View allAll Photos Tagged put
the greatest view
paula FX
valhala
monica fabiana
vanoy
imagen tomada por
carolina jorquera (neptuniana)
Put in your fabric and thoroughly saturate the fabric. You may want to wear gloves, but it's soap and water clean up, you should be fine with bare hands.
Work with scale today and make a photograph that features a subject either larger or smaller than expected.
Get out there, take a photograph, upload it, and tweet a link to @dailyshoot with the h
Recreational target shooting is a long-standing use of BLM lands, but it’s important to recreate responsibly when enjoying the outdoors. Practice target shooting safety by wearing ear and eye protection.
Learn more about recreational target shooting in Arizona: www.blm.gov/programs/recreation/arizona/recreational-shoo...
Credit: BLM
Linework put on for a friend that's off to travel the vast expanses of Canada.
Colour shots to come when she returns safe and sound with her tales of adventure.
Another weekend project. 1/35 M26A1 Pershing heavy tank by Dragon. Dragon military kits normally don’t come with figures so I put together and modified a resin figure from my parts box to go with the tank. Whole project took me about 30 hours from start to end – mainly used for assembly due to the individual track links and heaps of other small fiddly parts – and I got tired towards the end so the actual painting was ended at about 80% stage. If you see in detail such as the commander figure (just one hour job, rough as…), accessory parts such as backpacks, etc, you will know what I mean… Anyway, I am glad it is over and done. Now move on to the next project!
Put the language of the sign to one side. I personally love this photo.
Not your average portrait.
Look at the smile on the face of the chap holding it up (bottom right). The only person looking towards the camera lens. That is the smile of a man enjoying himself, out protesting, wrapped up warmly on a bitterly cold day.
Someone, somewhere, has taken the time to make a sign from wood and has laboured to make it unique yet robust enough to stand up to a day of protesting. That's some dedication, no matter what your views on the protests themselves.
Mills wanting me to put the camera down and chuck the ball for the millionth time... Ball mad dogs, eh?!
If Home Bargains put in the same effort selling a varied and interesting range of 1/64 models all year round instead of just in the festive shopping months I can honestly say they'd really take a lot of business off others. Dont get me wrong, you will still find plenty of crappy HTI generics on their shelves and pegs but where in the World would you also find brand new Majorette Premiums for just 99p each! Their toy buyers must be some of the best in the business as even I've been struggling to keep up with all the new stuff they've been offering recently!
The newest stock to arrive is a batch of Matchbox Jurassic World singles. Some have been spotted in bright orange packaging destined for the Russian market but the ones I found today are in "standard" packaging which can be found in other retailers at a much higher price!
99p is a perfectly acceptable price to pay for one of these 1993 Jeep Wranglers which is a decent enough casting in its own right and probably betters the other round light Wrangler version they make. Its not a Premium so dont expect detailing to front and rear lights and badging etc but it wears an authentic Jurassic Park livery and comes in stylised packaging. Mint and boxed.
It was the tea party the Obamas just couldn’t resist.
A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times, according to a new tell-all.
“The Obamas,” by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, tells of the first Halloween party the first couple feted at the White House in 2009. It was so over the top that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas sent the original Chewbacca to mingle with invited guests.
The book reveals how any official announcement of the glittering affair — coming at a time when Tea Party activists and voters furious over the lagging economy, 10-percent unemployment rate, bank bailouts and Obama’s health-care plan were staging protests — quickly vanished down the rabbit hole.
“White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,” the book says.
However, the White House made certain that more humble Halloween festivities earlier that day — for thousands of Washington-area schoolkids — were well reported by the press corps.
Then the Obamas went inside, where an invitation-only affair for children of military personnel and White House administrators unfolded in the East Room.
Unbeknownst to reporters, the State Dining Room had also been transformed into a secretive White House Wonderland.
Tim Burton decorated it “in his signature creepy-comic style. His film version was about to be released, and he had turned the room into the Mad Hatter’s tea party, with a long table set with antique-looking linens, enormous stuffed animals in chairs, and tiered serving plates with treats like bone-shaped meringue cookies,” reports the book, which The Post purchased at a Manhattan bookstore.
“Fruit punch was served in blood vials at the bar. Burton’s own Mad Hatter, the actor Johnny Depp, presided over the scene in full costume, standing up on a table to welcome everyone in character.”
The Obamas’ daughters, Malia and Sasha, then 11 and 8 respectively, “sat at the table, surrounded by a gaggle of their friends, and then proceeded to the next delight, a magic show in the East Room.”
Kantor’s book details more personal aspects of the Obama White House, serving up glimpses of the first couple’s marriage, parenting, sometimes tense handling of staff issues and even the president’s sly sense of humor when it comes to race.
One morning during his Senate campaign, Obama didn’t show up to a meeting with donors. “After a frantic search, a white staffer named Peter Coffey called Obama’s barbershop to find that, yes, he was there.”
The president confronted Coffey about the call later that day.
“ ‘The relationship between a black man and his barber is sacred,’ Obama bellowed . . . ‘For failing to understand this truth, your punishment is to watch the movie “Barbershop.” And for further punishment, you will then watch the sequel, “Barbershop 2.” ’ ”
Often White House staffers found themselves in the middle of husband-and-wife quarrels.
“The advisors could feel hopelessly caught between husband and wife,” Kantor writes. “The Obama marriage was awkward for everyone: for the aides, for the president . . . and for the first lady.”
Read more: www.nypost.com/p/news/national/in_blunderland_hKpNQkHfvpE...
I am now in the eleventh year of the Kent church project. I suppose had I put my mind to it, I could have finished this a few years ago. As it is, I still don't know how many churches there are left to do. I tell myself maybe less than a hundred, but on John Vigar's website there are over 700 meaning I am only just over halfway through that total.
I am not doing the historic county of Kent, as that will take me into south London now, but will carry on through the list until I run out of churches. I do plan to create a hit list of those I have not been inside, or not visited at all.
Anyway, for the time being, the number of churches that need a re-visit because my shots a decade ago were nothing like comprehensive enough, goes on, with a second visit to St Mary in the Marsh.
Remote and hard to find now, but how it must have been a century or two ago, when life of the sheep farmers of the Marsh must have gone unaltered for hundreds of years.
A hard life.
St Mary the Virgin sits in a small hamlet, with the pub, a phone box and post box for company. You can see the tower from miles away, but the meandering lanes take an age to get there, even if you choose the right lane to go down, as the signposts seem to run out.
Two builders stood outside talking, meaning there was a chance the church would be closed, but they had finished for the day and was encouraged to go in. Seems like some new wooden tiling was being installed in the chancel.
------------------------------------------
A Norman church with a heavily buttressed west tower, aisles with separate roof structures and a generously proportioned chancel. The latter contains an excellent small sedilia and double piscina displaying naive little carved faces on its headstops. The Royal Arms are those of George III, and the opening for the rood loft may still be seen. It is a pity that the best Norman work in the building - the tower arch - is now hidden from view, but there is still much of interest. There is no chancel arch - possibly due to a lack of suitable building stone on the Marsh, although there is an indication that some rebuilding has taken place in this part of the church. The narrow nature of the north aisle shows that it was built for processions rather than seating. In the churchyard is the grave of author E.M. Nesbit.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=St+Mary+in+the+Marsh
------------------------------------------
ST. MARIES, near NEW ROMNEY.
CALLED likewise St. Maries church, lies the next parish south-eastward from Ivechurch, and is to called to distinguish it from the several other parishes called likewise St. Maries indifferent parts of this county. It lies in the level of Romney Marsh, and within the liberty and jurisdiction of the justices of it. Part of it is in the hundred of St. Martin's Pountney, and the residue in that of Newchurch.
There is but little worthy of notice in this parish, the lands of which are an entire slat of marsh grounds, without either a hedge or tree among them. There is no village, but there are about nine or ten houses interspersed about in the parish, which is much the same in appearance as the neighbouring ones of Newchurch and Eastbridge already described. Near the southern bounds of this parish there is an estate, called Broadnax, from its once having been for a length of time the property of that family. It lately belonged to Mr. Odiarne Coats, of New Romney, whose heir, Mr. Wm. Coats, now possesses it.
The MANORS of HONICHILD and BLACKMANSTONE claim over the greatest part of this parish. Subordinate to the former the family of Criol formerly possessed an estate of some consequence within the bounds of it, now known by the name of the Shooters land, of which John de Criol died possessed anno 49 Edward III. and from him it devolved at length by succession to Sir Thomas Keriel, for so their name was then in general spelt, who was slain anno 38 king Henry VI. in the battle of St. Albans. Alice his daughter and coheir, carried this estate in marriage to John Fogge, esq. of Repton, afterwards knighted, whose son Sir Thomas Fogge, sergeant-porter of Calais in the reigns of king Henry VII. and VIII. leaving no male issue, it went by his will to Geo. Fogge, esq. of Braborne, who alienated it to Gervas Carkeridge, who held it in capite, at his death anno 18 queen Elizabeth. (fn. 1) His son Thomas Carkeridge, of Maidstone, by his will in 1640, devised one part of it to Amy his wife, daughter of Arthur Franklyn, gent. of Wye, and the residue to Walter Franklyn and Mary his wife, whose son Thomas Franklyn, of Stockbury, became possessed of the whole of this estate, which he sold in 1692 to Thomas Young, esq. of Ashford, whose son Peter leaving an only daughter and heir Sarah, she in 1777 carried it in marriage to the Rev. Edward Norwood, of Ashford, the present owner of it.
There is another considerable estate in this parish, the mansion of which stands near the church, and extends into the parish of Blackmanstone, which seems to have been formerly part of the demesnes of the manor of Blackmanstone, and to have come in like manner with it to the family of Hales, in which it continued till Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephen's, not much more than thirty years ago, passed it away by sale to Sir Peter Denis, created a baronet, and at the time of his death, in 1778, vice-admiral of the red. He was of French extraction, being the son of the Rev. Jacob Denis, of that kingdom, who had settled at Chester. Sir Peter was the youngest but one of twelve children, and being bred up in the royal navy, by his gallant behaviour was rewarded with the rank he bore in it, and with the title of baronet. He bore for his arms, Argent, a chevron engrailed, between three steurs de lis, gules. (fn. 2) He left no issue, and this estate was soon afterwards, in pursuance of his will, alienated by his executors to Mr. James Haffenden, of Tenterden, whose heirs now own it.
There are no parochial charities. The poor constantly relieved are about four, casually three.
This PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Mary, consists of three isles and one chancel, having a pointed turret steeple at the west end, in which hang three bells. It is very neat and kept clean. In the middle isle, on a stone is the figure of a woman in brass, with an inscription for Matilda Jamys, mother of William Gregory, obt. 1499. On another, the figure of a man, in brass likewise, for William Gregory, obt. 1502. Several memorials for the Rolfe's, of New Romney. In the south isle is a memorial for Peter Blechenden, ob. 1756. There are several memorials for the Pilchers, of New Romney, arms, first and south, A fess, dancette, between three balls; second and third, Chequy, on a bend, three mullets. In the church-yard, near the Porch south-east, is an antient tomb, coffin-shaped, about a foot high from the ground.
This church was part of the antient possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continues so at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it. It is a rectory, valued in the king's books at 23l. 3s. 9d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 6s. 4½d. In 1588 it was valued at eighty pounds, communicants fifty-one. In 1640 the ame
In the petition of the clergy, beneficed in Romney Marsh, in 1635, for setting aside the custom of twopence an acre in lieu of tithe-wool and pasturage, a full account of which has been given before under Burmarsh, several compositions were proved to have been made with the rectors of this parish, wherein they agreed, that two pence an acre was the custom for those tithes, and that prohibitions had been obtained in the ecclesiastical courts upon that, modo decimandi, and the suggestion there proved.
There is a modus of one shilling an acre on all grass lands in this parish.
i think it's very weird to look at the sides of your own feet. smooth skin on the top and wrinkly skin towards the bottom. how very odd they look.
Put yourself in the picture as #HKS maps the way to a better world. Print the YouAreHere sign -http://ken.sc/youarehere_pdf and take a photo or video of yourself as you work to improve people’s lives. Then email it to youarehere@hks.harvard.edu with your name, grad year, and location, and share it yourself using #youarehere #hks.
3 ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY AND 26 ROYAL ARTILLERY TRAIN THE LEADERS
A GRUELLING test for the soldiers of 3RHA and 26 RA, as Command Leadership was put to the test.
3RHA and 26RA came together to deliver both a Potential Non-Commissioned Officers (PNCO) and Junior Non-Commissioned Officers (JNCO) cadre amidst a busy time for both regiments, 3RHA are currently deployed to Afghanistan on Operation HERRICK 19 and 26RA are preparing for operations and deployment on HERRICK 20.
The Final exercise was designed to test each student but also provide quality training to those who might find themselves on operations in the following months. Many of the students from 3RHA would be part of the rotation heading out to complete the final stages of HERRICK 19 and again many of the students from 26RA are currently in the midst of MST in preparation for HERRICK 20. The students were rotated through Section Commander and 2IC appointments for two days of conventional section attacks and CTR’s. This was followed by more complex operations such as compound clearance and VCP’s, which introduced a Hybrid Operations Theme. The Course was well supported by local units and the 1 Military Working Dogs (MWD) Regt dog handlers arrived to facilitate not only training in search, Infantry patrolling and attack they also added to the realism and fear factor when first introduced during the extraction from a Company harbour area during the final exercise. 3RHA and 26RA provided soldiers to play the role of enemy and demonstration troops again adding to experience and creating a more realistic training environment.
The Final attack was the catharsis of the course and consisted of the three platoons coming together as a company for the first time and ‘liberating the town of Tavolo’. The top students were given command of their respective Platoons, rising to the challenge with the help of their appointed Platoon Sergeant they prepared the Platoon for the next days deliberate attack, they conducted battle preparation and for the PNCO’s, delivered orders for the first time.
At first light the leadership course Company launched a sequential Company attack through five heavily defended compounds that formed Tavolo. Whilst the attack was successful a number of casualties were taken resulting in a casualty evacuation to a helicopter landing site (HLS).
After the high tempo of the final exercise and the final deliberate attack, the students were transported back to 26 Regiment, Mansergh Barracks, Gütersloh where the preparation for the passing off parade began. Accompanied by the pipes and drums of the Queen’s Royal Hussars the courses marched on to the Parade Square to be inspected by the Honorary Colonel, Maj General Nick Eeles in front of their families and friends, a fitting tribute to their hard work and the success of their cadre course. Three students were awarded prizes for ‘best student’ on the parade and unbeknown to them they would also be receiving their promotion as well. From the JNCO course Lance Bombardier Aiken, 17 Battery 26RA was awarded top student, A cane and his rank slide promoting him to Bombardier. From the two PNCO Cadres both Gunner Cook, 17 Battery 26RA and Gunner James, D Battery 3RHA were awarded top students. They too were awarded Canes and both received their first tapes promoting to Lance Bombardier.
Photographer - Cpl Mark Webster Army Photographer (RLC)
THE LADIES OF SIGMA UPSILON NU #TAKESTHEPLEDGE DURING THE MONTH OF MAY!
#putonpurple💜
Join us for the Lupus Awareness Fair May 1st - May 31st & Don't forget to take a photo wearing purple! Tag us with the #POP4LUPUS
maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tobago/44/54/25
Visit this location at Blue Orchid District ~Home of Sigma Upsilon Nu Sorority in Second Life
In the 1960s, many bus operators realised that the spiral of higher costs leading to higher fares, leading to fewer passengers, had to be addressed. This meant experiments aimed at attracting passengers back to buses, making the service not just reliable but faster, more comfortable and - well, just more modern.
One of the operators at the forefront of this move was Manchester City Transport. The new initiatives included automatic fare collection equipment, buses with separate entrances and exits to speed boarding at busy centre stops, and a bright new red and white livery.
Many bus enthusiasts in Manchester think of the revolutionary 'Mancunian' bus, and the first Mancunian, 1001, is now in the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester. But actually they weren't Manchester's first move in this direction - in the previous months, Manchester took delivery of almost thirty Leyland 'Panther' buses and we see one of them here being inspected by MCT managers.
The gentleman on the right is Ralph Bennett, the General Manager of Manchester and the driving force behind the new direction. And who do we see on the step but Roy Hattersley MP, at the time a junior minister in the Ministry of Labour.
The bus was in the modern, light livery - in fact, red and cream which was changed later to red and white - and you can just see a sign telling intending passengers that there was a turnstile on board, which would only allow passengers to move through if they put money in a slot.
The livery was a success but the turnstiles were unreliable and were soon done away with - as, actually, were the Leyland Panthers which did not last as long as desired and were sold off after a few years.
If you'd like to know more about the Museum of Transport Greater Manchester and its collection of vintage buses, go to www.gmts.co.uk.
Angkor Wat or "Capital Temple" is a temple complex in Cambodia and the largest religious monument in the world. It was first a Hindu and later a Buddhist temple. It was built by the Khmer King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century in Yaśodharapura, present-day Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire, as his state temple and eventual mausoleum.
Breaking from the Shiva tradition of previous kings, Angkor Wat was instead dedicated to Vishnu. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious center since its foundation. The temple is at the top of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors. Angkor Wat combines two basic plans of Khmer temple architecture: the temple-mountain and the later galleried temple, based on early Dravidian architecture, with key features such as the Jagati. It is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the devas in Hindu mythology: within a moat and an outer wall 3.6 kilometres long are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs, and for the numerous devatas adorning its walls.
The modern name, Angkor Wat, means "Temple City" or "City of Temples" in Khmer; Angkor, meaning "city" or "capital city", is a vernacular form of the word nokor (នគរ), which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara (नगर). Wat is the Khmer word for "temple grounds" (Sanskrit: वाट vāṭa ""enclosure").
HISTORY
Angkor Wat lies 5.5 kilometres north of the modern town of Siem Reap, and a short distance south and slightly east of the previous capital, which was centred at Baphuon. It is in an area of Cambodia where there is an important group of ancient structures. It is the southernmost of Angkor's main sites.
According to one legend, the construction of Angkor Wat was ordered by Indra to act as a palace for his son Precha Ket Mealea.
According to the 13th century Chinese traveler Daguan Zhou, it was believed by some that the temple was constructed in a single night by a divine architect. The initial design and construction of the temple took place in the first half of the 12th century, during the reign of Suryavarman II (ruled 1113-C. 1150). Dedicated to Vishnu, it was built as the king's state temple and capital city. As neither the foundation stela nor any contemporary inscriptions referring to the temple have been found, its original name is unknown, but it may have been known as "Varah Vishnu-lok" after the presiding deity. Work seems to have ended shortly after the king's death, leaving some of the bas-relief decoration unfinished.
In 1177, approximately 27 years after the death of Suryavarman II, Angkor was sacked by the Chams, the traditional enemies of the Khmer. Thereafter the empire was restored by a new king, Jayavarman VII, who established a new capital and state temple (Angkor Thom and the Bayon respectively) a few kilometers to the north.
In the late 13th century, Angkor Wat gradually moved from Hindu to Theravada Buddhist use, which continues to the present day. Angkor Wat is unusual among the Angkor temples in that although it was somewhat neglected after the 16th century it was never completely abandoned, its preservation being due in part to the fact that its moat also provided some protection from encroachment by the jungle.
One of the first Western visitors to the temple was António da Madalena, a Portuguese monk who visited in 1586 and said that it "is of such extraordinary construction that it is not possible to describe it with a pen, particularly since it is like no other building in the world. It has towers and decoration and all the refinements which the human genius can conceive of."
In the mid-19th century, the temple was visited by the French naturalist and explorer, Henri Mouhot, who popularised the site in the West through the publication of travel notes, in which he wrote:
"One of these temples - a rival to that of Solomon, and erected by some ancient Michelangelo - might take an honorable place beside our most beautiful buildings. It is grander than anything left to us by Greece or Rome, and presents a sad contrast to the state of barbarism in which the nation is now plunged."
Mouhot, like other early Western visitors, found it difficult to believe that the Khmers could have built the temple, and mistakenly dated it to around the same era as Rome. The true history of Angkor Wat was pieced together only from stylistic and epigraphic evidence accumulated during the subsequent clearing and restoration work carried out across the whole Angkor site. There were no ordinary dwellings or houses or other signs of settlement including cooking utensils, weapons, or items of clothing usually found at ancient sites. Instead there is the evidence of the monuments themselves.
Angkor Wat required considerable restoration in the 20th century, mainly the removal of accumulated earth and vegetation. Work was interrupted by the civil war and Khmer Rouge control of the country during the 1970s and 1980s, but relatively little damage was done during this period other than the theft and destruction of mostly post-Angkorian statues.The temple is a powerful symbol of Cambodia, and is a source of great national pride that has factored into Cambodia's diplomatic relations with France, the United States and its neighbor Thailand. A depiction of Angkor Wat has been a part of Cambodian national flags since the introduction of the first version circa 1863. From a larger historical and even transcultural perspective, however, the temple of Angkor Wat did not become a symbol of national pride sui generis but had been inscribed into a larger politico-cultural process of French-colonial heritage production in which the original temple site was presented in French colonial and universal exhibitions in Paris and Marseille between 1889 and 1937. Angkor Wat's aesthetics were also on display in the plaster cast museum of Louis Delaporte called musée Indo-chinois which existed in the Parisian Trocadero Palace from C. 1880 to the mid-1920s. The splendid artistic legacy of Angkor Wat and other Khmer monuments in the Angkor region led directly to France adopting Cambodia as a protectorate on 11 August 1863 and invading Siam to take control of the ruins. This quickly led to Cambodia reclaiming lands in the northwestern corner of the country that had been under Siamese (Thai) control since 1351 AD (Manich Jumsai 2001), or by some accounts, 1431 AD. Cambodia gained independence from France on 9 November 1953 and has controlled Angkor Wat since that time.
ARCHITECTURE
SITE AND PLAN
Angkor Wat, located at 13°24′45″N 103°52′0″E, is a unique combination of the temple mountain, the standard design for the empire's state temples and the later plan of concentric galleries. The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods: the central quincunx of towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls and moat the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean. Access to the upper areas of the temple was progressively more exclusive, with the laity being admitted only to the lowest level. Unlike most Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west rather than the east. This has led many (including Maurice Glaize and George Coedès) to conclude that Suryavarman intended it to serve as his funerary temple.Further evidence for this view is provided by the bas-reliefs, which proceed in a counter-clockwise direction - prasavya in Hindu terminology - as this is the reverse of the normal order. Rituals take place in reverse order during Brahminic funeral services. The archaeologist Charles Higham also describes a container which may have been a funerary jar which was recovered from the central tower. It has been nominated by some as the greatest expenditure of energy on the disposal of a corpse. Freeman and Jacques, however, note that several other temples of Angkor depart from the typical eastern orientation, and suggest that Angkor Wat's alignment was due to its dedication to Vishnu, who was associated with the west.
A further interpretation of Angkor Wat has been proposed by Eleanor Mannikka. Drawing on the temple's alignment and dimensions, and on the content and arrangement of the bas-reliefs, she argues that the structure represents a claimed new era of peace under King Suryavarman II: "as the measurements of solar and lunar time cycles were built into the sacred space of Angkor Wat, this divine mandate to rule was anchored to consecrated chambers and corridors meant to perpetuate the king's power and to honor and placate the deities manifest in the heavens above." Mannikka's suggestions have been received with a mixture of interest and scepticism in academic circles. She distances herself from the speculations of others, such as Graham Hancock, that Angkor Wat is part of a representation of the constellation Draco.
STYLE
Angkor Wat is the prime example of the classical style of Khmer architecture - the Angkor Wat style - to which it has given its name. By the 12th century Khmer architects had become skilled and confident in the use of sandstone (rather than brick or laterite) as the main building material. Most of the visible areas are of sandstone blocks, while laterite was used for the outer wall and for hidden structural parts. The binding agent used to join the blocks is yet to be identified, although natural resins or slaked lime has been suggested. The temple has drawn praise above all for the harmony of its design. According to Maurice Glaize, a mid-20th-century conservator of Angkor, the temple "attains a classic perfection by the restrained monumentality of its finely balanced elements and the precise arrangement of its proportions. It is a work of power, unity and style." Architecturally, the elements characteristic of the style include: the ogival, redented towers shaped like lotus buds; half-galleries to broaden passageways; axial galleries connecting enclosures; and the cruciform terraces which appear along the main axis of the temple. Typical decorative elements are devatas (or apsaras), bas-reliefs, and on pediments extensive garlands and narrative scenes. The statuary of Angkor Wat is considered conservative, being more static and less graceful than earlier work. Other elements of the design have been destroyed by looting and the passage of time, including gilded stucco on the towers, gilding on some figures on the bas-reliefs, and wooden ceiling panels and doors.
FEATURES
OUTER ENCLOSURE
The outer wall, 1024 by 802 m and 4.5 m high, is surrounded by a 30 m apron of open ground and a moat 190 m wide. Access to the temple is by an earth bank to the east and a sandstone causeway to the west; the latter, the main entrance, is a later addition, possibly replacing a wooden bridge. There are gopuras at each of the cardinal points; the western is by far the largest and has three ruined towers. Glaize notes that this gopura both hides and echoes the form of the temple proper. Under the southern tower is a statue of Vishnu, known as Ta Reach, which may originally have occupied the temple's central shrine.Galleries run between the towers and as far as two further entrances on either side of the gopura often referred to as "elephant gates", as they are large enough to admit those animals. These galleries have square pillars on the outer (west) side and a closed wall on the inner (east) side. The ceiling between the pillars is decorated with lotus rosettes; the west face of the wall with dancing figures; and the east face of the wall with balustered windows, dancing male figures on prancing animals, and devatas, including (south of the entrance) the only one in the temple to be showing her teeth. The outer wall encloses a space of 820,000 square metres, which besides the temple proper was originally occupied by the city and, to the north of the temple, the royal palace. Like all secular buildings of Angkor, these were built of perishable materials rather than of stone, so nothing remains of them except the outlines of some of the streets. Most of the area is now covered by forest. A 350 m causeway connects the western gopura to the temple proper, with naga balustrades and six sets of steps leading down to the city on either side. Each side also features a library with entrances at each cardinal point, in front of the third set of stairs from the entrance, and a pond between the library and the temple itself. The ponds are later additions to the design, as is the cruciform terrace guarded by lions connecting the causeway to the central structure.
CENTRAL STRUCTURE
The temple stands on a terrace raised higher than the city. It is made of three rectangular galleries rising to a central tower, each level higher than the last. Mannikka interprets these galleries as being dedicated to the king, Brahma, the moon, and Vishnu.
Each gallery has a gopura at each of the points, and the two inner galleries each have towers at their corners, forming a quincunx with the central tower. Because the temple faces west, the features are all set back towards the east, leaving more space to be filled in each enclosure and gallery on the west side; for the same reason the west-facing steps are shallower than those on the other sides.
The outer gallery measures 187 by 215 m, with pavilions rather than towers at the corners. The gallery is open to the outside of the temple, with columned half-galleries extending and buttressing the structure. Connecting the outer gallery to the second enclosure on the west side is a cruciform cloister called Preah Poan (the "Hall of a Thousand Gods"). Buddha images were left in the cloister by pilgrims over the centuries, although most have now been removed. This area has many inscriptions relating the good deeds of pilgrims, most written in Khmer but others in Burmese and Japanese. The four small courtyards marked out by the cloister may originally have been filled with water.
North and south of the cloister are libraries.
Beyond, the second and inner galleries are connected to each other and to two flanking libraries by another cruciform terrace, again a later addition. From the second level upwards, devatas abound on the walls, singly or in groups of up to four. The second-level enclosure is 100 by 115 m, and may originally have been flooded to represent the ocean around Mount Meru.
Three sets of steps on each side lead up to the corner towers and gopuras of the inner gallery. The very steep stairways represent the difficulty of ascending to the kingdom of the gods. This inner gallery, called the Bakan, is a 60 m square with axial galleries connecting each gopura with the central shrine, and subsidiary shrines located below the corner towers. The roofings of the galleries are decorated with the motif of the body of a snake ending in the heads of lions or garudas. Carved lintels and pediments decorate the entrances to the galleries and to the shrines. The tower above the central shrine rises 43 m to a height of 65 m above the ground; unlike those of previous temple mountains, the central tower is raised above the surrounding four. The shrine itself, originally occupied by a statue of Vishnu and open on each side, was walled in when the temple was converted to Theravada Buddhism, the new walls featuring standing Buddhas. In 1934, the conservator George Trouvé excavated the pit beneath the central shrine: filled with sand and water it had already been robbed of its treasure, but he did find a sacred foundation deposit of gold leaf two metres above ground level.
DECORATION
Integrated with the architecture of the building, and one of the causes for its fame is Angkor Wat's extensive decoration, which predominantly takes the form of bas-relief friezes. The inner walls of the outer gallery bear a series of large-scale scenes mainly depicting episodes from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Higham has called these, "the greatest known linear arrangement of stone carving".
From the north-west corner anti-clockwise, the western gallery shows the Battle of Lanka (from the Ramayana, in which Rama defeats Ravana) and the Battle of Kurukshetra (from the Mahabharata, showing the mutual annihilation of the Kaurava and Pandava clans). On the southern gallery follow the only historical scene, a procession of Suryavarman II, then the 32 hells and 37 heavens of Hindu mythology.
On the eastern gallery is one of the most celebrated scenes, the Churning of the Sea of Milk, showing 92 asuras and 88 devas using the serpent Vasuki to churn the sea under Vishnu's direction (Mannikka counts only 91 asuras, and explains the asymmetrical numbers as representing the number of days from the winter solstice to the spring equinox, and from the equinox to the summer solstice). It is followed by Vishnu defeating asuras (a 16th-century addition). The northern gallery shows Krishna's victory over Bana (where according to Glaize, "The workmanship is at its worst"). and a battle between the Hindu gods and asuras. The north-west and south-west corner pavilions both feature much smaller-scale scenes, some unidentified but most from the Ramayana or the life of Krishna. Angkor Wat is decorated with depictions of apsaras and devata; there are more than 1,796 depictions of devata in the present research inventory. Angkor Wat architects employed small apsara images (30–40 cm) as decorative motifs on pillars and walls. They incorporated larger devata images (all full-body portraits measuring approximately 95–110 cm) more prominently at every level of the temple from the entry pavilion to the tops of the high towers. In 1927, Sappho Marchal published a study cataloging the remarkable diversity of their hair, headdresses, garments, stance, jewelry and decorative flowers, which Marchal concluded were based on actual practices of the Angkor period.
CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES
The stones, as smooth as polished marble, were laid without mortar with very tight joints that are sometimes hard to find. The blocks were held together by mortise and tenon joints in some cases, while in others they used dovetails and gravity. The blocks were presumably put in place by a combination of elephants, coir ropes, pulleys and bamboo scaffolding. Henri Mouhot noted that most of the blocks had holes 2.5 cm in diameter and 3 cm deep, with more holes on the larger blocks. Some scholars have suggested that these were used to join them together with iron rods, but others claim they were used to hold temporary pegs to help manoeuvre them into place. The monument was made out of millions of tonnes of sandstone and it has a greater volume as well as mass than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. The Angkor Wat Temple consumes about 6 million to 10 million blocks of sandstone with an average weight of 1.5 tons each. In fact, the entire city of Angkor used up far greater amounts of stone than all the Egyptian pyramids combined, and occupied an area significantly greater than modern-day Paris. Moreover, unlike the Egyptian pyramids which use limestone quarried barely half a km away all the time, the entire city of Angkor was built with sandstone quarried 40 km (or more) away. This sandstone had to be transported from Mount Kulen, a quarry approximately 40 km to the northeast. The route has been suggested to span 35 kilometres along a canal towards Tonlé Sap lake, another 35 kilometres crossing the lake, and finally 15 kilometres upstream and against the current along Siem Reap River, making a total journey of 90 kilometres. However, Etsuo Uchida and Ichita Shimoda of Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan have discovered in 2012 a shorter 35-kilometre canal connecting Mount Kulen and Angkor Wat using satellite imagery. The two believe that the Khmer used this route instead.
Virtually all of its surfaces, columns, lintels even roofs are carved. There are miles of reliefs illustrating scenes from Indian literature including unicorns, griffins, winged dragons pulling chariots as well as warriors following an elephant-mounted leader and celestial dancing girls with elaborate hair styles. The gallery wall alone is decorated with almost 1000 square metres of bas reliefs. Holes on some of the Angkor walls indicate that they may have been decorated with bronze sheets. These were highly prized in ancient times and were a prime target for robbers. While excavating Khajuraho, Alex Evans, a stonemason and sculptor, recreated a stone sculpture under 1.2 m, this took about 60 days to carve. Roger Hopkins and Mark Lehner also conducted experiments to quarry limestone which took 12 quarrymen 22 days to quarry about 400 tons of stone. The labor force to quarry, transport, carve and install so much sandstone must have run into the thousands including many highly skilled artisans. The skills required to carve these sculptures were developed hundreds of years earlier, as demonstrated by some artifacts that have been dated to the seventh century, before the Khmer came to power.
ANGKOR WAT TODAY
The Archaeological Survey of India carried out restoration work on the temple between 1986 and 1992. Since the 1990s, Angkor Wat has seen continued conservation efforts and a massive increase in tourism. The temple is part of the Angkor World Heritage Site, established in 1992, which has provided some funding and has encouraged the Cambodian government to protect the site. The German Apsara Conservation Project (GACP) is working to protect the devatas and other bas-reliefs which decorate the temple from damage. The organisation's survey found that around 20% of the devatas were in very poor condition, mainly because of natural erosion and deterioration of the stone but in part also due to earlier restoration efforts. Other work involves the repair of collapsed sections of the structure, and prevention of further collapse: the west facade of the upper level, for example, has been buttressed by scaffolding since 2002, while a Japanese team completed restoration of the north library of the outer enclosure in 2005. World Monuments Fund began conservation work on the Churning of the Sea of Milk Gallery in 2008 after several years of conditions studies. The project restored the traditional Khmer roofing system and removed cement used in earlier restoration attempts that had resulted in salts entering the structure behind the bas-relief, discoloring and damaging the sculpted surfaces. The main phase of work ended in 2012, and the final component will be the installation of finials on the roof of the gallery in 2013. Microbial biofilms have been found degrading sandstone at Angkor Wat, Preah Khan, and the Bayon and West Prasat in Angkor. The dehydration and radiation resistant filamentous cyanobacteria can produce organic acids that degrade the stone. A dark filamentous fungus was found in internal and external Preah Khan samples, while the alga Trentepohlia was found only in samples taken from external, pink-stained stone at Preah Khan. Angkor Wat has become a major tourist destination. In 2004 and 2005, government figures suggest that, respectively, 561.000 and 677.000 foreign visitors arrived in Siem Reap province, approximately 50% of all foreign tourists in Cambodia for both years. The site has been managed by the private SOKIMEX group since 1990, which rented it from the Cambodian government. The influx of tourists has so far caused relatively little damage, other than some graffiti; ropes and wooden steps have been introduced to protect the bas-reliefs and floors, respectively. Tourism has also provided some additional funds for maintenance - as of 2000 approximately 28% of ticket revenues across the whole Angkor site was spent on the temples - although most work is carried out by foreign government-sponsored teams rather than by the Cambodian authorities. Since Angkor Wat has seen significant growth in tourism throughout the years UNESCO and its International Co-ordinating Committee for the Safeguarding and Development of the Historic Site of Angkor (ICC), in association with representatives from the Royal Government and APSARA, organized seminars to discuss the concept of "cultural tourism". Wanting to avoid commercial and mass tourism, the seminars emphasized the importance of providing high quality accommodation and services in order for the Cambodian government to benefit economically, while also incorporating the richness of Cambodian culture. In 2001, this incentive resulted in the concept of the "Angkor Tourist City" which would be developed with regard to traditional Khmer architecture, contain leisure and tourist facilities, and provide luxurious hotels capable of accommodating large amounts of tourists. The prospect of developing such large tourist accommodations has encountered concerns from both APSARA and the ICC, claiming that previous tourism developments in the area have neglected construction regulations and more of these projects have the potential to damage landscape features. Also, the large scale of these projects have begun to threaten the quality of the nearby town's water, sewage, and electricity systems. It has been noted that such high frequency of tourism and growing demand for quality accommodations in the area, such as the development of a large highway, has had a direct effect on the underground water table, subsequently straining the structural stability of the temples at Angkor Wat. Locals of Siem Reap have also voiced concern over the charming nature and atmosphere of their town being compromised in order to entertain tourism. Since this charming local atmosphere is the key component to projects like Angkor Tourist City, local officials continue to discuss how to successfully incorporate future tourism without sacrificing local values and culture. At the ASEAN Tourism Forum 2012, both parties have agreed Borobudur and Angkor Wat to become sister sites and the provinces will become sister provinces. Two Indonesian airlines are considering the opportunity to open a direct flight from Yogyakarta, Indonesia to Siem Reap.
WIKIPEDIA
Sgt. Julie Nicholson, Female Engagement Team leader, Marine Headquarters Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force, shakes hands with an Afghan child during a mission in Helmand province, Afghanistan. Nicholson's team conducts searches of Afghan women and children and gains information from the women who are not permitted to interact with men outside of their families.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo)
ENGLISH VERSION available
Artprice puts the Etienne Perrone documentary online: “Artprice or the art market revolution”
This 23-minute documentary in HD format describes the extraordinary human adventure of the birth in France of the world leader in art market information, Artprice, which grew out of a twenty year search for perfection in a global quest to make an Alexandrian library available to the world on Internet. Today Artprice owns 360,000 books, documents and art manuscripts dating back to the 17th century. Referring to the documentary, Thierry Ehrmann said "Film-maker Etienne Perrone has captured the real added-value that Artprice has contributed to Art history. No other company in the world has given itself the objective of standardising the art market". This documentary shows the hundreds of thousands of work-hours by historians and scientists who year after year enrich the largest art market database in the world. Artprice, according to its founder, “is only at 10% of its history”. The film was made in collaboration with the managers and personnel that have constituted Artprice and Groupe Serveur every day since 1987".
blog.ehrmann.org/films/artprice.html
Artprice ou la révolution du marché de l'art
réalisation Etienne Perrone scénario thierry Ehrmann
L’histoire d’une aventure humaine hors du commun qui a vu naître à Lyon le leader mondial de l’information sur le marché de l’art à travers une recherche du Graal durant plus de 20 ans à parcourir le monde pour faire renaître une bibliothèque d’Alexandrie sur Internet. Une fois de plus, c’est mon réalisateur fétiche Etienne Perrone qui depuis 3 mois tourne mon scénario où j’ai écris ces 20 ans d’aventure. Le film a bénéficié de la complicité de celles et ceux qui font Artprice et groupe Serveur chaque jour depuis 1987.
The "Put like I want to see I want." Author: MinamiAyako
4th (2005) R-18 Literature Award.
God, I need your help. Whether or not, today, physiology so do not come. At the very least, after sex as "Mr. Yoshii" is also in the first attempt. Because it is good at the Hebrews say, Mr. Yoshii us come to see me even if there is no sex. But I know after all. Mr. Yoshii and I are looking for each other at any other than sex. But two people have not seen the other sex when you no longer for some reason if. I was impressed the selection committee to "Mitsuyo Kakuta's," "kind of guy, I wish I I need" he said. In addition to "summer ending" 4th R-18 Grand Prize for Literature winner. I record the title of the work 200% functionality of the painful feelings will explode.
Put peanut butter between two Ritz crackers, dip in chocolate, put sprinkles on top. Enjoy. (Can also put on lollipop sticks and wrap individually with plastic wrap - finish it off with curly ribbon in Christmas colors.)
I put a seance room in the attic. Why, you ask? first, a bit of background info: Following The First World War and the loss of so many people to the meat grinder known as trench warfare and the following influenza pandemic, spiritualism saw a resurgence in the 1920s and mediums were called into houses across the country to have the dead family members speak through them. (Naturally, this was a bunch of feel-good hocus pocus mixed with disguised party tricks - the 'mediums' usually hoodwinked the families while making them believe the dead have been reached, all while making good money off the bereaved families.)
The long and short of it is, the couple who own the house lost a son to the Great War, and are trying to communicate with him in the beyond.
I put a Junior Legal Size Notepad on a Large Moleskine Journal, attached them with a binder clip and voila! Paper to write quick notes, tear off to exchange information, and a place to mindmap so that you can document the results and throw away the mess. No mess, no fuss.
s384a Sekcija 92 11786 EncJu1965-6 Ohrid Zagreb MCMLXV Maklj-Put Enciklopedija Jugoslavije Izdanje i naklada Leksikografskog zavoda FNRJ
I find it funny that every place you look in Hickory's Valley Hills Mall, you see Lindsay Lohan's face. They're trying a little TOO hard to get people (aka tweens) to want to see this movie. When you're putting the star's face on those paper placemats that go in trays in the food court, you're desperate.
This was the first part of the Bristol Road South I was on in Longbridge. To the left of the Longbridge Island. (towards Rubery).
There were loads of lorrys parked here. This shot is of a Danger sign, think it says Danger Keep Put.
I cannot put into words how ready I am for the weekend… maybe this picture will explain better. I had a lot of things happen this week that really made me think, questions, second-guess, and step back a bit. It’s been an interesting 8 days to say the least, but I think some clarity is finally headed my way. Before the Irish Cream that is!
Theme: Musings and Ramblings.
Year Six Of My 365 Project
Beforehand, the Queen was "not amused" that she - so to speak, as Dick and Harry - had to spend the night in a hotel because she tends to put up at official state palaces. Since Austria does not have such, Her Majesty had no choice but to make do with the Imperial during her state visit, which the then 43-year-old monarch then described on leaving as the "most beautiful hotel I have ever stayed in". The new owner, Khalaf Ahmed Al Habtoor, bought the same and many other stories at the same time. In addition to kings, sheikhs and maharajas, the guest house of the Republic was home to world stars from Maurice Chevalier to Sophia Loren and Michael Jackson.
Hardly tourism
In Vienna, when Mr. Landau converted the Imperial from a spacious single-family house into a hotel, there were almost only simple restaurants, as there was hardly any significant tourism until then. Only the finished Ring Road and the world exhibition in 1873 attracted business people and tourists in masses. The Emperor of Brazil, the King of Denmark and the German Emperor Wilhelm I were among the first guests of the hotel. In addition to statesmen, the Imperial attracted artists such as Eleonora Duse and Sarah Bernhardt and when Richard Wagner came to the Court Opera in 1875 for a "Tannhäuser" performance, he lived in a 7-suite of rooms, including a specially acquired grand piano.
As the former single-family palace soon proved too small for a first-class hotel, the Vienna Transport Bank, which had meanwhile acquired it for three million kroner (now around 15 million euro), was asking for expansion in 1912 with the Building Authority by two floors. It could not be more Austrian: Until the approval was granted, 15 years (!) passed, and only then the addition of another storeys finally could be started. In return, the hotel received the honorable title "K. u. K. Hoflieferant (Purveyor to the Court)" in September 1918, but the management was only allowed to be happy for two months because the Court ceased to exist (end of monarchy!).
In Chaplin's room
Prominent guests such as Charlie Chaplin, who presented his film "City Lights" in Vienna on March 17, 1931, were received here as a king. Onlookers climbed on the trees in front of the Imperial to see the movie star up close, a young lady even sneaked into his suite, supposedly to convince him of her acting qualities. In March 1938, Hitler declared the Imperial to be his Vienna headquarters and inhabited it whenever he was in the city. At the same time the hotel was "Aryanized", the main shareholder Samuel Schallinger deported to the concentration camp Theresienstadt, where he was murdered in 1942. It never came to restitution.
For state guests
After the war, the hotel, which had meanwhile become the property of the Creditanstalt, served as the seat of the Soviet High Commissioner, before finally becoming a noble hostel for state guests in 1958.
Today, the 5-star hotel has 138 rooms and apartments that are designed so that - as was the case with the Queen - a whole floor can be used as a unit. Behind the scenes, we learn that the queen made a point of even bringing the water for her tea in large bottles from London. At the Imperial, they did not shuffle around and cooked Her Majesty's favorite drink with the well-known Viennese high spring water, without ever having been noticed by her.
Too small for Kennedy
While Kremlin chief Nikita Khrushchev and his wife slept at the Soviet-American summit meeting in Vienna in 1961 at the Imperial, Jackie and John F. Kennedy stayed in the residence of the American Embassy. As no US President at all has ever stayed as an official state guest at the Imperial, "because they need 200 rooms with their entourage," hotel chronicler Michael Moser reports. For the Americans, the Imperial is too small.
While presidents and kings reside in the Imperial as guests of the Republic, ordinary millionaires pay between 359 per night and - if they move into the princely suite - 5000 euros.
Without breakfast.
Im Vorfeld war die Queen "not amused", dass sie – sozusagen wie Kreti und Pleti – in einem Hotel nächtigen musste, weil sie in offiziellen Staatspalästen abzusteigen pflegt. Da Österreich über einen solchen nicht verfügt, blieb Her Majesty nichts anderes übrig als während ihres Staatsbesuchs mit dem Imperial vorlieb zu nehmen, das die damals 43-jährige Monarchin dann bei der Abreise als "schönstes Hotel, in dem ich je gewohnt habe", bezeichnete.Solche und viele andere Geschichten hat der neue Eigentümer Khalaf Ahmed Al Habtoor gleich mitgekauft, wohnten doch im Gästehaus der Republik neben Königen, Scheichs und Maharadschas auch Weltstars von Maurice Chevalier über Sophia Loren bis Michael Jackson.
Kaum Tourismus
In Wien gab es, als Herr Landau das Imperial vom geräumigen Einfamilienhaus in ein Hotel umbaute, fast nur einfache Gaststätten, da es hier bis dahin kaum nennenswerten Fremdenverkehr gab. Erst die fertige Ringstraße und die Weltausstellung 1873 lockten Geschäftsleute und Touristen in Massen an. So zählten der Kaiser von Brasilien, der König von Dänemark und der deutsche Kaiser Wilhelm I. zu den ersten Gästen des Hotels. Neben Staatsmännern zog das Imperial Künstler wie Eleonora Duse und Sarah Bernhardt an und als Richard Wagner 1875 für eine "Tannhäuser"-Aufführung an die Hofoper kam, bewohnte er eine 7-Zimmer-Flucht samt eigens angeschafftem Konzertflügel.
Da sich das ehemalige Einfamilien-Palais bald als zu klein für ein First-Class-Hotel erwies, suchte die Wiener Verkehrsbank, die es mittlerweile für drei Millionen Kronen (heute rund 15 Millionen Euro) erworben hatte, im Jahr 1912 bei der Baubehörde um Erweiterung von zwei Stockwerken an. Österreichischer geht’s nicht: Bis zur Erteilung der Genehmigung vergingen sage und schreibe 15 Jahre (!), dann erst konnte endlich mit der Aufstockung begonnen werden. Dafür erhielt das Hotel im September 1918 den ehrenvollen Titel "K. u. k. Hoflieferant", über den sich die Direktion allerdings nur zwei Monate freuen durfte, weil es dann keinen Hof mehr gab.
In Chaplins Zimmer
Auch in der Republik kamen prominente Gäste wie Charlie Chaplin, der am 17. März 1931 in Wien seinen Film "Lichter der Großstadt" vorstellte und hier wie ein König empfangen wurde. Schaulustige kletterten auf die Bäume vor dem Imperial, um den Filmstar aus der Nähe sehen zu können, eine junge Dame schlich sogar in seine Suite, angeblich, um ihn von ihren schauspielerischen Qualitäten zu überzeugen.Im März 1938 erklärte Hitler das Imperial zu seinem Wiener Hauptquartier und bewohnte es, wann immer er in der Stadt war. Gleichzeitig wurde das Hotel "arisiert", der Hauptaktionär Samuel Schallinger ins KZ Theresienstadt deportiert, wo man ihn 1942 ermordete. Zu einer Restitution ist es nie gekommen.
Für Staatsgäste
Nach dem Krieg diente das mittlerweile in den Besitz der Creditanstalt gelangte Hotel als Sitz des sowjetischen Hochkommissars, ehe es 1958 endgültig zur Nobelherberge für Staatsgäste der Republik wurde.
Heute verfügt das 5-Sterne-Hotel über 138 Zimmer und Appartements, die so angelegt sind, dass – wie es bei der Queen der Fall war – ein ganzer Stock als Einheit zur Verfügung stehen kann. Hinter vorgehaltener Hand erfährt man, dass die Königin wert darauf legte, dass sogar das Wasser für ihren Tee in großen Flaschen aus London mitgebracht wurde. Im Imperial scherte man sich nicht weiter drum und kochte das Leibgetränk Ihrer Majestät mit dem bewährten Wiener Hochquellwasser auf, ohne dass sie es je bemerkt hätte.
Zu klein für Kennedy
Während Kreml-Chef Nikita Chruschtschow und Gattin beim sowjetisch-amerikanischen Gipfeltreffen in Wien 1961 im Imperial schliefen, logierten Jackie und John F. Kennedy in der Residenz der amerikanischen Botschaft. Wie überhaupt noch nie ein amtierender US-Präsident als offizieller Staatsgast im Imperial nächtigte, "weil diese mit ihrer Entourage 200 Zimmer benötigen", weiß der Hotel-Chronist Michael Moser zu berichten. Für die Amerikaner ist das Imperial zu klein.
Während Präsidenten und Könige im Imperial als Gäste der Republik wohnen, zahlen ganz normale Millionäre pro Nacht zwischen 359 und – so sie die Fürstensuite beziehen – 5000 Euro.
Ohne Frühstück.
kurier.at/chronik/wien/der-mythos-des-hotel-imperial/182....