irregular enclosures and hut circles. There are burial chambers of Neolithic and Bronze Age such as Bryn Cader Faner and Iron Age hillforts such as Bryn y Castell near Ffestiniog.
The region was finally conquered by the Romans by AD 77–78. Remains of Roman marching camps and practice camps are evident. There was a Roman fort and amphitheatre at Tomen y Mur. Roads are known to have connected with Segontium (Caernarfon) and Deva Victrix (Chester) and include the northern reaches of Sarn Helen.
There are numerous memorial stones of Early Christian affinity dating from the post-Roman period. The post-Roman hillfort of Dinas Emrys also dates to this time. Churches were introduced to the region in the 5th and 6th centuries. Llywelyn the Great and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd had various stone castles constructed to protect their borders and trade routes. Edward I built several castles around the margins including those at Harlech and Conwy for military and administrative reasons. Most are now protected within a World Heritage Site. Some of Snowdonia's many stone walls date back to this period too. In the Middle Ages, the title Prince of Wales and Lord of Snowdonia (Tywysog Cymru ac Arglwydd Eryri) was used by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd; his grandfather Llywelyn Fawr used the title Prince of north Wales and Lord of Snowdonia.
The 18th century saw the start of industrial exploitation of the area's resources, assisted by the appearance in the late part of the century of turnpike trusts making it more accessible. The engineer Thomas Telford left a legacy of road and railway construction in and around Snowdonia. A new harbour at Porthmadog linked to slate quarries at Ffestiniog via a narrow gauge railway. At its peak in the 19th century the slate industry employed around 12,000 men. A further 1000 were employed in stone quarrying at Graiglwyd and Penmaenmawr. Mining for copper, iron and gold was undertaken during the 18th and 19th centuries, leaving a legacy of mine and mill ruins today. Ruins of the gold industry are found at Cefn Coch on the Dolmelynllyn estate.
The Snowdonia Society is a registered charity formed in 1967; it is a voluntary group of people with an interest in the area and its protection.
Amory Lovins led the successful 1970s opposition to stop Rio Tinto digging up the area for a massive mine.
The park's entire coastline is a Special Area of Conservation, which runs from the Llŷn Peninsula down the mid-Wales coast, the latter containing valuable sand dune systems.
The park's natural forests are of the mixed deciduous type, the commonest tree being the Welsh oak. Birch, ash, mountain-ash and hazel are also common. The park also contains some large (planted) coniferous forested areas such as Gwydir Forest near Betws-y-Coed, although some areas, once harvested, are now increasingly being allowed to regrow naturally.
Northern Snowdonia is the only place in Britain where the Snowdon lily (Gagea serotina), an arctic–alpine plant, is found and the only place in the world where the Snowdonia hawkweed Hieracium snowdoniense grows.
One of the major problems facing the park in recent years has been the growth of Rhododendron ponticum. This fast-growing invasive species has a tendency to take over and stifle native species. It can form massive towering growths and has a companion fungus that grows on its roots producing toxins that are poisonous to any local flora and fauna for a seven-year period after the Rhododendron infestations have been eradicated. As a result, there are a number of desolate landscapes.
Mammals in the park include otters, polecats, feral goats, and pine martens. Birds include raven, red-billed chough, peregrine, osprey, merlin and the red kite. The rainbow-coloured Snowdon beetle (Chrysolina cerealis) is only found in northern Snowdonia.
Snowdonia has a particularly high number of protected sites in respect of its diverse ecology; nearly 20% of its total area is protected by UK and European law. Half of that area was set aside by the government under the European Habitats Directive as a Special Area of Conservation. There are a large number of Sites of special scientific interest (or 'SSSIs'), designated both for fauna and flora but also in some cases for geology. Nineteen of these sites are managed as national nature reserves by Natural Resources Wales. The park also contains twelve Special Areas of Conservation (or 'SACs'), three Special Protection Areas (or 'SPAs') and three Ramsar sites. Some are wholly within the park boundaries, others straddle it to various degrees.
There are numerous SSSIs within the park, the most extensive of which are Snowdonia, Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt, Morfa Harlech, Rhinog, Berwyn, Cadair Idris, Llyn Tegid, Aber Mawddach / Mawddach Estuary, Dyfi, Morfa Dyffryn, Moel Hebog, Coedydd Dyffryn Ffestiniog and Coedydd Nanmor.
The following NNRs are either wholly or partly within the park: Allt y Benglog, Y Berwyn (in multiple parts), Cader Idris, Ceunant Llennyrch, Coed Camlyn, Coed Cymerau, Coed Dolgarrog, Coed Ganllwyd, Coed Gorswen, Coed Tremadog, Coedydd Aber, Coedydd Maentwrog (in 2 parts), Coed y Rhygen, Cwm Glas Crafnant, Cwm Idwal, Hafod Garregog, Morfa Harlech, Rhinog and Snowdon.
The twelve SACs are as follows: Snowdonia SAC which covers much of the Carneddau, Glyderau, and the Snowdon massif, Afon Gwyrfai a Llyn Cwellyn, Corsydd Eifionydd / Eifionydd Fens (north of Garndolbenmaen), the Coedydd Derw a Safleoedd Ystlumod Meirion / Meirionydd Oakwoods and Bat Sites - a series of sites between Tremadog, Trawsfynydd, and Ffestiniog and Beddgelert and extending up the Gwynant. It also includes many of the oakwoods of the Mawddach and its tributaries. Afon Eden – Cors Goch Trawsfynydd, Rhinog, Cadair Idris (in 2 parts), Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt, River Dee and Afon Dyfrdwy a Llyn Tegid (Wales), Mwyngloddiau Fforest Gwydir / Gwydyr Forest Mines (north of Betws-y-Coed) and a part of the Berwyn a Mynyddoedd De Clwyd / Berwyn and South Clwyd Mountains SAC. The Pen Llyn a'r Sarnau / Lleyn Peninsula and the Sarnau SAC covers the entire Cardigan Bay coastline of the park and the sea area and extends above the high water mark at Morfa Harlech, Mochras and around the Dovey and Mawddach estuaries.
The three SPAs are Dovey Estuary / Aber Dyfi (of which a part is within the park), Berwyn (of which a part is within the park) and Migneint-Arenig-Dduallt.
The three designated Ramsar sites are the Dyfi Biosphere (Cors Fochno and Dyfi), Cwm Idwal and Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake).
The area's economy was traditionally centred upon farming and from the early 19th century increasingly on mining and quarrying. Tourism has become an increasingly significant part of Snowdonia's economy during the 20th and 21st centuries.
The extensive farming of sheep remains central to Snowdonia's farming economy.
Significant sections of the park were afforested during the 20th century for timber production. Major conifer plantations include Dyfi Forest, Coed y Brenin Forest between Dolgellau and Trawsfynydd, Penllyn Forest south of Bala, Beddgelert Forest and Gwydyr (or Gwydir) Forest near Betws-y-Coed which is managed as a forest park by Natural Resources Wales.
The region was once the most important producer of slate in the world. Some production continues but at a much reduced level from its peak. The park boundaries are drawn such that much of the landscape affected by slate quarrying and mining lies immediately outside of the designated area.
Construction of a nuclear power station beside Llyn Trawsfynydd began in 1959 with the first power produced in 1965. The site was operational until 1991 though it continues as an employer during its decommissioning phase. Pumped storage hydroelectric schemes are in operation at Llanberis and Ffestiniog.
Research indicates that there were 3.67 million visitors to Snowdonia National Park in 2013, with approximately 9.74 million tourist days spent in the park during that year. Total tourist expenditure was £433.6 million in 2013.
Many of the hikers in the area concentrate on Snowdon itself. It is regarded as a fine mountain, but at times gets very crowded; in addition the Snowdon Mountain Railway runs to the summit.
The other high mountains with their boulder-strewn summits as well as Tryfan, one of the few mountains in the UK south of Scotland whose ascent needs hands as well as feet are also very popular. However, there are also some spectacular walks in Snowdonia on the lower mountains, and they tend to be relatively unfrequented. Among hikers' favourites are Y Garn (east of Llanberis) along the ridge to Elidir Fawr; Mynydd Tal-y-Mignedd (west of Snowdon) along the Nantlle Ridge to Mynydd Drws-y-Coed; Moelwyn Mawr (west of Blaenau Ffestiniog); and Pen Llithrig y Wrach north of Capel Curig. Further south are Y Llethr in the Rhinogydd, and Cadair Idris near Dolgellau.
The park has 1,479 miles (2,380 km) of public footpaths, 164 miles (264 km) of public bridleways, and 46 miles (74 km) of other public rights of way. A large part of the park is also covered by right to roam laws.
The Wales Coast Path runs within the park between Machynlleth and Penrhyndeudraeth, save for short sections of coast in the vicinity of Tywyn and Barmouth which are excluded from the park. It touches the park boundary again at Penmaen-bach Point on the north coast. An inland alternative exists between Llanfairfechan and Conwy, wholly within the park. The North Wales Path, which predates the WCP, enters the park north of Bethesda and follows a route broadly parallel to the north coast visiting Aber Falls and the Sychnant Pass before exiting the park on the descent from Conwy Mountain. The Cambrian Way is a long-distance trail between Cardiff and Conwy that stays almost entirely within the national park from Mallwyd northwards. It was officially recognised in 2019, and is now depicted on Ordnance Survey maps.
The use of the English names for the area has been divisive, with an increase in protests against their use since 2020; these led to the national park authority deciding to use Welsh names as far as legally possible in November 2022. An early example of pressure to deprecate Snowdon and Snowdonia was a 2003 campaign by Cymuned, inspired by campaigns to refer to Ayers Rock as Uluru and Mount Everest as Qomolangma.
In 2020 an e-petition calling for the removal of the English names was put forward to the Senedd, but rejected as responsibility lies with the national park authority. In 2021 an e-petition on the same topic attracted more than 5,300 signatures and was presented to the national park authority.
On 28 April 2021 Gwynedd councillor John Pughe Roberts put forward a motion to use the Welsh names exclusively, calling this a "question of respect for the Welsh language". The motion was not considered and delayed, as the national park authority already appointed a "Welsh Place Names Task and Finish Group" to investigate the issue. The park authority however cannot compel other bodies and/or individuals to stop using the English names, with the proposals facing some criticism.
In May 2021, following the dismissal of the motion, YouGov conducted a poll on Snowdon's name. 60% of Welsh adults supported the English name Snowdon, compared to 30% wanting the Welsh name Yr Wyddfa. Separating by language, 59% of Welsh speakers preferred the Welsh name, but 37% of these still wanted Snowdon to be used as well. 69% of non-Welsh speakers firmly supported Snowdon as the Mountain's name. The proposals to rename Snowdon are usually accompanied with proposals to rename Snowdonia.
On 16 November 2022, Members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority committee voted to use the Welsh names Yr Wyddfa and Eryri to refer to the mountain and the national park, rather than the English names, in materials produced by the authority. The national park authority described the decision as "decisive action" and the authority's head of culture heritage stated that Welsh place names were part of the area's "special qualities" and that other public bodies, English-language press and filming companies have used the Welsh-language names. Before the decision the park had already prioritised the Welsh names by using them first and giving the English names in parentheses. The name "Snowdonia" cannot be abandoned entirely, as it is set in law and so must be used in statutory documents. The authority announced a review of the authority's branding in 2023 to adapt to the new approach to Welsh place names.
Gwynedd is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon. The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes the Isle of Anglesey.
Gwynedd is the second largest county in Wales but sparsely populated, with an area of 979 square miles (2,540 km2) and a population of 117,400. After Bangor (18,322), the largest settlements are Caernarfon (9,852), Bethesda (4,735), and Pwllheli (4,076). The county has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 64.4%, and is considered a heartland of the language.
The geography of Gwynedd is mountainous, with a long coastline to the west. Much of the county is covered by Snowdonia National Park (Eryri), which contains Wales's highest mountain, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa; 3,560 feet, 1,090 m). To the west, the Llŷn Peninsula is flatter and renowned for its scenic coastline, part of which is protected by the Llŷn AONB. Gwynedd also contains several of Wales's largest lakes and reservoirs, including the largest, Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid).
The area which is now the county has played a prominent part in the history of Wales. It formed part of the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the native Principality of Wales, which under the House of Aberffraw remained independent from the Kingdom of England until Edward I's conquest between 1277 and 1283. Edward built the castles at Caernarfon and Harlech, which form part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. During the Industrial Revolution the slate industry rapidly developed; in the late nineteenth century the neighbouring Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries were the largest in the world, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is now a World Heritage Site. Gwynedd covers the majority of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire.
In the past, historians such as J. E. Lloyd assumed that the Celtic source of the word Gwynedd meant 'collection of tribes' – the same root as the Irish fine, meaning 'tribe'. Further, a connection is recognised between the name and the Irish Féni, an early ethnonym for the Irish themselves, related to fían, 'company of hunting and fighting men, company of warriors under a leader'. Perhaps *u̯en-, u̯enə ('strive, hope, wish') is the Indo-European stem. The Irish settled in NW Wales, and in Dyfed, at the end of the Roman era. Venedotia was the Latin form, and in Penmachno there is a memorial stone from c. AD 500 which reads: Cantiori Hic Iacit Venedotis ('Here lies Cantiorix, citizen of Gwynedd'). The name was retained by the Brythons when the kingdom of Gwynedd was formed in the 5th century, and it remained until the invasion of Edward I. This historical name was revived when the new county was formed in 1974.
Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th century, when it was conquered by England. The modern Gwynedd was one of eight Welsh counties created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the entirety of the historic counties of Anglesey and Caernarfonshire, and all of Merionethshire apart from Edeirnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd); and also a few parishes of Denbighshire: Llanrwst, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, Eglwysbach, Llanddoged, Llanrwst and Tir Ifan.
The county was divided into five districts: Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey.
The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county (and the five districts) on 1 April 1996, and its area was divided: the Isle of Anglesey became an independent unitary authority, and Aberconwy (which included the former Denbighshire parishes) passed to the new Conwy County Borough. The remainder of the county was constituted as a principal area, with the name Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, as it covers most of the areas of those two historic counties. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed itself Gwynedd on 2 April 1996. The present Gwynedd local government area is governed by Gwynedd Council. As a unitary authority, the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain as area committees.
The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a preserved county for a few purposes such as the Lieutenancy. In 2003, the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the two local government areas of Gwynedd and Anglesey. Conwy county borough is now entirely within Clwyd.
A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 by the merger of the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire forces. A further amalgamation took place in the 1960s when Gwynedd Constabulary was merged with the Flintshire and Denbighshire county forces, retaining the name Gwynedd. In one proposal for local government reform in Wales, Gwynedd had been proposed as a name for a local authority covering all of north Wales, but the scheme as enacted divided this area between Gwynedd and Clwyd. To prevent confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was therefore renamed the North Wales Police.
The Snowdonia National Park was formed in 1951. After the 1974 local authority reorganisation, the park fell entirely within the boundaries of Gwynedd, and was run as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After the 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy County Borough, and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council still appoints nine of the eighteen members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority; Conwy County Borough Council appoints three; and the Welsh Government appoints the remaining six.
There has been considerable inwards migration to Gwynedd, particularly from England. According to the 2021 census, 66.6% of residents had been born in Wales whilst 27.1% were born in England.
The county has a mixed economy. An important part of the economy is based on tourism: many visitors are attracted by the many beaches and the mountains. A significant part of the county lies within the Snowdonia National Park, which extends from the north coast down to the district of Meirionnydd in the south. But tourism provides seasonal employment and thus there is a shortage of jobs in the winter.
Agriculture is less important than in the past, especially in terms of the number of people who earn their living on the land, but it remains an important element of the economy.
The most important of the traditional industries is the slate industry, but these days only a small percentage of workers earn their living in the slate quarries.
Industries which have developed more recently include TV and sound studios: the record company Sain has its HQ in the county.
The education sector is also very important for the local economy, including Bangor University and Further Education colleges, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Coleg Menai, both now part of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.
The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh.
Gwynedd has the highest proportion of people in Wales who can speak Welsh. According to the 2021 census, 64.4% of the population aged three and over stated that they could speak Welsh,[7] while 64.4% noted that they could speak Welsh in the 2011 census.
It is estimated that 83% of the county's Welsh-speakers are fluent, the highest percentage of all counties in Wales.[9] The age group with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd were those between ages 5–15, of whom 92.3% stated that they could speak Welsh in 2011.
The proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd declined between 1991 and 2001,[10] from 72.1% to 68.7%, even though the proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales as a whole increased during that decade to 20.5%.
The Annual Population Survey estimated that as of March 2023, 77.0% of those in Gwynedd aged three years and above could speak Welsh.
Notable people
Leslie Bonnet (1902–1985), RAF officer, writer; originated the Welsh Harlequin duck in Criccieth
Sir Dave Brailsford (born 1964), cycling coach; grew up in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon
Duffy (born 1984), singer, songwriter and actress; born in Bangor, Gwynedd
Edward II of England (1284–1327), born in Caernarfon Castle
Elin Fflur (born 1984), singer-songwriter, TV and radio presenter; went to Bangor University
Bryn Fôn (born 1954), actor and singer-songwriter; born in Llanllyfni, Caernarfonshire.
Wayne Hennessey (born 1987), football goalkeeper with 108 caps for Wales; born in Bangor, Gwynedd
John Jones (c. 1530 – 1598), a Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest and martyr; born at Clynnog
Sir Love Jones-Parry, 1st Baronet (1832–1891), landowner and politician, co-founder of the Y Wladfa settlement in Patagonia
T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), archaeologist, army officer and inspiration for Lawrence of Arabia, born in Tremadog
David Lloyd George (1863–1945), statesman and Prime Minister; lived in Llanystumdwy from infancy
Sasha (born 1969), disc jockey, born in Bangor, Gwynedd
Sir Bryn Terfel (born 1965), bass-baritone opera and concert singer from Pant Glas
Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978), architect of Portmeirion
Owain Fôn Williams, (born 1987), footballer with 443 club caps; born and raised in Penygroes, Gwynedd.
Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), poet from the village of Trawsfynydd; killed in WWI
Two of my landscape photos were published to Changi Class, Apr/09 issue. Changi Class is a magazine published monthly for the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.
The two photos are for a remote area in Dammam west, and Khobar beach.
Note: this photo was published in an undated (Mar 26, 2011) Everyblock NYC zipcodes blog titled "10024."
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What a difference a year makes: on the first day of spring in 2010, I noted (in this Flickr set that "all 8 million New Yorkers were ready to take advantage of [spring]. The sun was out, the temperature was in the 70s, the sky was blue, and the clouds had disappeared to some other part of the country. There was no way a sane person could stay indoors..."
This year, spring arrived about 6 hours earlier (1:32 PM, as compared to last year's 7:21 PM), and while the sun was out, the temperature was in the low 40s rather than the 70s. Like last year, I decided to celebrate the arrival of spring by walking in Riverside Park, and began my usual stroll at the entrance on 72nd Street. I walked a couple blocks south, to the newly-constructed pier that juts halfway out into the Hudson River (or so it seems, anyway), and saw that the outdoor cafe at the base of the pier, where one can usually find a tasty hamburger and a cold beer, was still completely shut down. So I began walking north -- eventually past the 79th Street boat basin, where the Boat Basin Cafe (which you can see more about in this Flickr set ) was open, though protected by gas heaters and wind baffles.
Like last year, there was bright sunshine, blue skies, and no wind -- so people were indeed outside. But because the temperature was about 30 degrees colder, there weren't any picnics and there wasn't any sunbathing. Instead of finding people sprawled out on park benches, enjoying the Sunday newspaper in the sunshine, about the only activities I noticed were bicycling, jogging, brisk walking, and skating.
I was frustrated by the lack of the usual springtime "photo-ops," but then remembered the old adage: if life hands you lemons, then make lemonade. Since there was a steady stream of joggers, cyclists, and skaters, I decided that I might as well photograph them. So I situated myself on a bench near a spot where the walkway along the river splits in two directions: you can turn east and pass under the West Side Highway, up some stone steps and into a playground and elevated section of the park at 82nd Street; or you can continue straight along the river, and follow a newly-constructed narrow two-bike-lane path that connects the "lower" section of Riverside Park (i.e., below 82nd Street) with the "upper" section (starting at roughly 94th Street).
People were coming and going in all directions, so I situated myself with the sun behind me, facing north towards the George Washington Bridge in the far background, and basically ignored everyone coming up the walkway from behind me. There were plenty of people heading south, with the bright springtime sun shining directly on them, and I sat there for about an hour, until I had collected some 500 images with my new Sony SLT a55 camera ...
At that point, I decided I had gotten enough, so I strolled over to Broadway, and took a bus uptown to my own neighborhood. Only a few of the images that I uploaded to my computer were complete disasters -- e.g., out of focus, or missing a head, arm or leg because the subjects were moving so quickly past me. But I had to reject quite a few because they were a little too ordinary ... i.e., your reaction would have been something like, "Oh. There's a guy on a bike. Just like the last guy on a bike, and the one before that." So I ended up with about 70 "keepers" that I felt were sufficiently interesting to warrant uploading to Flickr.
And so that's it for Riverside Park in March, at least this year. Indeed, I may well wait until May before returning -- by which time I hope it will be warm enough that I'll see the sights and scenes that I more commonly associate with springtime in New York City.
Character Creation
Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina (Russian: Ильяна Николаевна Распутина) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, the character first appeared in the Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975). llyana Rasputin is a member of a fictional species of humanity known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. She is known under the codename Magik.
llyana Rasputin is the younger sister of the Russian X-Men member Colossus and X-Men enemy Mikhail Rasputin. She became a powerful sorceress due to her time imprisoned in (and later ruling) Limbo. Her mutant power, which first manifested in that Limbo, is the ability to teleport via stepping discs utilizing that dimension's magic. Following her escape from Limbo, she became part of the New Mutants. She later joined the X-Men.
The character has been featured in various Marvel-licensed products, including video games, animated television series, and merchandise. Anya Taylor-Joy portrayed Illyana Rasputin in the 2020 film The New Mutants.
Publication history
llyana Rasputin debuted in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975), created by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum. Her first name was not revealed until The Uncanny X-Men #145 (May 1981). For the first eight years of the character's existence, she was an infrequently appearing background character known as Colossus' little sister. The means of changing this was set in The Uncanny X-Men #160 (August 1982), in which she ages seven years while in a paranormal dimension called Limbo, becomes a sorceress, and develops the mutant ability to create "teleportation discs." These changes were not immediately explored or explained, and for the next year she remained essentially a background character.
In December 1983, the limited series Magik (Illyana and Storm) was launched, chronicling Illyana's years in Limbo, which is also her origin story. Magik #1 (December 1983) is her first cover appearance as young Illyana, her second full appearance and the first time she get the name Magik. Magik #2 (Jan. 1984) is her first cover appearance as adult Magik. Immediately following the end of the series, she was added to the cast of the New Mutants, appearing regularly in that comic from The New Mutants #14 (April 1984), the first cover appearance of adult Magik in costume, to The New Mutants #77 (July 1989), in which she returns to her family in Russia after having reverted to childhood. As the younger sister of Colossus and a member of the New Mutants, she also sporadically appeared as a guest star in Uncanny X-Men.
In The Uncanny X-Men #303 (1993), she dies of the Legacy Virus. Other than flashbacks and alternate realities, she was absent from regular publication for most of the 1990s, though she does appear as a time-traveler in The New Mutants: Truth or Death #1-3 (1997). After being resurrected by Belasco, she returned to regular publication in 2007, in New X-Men #38-41 (2007), X-Infernus #1-4 (2009), X-Men: Hellbound #1-3 (2010) and New Mutants vol. 3 #1-29 (2009-2011). As a member of Cyclops' Extinction Team, she appears in The Uncanny X-Men vol. 2 #1-20 (2012), Avengers vs. X-Men #1-12 (2012), AVX: Versus #3 (2012), and AVX: Consequences #1-5 (2012). She appears in All-New X-Men, The Uncanny X-Men vol. 3, Extraordinary X-Men, and The New Mutants: Dead Souls (2018), as a regular character. She appears in Strange Academy #1 (2020) as a teacher in Dr. Strange's Sorcerer School.
Origin
To simply be a mutant didn't quite make you as different as it once would have. What made someone different was the type of mutant that they were. Specifically, their power level that would show their potential or ability as a mutant. The Rasputin children, Mikhail, Piotr, and Illyana, were all mutants. Each of them would have gifts that would/could affect many, even on a global level. Their futures would see them all go very different ways; their genetics ensured whichever way they chose to go, huge repercussions could be expected. These three mutant siblings would be no exception. From Mikhail's ability to manipulate matter on the subatomic level and his dimensional teleporting powers to Illyana's immensely powerful magical might and teleporting powers and even Piotr, who seemingly appears much weaker in comparison, but is prophesied to be the sole individual responsible for the destruction of an entire planet, Breakworld, and all of its inhabitants.
On the outward appearance it may seem that it must be purely coincidental that Illyana and her two older brothers, Mikhail and Piotr (Colossus), would all have massively powerful mutant powers and all be born to one family. But, not all is as it seems. These three siblings were born to a family that had been manipulated to ensure these outcomes. A bloodline refined to create power. Not only just Illyana, Mikhail and Piotr would have these substantial gifts, but all children born within the Rasputin bloodline would. Each would have the same genetics, share the same bloodline and lineage, each with the possibility to wield powerful mutant gifts. This was not a coincidence at all. This is all due to the manipulation, on a grand scale, by one of the foremost masters in genetics by the name of Nathaniel Essex, better known as Mr. Sinister.
Character Evolution
Illyana Nikolievna Rasputin, the indomitable mutant known as Magik, is a super-humanly powerful mutant with the power of teleportation, as well as being an unbelievably powerful and gifted sorceress. She has a potential that has yet to be reached. In her short life, she has seen and been through many things. From the experience of being kidnapped at a very young age by the evil Belasco, to life in a "Hell" dimension named Limbo for 7 years. Her gifts were exploited, and her soul was corrupted by black magic, turning a portion of it evil. After becoming the first victim to die of the Legacy Virus, she was eventually resurrected by her former master several years later. She is currently a member of the New Mutants. During the events of Avengers vs X-men, she has tasted even greater power; that of the Phoenix Force.
Major Story Arcs
Before Her Time...
More than 100 years ago, the patriarch of the Rasputin bloodline, the legendary Grigory Rasputin, would be the first to meet Sinister. The two would make unlikely allies. After their encounter, the Rasputin family would never be the same. When Grigory was younger, around the time of the emergence of his own mutant powers, Sinister would give him an offer he couldn’t refuse. Sinister or the "Pale Man" as Grigory referred to him as, would offer Grigory the chance to create a bloodline from his DNA that would lead a race of super humans. Grigory's importance to Sinister was quite simple. He was a mutant, and based on the time one of the few firsts. Not only was he a mutant, but a powerful one. Grigory was aware of his gifts or the "miraculous occurrences" that surrounded him. He enjoyed them and used them regularly. Though unrevealed, it’s assumed that Grigory may have had matter manipulating abilities. These powers seemed similar to that of his future descendant, Mikhail. Powerful or not, Sinister's offer appealed to him and he accepted promptly after. Sinister would go to work immediately.
He would seek out females similar to Grigory, mutants with special powers. Sinister would find around 15-20 women and impregnate them all by crossing their genes with that of Grigory's. Sinister would experiment on the unborn babies, with many dying in the process. There was one woman though that was a prefect match for Grigory, a woman by the name of Elena. Once Sinister found that the two could produce the outcome that he wished for he would put introduce the two. Shortly after meeting, two would marry each other. Elena would be his soon-to-be wife and bearer of his future army of super powered children. This would culminate with Grigory taking part in a mystical ceremony, led by Sinister, transferring his essence into his pregnant wife’s womb. His last words were that he promised to return to the world when the world was ready for him. With Elena giving birth to her baby months later, it would be the beginning of the powerful mutant bloodline that would lead to the eventual birth of one Illyana Nikolievna Rasputin.
Innocent Beginnings
Nikolai Rasputin and Alexandra Rasputin had three children, two boys, named Mikhail and Piotr and, their youngest, a girl named Illyana. Mikhail was already an adult when Illyana was born. He wanted more than a farmer's life and decided to become a cosmonaut working for the Russian government. As a result Illyana would never have the opportunity to meet her eldest brother and unfortunately never would as reports would come indicating that Mikhail had died while in duty. The reality was that his mutant powers manifested and the government decided to use him as a guinea pig. They wanted to see if they could find a way to harness his gift. Basically they were exploiting him, with no intention of releasing him. Illyana's family grieved, but she was relatively unaffected partially due to her age and she really didn't know him. Beyond that she had a fairly normal early childhood. She had a close-knit family, more love then she could ever know and a bond between her brother and her that death couldn't break, literally. The Rasputins would thrive and continue to live their lives as best they could. They managed to achieve a little normalcy in their lives right when another mutant would make their self known.
Professor X & the X-Men
Mikhail wouldn't be the only of his sibling to have mutant powers. Piotr would also have his powers emerge. Though he would attempt to keep his mutant gifts hidden, he would be forced to reveal them in a much unexpected way. Illyana was playing alone when an unmanned tractor came barreling in her direction. No one was near or had the ability to help her, save Piotr. He reacted instinctively, running to her aid and unconsciously activating his mutant powers. In a bright flash of light his entire body turned into that of a silver, shiny, armored giant. Standing in the way of the tractor, it would hit him and go no further as it would be destroyed upon impact. Like a knight in shinning armor, he was able to save his "Little Snowflake," as he referred to her. Relieved that he was able to protect his sister, he never noticed that a visitor had arrived and had watched the entire event unfold.
A man that would change not only Piotr's life, but that of his little sister, Illyana's as well. This man was Professor Charles Xavier and he had arrived wanting to speak with Piotr, hoping to recruit him as one of his new X-Men. After much conversation Piotr would accept and begrudgingly leave his family to start a new one in the United States. While a member of the team he took the codename Colossus and became one of the vaunted X-Men. As a member of the X-Men he would save the world many times over. But for Piotr it was a rough transition. He missed his family. He often suffered from homesickness, and as such he tended to stay alone and withdrawn. While on missions he often hid his feelings. Hiding them as he might, nothing could prepare him for the following events.
Abduction
The X-Men would do battle with many a foe, but one of the oddest was the eccentric, murderous Arcade. An assassin for hire and creator of Murderworld he was one of the best at what he did, but would bite off too much when Doctor Doom was involved. Arcade became involved in dealings that went bad with Doctor Doom. As a result he was held captive with no means of freedom. An associate of Arcade's, Miss Locke, would devise a plan that would have the X-Men do all the hard work and free Arcade for her. Of course they would never do this willingly, she would have to force them somehow. Miss Locke decided that she would blackmail them by kidnapping numerous members of each of the X-Men's family, this would include Piotr's little sister Illyana, and force them to assist.
And they did. The X-Men sent in two units, sending the larger of their forces in to get Arcade and the few remaining to free their captive loved ones. The X-Men would find themselves to be successful and would return home. Colossus though would make a decision that would change his little sister's life permanently.
He decided that Illyana should stay with them and not return to Russia. He felt that it would be safer for her as he and the X-Men could protect her better, so that another incident like her being abducted could never happen again. Professor X agreed with the decision. He even telepathically taught all of his X-Men how to speak the Russian language so that Illyana would feel more comfortable in her new environment. He, too, wanted to test Illyana to see if she had the mutant gene, like her brothers feeling that there was a strong chance that she would be one. A discussion would follow but it would be decided to not test her. Feeling that she had many more years before her potential mutant powers would emerge based on her age. Illyana's stay would be granted by a special student visa. She would attend tutored classes by Professor X while at the X-mansion.
While there she brought a happiness to Colossus, one that he hadn't felt in a long time since he left his home long ago. Illyana would get close to all the X-Men, but especially Kitty Pryde. Kitty would read her bedtime stories and interact with her a lot. This would be the start of a bond that would only grow over time.
Abducted by Balasco
Illyana stayed with the X-Men all the time, save when they embarked on missions. This included when they were in need of a new temporary headquarters. Due to a recent battle it had sustained major damage and Xavier's Institute had been destroyed. The X-Men with no other choice would be forced to take up base elsewhere. They would find and inhabit an island that Magneto once used as a base. It was a strange alien city on an island in the Bermuda Triangle. Coming to this island would be the event that would lead to Illyana's destiny and future self.
Illyana was a child, only 7 years old, when the X-Men came to the island. Having been on the island for only a couple of days the X-Men had managed to settle themselves in; though they were still held doubts over their new location. Storm, the field leader, deciding they needed to release some stress, had the X-Men participate in a training exercise while Illyana would play alone a short distance away so as to not get hurt.
However, when no one was paying attention, the young Illyana began to walk away as if she was being guided. Unable to control herself she would continue on until she reached a temple, which she entered without hesitation. Of all the other X-men it was only Kitty who had noticed her missing, and began to follow with the X-Men not too far behind. Illyana would reach her destination in the back of the dimly lit tunnel inside of the dilapidated temple. She stood in the middle of a circular shape with glowing yellow and white lights and disappeared. The X-Men would follow and also get teleported to another dimension, one of the many splintered realms of Hell. This one was called Limbo.
Limbo
As soon as Illyana arrived she was whisked away to the side of Belasco. He tempted her with many wonderful things, including a glorious future. All the while the X-Men made their way to Limbo as well. Through a string of events they were informed, by a second set of X-Men, that they had to leave in order for their Illyana to survive. The second set of X-Men, those stuck in Limbo, attempting to rescue their Illyana, were successful but they themselves found themselves unable to return; they too were stuck in Limbo. Immediately after, the X-Men were spirited away back to Earth and Illyana was left to fend for herself. Meanwhile, back with Illyana, Belasco had brought her to an altar and began a spell to withdraw the first of 5 pieces of Illyana's soul.
Effectively taking the first piece of her soul, it was transformed into a "Bloodstone" and he placed it into what he called the Beatrice Amulet. The Amulet once opened had a 5-pointed star with open holes. The first Bloodstone filled the spot of one of those points. Belasco's intentions for Illyana was to slowly take all 5 portions of her soul and turn them into bloodstones to complete the Beatrice Medallion. He needed time to further corrupt her soul, all the while step by step consecrating her to evil and making her the instrument of Belasco's masters the Elder Gods. He would also use her to free him from Limbo and allow him to roam Earth once again, where he would take over and rule supreme. He would leave immediately after the Bloodstone was removed and allowed time to take place.
Girl Interrupted
Still on the altar, Illyana would be saved and taken in by an older alternate Storm and an alternate version of Kitty Pryde, now calling herself Cat. Both were very different; Cat actually had been transformed in to a cat/human hybrid by Belasco and as a result hated magic. Differing from her mainstream counterpart, winds no longer listened to the elderly Storm, so she could not control the weather anymore and instead she focused purely on magic. Ororo attempted to break Illyana free of the link she had with Belasco immediately after saving her. After a trip to the astral plane, she finds that a part of Illyana was now and forever belonging to the side of evil, specifically to Belasco. When in Illyana's mind, the "evil" part of Illyana would attack and try to kill the elderly Ororo, but Ororo luckily would survive. Once back Ororo devised a plan to help the young Illyana. Wanting to equip Illyana for her future, Ororo decided to teach Illyana all the white magic she knew by making Illyana her magical apprentice.
The goal was to teach Illyana so that she would be enabled to keep her dark side at bay with white magic. All of her lessons would take place in Ororo's magic garden, from there they would proceed to administer the classes on the astral plane. Illyana was trained and became quite adept at white magic, tapping into her ancestral magical lineage. Storm felt it necessary to teach Illyana so that she was prepared for her next confrontation with Belasco. What Illyana didn't know, was that Belasco had once attempted to use both Storm and Cat to draw bloodstones from but was unsuccessful. Storm knowing this would only further her want to protect the young child. Cat disagreed partially because she despised magic, but also because she felt that Storm would be doing Belasco’s dirty work for him. She felt that Storm was making a huge mistake. Regardless, Storm began teaching Illyana white magic. While there she taught Illyana about life, white magic and the creation of life itself.
Their Illyana stayed for an entire year and learned everything that Storm could teach. Illyana learned fast but was quite angered by the fact that, try as she might, each and every spell she would cast would always be tainted by darkness. Where Ororo would magically have the ability to create life such as plants (or her entire garden), Illyana's attempts always seemed to fail. Though her spells were done properly and she had the magical aptitude to make them work, they would always turn out in a negative way.
Once the year was complete, in the middle of the night Cat would wake Illyana up and convince her to come with her leaving Ororo's garden. Cat was attempting to return Illyana to her home. During that night Illyana and Cat would get into a heated argument and during this time, Illyana's mutant powers first manifested. She accidentally created a stepping disc and fell through it. When she arrived she was still in Limbo, but here is when she first meets her future servant and enemy, S'ym. He taunts her and begins to attack her. She luckily is saved by Cat and together they escape from S'ym. While seeking a way to send Illyana home they came upon a desert and were informed that at the end of the desert would be the wall of Limbo.
Where if Cat used her phasing powers she could take Illyana through and free her from Limbo. Their trek through the desert would take two long years. Through that time Cat would teach Illyana how to fight, use a sword and survival skills. At the end of the 2 years they would finally reach their destination only to find that they were misled by one of Belasco's illusions. Belasco would first transform Cat even further into a cat-like being and took the young Illyana with him as his pupil. It would be during this time that Belasco would create his second Bloodstone out of Illyana's soul, effectively tainting the essence of the child even further making her even more evil. Illyana followed Belasco to his palace, worried but accepting her situation. She fully understood that Cat would no longer be able to provide help to her. Belasco's spell halted Cat's ability to think for herself and she was now bound to Belasco doing his every bidding. In the 3 years that followed, Belasco made Illyana his pupil, teaching her all that he knew.
Illyana learned the darkest of dark magic and the blackest of black magics. She took to it quite quickly, and unlike the spells that Ororo taught her, Illyana could produce all the black spells with ease, without error. She realized that the reason why she was unable to produce spells that created life was because her soul was permanently tainted with darkness. She would never produce white magic spells without them going awry. One day, while Illyana was brainstorming a way to get out of Limbo, she inadvertently activated her latent mutant powers of teleportation. Now a few years old, she had so much control learned from her magic teachings that she was able to practice her mutants powers without being afraid of them.
She began creating stepping discs and decided to walk through one to see where she would go. Her stepping disc took her to the future, unknown to her. Here she witnessed the arrival of her future teammates the New Mutants. Although at this point she had no clue who they were. The New Mutants were teleported to that very spot by a future Illyana. Seeing all she wanted to she, she created yet another stepping disc and teleported herself away. The disc this time sent her to the past. Here she witnessed a battle that took place many years ago in Limbo. The fight was between Belasco and a very young magician Storm.
Illyana watched as Storm was able to successfully defeat Belasco. As Storm was to make her killing stroke, she was taken over by darkness. In attempting to kill Belasco, Storm tainted her own soul, changing her. Scarred by what she saw, Illyana opened yet another disc and teleported to the current time. As she arrives, she sees yet another battle. The opponents were the same, but now Storm was very aged. The elderly Storm had attacked Belasco's palace in an attempt to free Illyana. Illyana immediately ran to Storm's aid but was cut off by the demonic Cat. They battled for a few short minutes but Illyana could tell that Cat was simply trying to hold Illyana back from helping Storm. Angered by this, Illyana lunged at Cat and snapped her neck, killing her immediately. When she finally gets to Storm she realizes that Storm too had fought against Cat and was dealt a mortal wound.
The elderly Storm was dying. Realizing it was all a trap, Illyana tried to take Storm when she found out that Belasco planned to used Storm's soul and life essence to create a 3rd Bloodstone. Not wanting to help Belasco get any closer to his goal she mercy-kills Storm, putting a halt to Belasco's plan. Belasco sees what Illyana has done and became enraged, but put plan B into play. Instead of using Storm for the 3rd Bloodstone, he would use Illyana to create it. She immediately teleports away using her mutant powers and reappears in Russia on the farm she grew up on directly in front of the house of her parents.
Overcome with happiness when she realized that she could use her power to leave Limbo, she ran to her parents' door and knocked. Her happiness would soon end when she sees her parents and tells them who she was. They, of course, did not recognize her and turned her away, under the assumption that their daughter was safe with their son Colossus in America and was a 6 year old little girl. Giving up she turned around and saw the corpses of the Limbo X-Men animated their to take her back to Limbo. When she gets back to Limbo, Belasco would quickly draw a 3rd Bloodstone from Illyana, even further tainting her soul and making it more demonic, and would exile her to the garden that the elderly Ororo taught her in many years ago. He would bind her powers disabling her use of her magics and mutant powers. Timing could not have been worse as it was the beginning of a harsh winter one that Illyana, likely, would not survive.
While in the garden Illyana used the skills taught to her by the now deceased Cat, managing to thrive in the unbearable cold. She also continued to practice the magic that the elderly Ororo taught her, attempting to find a way to free herself of the garden. Time and time again she was unable to produce magic that allowed creation, always coming out tainted as her soul was. She then had an epiphany; she was not able to produce magic like Ororo because they had differing motives. Ororo was attempting to help Illyana, Illyana's motive was quite simply revenge. She reconfigured the spell and used a small portion of her untainted, pure soul and a bright light grew directly in front of her. When she reached in she pulled out her Soulsword. Shortly after, she headed to Belasco and with the use of her newly created weapon, she battled and defeated Belasco. Just prior to her killing stroke she stopped, not wanting to become any more dark, any more like Belasco. She then exiled him from Limbo.
Due to this defeat, Illyana was now the unquestioned ruler of Limbo. And due to the 6 years of teaching she received while there, she had the ability to fight for her title if need be. Finally gaining confidence she would create a "stepping disc" and would return herself to home. When she arrived it would only be seconds from when they originally lost the younger Illyana. After a small conversation they believed her and took her to Professor X for further examination. He found that he was unable to probe her very much but did see, for the most part, that what she claims happened, did.
She would stay at the mansion with the rest of the X-Men uneventfully for a short while. She would be roomed with Kitty Pryde. They became quick friends and would lay the foundation for a relationship as best friends that would be unending. But even to Kitty she revealed nothing. She made sure not to tell anyone of her magical or mutant powers, wanting to keep them a secret. Illyana was attempting to try and cope with all the events and changes she went through while in Limbo. Try as she might, Illyana could not hide forever and her secrets would be revealed.....well one of them at least.
An unexpected arrival of Belasco would force her to use her mutant powers to teleport the New Mutants (mutant students who attend the Xavier Institute) to Limbo for their safety. Coincidentally, this would be what she saw when she was stuck in Limbo many years ago. When all was said and done the New Mutants were returned to Earth unharmed. Illyana would use a forgetting spell ensuring the New Mutants would not remember any of what occurred except for the fact that Illyana was a mutant. Once Professor X was informed of Illyana's mutant nature, she would be granted to ability to study with and join the New Mutants, which she gladly did.
Enter the New Mutants
While apart of the New Mutants, Illyana would finally allow herself to let her guard down....a little. In a short time she became a powerful and valued member of the team. Although they knew she was a mutant, she still guarded her magical side intensely. Due to the barriers she kept up she sometimes felt misunderstood and alone but the others truly cared for her. As a team, the New Mutants would go through more than their fair share of battles. Though they had many successes, they too had many great loses. First Professor X stepped down and left the school in the hand of the villainous Magneto. Magik and the New Mutants were none too happy about this change. Amidst the ups and downs of life Illyana finally revealed her magical side to her teammates, receiving mixed reviews. Shortly after that they would suffer yet another lose, this time the death of teammate Douglas Ramsey (Cypher).
As if that wasn't enough, the New Mutants all would then have their lives snuffed out by the Beyonder during the Secret Wars. He made it as if they never existed. The Beyonder was bent on the idea of humanity and the attempt to gain one. He would have a machine created that if working properly give one life or bring one back to life. Needing guinea pigs he would test it on the recently departed members of the New Mutants. Though they were alive again, the experiences of their deaths and resurrections was far too traumatic for them. They were all severely mentally affected by their experiences. Magik and the New Mutants were mere husks of their former selves and showed no human emotions. Once they returned to the Institute, Magneto would decide to send his students to Emma Frost, the White Queen of the Hellfire Club and leader of the Hellions. Emma was to use her vast telepathic powers to help repair the already damaged psyches of each of the New Mutants.
While under the care of Emma Frost, the New Mutants enrolled at her school and were recruited into her team of Hellions. This was her true plan all along. To her surprise, though, once Magik and the New Mutants were healed they would returnimmediately to the Xavier Institute.
The Inferno
During a standard trip through Limbo, something went wrong and the New Mutants were stuck. Illyana's evil and demonic side started to take over her body. The demons there wanted her to become the full lord of Limbo. When she tried to escape, the demon N'astirh used this as a way to open a huge teleportation disc between Earth and Limbo, which started an invasion of Earth by the demons of Limbo. Magik then managed to defeat the powerful demon S'ym . After the battle the New Mutants examined the remains of Magik's armor and found the seven-year old Illyana inside it. However, she still possessed the bloodstone amulet. The 7 year old Illyana was then brought home and returned to Russia where she lived with her parents until they were murdered by the Russian government in order to make sure Illyana had her abilities to defeat a powerful psionic being, which posed a threat to Russia. After this, Illyana returned to the X-Mansion.
Death
Illyana was brought back to America and the X-mansion. However, shortly afterward, Illyana caught the Legacy Virus, a deadly and incurable disease that only affected mutants. At this time, the young X-woman Jubilee and Illyana made a special friendship. Although she was a fighter, and her brother was at her side almost always, Illyana succumbed to the virus a few weeks later and died in the X-Mansion. This happened at a time during which her brother was on a mission with the X-Men, something he would never forgive himself for. She was buried at the Xavier Institute and was mourned by everybody, especially by her brother and good friend Kitty Pryde. Her spirit would later go on to visit Wolverine and her brother, Piotr.
Magik Returns
During the House of M storyline, the Scarlet Witch used her reality-warping abilities to recreate the world as we knew it, transforming it into way she wished it was. Illyana came back to life and joined many of the new X-Men as students at S.H.I.E.L.D. She was placed in the Hellions training squad and, during their last mission, was told to take a group of mutated humans somewhere safe. She teleported just as chaos took over, and the House of M came to an end reverting back to the way it was before. In a world where Illyana was no longer alive. No one remembers ever meeting Magik because none of them remembered the House of M. Later, the evil Belasco came looking for Magik, as he sensed her presence that was left behind during the House of M, and used his powers to take most of the students at the school prisoner. He smelled Magik on them but none of them remembered meeting her. All clues began to point to Magik being alive.
A group of free students on the run in Limbo ran into a version of Illyana in her Darkchild self. She revealed that she was recreated by Belasco, but in body and mind only. Her soul resided in her Soulsword, and that had been lost. She sought to create a new soulsword, and five new bloodstones of power, from the pure soul of Pixie. The process was only partially successful, resulting in only one bloodstone being created. Pixie ended up with a soul dagger instead of a soul sword. Illyana then taught Pixie a teleportation spell, which allowed the students to reach Belasco's castle which lead to their confrontation with Belasco. In the ensuing fight, Pixie stabbed Belasco with the dagger, allowing Illyana to use the bloodstone's power to presumably destroy Belasco. With Belasco defeated, she once again became queen of Limbo. Despite an emotional reunion with her brother, Piotr, she banished the X-Men from Limbo and sealed it off, not content to rest until she recovered her soul and became whole once again.
Divided We Stand
llyana wants her soul back, thinking back to the ones she once loved, like Kitty and Piotr she tries to reclaim her soul through these connections and teleports to the Xavier Institute only to find it destroyed and abandoned after the events of Messiah Complex. Angrily she decides that she will not get her soul back through love but through hate and suffering and she will target those who have wronged her and make them pay with their souls.
Infernus
Infernus is the Quest for Illyana to regain her soul and to later rejoin the X-Men. The story begins with Illyana in Limbo searching for the Beatrice Amulet. Flustered that she can't find it, she sends hordes of Limbo Demons to search the earth and find it. Meanwhile, the X-Men are back in their danger room and Pixie goes crazy and stabs Nightcrawler. After she stabs him with her Souldagger, she pulls the weapon from his body cavity and out comes Illyana's Soulsword with it. Nightcrawler is unharmed by the Souldagger, and the Soulsword that his ex girlfriend Amanda Sefton (another ruler of Limbo), locked inside of him for safe keeping. Instantly back in Limbo, Illyana feels her Soulsword emerge and teleports to the Danger Room to reclaim what is rightfully hers.
Everyone is shocked to see Illyana again, as most believed her to be dead. Illyana demands her sword, promising that no one will be hurt if they just hand it over to her. The X-Men refuse and one by one are struck down by Illyana. First Rockslide, then Mercury, followed by Beast. Then Pixie comes along and starts a fight against Illyana but loses, so Illyana takes her Soulsword back and she changes, becoming more human but still incomplete so she runs away to Limbo again only to find out that Witchfire, Belasco's daughter is there and wants her head. The X-men go to Limbo after her and encounter demons but Pixie feels her soul and goes to the castle. The mutants go after her only to be taking down by Witchfire who has Illyana in chains and starts to take another piece of Pixie's soul. Nightcrawler stabs Illyana with the Souldagger and pull out the Soulsword. He calls Pixie and tells her that she is the only one that can save them all. She frees Illyana and together they banish Witchfire but she took along Illyana's and Pixie's soul, that make the young X-Men fly away. Illyana takes everybody back to the Danger Room and there Illyana decides to stay with them.
Back to the New Mutants
After another brief disappearance, Illyana reappears at the X-Men's new San Francisco home, exhausted and injured. Disoriented and sounding more than a little insane than usual, she gets fellow New Mutants Cannonball, Sunspot and Magma to help her find Dani and Shan, who she says will die soon if aid doesn't come quickly. She goes with her old friends to Colorado, where Dani and Shan had gone earlier based on reports that a young mutant there might have been endangering the local populace. On the way there, she plays mind games with Amara, teasing her that she can cure Empath of the injury caused by Pixie's Souldagger. Once there, she splits up with Amara to track down a missing little girl, empathizing acutely with her as she was also kidnapped in her youth.
Tracking her down to a certain home, Illyana and Amara think they've found Shan being held prisoner. But when they open the small cell, they instead find a grinning Legion waiting inside. Conferring with Sam and Bobby, who had found Shan's body in another location, they find out that Shan is inside Legion's mind with a benign little girl personality, but are being chased by the more violent personalities in David Haller's mindscape. When Shan and the little girl are overwhelmed, the violent persona take over. One with superhuman strength punches Amara away, and another one uses an energy blast to down Illyana. The mutant sorceress quickly recovers, and tells Sam and Bobby to find Dani. As one of the beings who previously tried to "fix" David Haller's mind, Dani has become one of Legion's intended targets.
Meanwhile, Sam and Bobby find Dani imprisoned in a local jail, about to be attacked by Legion. Bobby knocks Legion away from Dani's cell before she can be harmed, but Sam leaves her inside, thinking that she will be safer. Sam realizes his mistake when Legion uses another of his powers to manipulate the earth in Dani's cell in a second attempt to kill her. That attempt is stopped when Magik and Magma arrive. Magma melts the earth golem Legion created, preventing Dani from being strangled. Furious at Sam, Dani punches him, then leaves to arm herself in order to be useful when they bring the fight back to the insane mutant.
Determined to put an end to the threat and save Shan, Illyana teleports to Shan's body and touches it, initiating a transfer of her mind into Legion's. Once there, Illyana shows that she means business by threatening harm if they didn't release Shan to her immediately. When she is accused of bluffing, Illyana manifests her soul sword and, ignoring Sam's plea not to harm any of Legion's personalities, proceeds to cleave and decapitate three of Legion's personas in short order. When a fourth persona attempts to stop Illyana and fails, the remaining personalities acquiesce and lead her to where they're holding Shan and the little girl prisoner. Illyana frees them both, and in the process also frees David Haller's base personality. Guided by David, Illyana discovers that the doll, named "Moira," is the basis for conscious control of Legion's body. Illyana takes the doll away from the remaining hostile personalities just in time to save Dani and the others.
Second Coming and Hellbound
When Cable returns to the present timeline with Hope Summers in tow, Illyana is dispatched along with a group of other X-Men to retrieve the pair and return them to the safety of the island nation of Utopia. Unfortunately, Bastion's forces nearly kill the trio in an explosion, but Illyana manages to take the brunt of the attack. Before she can use magic to mend herself, Illyana is dragged into Limbo via a stepping disc by demons, much to Colossus's dismay. The next day, Colossus confronts Cyclops, and demands that he be allowed to rescue his sister. Cyclops declines his request, explaining that he needs him by his side, and that he has already ordered Cannonball to form a team of X-Men to retrieve the teleporter from the hellish dimension. They include Northstar, Anole, Pixie, Trance, Dazzler, and Gambit. Although some of the mutants are more willing to help than others, they are all teleported to Limbo thanks to the spell Magik taught Pixie during the events of Quest For Magik. They are quickly attacked by the monstrous hordes belonging to the demon N'astirh, and Gambit succumbs to the realm's evil mystical influence.
Facing seemingly insurmountable odds, Dazzler and Northstar both fall victim to Gambit's corruption, and proceed to attack the remaining X-Men sent to aid illyana. Meanwhile, Pixie is visited by N'astirh, and given a choice. He offers to restore the portion of her soul that has been corrupted by Magik. All she has to do is use her Souldagger to kill Magik, and retrieve the Soul Sword for him. Pixie seems reluctant, but allows the demon to take her to Magik. Magik pleads with Pixie to take her life, and end her suffering, but Pixie tricks N'astirh, and stabs the demon with her weapon. With the aid of Cannonball and Anole, The trio manage to free Magik from her imprisonment, and liberate Gambit, Dazzler, and Northstar from Limbo's wicked influence. Magik explains that the reason she hates the new crop of X-Men so much is that they remind her of the monster she has become, and of everything she has lost since Inferno.
Once Pixie and the X-Men free Magik, the pair use their weapons to stab N'astirh, and Illyana reclaims Limbo as her own realm. Illyana makes a tentative pact with Pixie to work together in order to reclaim what they have lost as the result of dark magic. Magik and her teammates then leave Limbo to rejoin the rest of the X-Men, and combat the threat posed to mutankind during the events of Second Coming.
Avengers vs. X-Men
During the conflict, Magik becomes one of the mutants empowered by the Phoenix Force to help defeat the Avengers. Magik intervenes during a battle between Rogue and the Avenger Ms. Marvel, using her powers to gag the heroine and trap her in Limbo. Upon Namor's defeat, Magik, along with her brother, Cyclops and Emma are empowered by Namor's portion of the Phoenix Force. Magik and Colossus defeat Thor and they throw him into a portion of Limbo that Magik raised into the Earthly plane that they are using a prison for the Avengers. The Rasputin siblings end up fighting the Avengers trying to break their team out. In order to buy some time for the Avengers to break the team free, Spider-Man stands up to the two of them. Colossus punches him telling him he does not wish to harm anyone. Magik tells him that he should kill him now and Colossus tells her he does not like what the Phoenix Force is doing to her, and them in general. Spider-Man tricks the two into fighting each other. The Rasputins clash in a fiery blaze of the flaming cosmic energy and both are knocked out and lose their respective portions of the Phoenix Force which then goes to the remaining avatars, Emma and Cyclops. Magik teleports Colossus and herself away to Siberia. In a dark moment for Colossus where he feels doomed, Magik reveals that she planned Colossus becoming the Juggernaut from the beginning. She wanted him to truly understand how she felt when she was a demon from his own demonic experience. In his anger, he attacks her as the Juggernaut but she teleports away leaving him with her final gift; regret.
Illyana later returns to her brother with the aim of finishing their 'business'. As Colossus attacks her, she teleports the both of them to Limbo and, being empowered there, removes Cyttorak's corruption from her brothers soul. When asked if she could have done this any time, she replies that she could put that she wanted her brother to learn both of her experiences and to not sacrifice someone who "simply does not deserve it". Colossus threatens to kill her if he ever sees her again and, satisfied that he learned that lesson, Illyana teleports away again.
She is next seen at the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning. She hides in Storm's room and upon seeing her, gives her a letter with her brothers location and the suggestion to arrest him. When Storm finds Colossus she is shocked by his animosity he has for the very image of his sister.
All New X-Men and the New Revolution
Illyana plays a crucial role in the breakout that frees Cyclops, summoning demonic arms to tear away the wall of his cell. She is also seen banishing prisoners murdered a mutant inmate to her dimension of Limbo.
Now known as a public enemy to the US Magik has joined Cyclops' team of renegade X-Men alongside with Emma Frost and Magneto. Magik plays a pivotal role in the new All New X-Men series. Magik helps teleport the team around saving innocent mutants from mutant hate groups and law enforcements.
Due to the Phoenix Force's influence on the hosts, their powers have been altered and Magik's have been upgraded. Her, Magneto, Cyclops, Emma Frost, and the two new students named Eva Bell and Christopher Muse, show up to save a new mutant by the name of Fabio Medina. During the rescue, the team is attacked by a horde of sentinels and Magik destroyed a massive one with utter ease. After Cyclops lays waste to the rest, Magik teleports the new mutant to the New Xavier Institute where they will be taught how to control their powers. Magik attends the meeting with the other veteran X-Men where they go over the new institute lay-out with the new students and explain the current world's mutant situation. Eva Bell wishes to go home to check on her mother so Magik volunteers to take her and the others, but the whole group goes save for Magneto. Once in Australia, Magik keeps an out for trouble and eventually a group of the Avengers led by Captain America make their way to the scene.
Cyclops' team show up the Avengers on live TV by having Scott's team appear as victims of persecution and Eva freezing the Avengers in a temporal bubble. Magik continues to be their primary source of transportation as she teleports the team to the Jean Grey Institute where Cyclops attempts to clear the air and offer a chance for the younger mutants to join his school. When they leave and return home, Magik's powers show her broken side-effects as she writhes in pain, disappears in a hellish portal, and the reemerges with a burst of flames before running off on her own. Her powers act up a second time when the team returns once again with new students in the Stepford Cuckoos and the original, younger version of Angel.
Magik is pulled into Limbo after discovering Dormammu has tried taking over. Dormammu forces Magik back into Limbo, along with the rest of the team, and is held captive by the demon as he forces her to watch as his teammates fight for their lives against the mindless ones. Magik manages to break free and casts the team out of the dimension, all the while she absorbs the entirety of Limbo into herself. She then finds the demon in the desolate Limbo and is suggested to have killed him. With her revelation and after absorbing Limbo, Illyana decides she needs help and finds a Dr. Strange back in time before he ever becomes an Avenger to help her control her powers.
Magik and the Cuckoos rescue and recruit a new mutant by the name of David Bond. After receiving word of Fabio's kidnapping at the hands of S.H.I.E.L.D., Magik is one of the team members that helps rescue him. Magik is seen training with Eva, but gets caught in Eva's bubble and displaced somewhere in time before coming back. Magik joins the X-Men team to a pro-Cyclops rally, but the team is suddenly attacked by a new sentinel called the blockbuster sentinel. Since the Blockbuster sentinel attack, Magik has helped in training the students and fighting with the alternate timeline versions of the X-Men during the Battle of the Atom event. When the X-Men get a notification of a new mutant, it turns out to be a trap from more sentinels. Thinking it is SHIELD, Cyclops tries to get a distraction going when he learns the sentinel is somehow disabling their mutant abilities. Illyana taps into her training from Dr. Strange and unleashes a magical dragon attack that destroys a bunch of the sentinels. The large one ends up fleeing and the team declares war on whoever is sending these sentinels, whether it be SHIELD or someone using SHIELD.
The Last Will & Testament of Charles Xavier
When lawyer Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk, received the last will and testament of Charles Xavier, she left for the Jean Grey School to read it to the X-Men listed by Xavier, who also included Scott Summers on the list. In order to have the will read, Scott needed to be contacted and brought to the school. Hank McCoy revealed that he'd always known where Scott's secret base was, but he never told anyone else, not wanting his life to be directed by Scott Summers any longer. The X-Men flew to the New Charles Xavier School for Mutants in the Canadian wilderness, and were greeted by the Uncanny X-Men. The situation was explained, and Magik quickly teleported to JGS and back to verify the story. Scott, Emma, Illyana, Kitty, and Ali teleported to JGS for the reading of the will. It was revealed that Charles Xavier had married Mystique, and that he'd covered up the discovery of an omnipotent mutant by the name of Matthew Malloy. He'd suppressed the boy's memories in order to suppress his powers, but it was all beginning to become undone. He charged the X-Men with the final task of finding and suppressing this mutant. Scott left along with Storm and Rachel Grey to find the mutant. With a wave of his hand, Malloy destroyed a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, and proved to be telepathically immune to Rachel's provocations. He teleported the X-Men away, back to their respective schools. Scott had Magik teleport him back to Malloy, and made a deal with the man. Together, the trio teleported away to Devil's Tower. Scott ordered Magik to give him time to talk to Malloy. During this time, Magneto intervened telling Scott that he'd gone too far, and needed to back down. Malloy, angered, teleported Magneto away and continued his conversation with Scott.
In the meantime, Magik visited Doctor Strange in the past again, and, after interrupting one of his more private sessions with a woman, asked if he knew of a way to stop someone as powerful as Malloy. Strange gave Magik the Eye of Agamotto to use on Malloy. Teleporting back to the present, Magik attempted to explain how she would use the artifact, when SHIELD attack forces appeared and blew the entirety of Devil's Tower to smithereens, resulting in the unfortunate and untimely demise of Scott Summers, Matthew Malloy, and Illyana, herself.
Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex
Responding to a distress call from her friend and teammate Kitty Pryde, Illyana takes the All-New X-Men and teleports to the Jean Grey School. Once there, she is able to quickly and vaguely inform Storm and Beast that there is a problem that requires their attention. She teleports the group to a the planet Spartax where Kitty and her boyfriend, Peter Quill aka the Legendary Star-Lord are waiting for them with the Guardians of the Galaxy. They have gathered to discuss the dangers of the mysterious Black Vortex, and begin to argue over what should be done with it. While some, like Gamora, want to use the artifact, others, like Storm, want to destroy it. The cosmically empowered Slaughter Lords working for Mister Knife attack the assembled heroes to steal back the Black Vortex. While they battle, Gamora uses the Vortex to enhance herself. With her new skills, she easily battles all of the Slaughter Lords at once, giving Magik time to teleport everyone away. Once safely spirited away by Magik, an argument erupts once again over what should be done, with Kitty spearheading the argument against using the Black Vortex. During the commotion, Beast uses it and becomes cosmically empowered. He agrees with Gamora. All his questions have been answered. He urges the others to use the artifact, tilting the mirror so that they can see what they would look like if cosmically empowered by the Black Vortex.
Powers and Abilities
Illyana has two very distinctive powers, one is her mutant power to generate spacial/temporal warps in the form of stepping discs, the other is her magic, learned while she was in Limbo. As more and more of her soul was removed, it was replaced and filled with Black Magic granting vast mystical abilities. The two powers will be described separately below.
Mutant Power
Stepping Disc
Illyana Rasputin has the mutant ability to create and control teleportation energies in the form of "stepping discs". These yellow rings of glowing light, once created, provide the ability to teleport. Not only just herself but a group of individuals as well, to a multitude of different places including destinations in both time and space. The only limitation to her teleportation power is that she must use Limbo as her stopping point prior to her final destination, wherever that may be. Magik can also teleport herself or others into her domain, Limbo or "Hell" dimension or out of it. As Limbo is her domain, Illyana is able to mentally scan Limbo, while on Earth in order to locate whomever she wishes to teleport to Earth from it. Magik has succeeded in teleporting herself and another person across a continent on one occasion, and to travel through time on a few others.
However, Magik has not yet mastered her teleportation ability. The greater the distance over which she teleports, the greater the possible margin of error in terms of her arriving at the point in time she desires. Hence, when she once teleported herself and a friend from New York to California, hoping to arrive within seconds of the time she left, Magik and her friend instead arrived one week later, having accidentally traveled into the future. Magik is continuously practicing the use of her teleportation power in order to master it. Although already quite adept in the use of the mutant powers she still has a lot to learn especially considering how new she is to them.
In terms of potential Illyana's is nearly limitless. She was once told by Dr. Strange that she had the potential for great feats of manipulating time on a very wide scale. Never one to accept the status quo, Illyana continuously and regularly practices the use of her mutant powers in order to master them and have them grow in strength.
Ever since having her powers altered by the Phoenix Force, Magik has undergone an upgrade. She has been shown to be able to conjure and project powerful blasts of energy from her Limbo dimension as an extension of her powers rather than her magic. She has been shown consistently adept at teleporting people away before others can react. Since Dormammu attempted to take over Limbo, Illyana has absorbed the entire dimension into her body.
Magical Power
Sorceress
As a result of the time Illyana was forced to spend in Limbo, she was permanently changed both physically and mentally. She would spend a total of 6 years in Limbo during which she would learn valuable skills and abilities taught to her by different teachers that would help her in becoming the future Sorceress Supreme & Ruler of Limbo, that she was destined to become. During her first year in Limbo, Illyana was an apprentice to an alternate reality version of Storm. One who unfortunately was stuck in Limbo and lost the ability to control the weather instead becoming a powerful magician highly skilled in the use of white magic. So skilled was she, that she was nearly able to best Belasco in their very first battle only faltering in the very end. During Illyana's time with the now elderly Ororo, she was taught in the uses and practices of white magic. Different from black magic, white magic usually helped rather then hurt when used. She was also taught about life, the creation of it and astral projection. It would be during the time that she would spend with the elderly Ororo that Illyana would learn, much later master, the ability to mystically heal herself. She would spend an entire year apprenticing under the tutelage of the elderly Ororo.
Following Illyana's first year with Ororo, Illyana then was trained by Cat. Cat was an alternate reality version of Kitty Pryde. No longer fully human in appearance, due to an interaction with Belasco, she had been transformed into a cat-like hybrid making her more animal in nature. As a result of the magical transformation forced on Cat, she had a hate for magic and wanted Illyana to have nothing to do with it. Illyana would train with Cat for 2 years, during which she would be taught how to fight, specifically, unarmed-combat and in the effective use of bladed weapons. Initially Cat taught Illyana how to use a dagger then moved on to that of swords. Illyana would become quite comfortable in the use of both weapons; comfortable and very effective. It was during her time with Cat that she was also taught valuable survival skills allowing her to thrive in the most unlikely places. Illyana would grow to become best friends with Cat and look at her like family, willing to do anything to protect her.
It would be during her time with Limbo's, then, ruler Belasco that Illyana would learn and be changed the most. It was Belasco's goal to transform all 5 parts of Illyana's soul into Bloodstones. This was for two very different reasons. Firstly, with the 5 Bloodstones, Belasco could complete the magical Beatrice Medallion thus allowing him the ability to traverse to and from Limbo. An ability he had lost when he was exiled to Limbo by his masters the Elder Gods, for failing them. As a result of her soul being removed, it would be filled completely with black magic and would permanently make her a tool of both his, Belasco, and that of his evil masters the Elder Gods. This would make her a being of pure evil and thus helping the Elder Gods take over the Earth dimension.
Belasco would be unsuccessful in his ploy to remove all 5 parts of Illyana's soul. In the 3 years that she would learn under his tutelage, he would only manage to take 3/5 of her soul. This would still permanently taint her soul and as a result give her a partial demonic soul instead. It would be during her time as a pupil of Belasco's that he would teach her the darkest of the dark arts and the blackest of black magic. While at his palace she, too, had full access to Belasco's library of books of magic, that he had collected through this long, unnatural life. Belasco taught the young Illyana everything he knew. As a result of this, Illyana could produce virtually any and all spells that Belasco could and would be able to manipulate the forces of magic for a variety of effects to include.
-Mind Control (both humans and animals)
-Metamorphing (herself, others or objects. living or otherwise)
-Astral Projection
-Necromancy
-Generate and release concussive bolts of pure magic energy
-Creation of magical force fields
-Inter-dimensional travel
-Ability to generate and manipulate fire
-Mental Possession
-Dark force manipulation
-Creation of constructs purely of magical energies
As a result of Illyana's diverse training and multiple years learning while in Limbo, she gained an aptitude for sorcery and control over magic that was unlike no other. She had created a unique blend of both white and black magic that she would wield. Additionally, due to her now partially demonic soul, Illyana had also naturally gained formidable psionic shielding granting her immunity to mental probing. This shielding was effective enough to hinder the vaunted telepathic abilities of both Professor X and Marvel Girl (Rachel Summers) arguably two of the most powerful mutant minds the world has seen.
After Illyana bested Belasco in battle, she chose to exile him from the Limbo, allowing him to live rather than kill him. As the winner, Illyana, was granted the title of Sorceress Supreme of Limbo. The full extents of her powers have not yet been fully defined. It have been stated that in Limbo, Illyana's power is unmatched and her word is law. With but a single thought she can completely alter the physical appearance of Limbo. As stated previously, she too, potentially, could cast all spells that Belasco could have. This especially since she has unlimited access to Balesco's sorceress knowledge.
For this reason and more Illyana is most powerful during her time in Limbo. This is clearly a result of her should being connected to the dimension, allowing for the two being intertwined by the very essences that they are created from. On the flip side, while on the Earth dimension, cut off from Limbo, Illyana's magical prowess and abilities are dramatically reduced. Illyana has preformed a handful of magical skills on Earth but nothing comparable to that of what she can do in Limbo. While on Earth, Illyana has effectively preformed; Astral projection, an abilities to sense magical presences and the ability to magically scan her Limbo dimension, allowing her to track and/or see all that occurs in Limbo while she is away. Illyana's most notable power while on Earth though are largely limited to her magical weapon, of her own making, called the Soulsword.
Recently,Illyana has been using her abilities to travel back in time to Dr. Strange before he became an Avenger to help train her in her magical abilities.
The Soulsword
The Soulsword is the ultimate embodiment of Illyana's magical strength that was forged during a time of great need and despair. Illyana was desperate to find a way to free herself of Belasco and find a way to leave Limbo.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
_____________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina
Publisher: Marvel
First appearance: As Illyana Rasputina: Giant-Size X-Men #1 (May 1975)
As Magik: Magik (Storm and Illyana) #1 (December 1983)
Created by:
Illyana Rasputina:
Len Wein (Writer)
Dave Cockrum (Artist)
Magik:
Chris Claremont (Writer)
Sal Buscema (Artist)
Illyana has not been seen on the Bijou Planks stage prior to this, but she has been seen outside the theater, such as in Paprihaven issue 1269!
This is the English language reprint of the 1964 French comic strip, translated by Richard Seaver.
The story of “Barbarella” originated as a comic strip created by French artist and writer Jean-Claude Forest. It was first serialized in the French “V Magazine” in 1962. The comic quickly gained popularity with the French public and in several other European countries. It was later published as a standalone book in 1964. The first American book edition followed in 1966.
Forest's “Barbarella” was groundbreaking—it was one of the first adult-oriented science fiction comics, blending futuristic adventure with themes of sexual liberation. The character became an icon of the 1960s counterculture, and her popularity led to the 1968 film adaptation starring Jane Fonda, directed by Roger Vadim. The “Barbarella” comic strip was also published in “Playboy” magazine around the time of the film adaptation.
[Sources: Wikipedia, VintagePopFictions.blogspot.com, and CoolFrenchComics.com]
“Barbarella, with her long hair and sonorous name, her baby face and disdain for needless clothes, finds herself on the planet Lythion, where she has made a forced landing while traveling alone through outer space in her rocket. She is a creature of the future who is confronted with the monsters and robots of the strange planet, and she is put to one test after another. She vanquishes evil in whatever form she finds it, and rewards, in her particular fashion, all the handsome men that she meets during her adventures. And, whether battling sadists or turning her ray gun on gelatinous monsters, she cannot seem to avoid losing all or part of her skin-tight suit.” [Synopsis on the back cover of the book]
The Postcard
A postcard that was published by Francis Frith & Co. Ltd. of Reigate. The card was posted in Maidenhead using a 3d. stamp on Saturday the 10th. September 1966.
The card was sent to:
Mrs. Bristow,
205, Wells Road,
Bristol.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Showing you a hotel
where we had a meal -
to remind you of eggs
and milk.
It's very lovely around
here.
Love,
Sally."
Sally is probably referring to the pub on the left which is called the George and Dragon. It is still going strong to this day
Wonderloaf
Note the Wonderloaf van. Wonderloaf is a British icon - the first British bread slicing and wrapping machine was installed at the Wonderloaf Bakery in Tottenham in 1937, having been patented in America in 1934.
The war slowed things down a bit, but by the 1950's, the sliced loaf accounted for 80 per cent of the bread market in Great Britain.
Wonderloaf slogans included:
- 'Of course it's fresh, it's Wonderloaf.'
- 'As fresh as the news every day.'
- 'Bakers eat it.'
- 'The same price as ordinary bread.'
The War Memorial
The Grade II Listed war memorial on the right of the photograph commemorates the fallen of Marlow during the First and Second World Wars. 230 men from Marlow and the surrounding area died in the Great War.
The unveiling ceremony took place on the 25th. July 1920, and was attended by Gen. Sir George Higginson GCB GCVO.
The plinth supporting the stone cross bears the following inscription:
'Sons of this place,
Let this of you be said,
That you who live are
worthy of your dead.
These gave their lives
that you who live may
reap a richer harvest
Ere you fall asleep.
TFR.'
Douglas 'Pete' Peterson
So what else happened on the day that Sally posted the card?
Well, on the 10th. September 1966, U.S. Air Force Captain Douglas "Pete" Peterson was flying an F-4 Phantom over North Vietnam when he was shot down.
He was held as a prisoner of war in the "Hanoi Hilton" for six and a half years until his release on the 4th. March 1973.
After serving as a U.S. Representative for Florida for six years, Pete returned to Hanoi in 1997, as the first United States Ambassador to Vietnam.
On his drive to and from the Embassy, Peterson made it a point to drive past the former POW camp.
Hendrik Verwoerd
Also on that day, Hendrik Verwoerd's state funeral, attended by a quarter of a million people (almost entirely white), was held in Pretoria, South Africa.
Muhammad Ali
Also on the 10th. September 1966, heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali defended his world title in Frankfurt, West Germany, in a challenge by the European heavyweight champion, Karl Mildenberger, who had not lost a bout in four years.
Although Mildenberger was cut above both eyes in the fourth round, and knocked down by Ali in the fifth, the American boxer slowed his pace, giving the German champ time to recover.
Finally, in the 12th. round, Ali won by a technical knockout after the referee stepped in to stop the fight.
Children's Cartoons
Also on the 10th. September 1966, all three American TV networks debuted their Saturday morning lineup of children's cartoons.
CBS capitalized on the popularity of superheroes with The New Adventures of Superman and with new heroes created for television by Hanna-Barbera Productions, notably Space Ghost and Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles.
Atlas-Agena
Also on that day, the scheduled Atlas-Agena launch was postponed because of apparent problems with the target launch vehicle autopilot.
The launch was rescheduled for the 12th. September 1966.
Emil Gumbel
The 10th. September 1966 also marked the death at the age of 75 of the German mathematician and political commentator Emil Gumbel.
Emil had fled the Nazi government in 1932 after his demotion from Heidelberg University.
The Beatles
Also on that day, the Number One chart hit record in the UK was 'Yellow Submarine' by The Beatles.
Character Creation
Avalanche is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Each character is usually depicted as an enemy of the X-Men.
The Dominikos Petrakis version of Avalanche is a Cretan mutant who possesses the ability to generate seismic waves from his hands that are strong enough to create earthquakes of varying sizes and to disintegrate any substance other than living tissue. He has been a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants and Freedom Force.
The animated series X-Men: Evolution portrays a different version of Avalanche named Lance Alvers, a misguided mutant teenager and romantic love interest of the X-Men's Shadowcat.
New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
Avalanche's first appeared with Mystique's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He agreed to join them as he had seen mutants hunted and had grown bitter and jaded about mankind's views on mutants. His first act with the group was an attempted assassination of anti-mutant Senator Robert Kelly. The X-Men arrived to stop the assassination and battled Avalanche & the new Brotherhood.
Even though he was defeated this time Avalanche would go on to be one of the biggest players in the Brotherhood of Mutants, and would assist them in such missions as battling the Avengers in the legendary fight that cost Ms Marvel her powers to Rogue.
Avalanche left the Brotherhood for a short time. He then tried to blackmail California by using his power to make a giant earthquake if they did not pay him a large amount of money. Avalanche unfortunately came across the Hulk. He tried to fight him, but was severely injured breaking both of his arms. He returned to the Brotherhood in order to heal.
Freedom Force
Mystique later turned the Brotherhood over to the United State's Government, promising they would work for them as a way of serving time for their crimes. It is here that they took on the name of Freedom Force. As a sign of their dedication their first mission was to capture Magneto, the original leader of the Brotherhood.
Just because they were now working as "heroes" didn't mean that they were one of the good guys. During his time on Freedom Force he clashed with several other super hero teams, including the Avengers, X-Factor, and the New Mutants (where they captured Rusty Collins and Skids). However they did do some good during their time on Freedom Force, going on to accomplish such things as stopping a prison break at the Vault.
Desert Sword Attacks
On Freedom Force's last mission (Kuwait), a moral side of Avalanche is shown, though it isn't the most blatant of themes in the story. The first indicator is when Freedom Force kills a unit of men, an act that makes Avalanche question the team's tactics.
He wonders why all the (human) soldiers had to die when some questions could have been asked. Super Sabre is killed by Desert Sword and the Crimson Commando has much of his arm severed.
Avalanche is all for bailing on the mission, yet Desert Sword won't let Freedom Force off easily. Avalanche is sliced in the abdomen by Black Raazer, an act that should have killed him. Another look into the possible psyche of Avalanche comes when Black Raazer is asked why his attack didn't kill Avalanche.
Black Raazer opines that either the armor saved him or that Avalanche believes his soul is already consigned to Hell. Avalanche has usually been a devoted team player, but this tale seems to show that he doesn't always approve of the methods his teams have employed.
At this point in the fight, Avalanche splits Freedom Force into two groups when he seismically separates the injured Crimson Commando and himself from Desert Sword.
He then hefts his fallen leader and heads to their transportation. On the way, Pyro and Blob, the remaining members of Freedom Force, are told to meet up at the helicopter. As Avalanche approaches, land mines are triggered, rendering Crimson Commando even worse off and injuring Avalanche.
Members of Desert Sword approach the dying men to watch them take their last breathes but Avalanche wills himself to entomb the foes in a cone of earth.
Avalanche then picks up Crimson Commando and are found a short time later by their transport. Pyro and Blob are still on the run, but when Avalanche is asked if the transport should find the missing two members, he replies that they aren't worth it. Not only is Freedom Force over, but Avalanche has given his testimony of the group's actions with the abandonment of his teammates.
He has been one of the biggest team players in the villain community, having rarely ever stepped out of the shadow of other teams to fight by himself.
The few exceptions of this include a time when he attempted to hold the state of California hostage, threatening to use his powers (the ability to create waves of powerful vibrations from his hands, typically using them on the earth to create earthquakes) on the state's fault line to destroy it. After having been beaten thoroughly by the Hulk he returned to being a team player and never looked back.
Pyro's Death
During his time on the Brotherhood and Freedom Force, Avalanche formed a strong friendship with his fellow mutant Pyro.
After Freedom Force disbanded Avalanche went on to continue working for the government, this time as a member of Project WideAwake, and he was dispatched to the private island of author Jonathan Chambers to investigate it. Once arriving he discovered it was a colony built for those suffering from the Legacy Virus, and he also discovered Toad was there with a new incarnation of the Brotherhood, consisting of Blob and Pyro.
It didn't take him long to find out that they were there because Pyro now had the Legacy Virus, and knowing that his friend was on death's door, he attempted to do what he could to save him. This included attempting to steal a powerful mutagenic compound known as Isotope-E from the High Evolutionary. They were stopped by the Heroes for Hire and Quicksilver.
Mystique eventually tried one more attempt to assassinate Senator Kelly by getting her Brotherhood back together, however this time it was not the X-Men who saved the day, but Pyro. Faced with his own mortality Pyro decided to save Senator Kelly from his former teammates, causing the Senator to rethink his position on mutants, and leaving Avalanche quite confused about his future.
X-Corp
One of the signs after Pyro's death that his friend's sacrifice might have caused him to turn over a new leaf, is that he joined Banshee's task force, X-Corp, a group that was meant to do the jobs the X-Men wouldn't, serving as a police force to patrol the actions of mutants around the world.
However it was revealed that he wasn't really reformed, and that Avalanche and his other former Brotherhood members were actually being brainwashed and manipulated by Mastermind to do good.
Once he was freed by this control by Mystique, he and his other villainous friends revolted. It was during this revolt that Avalanche achieved some of his greater moments in villainy.
Not only did he use his powers to destroy the Eiffel Tower, but he also opened up a chasm beneath Radius that swallowed him up, at the time making it seem like Avalanche had killed his own X-Corp teammate (it was later revealed that he lived and was depowered on M-Day).
Exodus' Brotherhood
Recently, Avalanche assaulted the center of New York City, but he was taken down by the then-powerless Wolfsbane and delivered to the authorities. Following that, Avalanche re-appeared in a Brotherhood attack on Philadelphia, where he manifests a newfound ability to affect organic matter by shocking Rogue into submission.
He appeared again in the attack on the X-Mansion, with the rest of Exodus' Brotherhood. He and the rest of the Brotherhood were sucked into the black hole in Shen Xorn's head which turned out to be a portal to the Mojoverse. It was here that they sold their fellow members Nocturne and Juggernaut to Mojo in exchange for a return home.
After M-Day
Avalanche is one of the few mutants to keep his powers after M-Day, and after seeing the decimation that had occurred to the mutant community, he began to realize that there wasn't much point in continuing his fight for mutant rights.
It was then that he moved to San Fransisco to start a new life, and retired from being an activist/terrorist. He decided to open a small bar in the city in order to start his new life. Once the X-Men moved to the city he began living in fear that they would come for him to punish him for his former crimes.
When the X-Men finally did decide to visit him, it was only to tell him that they had formed a truce, however if he did decide to return to his life of crime they would be there to stop him.
Utopia
When Norman Osborn attempts to place curfews on all the mutants in San Francisco, none of them are happy about it and a few mutants decide its time to do something about it.
Avalanche, Hellion, Sunspot, Meld, Adam X, Match and Lorelei decide to go out during the newly imposed curfew in order to get arrested and let everyone know what will happen to them if they don't demand their rights.
Avalanche had a particular stake in all this, because after having worked so hard to start his new life and leave his old one behind, he now worried that this would waste all he had worked for. He had also learned from his actions as a terrorist that even if you're fighting for Mutant Rights, that if you act like a monster all you're doing is proving the opposition right and adding more fuel to the fire. He and his fellow rioters were imprisoned when the Dark X-Men arrive at the scene.
Nation X
Avalanche owns a bar in San Fransisco and has left behind the life of a criminal. One night he is visited by the X-Men including Archangel, Beast and Wolverine. Wolverine explains to Avalanche that he in no way thinks that Avalanche has become a good person, but because he is one of few mutants left, they will leave him. Wolverine leaves his apartment destroyed and issues him a warning. If he returns to being a villain, the X-Men will deal with him.
Fear Itself
During the events of Fear Itself, the Juggernaut, now powered by the Asgardian Jörmungandr, comes walking towards San Fransisco in order to destroy the city.
The X-men try everything to stop the behemoth from reaching the city. In one such attempt, Avalanche is asked to help out. He accepts, seeing no other option, and makes a huge crater in the roadblock, hoping to stop the Juggernaut from walking through. Juggernaut however, thanks to Jörmungandr's power, walks over the crater through air and another attempt to stop him failed. After this, Avalanche left the scene.
Uncanny Avengers
Avalanche lived his life like a normal, somewhat reformed person, until his mind was tampered with by the Red Skull. He was sent out to attack New York to increase the fear of the returning mutant population. He was stopped by the combined forces of the Avengers and some X-Men. After his defeat, he was forced by the Red Skull to throw himself off of a cliff, killing him.
Successor
Some months after the death of the original Avalanche, a new mutant with seemingly the same powers, started calling himself Avalanche. This person joined a new group of Evil Mutants, which besmirched the good name the original Avalanche tried to make for himself, as part of his redemption.
Powers
Avalanche has the mutant ability to generate incredibly powerful vibration waves from his hands. He can use these waves to cause matter to shatter or crumble. When these waves are directed at a building or directly into the ground, they can create effects reminiscent of earthquakes or avalanches.
Avalanche does not actually need to be touching an object in order to affect it with his vibrations. He can be some distance away from an object and still be able to affect it. It should be noted that Avalanche's powers usually have little or no effect on organic matter.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
_____________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: Dominikos Ioannis Petrakis
Publisher: Marvel
First appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #141 (Jan. 1981)
Created by: Chris Claremont (writer)
John Byrne (artist)
Thanks to fotoswoch My photograph got published in Ostholsteiner Anzeiger newspaper.
Original German
"Seize the moment" nannte Lateefa aus den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten ihr geheimnisvolles Bild. Die 23 Jährige stammt aus dem Emirat Dubai undwurde alsFoto grafin bereits mehrfach preisgekrönt. Über ihr Motive schreibt sie:,,Als junge Araberin benutze ich den Schleier in meiner Arbeit, da er ein wichtiger Teil von mir selbst ist. Dennoch erzählen meine Aufnahmen nicht vom Schleier, sondern von der Frau dahinter - und die ist trotz der Verschleierung wie alle anderen Frauen. "In der linken Hand hält das Modell eine große indische Frucht.
Die Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten, darunter Dubai, und grenzen an Saudi-Arabian, Oman und Katar. Die Binnengrenzen sind nicht exakt festgelegt und die Kustenlinie am Persischen Golf kann nicht genau bestimmt werden, da sie sich durch Verlagerung von Sand und Schlickmassen ständig ändert.
English translation : thanks to Jessica.
' The U.A.E citizen Lateefa has called her mysterious picture 'Seize the moment'. The 23 year old comes from the Emirate of Dubai and has received several prizes for her photography. She writes about her work; 'as a young Arab woman I used the veil in my work - as it is an important part of myself. However my photos aren't speaking about the veil but the woman behind it - and in spite of being veiled, she is the same as all other women. ' In the left hand, the model holds a large Indian fruit. The U.A.E of which Dubai is one emirate, borders with Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar. The internal borders are not precisely marked and the coastline if the Persian Gulf can't be exactly identified as it constantly changes with the movement of sand and sand banks. '
Published by GEP, Brazil 1968
This Annual by GEP is easily one of Brazil's rarest Silver Age comics.
The Albertina
The architectural history of the Palais
(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)
Image: The oldest photographic view of the newly designed Palais Archduke Albrecht, 1869
"It is my will that the expansion of the inner city of Vienna with regard to a suitable connection of the same with the suburbs as soon as possible is tackled and at this on Regulirung (regulation) and beautifying of my Residence and Imperial Capital is taken into account. To this end I grant the withdrawal of the ramparts and fortifications of the inner city and the trenches around the same".
This decree of Emperor Franz Joseph I, published on 25 December 1857 in the Wiener Zeitung, formed the basis for the largest the surface concerning and architecturally most significant transformation of the Viennese cityscape. Involving several renowned domestic and foreign architects a "master plan" took form, which included the construction of a boulevard instead of the ramparts between the inner city and its radially upstream suburbs. In the 50-years during implementation phase, an impressive architectural ensemble developed, consisting of imperial and private representational buildings, public administration and cultural buildings, churches and barracks, marking the era under the term "ring-street style". Already in the first year tithe decided a senior member of the Austrian imperial family to decorate the facades of his palace according to the new design principles, and thus certified the aristocratic claim that this also "historicism" said style on the part of the imperial house was attributed.
Image: The Old Albertina after 1920
It was the palace of Archduke Albrecht (1817-1895), the Senior of the Habsburg Family Council, who as Field Marshal held the overall command over the Austro-Hungarian army. The building was incorporated into the imperial residence of the Hofburg complex, forming the south-west corner and extending eleven meters above street level on the so-called Augustinerbastei.
The close proximity of the palace to the imperial residence corresponded not only with Emperor Franz Joseph I and Archduke Albert with a close familial relationship between the owner of the palace and the monarch. Even the former inhabitants were always in close relationship to the imperial family, whether by birth or marriage. An exception here again proves the rule: Don Emanuel Teles da Silva Conde Tarouca (1696-1771), for which Maria Theresa in 1744 the palace had built, was just a close friend and advisor of the monarch. Silva Tarouca underpins the rule with a second exception, because he belonged to the administrative services as Generalhofbaudirektor (general court architect) and President of the Austrian-Dutch administration, while all other him subsequent owners were highest ranking military.
In the annals of Austrian history, especially those of military history, they either went into as commander of the Imperial Army, or the Austrian, later kk Army. In chronological order, this applies to Duke Carl Alexander of Lorraine, the brother-of-law of Maria Theresa, as Imperial Marshal, her son-in-law Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, also field marshal, whos adopted son, Archduke Charles of Austria, the last imperial field marshal and only Generalissimo of Austria, his son Archduke Albrecht of Austria as Feldmarschalil and army Supreme commander, and most recently his nephew Archduke Friedrich of Austria, who held as field marshal from 1914 to 1916 the command of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Despite their military profession, all five generals conceived themselves as patrons of the arts and promoted large sums of money to build large collections, the construction of magnificent buildings and cultural life. Charles Alexander of Lorraine promoted as governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1741 to 1780 the Academy of Fine Arts, the Théâtre de Ja Monnaie and the companies Bourgeois Concert and Concert Noble, he founded the Academie royale et imperial des Sciences et des Lettres, opened the Bibliotheque Royal for the population and supported artistic talents with high scholarships. World fame got his porcelain collection, which however had to be sold by Emperor Joseph II to pay off his debts. Duke Albert began in 1776 according to the concept of conte Durazzo to set up an encyclopedic collection of prints, which forms the core of the world-famous "Albertina" today.
Image : Duke Albert and Archduchess Marie Christine show in family cercle the from Italy brought along art, 1776. Frederick Henry Füger.
1816 declared to Fideikommiss and thus in future indivisible, inalienable and inseparable, the collection 1822 passed into the possession of Archduke Carl, who, like his descendants, it broadened. Under him, the collection was introduced together with the sumptuously equipped palace on the Augustinerbastei in the so-called "Carl Ludwig'schen fideicommissum in 1826, by which the building and the in it kept collection fused into an indissoluble unity. At this time had from the Palais Tarouca by structural expansion or acquisition a veritable Residenz palace evolved. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen was first in 1800 the third floor of the adjacent Augustinian convent wing adapted to house his collection and he had after 1802 by his Belgian architect Louis de Montoyer at the suburban side built a magnificent extension, called the wing of staterooms, it was equipped in the style of Louis XVI. Only two decades later, Archduke Carl the entire palace newly set up. According to scetches of the architect Joseph Kornhäusel the 1822-1825 retreaded premises presented themselves in the Empire style. The interior of the palace testified from now in an impressive way the high rank and the prominent position of its owner. Under Archduke Albrecht the outer appearance also should meet the requirements. He had the facade of the palace in the style of historicism orchestrated and added to the Palais front against the suburbs an offshore covered access. Inside, he limited himself, apart from the redesign of the Rococo room in the manner of the second Blondel style, to the retention of the paternal stock. Archduke Friedrich's plans for an expansion of the palace were omitted, however, because of the outbreak of the First World War so that his contribution to the state rooms, especially, consists in the layout of the Spanish apartment, which he in 1895 for his sister, the Queen of Spain Maria Christina, had set up as a permanent residence.
Picture: The "audience room" after the restoration: Picture: The "balcony room" around 1990
The era of stately representation with handing down their cultural values found its most obvious visualization inside the palace through the design and features of the staterooms. On one hand, by the use of the finest materials and the purchase of masterfully manufactured pieces of equipment, such as on the other hand by the permanent reuse of older equipment parts. This period lasted until 1919, when Archduke Friedrich was expropriated by the newly founded Republic of Austria. With the republicanization of the collection and the building first of all finished the tradition that the owner's name was synonymous with the building name:
After Palais Tarouca or tarokkisches house it was called Lorraine House, afterwards Duke Albert Palais and Palais Archduke Carl. Due to the new construction of an adjacently located administration building it received in 1865 the prefix "Upper" and was referred to as Upper Palais Archduke Albrecht and Upper Palais Archduke Frederick. For the state a special reference to the Habsburg past was certainly politically no longer opportune, which is why was decided to name the building according to the in it kept collection "Albertina".
Picture: The "Wedgwood Cabinet" after the restoration: Picture: the "Wedgwood Cabinet" in the Palais Archduke Friedrich, 1905
This name derives from the term "La Collection Albertina" which had been used by the gallery Inspector Maurice von Thausing in 1870 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts for the former graphics collection of Duke Albert. For this reason, it was the first time since the foundation of the palace that the name of the collection had become synonymous with the room shell. Room shell, hence, because the Republic of Austria Archduke Friedrich had allowed to take along all the movable goods from the palace in his Hungarian exile: crystal chandeliers, curtains and carpets as well as sculptures, vases and clocks. Particularly stressed should be the exquisite furniture, which stems of three facilities phases: the Louis XVI furnitures of Duke Albert, which had been manufactured on the basis of fraternal relations between his wife Archduchess Marie Christine and the French Queen Marie Antoinette after 1780 in the French Hofmanufakturen, also the on behalf of Archduke Charles 1822-1825 in the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory by Joseph Danhauser produced Empire furnitures and thirdly additions of the same style of Archduke Friedrich, which this about 1900 at Portois & Ffix as well as at Friedrich Otto Schmidt had commissioned.
The "swept clean" building got due to the strained financial situation after the First World War initially only a makeshift facility. However, since until 1999 no revision of the emergency equipment took place, but differently designed, primarily the utilitarianism committed office furnitures complementarily had been added, the equipment of the former state rooms presented itself at the end of the 20th century as an inhomogeneous administrative mingle-mangle of insignificant parts, where, however, dwelt a certain quaint charm. From the magnificent state rooms had evolved depots, storage rooms, a library, a study hall and several officed.
Image: The Albertina Graphic Arts Collection and the Philipphof after the American bombing of 12 März 1945.
Image: The palace after the demolition of the entrance facade, 1948-52
Worse it hit the outer appearance of the palace, because in times of continued anti-Habsburg sentiment after the Second World War and inspired by an intolerant destruction will, it came by pickaxe to a ministerial erasure of history. In contrast to the graphic collection possessed the richly decorated facades with the conspicuous insignia of the former owner an object-immanent reference to the Habsburg past and thus exhibited the monarchial traditions and values of the era of Francis Joseph significantly. As part of the remedial measures after a bomb damage, in 1948 the aristocratic, by Archduke Albert initiated, historicist facade structuring along with all decorations was cut off, many facade figures demolished and the Hapsburg crest emblems plunged to the ground. Since in addition the old ramp also had been cancelled and the main entrance of the bastion level had been moved down to the second basement storey at street level, ended the presence of the old Archduke's palace after more than 200 years. At the reopening of the "Albertina Graphic Collection" in 1952, the former Hapsburg Palais of splendour presented itself as one of his identity robbed, formally trivial, soulless room shell, whose successful republicanization an oversized and also unproportional eagle above the new main entrance to the Augustinian road symbolized. The emocratic throw of monuments had wiped out the Hapsburg palace from the urban appeareance, whereby in the perception only existed a nondescript, nameless and ahistorical building that henceforth served the lodging and presentation of world-famous graphic collection of the Albertina. The condition was not changed by the decision to the refurbishment because there were only planned collection specific extensions, but no restoration of the palace.
Image: The palace after the Second World War with simplified facades, the rudiment of the Danubiusbrunnens (well) and the new staircase up to the Augustinerbastei
This paradigm shift corresponded to a blatant reversal of the historical circumstances, as the travel guides and travel books for kk Residence and imperial capital of Vienna dedicated itself primarily with the magnificent, aristocratic palace on the Augustinerbastei with the sumptuously fitted out reception rooms and mentioned the collection kept there - if at all - only in passing. Only with the repositioning of the Albertina in 2000 under the direction of Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the palace was within the meaning and in fulfillment of the Fideikommiss of Archduke Charles in 1826 again met with the high regard, from which could result a further inseparable bond between the magnificent mansions and the world-famous collection. In view of the knowing about politically motivated errors and omissions of the past, the facades should get back their noble, historicist designing, the staterooms regain their glamorous, prestigious appearance and culturally unique equippment be repurchased. From this presumption, eventually grew the full commitment to revise the history of redemption and the return of the stately palace in the public consciousness.
Image: The restored suburb facade of the Palais Albertina suburb
The smoothed palace facades were returned to their original condition and present themselves today - with the exception of the not anymore reconstructed Attica figures - again with the historicist decoration and layout elements that Archduke Albrecht had given after the razing of the Augustinerbastei in 1865 in order. The neoclassical interiors, today called after the former inhabitants "Habsburg Staterooms", receiving a meticulous and detailed restoration taking place at the premises of originality and authenticity, got back their venerable and sumptuous appearance. From the world wide scattered historical pieces of equipment have been bought back 70 properties or could be returned through permanent loan to its original location, by which to the visitors is made experiencable again that atmosphere in 1919 the state rooms of the last Habsburg owner Archduke Frederick had owned. The for the first time in 80 years public accessible "Habsburg State Rooms" at the Palais Albertina enable now again as eloquent testimony to our Habsburg past and as a unique cultural heritage fundamental and essential insights into the Austrian cultural history. With the relocation of the main entrance to the level of the Augustinerbastei the recollection to this so valuable Austrian Cultural Heritage formally and functionally came to completion. The vision of the restoration and recovery of the grand palace was a pillar on which the new Albertina should arise again, the other embody the four large newly built exhibition halls, which allow for the first time in the history of the Albertina, to exhibit the collection throughout its encyclopedic breadh under optimal conservation conditions.
Image: The new entrance area of the Albertina
64 meter long shed roof. Hans Hollein.
The palace presents itself now in its appearance in the historicist style of the Ringstrassenära, almost as if nothing had happened in the meantime. But will the wheel of time should not, cannot and must not be turned back, so that the double standards of the "Albertina Palace" said museum - on the one hand Habsburg grandeur palaces and other modern museum for the arts of graphics - should be symbolized by a modern character: The in 2003 by Hans Hollein designed far into the Albertina square cantilevering, elegant floating flying roof. 64 meters long, it symbolizes in the form of a dynamic wedge the accelerated urban spatial connectivity and public access to the palace. It advertises the major changes in the interior as well as the huge underground extensions of the repositioned "Albertina".
Christian Benedictine
Art historian with research interests History of Architecture, building industry of the Hapsburgs, Hofburg and Zeremonialwissenschaft (ceremonial sciences). Since 1990 he works in the architecture collection of the Albertina. Since 2000 he supervises as director of the newly founded department "Staterooms" the restoration and furnishing of the state rooms and the restoration of the facades and explores the history of the palace and its inhabitants.
©2010, FUSINA Dominik
Publishing date : 25/12/2010
Location : Villefranche (France)
Don't use or publish that photo without my permission.
Je suis un King en train de rêver
En ce jour de Noël, juste avant de passer à table en compagnie de la famille, j'ai remarqué un ronflement singulier. Le "King Charles" de ma belle sœur s'était assoupi non loin de là, dans un recoin de mon salon. Disons plutôt qu'il faisait semblant, ouvrant parfois un oeil, comme pour bien montrer qu'on ne pourra faire quoi que ce soit sans qu'il le sache.
Je ne pense pas qu'il soit possible d'imaginer un seul instant ce à quoi il rêve ou pense. Toutefois, en extrapolant un peu et sachant qu'il est issu d'une longue lignée de chiens de race de sang royal (enfin, on se doit de le penser vu le pedigree, son nom et surtout son prix), on peut éventuellement se risquer à quelques conjectures. Il doit se demander ce qu'il fiche là, où est passé son trône, son royaume, ses sujets. Il croit désespérément que "Charles" est son vrai prénom, ce qui explique pourquoi'il s'évertue à ne pas vouloir répondre à celui de "Cidou". Il est également convaincu que chaque humain à son double sans s'imaginer que ce sont ses yeux globuleux qui lui font défaut. Enfin, il dément toute affirmation concernant ses ronflements intempestifs. Il prétend qu'un chien de la Royauté ne ronfle pas ni ne pète ! Pourtant tout le monde sait que la monar... chie.
Mais enfin ! Quelqu'un osera-t'il lui dire la vérité ? Cidou, tu n'es qu'un simple chien.
dominikfoto's photos on Flickriver
D3s NIKON
Lens : 24-70mm/2.8 G NIKKOR AF-S ED
Settings : f/5 - 1/100 - ISO 640 - 31mm
Flash : SB-900 by Bouncing (CLS system).
Click "F" for a fav
Texture studies in black and white with onion on wood and wooden background.
Part of a personal project, published on foodfulife.com.