Covering two floors of this office building in Fleet Place, London, Mansfield Monk designed a fresh working environment that consolidated the two businesses who were relocating to the new offices. The design reflects the individuality, creativity and passion of both parts of the business.

 

www.mansfieldmonk.co.uk

French postcard by Editions La Malibran, Paris / Saint Dié, no. CA 19. Vivien Leigh in That Hamilton Woman / Lady Hamilton (Alexander Korda, 1941).

 

Stunning British actress Vivien Leigh (1913-1967) won two Academy Awards for playing ‘Southern belles’: Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939) and Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). On stage, she starred – often with her husband, Laurence Olivier - in parts that ranged from the heroines of Noël Coward and George Bernard Shaw comedies to Shakespearean characters like Ophelia, Juliet, and Lady Macbeth.

 

Vivien Leigh was born Vivian Mary Hartley in Darjeeling, India, to Ernest Hartley, a British officer in the Indian Cavalry, and Gertrude Robinson Yackje. In 1917, her father was relocated to Bangalore, while Vivian and her mother stayed in Ootacamund. At age six, Vivian was sent to a convent school in England. In addition to taking the usual classes, Vivian studied violin, piano, cello, and ballet, and participated in school plays. A friend there was the future actress Maureen O'Sullivan, to whom she expressed her desire to become "a great actress". In 1931 her father helped her enrol at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. She met Herbert Leigh Holman, known as Leigh, a barrister thirteen years her senior. Despite his disapproval of ‘theatrical people’, they were married in 1932, and upon their marriage, she terminated her studies at RADA. In 1933, she gave birth to a daughter, Suzanne, but felt stifled by her domestic life. Her friends suggested her for a small part in Things Are Looking Up (Albert de Courville, 1935), which marked her film debut. She engaged an agent, John Gliddon, who recommended her to film director and producer Alexander Korda, but he rejected her as lacking potential. Cast in the play The Mask of Virtue in 1935, Vivien Leigh received excellent reviews followed by interviews and newspaper articles. Korda, who attended her opening-night performance, admitted his error and signed her to a film contract. Laurence Olivier saw Leigh in The Mask of Virtue, and a friendship developed after he congratulated her on her performance. While playing lovers in the film Fire Over England (William K. Howard, 1937), Olivier and Leigh developed a strong attraction, and after filming was completed, they began an affair. Olivier was married to actress Jill Esmond at that time. Leigh played Ophelia to Olivier's Hamlet in an Old Vic Theatre production. They began living together, as their respective spouses had each refused to divorce. Leigh appeared with Conrad Veidt in the spy thriller Dark Journey (Victor Saville, 1937), and with Robert Taylor and Maureen O'Sullivan in A Yank at Oxford (Jack Conway, 1938). During the production of the latter, she developed a reputation for being difficult and unreasonable, and Korda instructed her agent to warn her. Her next role was in St. Martin's Lane/Sidewalks of London (Tim Whelan, 1938) with Charles Laughton and Rex Harrison.

 

Laurence Olivier travelled to Hollywood to play Heathcliff in Samuel Goldwyn's production of Wuthering Heights (William Wyler, 1939), leaving Vivien Leigh in London. Leigh was offered the secondary role of Isabella, but she refused it, saying she would only play Cathy, a role already assigned to Merle Oberon. Leigh's American agent was the London representative of the Myron Selznick Agency, and in 1938, she asked that her name be placed in consideration for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in David O. Selznick's (Myron’s brother) production of Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) an epic adaptation of the bestseller by Margaret Mitchell. David O. Selznick watched her films, and from that time she became a serious contender for the part. Leigh travelled to Los Angeles, ostensibly to be with Olivier. When Myron Selznick, who also represented Olivier, met Leigh, he felt that she possessed the qualities his brother was searching for. Myron took Leigh and Olivier to the set where the burning of the Atlanta Depot scene was being filmed and introduced Leigh. The following day, Leigh read a scene for Selznick, who organised a screen test and wrote to his wife, "She's the Scarlett dark horse and looks damn good. Not for anyone's ear but your own: it's narrowed down to Paulette Goddard, Jean Arthur, Joan Bennett, and Vivien Leigh". Filming proved difficult for Leigh; director George Cukor was dismissed and replaced by Victor Fleming, with whom Leigh frequently quarrelled. Gone with the Wind brought Leigh immediate attention and fame. Among the ten Academy Awards won by Gone with the Wind was the Best Actress award for Leigh, who also won a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress.

 

In 1940, Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh were married. Leigh hoped to star with her husband and made a screentest for Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940). Selznick noted that she didn't seem right as to sincerity or age or innocence, and subsequently cast Joan Fontaine. He also refused to allow her to join Olivier in Pride and Prejudice (Robert Z. Leonard, 1940), and Greer Garson took the part Leigh had envisioned for herself. Waterloo Bridge (Mervyn LeRoy, 1940) was to have starred Olivier and Leigh; however, Selznick replaced Olivier with Robert Taylor, then at the peak of his success as one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most popular male stars. Leigh's top billing reflected her status in Hollywood, and the film proved to be popular with audiences and critics. She and Olivier mounted a stage production of Romeo and Juliet for Broadway. The New York Press publicized the adulterous nature that had marked the beginning of Olivier and Leigh's relationship and questioned their ethics in not returning to England to help with the war effort, and critics were hostile in their assessment of the production. The couple had invested almost their entire savings into the project, and its failure was a financial disaster for them. Next, they filmed That Hamilton Woman (Alexander Korda, 1941) with Olivier as Horatio Nelson and Leigh as Emma Hamilton. The film was popular in the United States and an outstanding success in the Soviet Union. The Oliviers returned to England, and Leigh toured through North Africa in 1943, performing for troops before falling ill with a persistent cough and fevers. In 1944 she was diagnosed as having tuberculosis in her left lung. But after spending several weeks in the hospital, she appeared to be cured. When she suffered a miscarriage, she fell into a deep depression. This was the first of many major breakdowns related to bipolar disorder. She was well enough to resume acting in 1946, in a successful London production of Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth, but her films of this period, Caesar and Cleopatra (Gabriel Pascal, 1945) and Anna Karenina (Julien Duvivier, 1948), were not great successes.

 

In 1947 Olivier was knighted, and Vivien Leigh accompanied him to Buckingham Palace for the inauguration. She became Lady Olivier, and after their divorce, per the style granted the divorced wife of a knight, she became, socially, Vivien, Lady Olivier. Leigh played the role of Blanche DuBois in the West End stage production of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. Like Blanche, Leigh was romantic, emotionally fragile, and tragic. After a run of 326 performances, she was also engaged for the film version opposite Marlon Brando. The film had glowing reviews, and she won a second Academy Award for Best Actress, a BAFTA Award and a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress. In 1953, Leigh travelled to Ceylon to film Elephant Walk with Peter Finch. Shortly after filming commenced, she suffered a breakdown, and Paramount Pictures replaced her with Elizabeth Taylor. Olivier returned her to their home in England, where between periods of incoherence, Leigh told him that she had been having an affair with Finch. She gradually recovered over several months. Noël Coward was enjoying success with the play South Sea Bubble, with Leigh in the lead role, but she became pregnant and withdrew from the production. Several weeks later, she miscarried and entered a period of depression that lasted for months. In 1960, she and Olivier divorced, and Olivier married the actress Joan Plowright. Vivien’s new partner Jack Merivale proved to be a stabilizing influence for her. Though bouts of depression still beset her, she continued to work in the theatre and won a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role in Tovarich in 1963. She also appeared in the films The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone (José Quintero, 1961) opposite Warren Beatty, and in the all-star Ship of Fools (Stanley Kramer, 1965). After many long years of battling manic depression and several outbreaks of tuberculosis, Vivien Leigh's body gave out. She died in London in 1967.

 

Sources: Wikipedia, Brian McFarlane (Encyclopedia of British Film), Vivien Leigh Online, Vivien-Leigh.com, Find a Grave, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

I would say that the main attraction in Bangkok has to be the spectacular Grand Palace, it is a complex of buildings at the heart of Phra Nakhon district, Bangkok. The palace has been the official residence of the Kings of Siam ( and later Thailand ) since 1782. The king, his court and his royal government were based on the grounds of the palace until 1925. Construction of the palace began on 6th May 1782, by the order of King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke ( Rama I ), the founder of the Chakri Dynasty, when he moved the capital city from Thonburi to Bangkok. This area however was already occupied by Chinese merchants who he promptly asked to relocate to the present day China Town also known as Yaowarat area.

Having been here four times now, the novelty has worn off for me. But that does not deter from the sheer beauty of this attraction. This is the Place to visit, so be prepared for many crowds, due to its popularity many first time visitors to Thailand make this their first port of call. The present King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his Queen Sirikit along with his family still use this for many events in their busy calendar.

Unfortunately because this is the main attraction in Bangkok, sadly you will find the greatest number of con men and scammers or touts. They will try everything to part you from your money, from saying the palace is closed, to saying your dress code is all wrong. Royal Thai Army soldiers, from the 1st Infantry Regiment, King's Own Bodyguard guard the Palace, simply go to the main gate and ask them. They will soon inform you whether you can enter or not. The dress code problem can be easily solved by crossing the road and hiring what you need to cover up Tattoos or bare arms etc. There are several shops catering for the hiring out of clothes to gain access to the Grand Palace. You will find the dress code for Temples is rigidly applied here. The reason they use the Grand Palace is closed con is that they hope to coerce you into buying a river trip and some other trip around Bangkok to buy items that they get paid commission on.

Visitors are requested to be dressed properly and appropriately on entering the grounds of the Grand Palace. These are the guide lines for attire within this Palace.

Shorts, mini skirts, short skirts, tight fitting trousers, as well as tights cannot be worn as outer garments.

See through shirts and blouses, as well as culottes or quarter length trousers cannot be worn.

Sleeveless shirts or vests cannot be worn as outer garments.

Sandals (without ankle or heel straps) cannot be worn.

All shirt sleeves, whether long or short, cannot be rolled up.

Sweat shirts and sweat pants, wind-cheaters cannot be worn.

Phone: 02-623-5500 Ext. 1124, 3100 Open everyday from 8.30 a.m. to 16.30 p.m. Tickets sold until 15.30 p.m.

ADMISSION FEES:

Ticket costs 500 Baht each ( for Foreign Visitors ~ free for Thai residents ) and consists of three main parts :

1) The yellow part is for the Grand Palace and is valid only on the day of purchase. ( A guide book will be given to each visitor at the entrance to the temple.)

2) The blue part is for the Vimanmek Mansion Museum ( The world's largest golden teakwood mansion ) This part of the ticket is valid for seven days from the day of purchase. The Vimanmek Mansion Museum is located at Suan Phuttan Garden on Ratchawithi Road in the Dusit District of Bangkok, and may be reached by bus number 70, departing from outside the Grand Palace, or by taxi.

(Note : Entry to Vimanmek Museum will not be permitted without the blue part of the ticket, which may also be purchased separately, on a daily basis, at the museum for 100 Baht.)

3) The white ticket is for The Royal Thai Decoration and Coin Pavilion, which is on the right hand side before the entrance to the temple.

Construction began in 1782, at first the palace consisted of several wooden buildings surrounded on four sides with a high defensive wall of 1,900 metres in length, which encloses an area of 218,400 square metres. Soon the King ordered the building of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha; as the Monarch’s personal place of worship and royal temple. Once the palace was complete the King decided to undergo a coronation ceremony to celebrate in 1785.

The layout of the Grand Palace follows closely to that of the old palace in Ayutthaya. The Palace is rectangular shaped, with the western side next to a river and the royal temple situated to the east side, with all structures facing north. The palace itself is divided into three quarters: the outer quarters, the middle quarters and the inner quarters. Also in this Temple you will see a large model replica of the old Royal City at Ankor Wat in Cambodia.

The Galleries are some of the first exhibits you will see entering this complex of incredible buildings. These portray scenes from the Ramakien, first painted during the reign of King Rama 1. They have been restored several times over the years to maintain their condition and looks. The first scene of the story begins at the east gate opposite the Phra Wiharn Yod. The significant scenes from this story appear next to the gate leading to the Royal Palace.

I recall one dog that was relaxing in the middle of the lane of a two lane windy road. A good thing for slow speed limits as he didn't move at all. It reminded me of this dog.

Fort Bliss MWR

Fort Bliss MWR

 

The astronaut transfer van, known as the Astrovan during the Space Shuttle era, was a NASA vehicle used at the Kennedy Space Center to transport astronauts from the Operations and Checkout Building to the launch pad before a mission and for launch dress rehearsals, and back to the Operations and Checkout Building following a shuttle landing.

 

According to driver Ronnie King, the early shuttle astronauts liked the history-filled vehicle, even if it was somewhat old, and even argued against upgrading the vehicle. "We were staged to get a new one," King said, and added that word came that the rookie astronauts wanted to keep the vehicle that was a tradition of the astronauts who traveled those nine miles to the pad before them.

 

During the twenty-minute drive to the launch pad for shuttle launches, the Astrovan usually stopped at least once along the way. An astronaut rode with the crew and was let off near the Vehicle Assembly Building to board the Shuttle Training Aircraft and assess local weather conditions. Senior NASA managers occasionally rode along as well, and were dropped off at the Launch Control Center.

 

During Project Mercury a modified semi truck and trailer was used to transport astronauts to the launch pads LC-5 and LC-14.

During Project Gemini a fleet of converted delivery vans were used to transport astronauts to the launch pad LC-19.

A modified Clark-Cortez motorhome was used to transport Apollo-era crews to the launch pad, beginning with Apollo 7 in 1967 and continuing through the Apollo–Soyuz launch in 1975. This vehicle remained in use through STS-6, and is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's Apollo/Saturn V Center.

An Itasca Suncruiser M-22RB was used to transport the STS-7 and STS-8 astronauts to the launch pad, as the size of shuttle crews had increased.

A modified 1983 Airstream Excella motorhome, popularly known as the Astrovan, was used from STS-9 through the final Space Shuttle mission (STS-135), and is also on display at the KSC Visitor Center.

On October 21, 2019, the Boeing Company and Airstream announced Astrovan II, a modified Airstream Atlas (with a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis) touring coach to carry Boeing commercial crew astronauts to the launch pad where they will board the CST-100 Starliner on their way to the International Space Station. Astrovan II has seating for up to eight (including the driver), and was built at Airstream's Jackson Center, Ohio production facility.

SpaceX does not use a van to transport astronauts for the SpaceX Dragon 2 missions, instead using a set of specially made Tesla Model X cars.

On April 13, 2022, NASA announced that Canoo Technologies Inc would build three new crew transportation vehicles designed to take the fully suited astronauts, their support team, and their equipment on the nine-mile stretch of road from the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building to the launch pad for the Artemis program.

In Russia and China cosmonauts and taikonauts have always relied on a bus to take them to the Launch Pad.

 

The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968, KSC has been NASA's primary launch center of American spaceflight, research, and technology. Launch operations for the Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs were carried out from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39 and managed by KSC. Located on the east coast of Florida, KSC is adjacent to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS). The management of the two entities work very closely together, share resources and operate facilities on each other's property.

 

Though the first Apollo flights and all Project Mercury and Project Gemini flights took off from the then-Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the launches were managed by KSC and its previous organization, the Launch Operations Directorate. Starting with the fourth Gemini mission, the NASA launch control center in Florida (Mercury Control Center, later the Launch Control Center) began handing off control of the vehicle to the Mission Control Center in Houston, shortly after liftoff; in prior missions it held control throughout the entire mission.

 

Additionally, the center manages launch of robotic and commercial crew missions and researches food production and in-situ resource utilization for off-Earth exploration. Since 2010, the center has worked to become a multi-user spaceport through industry partnerships, even adding a new launch pad (LC-39C) in 2015.

 

There are about 700 facilities and buildings grouped throughout the center's 144,000 acres (580 km2). Among the unique facilities at KSC are the 525-foot (160 m) tall Vehicle Assembly Building for stacking NASA's largest rockets, the Launch Control Center, which conducts space launches at KSC, the Operations and Checkout Building, which houses the astronauts dormitories and suit-up area, a Space Station factory, and a 3-mile (4.8 km) long Shuttle Landing Facility. There is also a Visitor Complex on site that is open to the public.

 

Since 1949, the military had been performing launch operations at what would become Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. In December 1959, the Department of Defense transferred 5,000 personnel and the Missile Firing Laboratory to NASA to become the Launch Operations Directorate under NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

 

President John F. Kennedy's 1961 goal of a crewed lunar landing by 1970 required an expansion of launch operations. On July 1, 1962, the Launch Operations Directorate was separated from MSFC to become the Launch Operations Center (LOC). Also, Cape Canaveral was inadequate to host the new launch facility design required for the mammoth 363-foot (111 m) tall, 7,500,000-pound-force (33,000 kN) thrust Saturn V rocket, which would be assembled vertically in a large hangar and transported on a mobile platform to one of several launch pads. Therefore, the decision was made to build a new LOC site located adjacent to Cape Canaveral on Merritt Island.

 

NASA began land acquisition in 1962, buying title to 131 square miles (340 km2) and negotiating with the state of Florida for an additional 87 square miles (230 km2). The major buildings in KSC's Industrial Area were designed by architect Charles Luckman. Construction began in November 1962, and Kennedy visited the site twice in 1962, and again just a week before his assassination on November 22, 1963.

 

On November 29, 1963, the facility was named by President Lyndon B. Johnson under Executive Order 11129. Johnson's order joined both the civilian LOC and the military Cape Canaveral station ("the facilities of Station No. 1 of the Atlantic Missile Range") under the designation "John F. Kennedy Space Center", spawning some confusion joining the two in the public mind. NASA Administrator James E. Webb clarified this by issuing a directive stating the Kennedy Space Center name applied only to the LOC, while the Air Force issued a general order renaming the military launch site Cape Kennedy Air Force Station.

 

Located on Merritt Island, Florida, the center is north-northwest of Cape Canaveral on the Atlantic Ocean, midway between Miami and Jacksonville on Florida's Space Coast, due east of Orlando. It is 34 miles (55 km) long and roughly six miles (9.7 km) wide, covering 219 square miles (570 km2). KSC is a major central Florida tourist destination and is approximately one hour's drive from the Orlando area. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex offers public tours of the center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

 

From 1967 through 1973, there were 13 Saturn V launches, including the ten remaining Apollo missions after Apollo 7. The first of two uncrewed flights, Apollo 4 (Apollo-Saturn 501) on November 9, 1967, was also the first rocket launch from KSC. The Saturn V's first crewed launch on December 21, 1968, was Apollo 8's lunar orbiting mission. The next two missions tested the Lunar Module: Apollo 9 (Earth orbit) and Apollo 10 (lunar orbit). Apollo 11, launched from Pad A on July 16, 1969, made the first Moon landing on July 20. The Apollo 11 launch included crewmembers Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, and attracted a record-breaking 650 million television viewers. Apollo 12 followed four months later. From 1970 to 1972, the Apollo program concluded at KSC with the launches of missions 13 through 17.

 

On May 14, 1973, the last Saturn V launch put the Skylab space station in orbit from Pad 39A. By this time, the Cape Kennedy pads 34 and 37 used for the Saturn IB were decommissioned, so Pad 39B was modified to accommodate the Saturn IB, and used to launch three crewed missions to Skylab that year, as well as the final Apollo spacecraft for the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

 

As the Space Shuttle was being designed, NASA received proposals for building alternative launch-and-landing sites at locations other than KSC, which demanded study. KSC had important advantages, including its existing facilities; location on the Intracoastal Waterway; and its southern latitude, which gives a velocity advantage to missions launched in easterly near-equatorial orbits. Disadvantages included: its inability to safely launch military missions into polar orbit, since spent boosters would be likely to fall on the Carolinas or Cuba; corrosion from the salt air; and frequent cloudy or stormy weather. Although building a new site at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico was seriously considered, NASA announced its decision in April 1972 to use KSC for the shuttle. Since the Shuttle could not be landed automatically or by remote control, the launch of Columbia on April 12, 1981 for its first orbital mission STS-1, was NASA's first crewed launch of a vehicle that had not been tested in prior uncrewed launches.

 

In 1976, the VAB's south parking area was the site of Third Century America, a science and technology display commemorating the U.S. Bicentennial. Concurrent with this event, the U.S. flag was painted on the south side of the VAB. During the late 1970s, LC-39 was reconfigured to support the Space Shuttle. Two Orbiter Processing Facilities were built near the VAB as hangars with a third added in the 1980s.

 

KSC's 2.9-mile (4.7 km) Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) was the orbiters' primary end-of-mission landing site, although the first KSC landing did not take place until the tenth flight, when Challenger completed STS-41-B on February 11, 1984; the primary landing site until then was Edwards Air Force Base in California, subsequently used as a backup landing site. The SLF also provided a return-to-launch-site (RTLS) abort option, which was not utilized. The SLF is among the longest runways in the world.

 

On October 28, 2009, the Ares I-X launch from Pad 39B was the first uncrewed launch from KSC since the Skylab workshop in 1973.

 

Beginning in 1958, NASA and military worked side by side on robotic mission launches (previously referred to as unmanned), cooperating as they broke ground in the field. In the early 1960s, NASA had as many as two robotic mission launches a month. The frequent number of flights allowed for quick evolution of the vehicles, as engineers gathered data, learned from anomalies and implemented upgrades. In 1963, with the intent of KSC ELV work focusing on the ground support equipment and facilities, a separate Atlas/Centaur organization was formed under NASA's Lewis Center (now Glenn Research Center (GRC)), taking that responsibility from the Launch Operations Center (aka KSC).

 

Though almost all robotics missions launched from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS), KSC "oversaw the final assembly and testing of rockets as they arrived at the Cape." In 1965, KSC's Unmanned Launch Operations directorate became responsible for all NASA uncrewed launch operations, including those at Vandenberg Space Force Base. From the 1950s to 1978, KSC chose the rocket and payload processing facilities for all robotic missions launching in the U.S., overseeing their near launch processing and checkout. In addition to government missions, KSC performed this service for commercial and foreign missions also, though non-U.S. government entities provided reimbursement. NASA also funded Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launch pad maintenance and launch vehicle improvements.

 

All this changed with the Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, after which NASA only coordinated its own and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ELV launches. Companies were able to "operate their own launch vehicles" and utilize NASA's launch facilities. Payload processing handled by private firms also started to occur outside of KSC. Reagan's 1988 space policy furthered the movement of this work from KSC to commercial companies. That same year, launch complexes on Cape Canaveral Air Force Force Station started transferring from NASA to Air Force Space Command management.

 

In the 1990s, though KSC was not performing the hands-on ELV work, engineers still maintained an understanding of ELVs and had contracts allowing them insight into the vehicles so they could provide knowledgeable oversight. KSC also worked on ELV research and analysis and the contractors were able to utilize KSC personnel as a resource for technical issues. KSC, with the payload and launch vehicle industries, developed advances in automation of the ELV launch and ground operations to enable competitiveness of U.S. rockets against the global market.

 

In 1998, the Launch Services Program (LSP) formed at KSC, pulling together programs (and personnel) that already existed at KSC, GRC, Goddard Space Flight Center, and more to manage the launch of NASA and NOAA robotic missions. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and VAFB are the primary launch sites for LSP missions, though other sites are occasionally used. LSP payloads such as the Mars Science Laboratory have been processed at KSC before being transferred to a launch pad on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

 

On 16 November 2022, at 06:47:44 UTC the Space Launch System (SLS) was launched from Complex 39B as part of the Artemis 1 mission.

 

As the International Space Station modules design began in the early 1990s, KSC began to work with other NASA centers and international partners to prepare for processing before launch onboard the Space Shuttles. KSC utilized its hands-on experience processing the 22 Spacelab missions in the Operations and Checkout Building to gather expectations of ISS processing. These experiences were incorporated into the design of the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), which began construction in 1991. The Space Station Directorate formed in 1996. KSC personnel were embedded at station module factories for insight into their processes.

 

From 1997 to 2007, KSC planned and performed on the ground integration tests and checkouts of station modules: three Multi-Element Integration Testing (MEIT) sessions and the Integration Systems Test (IST). Numerous issues were found and corrected that would have been difficult to nearly impossible to do on-orbit.

 

Today KSC continues to process ISS payloads from across the world before launch along with developing its experiments for on orbit. The proposed Lunar Gateway would be manufactured and processed at the Space Station Processing Facility.

 

The following are current programs and initiatives at Kennedy Space Center:

Commercial Crew Program

Exploration Ground Systems Program

NASA is currently designing the next heavy launch vehicle known as the Space Launch System (SLS) for continuation of human spaceflight.

On December 5, 2014, NASA launched the first uncrewed flight test of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), currently under development to facilitate human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

Launch Services Program

Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)

Research and Technology

Artemis program

Lunar Gateway

International Space Station Payloads

Camp KSC: educational camps for schoolchildren in spring and summer, with a focus on space, aviation and robotics.

 

The KSC Industrial Area, where many of the center's support facilities are located, is 5 miles (8 km) south of LC-39. It includes the Headquarters Building, the Operations and Checkout Building and the Central Instrumentation Facility. The astronaut crew quarters are in the O&C; before it was completed, the astronaut crew quarters were located in Hangar S at the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex (now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station). Located at KSC was the Merritt Island Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network station (MILA), a key radio communications and spacecraft tracking complex.

 

Facilities at the Kennedy Space Center are directly related to its mission to launch and recover missions. Facilities are available to prepare and maintain spacecraft and payloads for flight. The Headquarters (HQ) Building houses offices for the Center Director, library, film and photo archives, a print shop and security. When the KSC Library first opened, it was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. However, in 1965, the library moved into three separate sections in the newly opened NASA headquarters before eventually becoming a single unit in 1970. The library contains over four million items related to the history and the work at Kennedy. As one of ten NASA center libraries in the country, their collection focuses on engineering, science, and technology. The archives contain planning documents, film reels, and original photographs covering the history of KSC. The library is not open to the public but is available for KSC, Space Force, and Navy employees who work on site. Many of the media items from the collection are digitized and available through NASA's KSC Media Gallery Archived December 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine or through their more up-to-date Flickr gallery.

 

A new Headquarters Building was completed in 2019 as part of the Central Campus consolidation. Groundbreaking began in 2014.

 

The center operated its own 17-mile (27 km) short-line railroad. This operation was discontinued in 2015, with the sale of its final two locomotives. A third had already been donated to a museum. The line was costing $1.3 million annually to maintain.

 

The Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building (O&C) (previously known as the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building) is a historic site on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places dating back to the 1960s and was used to receive, process, and integrate payloads for the Gemini and Apollo programs, the Skylab program in the 1970s, and for initial segments of the International Space Station through the 1990s. The Apollo and Space Shuttle astronauts would board the astronaut transfer van to launch complex 39 from the O&C building.

The three-story, 457,000-square-foot (42,500 m2) Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) consists of two enormous processing bays, an airlock, operational control rooms, laboratories, logistics areas and office space for support of non-hazardous Space Station and Shuttle payloads to ISO 14644-1 class 5 standards. Opened in 1994, it is the largest factory building in the KSC industrial area.

The Vertical Processing Facility (VPF) features a 71-by-38-foot (22 by 12 m) door where payloads that are processed in the vertical position are brought in and manipulated with two overhead cranes and a hoist capable of lifting up to 35 short tons (32 t).

The Hypergolic Maintenance and Checkout Area (HMCA) comprises three buildings that are isolated from the rest of the industrial area because of the hazardous materials handled there. Hypergolic-fueled modules that made up the Space Shuttle Orbiter's reaction control system, orbital maneuvering system and auxiliary power units were stored and serviced in the HMCF.

The Multi-Payload Processing Facility is a 19,647 square feet (1,825.3 m2) building used for Orion spacecraft and payload processing.

The Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) contains a 70-by-110-foot (21 by 34 m) service bay, with a 100,000-pound (45,000 kg), 85-foot (26 m) hook height. It also contains a 58-by-80-foot (18 by 24 m) payload airlock. Its temperature is maintained at 70 °F (21 °C).[55]

The Blue Origin rocket manufacturing facility is located immediately south of the KSC visitor complex. Completed in 2019, it serves as the company's factory for the manufacture of New Glenn orbital rockets.

 

Launch Complex 39 (LC-39) was originally built for the Saturn V, the largest and most powerful operational launch vehicle until the Space Launch System, for the Apollo crewed Moon landing program. Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972, LC-39 has been used to launch every NASA human space flight, including Skylab (1973), the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project (1975), and the Space Shuttle program (1981–2011).

 

Since December 1968, all launch operations have been conducted from launch pads A and B at LC-39. Both pads are on the ocean, 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the VAB. From 1969 to 1972, LC-39 was the "Moonport" for all six Apollo crewed Moon landing missions using the Saturn V, and was used from 1981 to 2011 for all Space Shuttle launches.

 

Human missions to the Moon required the large three-stage Saturn V rocket, which was 363 feet (111 meters) tall and 33 feet (10 meters) in diameter. At KSC, Launch Complex 39 was built on Merritt Island to accommodate the new rocket. Construction of the $800 million project began in November 1962. LC-39 pads A and B were completed by October 1965 (planned Pads C, D and E were canceled), the VAB was completed in June 1965, and the infrastructure by late 1966.

 

The complex includes: the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), a 130,000,000 cubic feet (3,700,000 m3) hangar capable of holding four Saturn Vs. The VAB was the largest structure in the world by volume when completed in 1965.

a transporter capable of carrying 5,440 tons along a crawlerway to either of two launch pads;

a 446-foot (136 m) mobile service structure, with three Mobile Launcher Platforms, each containing a fixed launch umbilical tower;

the Launch Control Center; and

a news media facility.

 

Launch Complex 48 (LC-48) is a multi-user launch site under construction for small launchers and spacecraft. It will be located between Launch Complex 39A and Space Launch Complex 41, with LC-39A to the north and SLC-41 to the south. LC-48 will be constructed as a "clean pad" to support multiple launch systems with differing propellant needs. While initially only planned to have a single pad, the complex is capable of being expanded to two at a later date.

 

As a part of promoting commercial space industry growth in the area and the overall center as a multi-user spaceport, KSC leases some of its properties. Here are some major examples:

 

Exploration Park to multiple users (partnership with Space Florida)

Shuttle Landing Facility to Space Florida (who contracts use to private companies)

Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF)-3 to Boeing (for CST-100 Starliner)

Launch Complex 39A, Launch Control Center Firing Room 4 and land for SpaceX's Roberts Road facility (Hanger X) to SpaceX

O&C High Bay to Lockheed Martin (for Orion processing)

Land for FPL's Space Coast Next Generation Solar Energy Center to Florida Power and Light (FPL)

Hypergolic Maintenance Facility (HMF) to United Paradyne Corporation (UPC)

 

The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, operated by Delaware North since 1995, has a variety of exhibits, artifacts, displays and attractions on the history and future of human and robotic spaceflight. Bus tours of KSC originate from here. The complex also includes the separate Apollo/Saturn V Center, north of the VAB and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, six miles west near Titusville. There were 1.5 million visitors in 2009. It had some 700 employees.

 

It was announced on May 29, 2015, that the Astronaut Hall of Fame exhibit would be moved from its current location to another location within the Visitor Complex to make room for an upcoming high-tech attraction entitled "Heroes and Legends". The attraction, designed by Orlando-based design firm Falcon's Treehouse, opened November 11, 2016.

 

In March 2016, the visitor center unveiled the new location of the iconic countdown clock at the complex's entrance; previously, the clock was located with a flagpole at the press site. The clock was originally built and installed in 1969 and listed with the flagpole in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2000. In 2019, NASA celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Apollo program, and the launch of Apollo 10 on May 18. In summer of 2019, Lunar Module 9 (LM-9) was relocated to the Apollo/Saturn V Center as part of an initiative to rededicate the center and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Program.

 

Historic locations

NASA lists the following Historic Districts at KSC; each district has multiple associated facilities:

 

Launch Complex 39: Pad A Historic District

Launch Complex 39: Pad B Historic District

Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) Area Historic District

Orbiter Processing Historic District

Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) Disassembly and Refurbishment Complex Historic District

NASA KSC Railroad System Historic District

NASA-owned Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Industrial Area Historic District

There are 24 historic properties outside of these historic districts, including the Space Shuttle Atlantis, Vehicle Assembly Building, Crawlerway, and Operations and Checkout Building.[71] KSC has one National Historic Landmark, 78 National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) listed or eligible sites, and 100 Archaeological Sites.

 

Further information: John F. Kennedy Space Center MPS

Other facilities

The Rotation, Processing and Surge Facility (RPSF) is responsible for the preparation of solid rocket booster segments for transportation to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). The RPSF was built in 1984 to perform SRB operations that had previously been conducted in high bays 2 and 4 of the VAB at the beginning of the Space Shuttle program. It was used until the Space Shuttle's retirement, and will be used in the future by the Space Launch System[75] (SLS) and OmegA rockets.

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This was a surprise to see today, while out at the Pumpkin Patch at Impossible Acres Farm. This is the Tank House, that used to be at the Hunt Boyer Mansion downtown, but was moved, and then vanished completely, presumed dismantled. Well, it wasn't - it was sold to this farm (for just $11), who had to cut it in half to move it, and are planning to restore it and use it as a proper historic tankhouse. Very nice.

 

I drew it previously (see: www.flickr.com/photos/petescully/4651356243), when it had forst been moved to make way fro the new Mishka's cafe, but when it was moved again I thought it was gone. Apparently not!

"The Royal Menagerie is first referenced during the reign of Henry III. In 1251, the sheriffs were ordered to pay fourpence a day towards the upkeep for the King's polar bear; the bear attracted a great deal of attention from Londoners when it went fishing in the Thames. In 1254, the sheriffs were ordered to subsidise the construction of an elephant house at the Tower. The exact location of the medieval menagerie is unknown, although the lions were kept in the barbican known as Lion Tower. The royal collection was swelled by diplomatic gifts including three leopards from the Holy Roman Emperor. By the 18th century, the menagerie was open to the public; admission cost three half-pence or the supply of a cat or dog to be fed to the lions. The last of the animals left in 1835, relocated to Regents Park, after one of the lions was accused of biting a soldier. The Keeper of the Royal Menagerie was entitled to use the Lion Tower as a house for life. Consequentially, even though the animals had long since left the building, the Lion Tower was not demolished until the last keeper's death in 1853.

 

During 2011 an exhibition was hosted at the Tower with fine wire sculptures by Kendra Haste."

relocation service geneva

History

The oldest predecessor building was a cathedral complex from the Ottonian period with a three-aisled double-choir church (symbol of the Pope and the Empire), which was probably equipped with a flat wooden ceiling. The complex was completed before the relocation of the episcopal see from Säben (Säben Abbey (German: Kloster Säben; Italian: Monastero di Sabiona) is a Benedictine nunnery located near Klausen in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It was established in 1687, when it was first settled by the nuns of Nonnberg Abbey in Salzburg) to Brixen, which took place around 990. The church's eastern choir was consecrated to Saints Peter and Ingenuin (bishop of Säben around 600) and had a St. Martin's crypt, the west choir with a St. Nicholas crypt was dedicated to St. Stephen. After the end of the investiture controversy, the double-choir church no longer met the spirit of religious reform. Bishop Hartmann (1140-1164) had the west choir therefore broken off and built in its place two facade towers.

Ceiling painting by Paul Troger: Adoration of the Lamb

In 1174, the cathedral complex fell victim to a major fire. As a result, under the bishops Richer of Hohenburg and Heinrich von Berchtesgaden during the reconstruction structural adaptations in the style of the High Romanesque were made. The nave was vaulted and a single-aisled transept put in. The cathedral was consecrated in 1237 by Bishop Eberhard of Salzburg and re-consecrated in 1274 after further fire damage. During the Gothic period several chapels were added to the cathedral. There were more significant conversions under Bishop Nicholas of Kues, who had removed the eastern apses and had them replaced with a Gothic high choir with pointed arched windows and reticulated vaults. Under the direction of court architect Hans Reichle, the Romanesque north tower 1610-1613 received its present early Baroque form. The south tower was adapted in 1748 to the north tower.

Prince-Bishop Kaspar Ignaz Count Künigl (1702-1747) advocated a fundamental renovation of the old building complex already at the beginning of his long term of office, while he was forced by the cathedral chapter to a Baroque new building. He then preferred to first stabilize his diocese in pastoral terms (popular missions) before lending a hand to the cathedral. It was not until 1745 that the time had come. For the implementation of the comprehensive reconstruction, which lasted until 1754, the cream de la creme of the Tyrolean Baroque in Brixen was, so to speak, concentrated: Josef Delai from Bolzano as an architect, Theodor Benedetti from Mori as plasterer and altar builder, Stephan Föger from Innsbruck, who (the three of them) also participated in the planning; furthermore Paul Troger from Welsberg as a fresco artist, Joseph Schöpf from Telfs as a painter of the altarpieces, Dominikus Moling from Wengen as a designer of the altar statues, the Troger pupil Michelangelo Unterberger from Cavalese as painter of the high altarpiece. The construction management was held by Josef Delai and the priests Franz Penz and Georg Tangl. On September 10, 1758, the almost completely remodeled cathedral was completed with the consecration of Prince Bishop Leopold Count Spaur. The Classicistic vestibule was completed 30 years later by Jakob Pirchstaller from Trens.

In 1895, the fresco ensemble Paul Trogers was sustainably altered by the restoration work of Albrecht Steiner von Felsburg, not only by replacing his pseudo-dome in the crossing by his "triumph of religions", but also his painted illusory architecture around the large ceiling picture in green-gray tint by gilded and colored neo-Baroque stucco; this was contrary to the contemporary tastes, but from today's point of view it was not a fortunate intervention, even though a design by Paul Troger for the Geras Abbey in Lower Austria served as a model for the new dome painting.

Extensive restoration work undertook in 1985/86 the workshop Peskoller from Bruneck, outdoors the original color tones and the Baroque ornaments being restored and inside cleaned the ceiling frescoes and the stucco and wall panels painted again. In 2001, the cathedral roof was re-covered and the tower helmets were restored.

 

Geschichte

Der älteste Vorgängerbau war eine Münsteranlage aus ottonischer Zeit mit einer dreischiffigen Doppelchorkirche (Symbol von Papst- und Kaisertum), die vermutlich mit einer flachen Holzdecke ausgestattet war. Die Anlage war noch vor der Verlegung des Bischofssitzes von Säben nach Brixen, die um 990 stattfand, vollendet worden. Der Ostchor der Kirche war den Heiligen Petrus und Ingenuin (Bischof von Säben um 600) geweiht und verfügte über eine St.-Martins-Krypta, der Westchor mit einer St.-Nikolaus-Krypta war dem Heiligen Stefan geweiht. Nach dem Ende des Investiturstreites entsprach die Doppelchorkirche dem Sinne der religiösen Reformen nicht mehr. Bischof Hartmann (1140–1164) ließ den Westchor deshalb abbrechen und an seiner Stelle zwei Fassadentürme errichten.

Deckengemälde von Paul Troger: Anbetung des Lammes

Im Jahre 1174 fiel die Münsteranlage einem Großbrand zum Opfer. In der Folge wurden unter den Bischöfen Richer von Hohenburg und Heinrich von Berchtesgaden beim Wiederaufbau bauliche Adaptierungen im Stile der Hochromanik vorgenommen. Das Langhaus wurde eingewölbt und ein einschiffiges Querhaus eingezogen. Der Dom wurde 1237 von Bischof Eberhard von Salzburg geweiht und nach weiteren Brandschäden 1274 nochmals geweiht. In der Zeit der Gotik wurden an den Dom mehrere Kapellen angebaut. Bedeutendere Umbauten gab es dann unter Bischof Nikolaus von Kues, der die Ostapsiden entfernen und diese mit einem gotischen Hochchor mit Spitzbogenfenstern und Netzgewölben ersetzen ließ. Unter der Leitung des Hofbaumeisters Hans Reichle erhielt der romanische Nordturm 1610–1613 seine heutige frühbarocke Form. Der Südturm wurde 1748 an den Nordturm angeglichen.

Fürstbischof Kaspar Ignaz Graf Künigl (1702–1747) befürwortete bereits am Beginn seiner langen Amtszeit eine grundlegende Renovierung des alten Gebäudekomplexes, während er vom Domkapitel zu einem barocken Neubau gedrängt wurde. Er zog es dann aber vor, zuerst seine Diözese in seelsorglicher Hinsicht zu stabilisieren (Volksmissionen), bevor er Hand an den Dom legen ließ. Erst 1745 war es soweit. Für die Durchführung des umfassenden Umbaus, der bis 1754 andauerte, wurde gewissermaßen die Creme des Tiroler Barocks in Brixen zusammengezogen: Josef Delai aus Bozen als Architekt, Theodor Benedetti aus Mori als Stuckateur und Altarbauer, Stephan Föger aus Innsbruck, die auch an der Planung beteiligt waren; weiters Paul Troger aus Welsberg als Freskant, Joseph Schöpf aus Telfs als Maler der Altarblätter, Dominikus Moling aus Wengen als Gestalter der Altarstatuen, der Troger-Schüler Michelangelo Unterberger aus Cavalese als Maler des Hochaltarbildes. Die Bauleitung hatten unter anderem Josef Delai und die Priester Franz Penz und Georg Tangl inne. Am 10. September 1758 wurde das nahezu komplett umgestaltete Münster mit der Weihe durch Fürstbischof Leopold Graf Spaur vollendet. Die klassizistische Vorhalle hat 30 Jahre später Jakob Pirchstaller aus Trens fertiggestellt.

Im Jahr 1895 wurde das Freskenensemble Paul Trogers durch die Restaurierungsarbeiten von Albrecht Steiner von Felsburg nachhaltig verändert, indem er nicht nur dessen Scheinkuppel in der Vierung durch seinen „Triumph der Religionen“, sondern auch dessen gemalte Scheinarchitektur um das große Deckenbild in grün-grauer Tönung durch vergoldete und eingefärbte neubarocke Stuckaturen ersetzte; dem damaligen Zeitgeschmack kam das zwar entgegen, aus heutiger Sicht war es kein glücklicher Eingriff, auch wenn für das neue Kuppelgemälde ein Entwurf Paul Trogers für das Stift Geras in Niederösterreich als Vorlage diente.

Umfangreiche Restaurierungsarbeiten nahm 1985/86 die Werkstätte Peskoller aus Bruneck vor, wobei im Außenbereich die originalen Farbtönungen und die Barockornamentik wiederhergestellt und im Innenbereich die Deckenfresken gereinigt und die Stuck- und Wandfelder nachgefärbt wurden. 2001 wurde das Domdach neu eingedeckt und die Turmhelme wurden restauriert.

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brixner_Dom

 

Birds. Black Crake. Madikwe Game Reserve. South Africa. Jun/2021

 

Black Crake

The black crake (Amaurornis flavirostra) is a waterbird in the rail and crake family, Rallidae. It breeds in most of sub-Saharan Africa except in very arid areas. It undertakes some seasonal movements in those parts of its range which are subject to drought. No subspecies have been described.

The adult black crake is 19–23 cm (7.5–9.1 in) long with a short tail and long toes. As its name implies, the adult has mainly black plumage, with a brown olive tone on the wings and upperparts which is rarely detectable in the field. The eye is red, the bill is yellow (hence the flavirostra of the binomial name), and the legs and feet are red, duller when not breeding.

The sexes are similar, but the male is slightly larger. Most males, but only 10% of females, have a hooked upper mandible. The immature bird has brown upperparts and a dark grey head and underparts. Its bill is greenish yellow, and its feet and legs are dull red. The downy chicks are black, as with all rails.

The main call of the black crake is a duet, starting with a throaty chattering krrrok-kraaaa. The response is a dove-like cooing coo-crr-COO

Source: Wikipedia

Franga-de-água Preta

A Franga-de-água preta (Amaurornis flavirostra) é uma ave aquática da família ferroviária e crake, Rallidae. Produz-se na maior parte da África Subsaariana, exceto em áreas muito áridas. Realiza alguns movimentos sazonais nas partes do seu alcance que estão sujeitas à seca. A Franga-de-água preta adulto tem 19–23 cm de comprimento, com cauda curta e dedos longos. Como o próprio nome indica, o adulto tem plumagem principalmente preta, com um tom marrom-oliva nas asas e na parte superior, que raramente é detectável no campo. O olho é vermelho, o bico é amarelo (daí o flavirostra do nome binomial), e as pernas e pés são vermelhos, mais opacos quando não estão se reproduzindo.

Os sexos são semelhantes, mas o macho é um pouco maior. Na maioria dos machos, mas apenas 10% das fêmeas, tem uma mandíbula superior em gancho. O pássaro jovem tem parte superior marrom e cabeça e parte inferior cinza escuro. Seu bico é amarelo esverdeado, e seus pés e pernas são avermelhados. Os pintinhos felpudos são pretos. A chamada principal da Franga-de-água preta é um dueto, começando com um barulho gutural de krrrok-kraaaa. A resposta é um cooing-coo-crr-COO do tipo pomba

 

Fonte: Wikipedia (tradução livre)

  

Madikwe Game Reserve

The Madikwe Game Reserve is a protected area in South Africa, part of the latest park developments in the country. Named after the Madikwe or Marico River, on whose basin it is located, it was opened in 1991 and comprises 750 km2 of bushland north of the small town Groot-Marico up to the Botswana border.

Madikwe Game Reserve lies 90 km north of Zeerust on what used to be farm land, but owing to the poor soil type, farming was not that successful. After extensive research, the South African Government found that this land would best be utilised as a provincial park, to economically uplift this otherwise rather poor area.

The process reintroducing wildlife to the area began in 1992 under the codename Operation Phoenix which relocated entire breeding herds of elephants, Cape buffaloes, south-central black rhinos and southern white rhinos along with various species of antelopes. Following Operation Phoenix, Madikwe has also successfully reintroduce rarer predatory species such as lions, cheetahs, spotted hyenas and Cape wild dogs bringing the total large mammal population of the reserve to over 10 000. There are currently more than 60 species of mammal in the park.

 

Source: Wikipedia

Reserva do Madikwe

A Madikwe Game Reserve é uma área protegida na África do Sul, parte dos mais recentes desenvolvimentos de parques no país. Batizado em homenagem ao rio Madikwe ou Marico, em cuja bacia está localizado, foi inaugurado em 1991 e compreende 750 km2 de mata nativa ao norte da pequena cidade de Groot-Marico até a fronteira com o Botswana.

A Madikwe Game Reserve fica 90 km ao norte de Zeerust, no que costumava ser terras agrícolas, mas devido ao tipo de solo pobre, a agricultura não teve tanto sucesso. Após uma extensa pesquisa, o governo sul-africano descobriu que esta terra seria melhor utilizada como um parque provincial, para elevar economicamente esta área bastante pobre.

O processo de reintrodução da vida selvagem na área começou em 1992 sob o codinome Operação Fênix, que realocou rebanhos inteiros de elefantes, búfalos do Cabo, rinocerontes-negros do centro-sul e rinocerontes brancos do sul junto com várias espécies de antílopes. Após a Operação Phoenix, Madikwe também reintroduziu com sucesso espécies predatórias mais raras, como leões, chitas, hienas-pintadas e cahorros do mato, elevando a população total de grandes mamíferos da reserva para mais de 10.000. Atualmente, existem mais de 60 espécies de mamíferos no parque

Fonte: Wikipedia (traduçao livre)

 

2421 New Berwick Hwy; opened in the late 70s/ early 80s. Relocated in 2003 further down Rt. 11, to 1000 Scott Town Center. According to a listing of Giants as of 1985 I recently found online, there was at one point a second Giant downtown, at Rt. 11 (East St) & Lightstreet Rd. I inspected that area and all I saw was a five point intersection, and nothing resembling even an old grocery store. If anyone has any info please let me know!

The Henan Museum is one of the oldest museums in China. In June 1927, General Feng Yuxiang, the commander in chief of the National Revolutionary Army and the chairman of Henan Province at that time, proposed that “Education is the Essential Politics for a Country (教育为立国根本要政)”. In May 1928, the former provincial government changed the name of Henan Museum into “National Museum” to represent the history and actuality of the nationalities. In 1937 the “7.7 Incident” (Marco Polo Bridge Incident)erupted and the Japanese army formally invaded China. The Museum was closed and 68 boxes of key cultural relics were moved to Chongqing, the Republic of China's war-time capital in southwest China. Hundreds of boxes from the Palace Museum had also been shipped off by the Kuomintang to Chongqing for safe-keeping. Nevertheless, in 1940, the Japanese occupation government reopened the Henan Museum as “Henan Provincial Museum” with several departments such as Affair Office, Storage Department, and Investigation Department. After the Anti-Japanese War, the Kuomintang's Honan Provincial Government resumed management of the Museum. By 1948, many of the museum's artifacts had once again been boxed and moved for safe-keeping, this time to Taiwan. These artifacts formed part of the National Museum of History in Taipei.

 

A “National Museum of Historical Artifacts and Fine Arts” was established in a Japanese style building near the Taipei Botanical Garden in 1955. It was renamed “National Museum of History” in 1956 and the building was renovated in a five-floor traditional Chinese Ming and Qing palace style, with four floors for exhibition and staff offices, and one floor for storage. Despite its limited space, the NMH is renowned for its international exhibitions, and proactive and innovative museum development and educational programs. Various conversions of the building have been carried out over the years to adapt it as a modern space fit for the newest exhibition facilities and requirements. Most recently, architect Michael Graves designed major renovations in 2002.

 

The NMH's collection originally comprised the artifacts of the Henan Museum that were relocated to Taiwan in 1949, and of relics recovered from the Japanese after the Sino-Japanese War. It was named the National Museum of History in 1949 and the Chinese calligraphy title inscription was completed by famous scholar Yu Youren. The collection included the bronzes unearthed in Xinzheng, Hui and Anyang (in Henan Province), Pre-Qin pottery unearthed in Loyang, Han green-glazed pottery, the dancer and musician figurines of the Six Dynasties, and the Tang tri-colored pottery…etc. The arrival of allocated artifacts and donations from private collectors gradually enriched the Museum's collection and enlarged its archives.

Mussel relocation in the Portage River at the Elmore Bridge. Districts 1,3, and 10 participating

 

photo by Nick Buchanan, ODOT.

Foundation stone relocated from High Street Station to the Rutherford Ambulance Station

 

Image courtesy J. MacFarlane

 

This image can be used for study and personal research purposes. Please observe copyright and acknowledge source of all photos. If you wish to reproduce this image for any other purpose you must obtain permission by contacting Maitland City Library

 

If you have any further information about the image, please contact us or leave a comment in the box below.

 

www.carloguina.com

I always make a search for snakes, toads and frogs before I mow the back yard. I found this little Northern Brown Snake in front of the shed. The snake has a scar (bump) on the second curve from the head but was in good shape - I let the snake go under the new shed (it is up on bricks).

Photo by Lee Bennett

The station building was moved across the river, where it remains today. The goods shed was demolished.

there were times we could get out of the car and move very close before they would fly...other times the only shots would be from the car before they left to relocate

Newly constructed nomad vilage in Ga Ermagun. The Chinese are trying to relocate 1.7 M nomads into villages like this by the end of 2015 in the name of progress, with complete disregard to their need to move and be with their livestock. Almost all the villages were empty.

  

Almost 3500 internally displaced people have been successfully relocated from the UN Protection of Civilians site in Juba to a new site within the community in a joint effort between the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and humanitarian agencies.

 

“This is the first movement of displaced people of this magnitude out of the UN Juba protection site. Almost all of those relocated were women and children,” said the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMISS, David Shearer. “They had expressed a strong desire to leave the UN site and to be reunited with their husbands and other family members. Early indications and, in my discussions with those who moved, is that they are pleased to be back in the wider community.”

 

The combined effort to relocate the families to an existing site at Mangateen in the central city followed an UNMISS-negotiated end to sporadic fighting between various groups within the UN protection camp over the past few weeks that threatened vulnerable civilians inside. Once a resolution was reached and people expressed a desire to leave, humanitarian agencies and UNMISS worked quickly and cooperatively to establish temporary housing at Mangateen along with clean water, sanitation and health services.

 

“All those involved in the relocation process realized the seriousness of the situation given the large number of vulnerable women and children being moved. It was a true team effort to carry out the massive logistical task of transporting and supporting these families in a new location within just a few days,” said David Shearer.

 

The Mangateen site has traditionally been managed by the South Sudan Government’s Relief and Rehabilitation Commission and it will continue to do so. Humanitarian agencies will provide additional assistance on request.

 

“I am particularly grateful for the Government’s rapid response to this situation which ensured that people were able to be safely moved and accommodated back in the community,” said David Shearer.

 

“Hundreds of thousands of people fled to UN protection sites across South Sudan out of fear for their lives during the ongoing conflict. But these camps are not a good long-term option for families,” said David Shearer. “If people have the trust and confidence that the environment is safe enough for them to voluntarily return home, UNMISS is poised to assist them. But providing that confidence in the security situation very much lies with the Government.”

 

Photo: UNMISS / Eric Kanalstein

 

The Kard Bar Fire on January 12, 2015, in Cross Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, England, was a significant event that had a profound impact on the local community and garnered national attention. The fire, which engulfed the iconic Kard Bar music store, marked the end of an era and left a lasting legacy in the city's history.

 

The Kard Bar was a well-known institution in Newcastle upon Tyne, particularly among music enthusiasts. Located in the heart of the city, the store served as a cultural hub and a gathering place for generations of music lovers. The store was renowned for its vast collection of vinyl records, CDs, and other music memorabilia, attracting customers from all walks of life.

 

On that fateful day, January 12, 2015, a fire broke out at the Kard Bar, quickly spreading through the premises. The fire was first reported in the early morning hours, and the emergency services were alerted promptly. Firefighters from the Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service rushed to the scene to combat the blaze and prevent it from spreading to neighboring properties.

 

Despite the firefighters' valiant efforts, the fire raged on, fueled by the store's extensive stock of music records and CDs. The iconic wooden structure of the building, along with its accumulated stock, made it difficult for the firefighters to gain control over the inferno. The blaze consumed the entire store, reducing it to ashes within hours.

 

As news of the fire spread throughout Newcastle and beyond, an outpouring of grief and shock swept across the city. The Kard Bar held a special place in the hearts of many, who mourned the loss of a cherished landmark. The store had become synonymous with the vibrant music scene of the city, and its demise marked the end of an era.

 

In the aftermath of the fire, investigations were launched to determine the cause of the incident. The authorities worked tirelessly to piece together the events leading up to the fire. Ultimately, it was revealed that an electrical fault in the building's wiring was the likely cause. The age of the structure and its outdated electrical systems contributed to the rapid spread of the fire.

 

The loss of the Kard Bar was deeply felt by both the local community and the wider music industry. Musicians, artists, and fans rallied together to express their support and solidarity. Benefit concerts and fundraising initiatives were organized to help the store owners and employees recover from the devastating incident. The overwhelming response demonstrated the profound impact the Kard Bar had on the lives of countless individuals.

 

In the years following the fire, the Kard Bar's legacy lived on through the memories and stories shared by those who had visited the store. The music community in Newcastle united to honor the store's memory and preserve its spirit. Local artists dedicated their performances to the Kard Bar, ensuring that its influence would endure.

 

The Kard Bar Fire also highlighted the importance of fire safety regulations and the need for improved infrastructure maintenance. The incident prompted authorities to review safety protocols, particularly in heritage buildings, to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future. The fire served as a wake-up call for both the city of Newcastle and other communities across the country to prioritize the preservation of cultural landmarks and implement effective fire prevention measures.

 

Today, the site where the Kard Bar once stood remains a poignant reminder of the store's rich history and the impact it had on Newcastle's music scene. The memories and stories associated with the Kard Bar continue to resonate, ensuring that its spirit remains alive in the hearts of those who cherished it. The Kard Bar Fire of January 12, 2015, remains a significant event in the city's history, forever etched in the collective memory of Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle is a cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is located on the River Tyne's northern bank, opposite Gateshead to the south. It is the most populous settlement in the Tyneside conurbation and North East England.

 

Newcastle developed around a Roman settlement called Pons Aelius, the settlement became known as Monkchester before taking on the name of a castle built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's eldest son, Robert Curthose. It was one of the world's largest ship building and repair centres during the industrial revolution. Newcastle was part of the county of Northumberland until 1400, when it separated and formed a county of itself. In 1974, Newcastle became part of Tyne and Wear. Since 2018, the city council has been part of the North of Tyne Combined Authority.

 

The history of Newcastle upon Tyne dates back almost 2,000 years, during which it has been controlled by the Romans, the Angles and the Norsemen amongst others. Newcastle upon Tyne was originally known by its Roman name Pons Aelius. The name "Newcastle" has been used since the Norman conquest of England. Due to its prime location on the River Tyne, the town developed greatly during the Middle Ages and it was to play a major role in the Industrial Revolution, being granted city status in 1882. Today, the city is a major retail, commercial and cultural centre.

 

Roman settlement

The history of Newcastle dates from AD 122, when the Romans built the first bridge to cross the River Tyne at that point. The bridge was called Pons Aelius or 'Bridge of Aelius', Aelius being the family name of Roman Emperor Hadrian, who was responsible for the Roman wall built across northern England along the Tyne–Solway gap. Hadrian's Wall ran through present-day Newcastle, with stretches of wall and turrets visible along the West Road, and at a temple in Benwell. Traces of a milecastle were found on Westgate Road, midway between Clayton Street and Grainger Street, and it is likely that the course of the wall corresponded to present-day Westgate Road. The course of the wall can be traced eastwards to the Segedunum Roman fort at Wallsend, with the fort of Arbeia down-river at the mouth of the Tyne, on the south bank in what is now South Shields. The Tyne was then a wider, shallower river at this point and it is thought that the bridge was probably about 700 feet (210 m) long, made of wood and supported on stone piers. It is probable that it was sited near the current Swing Bridge, due to the fact that Roman artefacts were found there during the building of the latter bridge. Hadrian himself probably visited the site in 122. A shrine was set up on the completed bridge in 123 by the 6th Legion, with two altars to Neptune and Oceanus respectively. The two altars were subsequently found in the river and are on display in the Great North Museum in Newcastle.

 

The Romans built a stone-walled fort in 150 to protect the river crossing which was at the foot of the Tyne Gorge, and this took the name of the bridge so that the whole settlement was known as Pons Aelius. The fort was situated on a rocky outcrop overlooking the new bridge, on the site of the present Castle Keep. Pons Aelius is last mentioned in 400, in a Roman document listing all of the Roman military outposts. It is likely that nestling in the shadow of the fort would have been a small vicus, or village. Unfortunately, no buildings have been detected; only a few pieces of flagging. It is clear that there was a Roman cemetery near Clavering Place, behind the Central station, as a number of Roman coffins and sarcophagi have been unearthed there.

 

Despite the presence of the bridge, the settlement of Pons Aelius was not particularly important among the northern Roman settlements. The most important stations were those on the highway of Dere Street running from Eboracum (York) through Corstopitum (Corbridge) and to the lands north of the Wall. Corstopitum, being a major arsenal and supply centre, was much larger and more populous than Pons Aelius.

 

Anglo-Saxon development

The Angles arrived in the North-East of England in about 500 and may have landed on the Tyne. There is no evidence of an Anglo-Saxon settlement on or near the site of Pons Aelius during the Anglo-Saxon age. The bridge probably survived and there may well have been a small village at the northern end, but no evidence survives. At that time the region was dominated by two kingdoms, Bernicia, north of the Tees and ruled from Bamburgh, and Deira, south of the Tees and ruled from York. Bernicia and Deira combined to form the kingdom of Northanhymbra (Northumbria) early in the 7th century. There were three local kings who held the title of Bretwalda – 'Lord of Britain', Edwin of Deira (627–632), Oswald of Bernicia (633–641) and Oswy of Northumbria (641–658). The 7th century became known as the 'Golden Age of Northumbria', when the area was a beacon of culture and learning in Europe. The greatness of this period was based on its generally Christian culture and resulted in the Lindisfarne Gospels amongst other treasures. The Tyne valley was dotted with monasteries, with those at Monkwearmouth, Hexham and Jarrow being the most famous. Bede, who was based at Jarrow, wrote of a royal estate, known as Ad Murum, 'at the Wall', 12 miles (19 km) from the sea. It is thought that this estate may have been in what is now Newcastle. At some unknown time, the site of Newcastle came to be known as Monkchester. The reason for this title is unknown, as we are unaware of any specific monasteries at the site, and Bede made no reference to it. In 875 Halfdan Ragnarsson, the Danish Viking conqueror of York, led an army that attacked and pillaged various monasteries in the area, and it is thought that Monkchester was also pillaged at this time. Little more was heard of it until the coming of the Normans.

 

Norman period

After the arrival of William the Conqueror in England in 1066, the whole of England was quickly subjected to Norman rule. However, in Northumbria there was great resistance to the Normans, and in 1069 the newly appointed Norman Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Comines and 700 of his men were killed by the local population at Durham. The Northumbrians then marched on York, but William was able to suppress the uprising. That same year, a second uprising occurred when a Danish fleet landed in the Humber. The Northumbrians again attacked York and destroyed the garrison there. William was again able to suppress the uprising, but this time he took revenge. He laid waste to the whole of the Midlands and the land from York to the Tees. In 1080, William Walcher, the Norman bishop of Durham and his followers were brutally murdered at Gateshead. This time Odo, bishop of Bayeux, William's half brother, devastated the land between the Tees and the Tweed. This was known as the 'Harrying of the North'. This devastation is reflected in the Domesday Book. The destruction had such an effect that the North remained poor and backward at least until Tudor times and perhaps until the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle suffered in this respect with the rest of the North.

 

In 1080 William sent his eldest son, Robert Curthose, north to defend the kingdom against the Scots. After his campaign, he moved to Monkchester and began the building of a 'New Castle'. This was of the "motte-and-bailey" type of construction, a wooden tower on top of an earthen mound (motte), surrounded by a moat and wooden stockade (bailey). It was this castle that gave Newcastle its name. In 1095 the Earl of Northumbria, Robert de Mowbray, rose up against the king, William Rufus, and Rufus sent an army north to recapture the castle. From then on the castle became crown property and was an important base from which the king could control the northern barons. The Northumbrian earldom was abolished and a Sheriff of Northumberland was appointed to administer the region. In 1091 the parish church of St Nicholas was consecrated on the site of the present Anglican cathedral, close by the bailey of the new castle. The church is believed to have been a wooden building on stone footings.

 

Not a trace of the tower or mound of the motte and bailey castle remains now. Henry II replaced it with a rectangular stone keep, which was built between 1172 and 1177 at a cost of £1,444. A stone bailey, in the form of a triangle, replaced the previous wooden one. The great outer gateway to the castle, called 'the Black Gate', was built later, between 1247 and 1250, in the reign of Henry III. There were at that time no town walls and when attacked by the Scots, the townspeople had to crowd into the bailey for safety. It is probable that the new castle acted as a magnet for local merchants because of the safety it provided. This in turn would help to expand trade in the town. At this time wool, skins and lead were being exported, whilst alum, pepper and ginger were being imported from France and Flanders.

 

Middle Ages

Throughout the Middle Ages, Newcastle was England's northern fortress, the centre for assembled armies. The Border war against Scotland lasted intermittently for several centuries – possibly the longest border war ever waged. During the civil war between Stephen and Matilda, David 1st of Scotland and his son were granted Cumbria and Northumberland respectively, so that for a period from 1139 to 1157, Newcastle was effectively in Scottish hands. It is believed that during this period, King David may have built the church of St Andrew and the Benedictine nunnery in Newcastle. However, King Stephen's successor, Henry II was strong enough to take back the Earldom of Northumbria from Malcolm IV.

 

The Scots king William the Lion was imprisoned in Newcastle, in 1174, after being captured at the Battle of Alnwick. Edward I brought the Stone of Scone and William Wallace south through the town and Newcastle was successfully defended against the Scots three times during the 14th century.

 

Around 1200, stone-faced, clay-filled jetties were starting to project into the river, an indication that trade was increasing in Newcastle. As the Roman roads continued to deteriorate, sea travel was gaining in importance. By 1275 Newcastle was the sixth largest wool exporting port in England. The principal exports at this time were wool, timber, coal, millstones, dairy produce, fish, salt and hides. Much of the developing trade was with the Baltic countries and Germany. Most of the Newcastle merchants were situated near the river, below the Castle. The earliest known charter was dated 1175 in the reign of Henry II, giving the townspeople some control over their town. In 1216 King John granted Newcastle a mayor[8] and also allowed the formation of guilds (known as Mysteries). These were cartels formed within different trades, which restricted trade to guild members. There were initially twelve guilds. Coal was being exported from Newcastle by 1250, and by 1350 the burgesses received a royal licence to export coal. This licence to export coal was jealously guarded by the Newcastle burgesses, and they tried to prevent any one else on the Tyne from exporting coal except through Newcastle. The burgesses similarly tried to prevent fish from being sold anywhere else on the Tyne except Newcastle. This led to conflicts with Gateshead and South Shields.

 

In 1265, the town was granted permission to impose a 'Wall Tax' or Murage, to pay for the construction of a fortified wall to enclose the town and protect it from Scottish invaders. The town walls were not completed until early in the 14th century. They were two miles (3 km) long, 9 feet (2.7 m) thick and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. They had six main gates, as well as some smaller gates, and had 17 towers. The land within the walls was divided almost equally by the Lort Burn, which flowed southwards and joined the Tyne to the east of the Castle. The town began to expand north of the Castle and west of the Lort Burn with various markets being set up within the walls.

 

In 1400 Henry IV granted a new charter, creating a County corporate which separated the town, but not the Castle, from the county of Northumberland and recognised it as a "county of itself" with a right to have a sheriff of its own. The burgesses were now allowed to choose six aldermen who, with the mayor would be justices of the peace. The mayor and sheriff were allowed to hold borough courts in the Guildhall.

 

Religious houses

During the Middle Ages a number of religious houses were established within the walls: the first of these was the Benedictine nunnery of St Bartholomew founded in 1086 near the present-day Nun Street. Both David I of Scotland and Henry I of England were benefactors of the religious house. Nothing of the nunnery remains now.

 

The friary of Blackfriars, Newcastle (Dominican) was established in 1239. These were also known as the Preaching Friars or Shod Friars, because they wore sandals, as opposed to other orders. The friary was situated in the present-day Friars Street. In 1280 the order was granted royal permission to make a postern in the town walls to communicate with their gardens outside the walls. On 19 June 1334, Edward Balliol, claimant to be King of Scotland, did homage to King Edward III, on behalf of the kingdom of Scotland, in the church of the friary. Much of the original buildings of the friary still exist, mainly because, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries the friary of Blackfriars was rented out by the corporation to nine of the local trade guilds.

 

The friary of Whitefriars (Carmelite) was established in 1262. The order was originally housed on the Wall Knoll in Pandon, but in 1307 it took over the buildings of another order, which went out of existence, the Friars of the Sac. The land, which had originally been given by Robert the Bruce, was situated in the present-day Hanover Square, behind the Central station. Nothing of the friary remains now.

 

The friary of Austinfriars (Augustinian) was established in 1290. The friary was on the site where the Holy Jesus Hospital was built in 1682. The friary was traditionally the lodging place of English kings whenever they visited or passed through Newcastle. In 1503 Princess Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII of England, stayed two days at the friary on her way to join her new husband James IV of Scotland.

 

The friary of Greyfriars (Franciscans) was established in 1274. The friary was in the present-day area between Pilgrim Street, Grey Street, Market Street and High Chare. Nothing of the original buildings remains.

 

The friary of the Order of the Holy Trinity, also known as the Trinitarians, was established in 1360. The order devoted a third of its income to buying back captives of the Saracens, during the Crusades. Their house was on the Wall Knoll, in Pandon, to the east of the city, but within the walls. Wall Knoll had previously been occupied by the White Friars until they moved to new premises in 1307.

 

All of the above religious houses were closed in about 1540, when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.

 

An important street running through Newcastle at the time was Pilgrim Street, running northwards inside the walls and leading to the Pilgrim Gate on the north wall. The street still exists today as arguably Newcastle's main shopping street.

 

Tudor period

The Scottish border wars continued for much of the 16th century, so that during that time, Newcastle was often threatened with invasion by the Scots, but also remained important as a border stronghold against them.

 

During the Reformation begun by Henry VIII in 1536, the five Newcastle friaries and the single nunnery were dissolved and the land was sold to the Corporation and to rich merchants. At this time there were fewer than 60 inmates of the religious houses in Newcastle. The convent of Blackfriars was leased to nine craft guilds to be used as their headquarters. This probably explains why it is the only one of the religious houses whose building survives to the present day. The priories at Tynemouth and Durham were also dissolved, thus ending the long-running rivalry between Newcastle and the church for control of trade on the Tyne. A little later, the property of the nunnery of St Bartholomew and of Grey Friars were bought by Robert Anderson, who had the buildings demolished to build his grand Newe House (also known as Anderson Place).

 

With the gradual decline of the Scottish border wars the town walls were allowed to decline as well as the castle. By 1547, about 10,000 people were living in Newcastle. At the beginning of the 16th century exports of wool from Newcastle were more than twice the value of exports of coal, but during the century coal exports continued to increase.

 

Under Edward VI, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, sponsored an act allowing Newcastle to annexe Gateshead as its suburb. The main reason for this was to allow the Newcastle Hostmen, who controlled the export of Tyne coal, to get their hands on the Gateshead coal mines, previously controlled by the Bishop of Durham. However, when Mary I came to power, Dudley met his downfall and the decision was reversed. The Reformation allowed private access to coal mines previously owned by Tynemouth and Durham priories and as a result coal exports increase dramatically, from 15,000 tons in 1500 to 35,000 tons in 1565, and to 400,000 tons in 1625.

 

The plague visited Newcastle four times during the 16th century, in 1579 when 2,000 people died, in 1589 when 1700 died, in 1595 and finally in 1597.

 

In 1600 Elizabeth I granted Newcastle a charter for an exclusive body of electors, the right to elect the mayor and burgesses. The charter also gave the Hostmen exclusive rights to load coal at any point on the Tyne. The Hostmen developed as an exclusive group within the Merchant Adventurers who had been incorporated by a charter in 1547.

 

Stuart period

In 1636 there was a serious outbreak of bubonic plague in Newcastle. There had been several previous outbreaks of the disease over the years, but this was the most serious. It is thought to have arrived from the Netherlands via ships that were trading between the Tyne and that country. It first appeared in the lower part of the town near the docks but gradually spread to all parts of the town. As the disease gained hold the authorities took measures to control it by boarding up any properties that contained infected persons, meaning that whole families were locked up together with the infected family members. Other infected persons were put in huts outside the town walls and left to die. Plague pits were dug next to the town's four churches and outside the town walls to receive the bodies in mass burials. Over the course of the outbreak 5,631 deaths were recorded out of an estimated population of 12,000, a death rate of 47%.

 

In 1637 Charles I tried to raise money by doubling the 'voluntary' tax on coal in return for allowing the Newcastle Hostmen to regulate production and fix prices. This caused outrage amongst the London importers and the East Anglian shippers. Both groups decided to boycott Tyne coal and as a result forced Charles to reverse his decision in 1638.

 

In 1640 during the Second Bishops' War, the Scots successfully invaded Newcastle. The occupying army demanded £850 per day from the Corporation to billet the Scottish troops. Trade from the Tyne ground to a halt during the occupation. The Scots left in 1641 after receiving a Parliamentary pardon and a £4,000,000 loan from the town.

 

In 1642 the English Civil War began. King Charles realised the value of the Tyne coal trade and therefore garrisoned Newcastle. A Royalist was appointed as governor. At that time, Newcastle and King's Lynn were the only important seaports to support the crown. In 1644 Parliament blockaded the Tyne to prevent the king from receiving revenue from the Tyne coal trade. Coal exports fell from 450,000 to 3,000 tons and London suffered a hard winter without fuel. Parliament encouraged the coal trade from the Wear to try to replace that lost from Newcastle but that was not enough to make up for the lost Tyneside tonnage.

 

In 1644 the Scots crossed the border. Newcastle strengthened its defences in preparation. The Scottish army, with 40,000 troops, besieged Newcastle for three months until the garrison of 1,500 surrendered. During the siege, the Scots bombarded the walls with their artillery, situated in Gateshead and Castle Leazes. The Scottish commander threatened to destroy the steeple of St Nicholas's Church by gunfire if the mayor, Sir John Marley, did not surrender the town. The mayor responded by placing Scottish prisoners that they had captured in the steeple, so saving it from destruction. The town walls were finally breached by a combination of artillery and sapping. In gratitude for this defence, Charles gave Newcastle the motto 'Fortiter Defendit Triumphans' to be added to its coat of arms. The Scottish army occupied Northumberland and Durham for two years. The coal taxes had to pay for the Scottish occupation. In 1645 Charles surrendered to the Scots and was imprisoned in Newcastle for nine months. After the Civil War the coal trade on the Tyne soon picked up and exceeded its pre-war levels.

 

A new Guildhall was completed on the Sandhill next to the river in 1655, replacing an earlier facility damaged by fire in 1639, and became the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council. In 1681 the Hospital of the Holy Jesus was built partly on the site of the Austin Friars. The Guildhall and Holy Jesus Hospital still exist.

 

Charles II tried to impose a charter on Newcastle to give the king the right to appoint the mayor, sheriff, recorder and town clerk. Charles died before the charter came into effect. In 1685, James II tried to replace Corporation members with named Catholics. However, James' mandate was suspended in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution welcoming William of Orange. In 1689, after the fall of James II, the people of Newcastle tore down his bronze equestrian statue in Sandhill and tossed it into the Tyne. The bronze was later used to make bells for All Saints Church.

 

In 1689 the Lort Burn was covered over. At this time it was an open sewer. The channel followed by the Lort Burn became the present day Dean Street. At that time, the centre of Newcastle was still the Sandhill area, with many merchants living along the Close or on the Side. The path of the main road through Newcastle ran from the single Tyne bridge, through Sandhill to the Side, a narrow street which climbed steeply on the north-east side of the castle hill until it reached the higher ground alongside St Nicholas' Church. As Newcastle developed, the Side became lined with buildings with projecting upper stories, so that the main street through Newcastle was a narrow, congested, steep thoroughfare.

 

In 1701 the Keelmen's Hospital was built in the Sandgate area of the city, using funds provided by the keelmen. The building still stands today.

 

Eighteenth century

In the 18th century, Newcastle was the country's largest print centre after London, Oxford and Cambridge, and the Literary and Philosophical Society of 1793, with its erudite debates and large stock of books in several languages predated the London Library by half a century.

 

In 1715, during the Jacobite rising in favour of the Old Pretender, an army of Jacobite supporters marched on Newcastle. Many of the Northumbrian gentry joined the rebels. The citizens prepared for its arrival by arresting Jacobite supporters and accepting 700 extra recruits into the local militia. The gates of the city were closed against the rebels. This proved enough to delay an attack until reinforcements arrived forcing the rebel army to move across to the west coast. The rebels finally surrendered at Preston.

 

In 1745, during a second Jacobite rising in favour of the Young Pretender, a Scottish army crossed the border led by Bonnie Prince Charlie. Once again Newcastle prepared by arresting Jacobite supporters and inducting 800 volunteers into the local militia. The town walls were strengthened, most of the gates were blocked up and some 200 cannon were deployed. 20,000 regulars were billeted on the Town Moor. These preparations were enough to force the rebel army to travel south via the west coast. They were eventually defeated at Culloden in 1746.

 

Newcastle's actions during the 1715 rising in resisting the rebels and declaring for George I, in contrast to the rest of the region, is the most likely source of the nickname 'Geordie', applied to people from Tyneside, or more accurately Newcastle. Another theory, however, is that the name 'Geordie' came from the inventor of the Geordie lamp, George Stephenson. It was a type of safety lamp used in mining, but was not invented until 1815. Apparently the term 'German Geordie' was in common use during the 18th century.

 

The city's first hospital, Newcastle Infirmary opened in 1753; it was funded by public subscription. A lying-in hospital was established in Newcastle in 1760. The city's first public hospital for mentally ill patients, Wardens Close Lunatic Hospital was opened in October 1767.

 

In 1771 a flood swept away much of the bridge at Newcastle. The bridge had been built in 1250 and repaired after a flood in 1339. The bridge supported various houses and three towers and an old chapel. A blue stone was placed in the middle of the bridge to mark the boundary between Newcastle and the Palatinate of Durham. A temporary wooden bridge had to be built, and this remained in use until 1781, when a new stone bridge was completed. The new bridge consisted of nine arches. In 1801, because of the pressure of traffic, the bridge had to be widened.

 

A permanent military presence was established in the city with the completion of Fenham Barracks in 1806. The facilities at the Castle for holding assizes, which had been condemned for their inconvenience and unhealthiness, were replaced when the Moot Hall opened in August 1812.

 

Victorian period

Present-day Newcastle owes much of its architecture to the work of the builder Richard Grainger, aided by architects John Dobson, Thomas Oliver, John and Benjamin Green and others. In 1834 Grainger won a competition to produce a new plan for central Newcastle. He put this plan into effect using the above architects as well as architects employed in his own office. Grainger and Oliver had already built Leazes Terrace, Leazes Crescent and Leazes Place between 1829 and 1834. Grainger and Dobson had also built the Royal Arcade at the foot of Pilgrim Street between 1830 and 1832. The most ambitious project covered 12 acres 12 acres (49,000 m2) in central Newcastle, on the site of Newe House (also called Anderson Place). Grainger built three new thoroughfares, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street with many connecting streets, as well as the Central Exchange and the Grainger Market. John Wardle and George Walker, working in Grainger's office, designed Clayton Street, Grainger Street and most of Grey Street. Dobson designed the Grainger Market and much of the east side of Grey Street. John and Benjamin Green designed the Theatre Royal at the top of Grey Street, where Grainger placed the column of Grey's Monument as a focus for the whole scheme. Grey Street is considered to be one of the finest streets in the country, with its elegant curve. Unfortunately most of old Eldon Square was demolished in the 1960s in the name of progress. The Royal Arcade met a similar fate.

 

In 1849 a new bridge was built across the river at Newcastle. This was the High Level Bridge, designed by Robert Stephenson, and slightly up river from the existing bridge. The bridge was designed to carry road and rail traffic across the Tyne Gorge on two decks with rail traffic on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower. The new bridge meant that traffic could pass through Newcastle without having to negotiate the steep, narrow Side, as had been necessary for centuries. The bridge was opened by Queen Victoria, who one year later opened the new Central Station, designed by John Dobson. Trains were now able to cross the river, directly into the centre of Newcastle and carry on up to Scotland. The Army Riding School was also completed in 1849.

 

In 1854 a large fire started on the Gateshead quayside and an explosion caused it to spread across the river to the Newcastle quayside. A huge conflagration amongst the narrow alleys, or 'chares', destroyed the homes of 800 families as well as many business premises. The narrow alleys that had been destroyed were replaced by streets containing blocks of modern offices.

 

In 1863 the Town Hall in St Nicholas Square replaced the Guildhall as the meeting place of Newcastle Town Council.

 

In 1876 the low level bridge was replaced by a new bridge known as the Swing Bridge, so called because the bridge was able to swing horizontally on a central axis and allow ships to pass on either side. This meant that for the first time sizeable ships could pass up-river beyond Newcastle. The bridge was built and paid for by William Armstrong, a local arms manufacturer, who needed to have warships access his Elswick arms factory to fit armaments to them. The Swing Bridge's rotating mechanism is adapted from the cannon mounts developed in Armstrong's arms works. In 1882 the Elswick works began to build ships as well as to arm them. The Barrack Road drill hall was completed in 1890.

 

Industrialisation

In the 19th century, shipbuilding and heavy engineering were central to the city's prosperity; and the city was a powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. Newcastle's development as a major city owed most to its central role in the production and export of coal. The phrase "taking coals to Newcastle" was first recorded in 1538; it proverbially denotes bringing a particular commodity to a place that has more than enough of it already.

 

Innovation in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the following:

 

George Stephenson developed a miner's safety lamp at the same time that Humphry Davy developed a rival design. The lamp made possible the opening up of ever deeper mines to provide the coal that powered the industrial revolution.

George and his son Robert Stephenson were hugely influential figures in the development of the early railways. George developed Blücher, a locomotive working at Killingworth colliery in 1814, whilst Robert was instrumental in the design of Rocket, a revolutionary design that was the forerunner of modern locomotives. Both men were involved in planning and building railway lines, all over this country and abroad.

 

Joseph Swan demonstrated a working electric light bulb about a year before Thomas Edison did the same in the USA. This led to a dispute as to who had actually invented the light bulb. Eventually the two rivals agreed to form a mutual company between them, the Edison and Swan Electric Light Company, known as Ediswan.

 

Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine, for marine use and for power generation. He used Turbinia, a small, turbine-powered ship, to demonstrate the speed that a steam turbine could generate. Turbinia literally ran rings around the British Fleet at a review at Spithead in 1897.

 

William Armstrong invented a hydraulic crane that was installed in dockyards up and down the country. He then began to design light, accurate field guns for the British army. These were a vast improvement on the existing guns that were then in use.

 

The following major industries developed in Newcastle or its surrounding area:

 

Glassmaking

A small glass industry existed in Newcastle from the mid-15th century. In 1615 restrictions were put on the use of wood for manufacturing glass. It was found that glass could be manufactured using the local coal, and so a glassmaking industry grew up on Tyneside. Huguenot glassmakers came over from France as refugees from persecution and set up glasshouses in the Skinnerburn area of Newcastle. Eventually, glass production moved to the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. In 1684 the Dagnia family, Sephardic Jewish emigrants from Altare, arrived in Newcastle from Stourbridge and established glasshouses along the Close, to manufacture high quality flint glass. The glass manufacturers used sand ballast from the boats arriving in the river as the main raw material. The glassware was then exported in collier brigs. The period from 1730 to 1785 was the highpoint of Newcastle glass manufacture, when the local glassmakers produced the 'Newcastle Light Baluster'. The glassmaking industry still exists in the west end of the city with local Artist and Glassmaker Jane Charles carrying on over four hundred years of hot glass blowing in Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

Locomotive manufacture

In 1823 George Stephenson and his son Robert established the world's first locomotive factory near Forth Street in Newcastle. Here they built locomotives for the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as many others. It was here that the famous locomotive Rocket was designed and manufactured in preparation for the Rainhill Trials. Apart from building locomotives for the British market, the Newcastle works also produced locomotives for Europe and America. The Forth Street works continued to build locomotives until 1960.

 

Shipbuilding

In 1296 a wooden, 135 ft (41 m) long galley was constructed at the mouth of the Lort Burn in Newcastle, as part of a twenty-ship order from the king. The ship cost £205, and is the earliest record of shipbuilding in Newcastle. However the rise of the Tyne as a shipbuilding area was due to the need for collier brigs for the coal export trade. These wooden sailing ships were usually built locally, establishing local expertise in building ships. As ships changed from wood to steel, and from sail to steam, the local shipbuilding industry changed to build the new ships. Although shipbuilding was carried out up and down both sides of the river, the two main areas for building ships in Newcastle were Elswick, to the west, and Walker, to the east. By 1800 Tyneside was the third largest producer of ships in Britain. Unfortunately, after the Second World War, lack of modernisation and competition from abroad gradually caused the local industry to decline and die.

 

Armaments

In 1847 William Armstrong established a huge factory in Elswick, west of Newcastle. This was initially used to produce hydraulic cranes but subsequently began also to produce guns for both the army and the navy. After the Swing Bridge was built in 1876 allowing ships to pass up river, warships could have their armaments fitted alongside the Elswick works. Armstrong's company took over its industrial rival, Joseph Whitworth of Manchester in 1897.

 

Steam turbines

Charles Algernon Parsons invented the steam turbine and, in 1889, founded his own company C. A. Parsons and Company in Heaton, Newcastle to make steam turbines. Shortly after this, he realised that steam turbines could be used to propel ships and, in 1897, he founded a second company, Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company in Wallsend. It is there that he designed and manufactured Turbinia. Parsons turbines were initially used in warships but soon came to be used in merchant and passenger vessels, including the liner Mauretania which held the blue riband for the Atlantic crossing until 1929. Parsons' company in Heaton began to make turbo-generators for power stations and supplied power stations all over the world. The Heaton works, reduced in size, remains as part of the Siemens AG industrial giant.

 

Pottery

In 1762 the Maling pottery was founded in Sunderland by French Huguenots, but transferred to Newcastle in 1817. A factory was built in the Ouseburn area of the city. The factory was rebuilt twice, finally occupying a 14-acre (57,000 m2) site that was claimed to be the biggest pottery in the world and which had its own railway station. The pottery pioneered use of machines in making potteries as opposed to hand production. In the 1890s the company went up-market and employed in-house designers. The period up to the Second World War was the most profitable with a constant stream of new designs being introduced. However, after the war, production gradually declined and the company closed in 1963.

 

Expansion of the city

Newcastle was one of the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835: the reformed municipal borough included the parishes of Byker, Elswick, Heaton, Jesmond, Newcastle All Saints, Newcastle St Andrew, Newcastle St John, Newcastle St Nicholas, and Westgate. The urban districts of Benwell and Fenham and Walker were added in 1904. In 1935, Newcastle gained Kenton and parts of the parishes of West Brunton, East Denton, Fawdon, Longbenton. The most recent expansion in Newcastle's boundaries took place under the Local Government Act 1972 on 1 April 1974, when Newcastle became a metropolitan borough, also including the urban districts of Gosforth and Newburn, and the parishes of Brunswick, Dinnington, Hazlerigg, North Gosforth and Woolsington from the Castle Ward Rural District, and the village of Westerhope.

 

Meanwhile Northumberland County Council was formed under the Local Government Act 1888 and benefited from a dedicated meeting place when County Hall was completed in the Castle Garth area of Newcastle in 1910. Following the Local Government Act 1972 County Hall relocated to Morpeth in April 1981.

 

Twentieth century

In 1925 work began on a new high-level road bridge to span the Tyne Gorge between Newcastle and Gateshead. The capacity of the existing High-Level Bridge and Swing Bridge were being strained to the limit, and an additional bridge had been discussed for a long time. The contract was awarded to the Dorman Long Company and the bridge was finally opened by King George V in 1928. The road deck was 84 feet (26 m) above the river and was supported by a 531 feet (162 m) steel arch. The new Tyne Bridge quickly became a symbol for Newcastle and Tyneside, and remains so today.

 

During the Second World War, Newcastle was largely spared the horrors inflicted upon other British cities bombed during the Blitz. Although the armaments factories and shipyards along the River Tyne were targeted by the Luftwaffe, they largely escaped unscathed. Manors goods yard and railway terminal, to the east of the city centre, and the suburbs of Jesmond and Heaton suffered bombing during 1941. There were 141 deaths and 587 injuries, a relatively small figure compared to the casualties in other industrial centres of Britain.

 

In 1963 the city gained its own university, the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, by act of parliament. A School of Medicine and Surgery had been established in Newcastle in 1834. This eventually developed into a college of medicine attached to Durham University. A college of physical science was also founded and became Armstrong College in 1904. In 1934 the two colleges merged to become King's College, Durham. This remained as part of Durham University until the new university was created in 1963. In 1992 the city gained its second university when Newcastle Polytechnic was granted university status as Northumbria University.

 

Newcastle City Council moved to the new Newcastle Civic Centre in 1968.

 

As heavy industries declined in the second half of the 20th century, large sections of the city centre were demolished along with many areas of slum housing. The leading political figure in the city during the 1960s was T. Dan Smith who oversaw a massive building programme of highrise housing estates and authorised the demolition of a quarter of the Georgian Grainger Town to make way for Eldon Square Shopping Centre. Smith's control in Newcastle collapsed when it was exposed that he had used public contracts to advantage himself and his business associates and for a time Newcastle became a byword for civic corruption as depicted in the films Get Carter and Stormy Monday and in the television series Our Friends in the North. However, much of the historic Grainger Town area survived and was, for the most part, fully restored in the late 1990s. Northumberland Street, initially the A1, was gradually closed to traffic from the 1970s and completely pedestrianised by 1998.

 

In 1978 a new rapid transport system, the Metro, was built, linking the Tyneside area. The system opened in August 1980. A new bridge was built to carry the Metro across the river between Gateshead and Newcastle. This was the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, commonly known as the Metro Bridge. Eventually the Metro system was extended to reach Newcastle Airport in 1991, and in 2002 the Metro system was extended to the nearby city of Sunderland.

 

As the 20th century progressed, trade on the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides gradually declined, until by the 1980s both sides of the river were looking rather derelict. Shipping company offices had closed along with offices of firms related to shipping. There were also derelict warehouses lining the riverbank. Local government produced a master plan to re-develop the Newcastle quayside and this was begun in the 1990s. New offices, restaurants, bars and residential accommodation were built and the area has changed in the space of a few years into a vibrant area, partially returning the focus of Newcastle to the riverside, where it was in medieval times.

 

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge, a foot and cycle bridge, 26 feet (7.9 m) wide and 413 feet (126 m) long, was completed in 2001. The road deck is in the form of a curve and is supported by a steel arch. To allow ships to pass, the whole structure, both arch and road-deck, rotates on huge bearings at either end so that the road deck is lifted. The bridge can be said to open and shut like a human eye. It is an important addition to the re-developed quayside area, providing a vital link between the Newcastle and Gateshead quaysides.

 

Recent developments

Today the city is a vibrant centre for office and retail employment, but just a short distance away there are impoverished inner-city housing estates, in areas originally built to provide affordable housing for employees of the shipyards and other heavy industries that lined the River Tyne. In the 2010s Newcastle City Council began implementing plans to regenerate these depressed areas, such as those along the Ouseburn Valley.

Dallas Skyline

Downtown Dallas,

Dallas, TX

DKane 06/11/2013

REPRO FREE

Chris Winning, Corporate Care Relocation, Olive Kingston, AIB and Mairead O'Brien-Ryan, Nash 19 at a Network Cork Budget Briefing with AIB chief economist, Oliver Mangan in the AIB South Mall.

It was also Network Cork’s final meeting of 2013.

Pic Darragh Kane

BAe Harrier GR3 XZ969 being relocated for display at The South Wales Aviation Museum at St Athan South Wales. Ex RAF Germany and RAF Gutersloh aircraft.

Old Dandenong Library during the relocation from the old site in Stuart Street to the new one in the Walker Street municipal building.

 

The last day of operation at the old site was Sunday March 2 2014 and the first day at the new site was Monday March 17. During this period a shuttle bus operated to the council's other library in Springvale.

Are you relocating to Charlotte NC and want Charlotte NC apartments at an affordable price range contact centercitysuites.net/testimonials.html

 

Old Dandenong Library during the relocation from the old site in Stuart Street to the new one in the Walker Street municipal building.

 

The last day of operation at the old site was Sunday March 2 2014 and the first day at the new site was Monday March 17. During this period a shuttle bus operated to the council's other library in Springvale.

Moab, Utah

 

Caution

Contaminated Area

Enter at Designated Access Only

 

The scope of the Moab Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action (UMTRA) Project is to relocate mill tailings and other contaminated materials from a former uranium-ore processing facility (millsite) and from off-site properties known as vicinity properties in Moab, Utah, to an engineered disposal cell constructed near Crescent Junction, Utah. The scope also includes active remediation of groundwater at the millsite (Moab site). The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management in Grand Junction, Colorado, has primary responsibility for managing the Moab Project.

 

Uranium Reduction Company constructed the Moab mill in 1956 and operated it until 1962 when the assets were sold to Atlas Minerals Corporation (Atlas). Uranium concentrate (known as “yellowcake”), the milling product, was sold to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission through December 1970 for use in national defense programs. After 1970, production was primarily for commercial sales to nuclear power plants. During its years of operation, the mill processed an average of about 1,400 tons of ore a day.

 

The milling operations created process-related wastes and tailings, a radioactive, sand-like material. The tailings were pumped to an unlined impoundment in the western portion of the property that accumulated over time, forming a pile more than 80 feet thick. Although more than 90 percent of the uranium was removed during processing, radium and other decay products remained in the tailings, which have an average radioactivity of about 660 picocuries per gram of radium-226. The tailings, especially in the center of the pile, have a high water content. In the past, excess water in the pile drained through underlying soils, contaminating the groundwater. Atlas operated the site until 1984 under a license and regulatory authority provided by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Atlas demolished the processing buildings and buried them in the southwestern corner of the tailings pile and placed an interim cover over the pile as part of decommissioning activities conducted between 1988 and 1995. There was an estimated 12 million cubic yards (16 million tons) of mill tailings and other contaminated materials present in the pile. Atlas proposed to stabilize the tailings pile at Moab by permanently capping it in place; however, Atlas declared bankruptcy in 1998 and, in doing so, relinquished its license. Because NRC could not legally possess a site it regulated, NRC appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as the trustee of the Moab Mill Reclamation Trust and licensee for the site. The trustee initiated site reclamation, conducted groundwater studies, and performed site maintenance activities.

 

In 2008 and 2009, DOE performed extensive infrastructure construction at the Moab and Crescent Junction sites in preparation for moving the mill tailings. In April 2009, DOE began relocating the tailings to the disposal cell. Tailings are excavated and conditioned in drying beds to reach the optimal moisture content for disposal. The tailings are then placed in steel containers with locking lids for transport to Crescent Junction. A gantry crane is used to transfer containers to and from the train at Moab. The Moab Project is currently shipping four trains a week, each carrying up to 156 containers. The Project is currently estimated to be completed in 2029.

 

At the Crescent Junction site, the containers carrying tailings are unloaded from the train onto trucks that take them to the disposal cell dumping area. The tailings are dumped through end gates in the containers and placed in the cell to meet compaction specifications. The empty containers are reloaded onto railcars and returned to the Moab site.

Black and White of Stowe Church and grave yard

 

The indigenous people who lived in the area now called Vermont were primarily Abenaki, who spoke Algonquian. They were forced aside by strategies of displacement after primarily British settlers flooded into the area after the French and Indian War.[5] There are no surviving names from the original language, which was most likely Mahican, an Algonquian dialect akin to Abenaki.[5]

 

Stowe was chartered on June 8, 1763, by Royal Governor Benning Wentworth of the Province of New Hampshire.[6] Vermont became a U.S. state in 1791. Two years later that more settlers arrived in Stowe. By the turn of the nineteenth century, the majority of the town’s property had been sold, and its population had risen to 316.

 

Stowe's early years were dominated by the farm and lumber industries. Over 75 percent of the land in Stowe and most of Vermont used to be open terrain cleared by lumber production and used for agriculture, particularly sheep farming. In those days, up to 8,000 sheep grazed the Stowe hills and valleys.[7]

 

Stowe's agricultural fortunes changed alongside those of the rest of New England. Most of Vermont eventually switched from sheep to dairy farms, with more than 100 farms in Stowe alone. Only nine of these farms are still operational today.[when?][citation needed] This move allowed 75 percent of the cleared area to reforest over time.[7]

 

Unlike much of the rest of Vermont, Stowe's past was not centered solely on agriculture. It had become a well-known summer resort by the mid-nineteenth century, thanks to its mountain scenery.[7]

 

The Summit House atop Mt. Mansfield was constructed just before the American Civil War broke out. The Toll Road to reach it followed by 1870. At that time the 300-room Mansfield House occupied the majority of the settlement. The latter, often known as the "Big Hotel," burned down in 1889. Behind it lay a vast stable with over 100 horses, equipment, carriages, and stable hands. In 1953, the barn was demolished over fire concern, and several of the original beams were repurposed in the construction of The Whip Bar & Grill. The Depot Building located next to the Green Mountain Inn was erected in 1897 for the Mt. Mansfield Electric Railway. Running the 11 miles between Waterbury and Stowe, it carried both passengers and freight until 1932.[7]

 

Through the First World War, summer tourism remained crucial to Stowe's economy. Stowe had its inaugural Winter Carnival in 1921, including ski jumping, skating, and a variety of other enjoyable activities. The Civilian Conservation Corps erected camps and began clearing ski tracks on Mt. Mansfield during the Great Depression, leading to Stowe becoming an early mecca for downhill skiing in the United States. The Bruce Trail, which ran from the current site of the Octagon to Ranch Camp, was the first built in 1933. The Mt. Mansfield Ski Touring trail system now includes this trail as well. The Nose Dive, the next ski trail, was created in 1934. Skiers used to trek the 2.5 miles to the summit in the early days. Chairlifts, which began with a single chair in 1940, overtook rope tows as the more convenient way. The chair was in service until 1986, when it was replaced with a high-speed detachable quad.[7]

 

The Vermont Ski Museum was founded in 1988, and relocated to Stowe in 2000. It contains information and artifacts on the history of skiing and snowboarding in Vermont.[7]

 

Stowe remains a premier Eastern resort town, summer and winter. Wikipedia

CAMP FUJI, SHIZUOKA, Japan (April 28, 2018) - U.S. Marines with Bravo Battery, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division load a round into a M777A2 155mm Howitzer during Artillery Relocation Training Program (AFTP) 18-1 on Combined Arms Training Complex, Camp Fuji, Japan. ARTP 18-1 is a Japan-funded, routine training exercise that allows Marines to conduct live-fire training in Japan. The Okinawa-based battalion is the only forward-deployed artillery battalion in the Marine Corps since 1956. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Carl King) 180428-M-MO883-083

 

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instagram.com/pacificcommand | www.flickr.com/photos/us-pacific-command; | www.youtube.com/user/USPacificCommand | www.pacom.mil/

 

The swarming honeybees have kept me very busy this spring. As the first night falls on the new colony most of the bees will move inside and begin the task of building comb. Just before darkness sets in I climb a 12' ladder, temporarily close off the entrance, slide the box onto my shoulder and carry it down to the apiary, otherwise known as my backyard. Moving them as soon as possible will prevent the foragers from learning this location as their new home. On the first morning after a swarm has moved house the foragers will begin orientation flights and use their built in GPS system to quickly learn how to navigate to and from their new location.

West Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

 

St. Mary's Protestant Episcopa) Church in Manhattanville has been in continuous service for almost 175 years on its original site. In 1823, the village founders solicited the Rev. William Richmond, rector of St. Michael's in Bioomingdale, who had been conducting services in a mission schoo! in Manhattanville for three years, to help them organize this parish and a free school. A white wood frame church building with a steeple was constructed in 1824-26 facing Lawrence Street . Several generations of Manhattanville's founding families have worshipped at St. Mary's including Jacob Schieffelin, who laid out the village's roads, and his wife Hanna Lawrence, whose surname marked the street on which they donated the land to erect the first church building. In 1831, in deference to the poor constituents of its parish, St. Mary's abolished pew rentals, becoming the first "free pew" Protestant Episcopal church in the city.

 

The parish house, when erected as a parsonage in 1851, housed the village's first resident clergyman. In 1890, St. Mary's commissioned a Sunday school building, now located at the rear of the church, by architect George Keister. In 1908-09, the frame church was replaced by the present English Gothic-style brick church designed by Theodore E. Blake with the prestigious Carrere & Hastings firm. Despite the urbanization of the surrounding area, St. Mary's complex of church, Sunday school, and white frame parish house surrounding a garden evokes the early days of the village of Manhattanville.

 

History of Manhattanville"

 

A dormant geological fault line/ perhaps assisted by an ancient channel of the Hudson River, probably forged the ravine that came to contain the village of Manhattanville. The first non-native settlement began around the mid-seventeenth-century as some Dutch villagers of Nieuw Haerlem made their way west across the island to this outlying valley they called Moertje David's Fly. Probably first used as pasture lots, the meadows sloped between the rim of Joachim Pieter's Hills to the north and the steeper southern cliffs, spliced by a rustic path that branched northwest off the Indian trail to Spuyten Duyvil, past the Bloomingdale road toward the Harlem Cove. It was along these southern hills in 1712 that seven lots among New Harlem's first division of lands were delineated as farm properties.

 

During the Revolutionary War period, the valley facilitated George Washington's retreat from the British on Long Island towards his headquarters at the Roger Morris House . The general induced the British to advance into the "Hollow Way," as the valley was then known, whereupon his own American troops drove them back, defeating them in the bloody Battle of Harlem Heights in a nearby buckwheat field just to the south on September 16, 1776.

 

During the War of 1812, the anticipation of British attacks resulted in the construction of a series of fortifications that, in the Manhattanville area, included Block House No. 4, on the present-day southeastern comer of West 123rd Street at Amsterdam Avenue, on the rocky outcrop of what is now Morningside Park's northern end, and the Manhattanville Pass , a military checkpoint that straddled the Bloomingdale Road at present-day Broadway and West 123rd Street and which was commanded by Fort Laight at present-day Broadway and West 124th Street.

 

In approximately 1806 city surveyor Adolphus Loss surveyed parcels of land and laid out streets. Some local landowners described Manhattanville as a developing village in the New York City's Ninth Ward. Building lots were being advertised for sale "principally to tradesmen" in this enclave that already boasted a "handsome wharf," "convenient Academy," and an "excellent school."" At this time the Corporation of the Common Council was laying out "wide and open" streets from the East River to the Hudson, where 300-ton vessels might lie in safety in the Cove/ Already underway were a two-story frame "house of entertainment,'"" a new marketplace, a daily inexpensive stage line as well as boat service commuting the eight miles between the city and village, and a ferry service to New Jersey.

 

Most residents of Manhattanville were tenant farmers or factory workers, and the village bustled with the trade and traffic of several small industries that would eventually include the D.F. Tiemann color works, a worsted mill, and the Yuengling Brewery.

 

Throughout the 1800s, Manhattanville's population increased and changed demographically. In 1823, about fifteen dwellings dotted the valley, which was populated mostly by poor British- and Dutch-Americans and a few blacks." An 1832 cholera epidemic diminished the small population. On October 27, 1834, New York City Mayor Cornelius Lawrence signed an ordinance to fill in a Manhattanville pond between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues .'" And on May 4, 1836, the legislature passed an act to alter the plan of certain city streets in Manhattanville that particularly involved the "old streets named Manhattan St. and Lawrence St."

 

Foreigners became a substantial presence in the workforce of Manhattanville's new factories and in its social life. The city's immigration boom in the 1840s swelled the rural hamlet as scores escaping the famine in Ireland settled in Manhattanville's sparsely populated northern section, where they raised vegetables and kept yard animals. The Irish Catholic presence resulted in the establishment of such institutions as the Academy and Convent of the Sacred Heart in 1846, Manhattan College , and the Church of the Annunciation, dedicated in 1854. The mostly Catholic Southern Germans, who were laborers, artisans, or active in small trades, lived around Lawrence Street. They established St. Joseph's Church in 1860 and the Yuengling Brewery.

 

Transportation changed the community's profile, too, when in the 1850s Manhattanville became the first station on the new Hudson River Railroad's northerly route, the Tenth Avenue Railroad was extended there, and the village's streets were partially paved.

 

Between 1880 and 1891, the number of Manhattanville's dwellings trebled from 200 to 600, most of which were tenements just below Manhattan Street between Amsterdam and Broadway.By 1890, about 80 percent of the residents were living in five-story tenements that had two apartments per floor, and most were either foreign-bom or of foreign-parentage. Irish, English and Scottish formed the majority with 2,465 new arrivals; 1,684 came from Germany; France and Italy's 361 combined arrivals were on a par with 378 from Eastern Europe; 93 were from Scandinavia; 13 and 14 from Greece and the Orient, respectively. About 1,000 African-Americans lived in Manhattanville. The Russians and Poles were mostly Jewish, as were some German and American-bom residents.

 

Diversions included three poolrooms, three bowling alleys, and a school gymnasium. Of Manhattanville's fifty saloons, Lawrence Street itself, where St. Mary's was located, boasted two that were frequented by Germans and two more by African-Americans. The large Yuengling Brewery was located around the comer.

 

The newly-installed Interborough Rapid Transit line along Broadway in 1904 encouraged the next building boom in Manhattanville. Squatters were swept from the rocks near Grant's Tomb as Claremont Avenue and Riverside Drive became the fashionably "improved" residential spines of the southeast quadrant of the Manhattan Street-Broadway junction. However, most of the rest of Manhattanville's cross streets north of 129th Street between Amsterdam and Riverside were already being built up with moderately priced apartment houses.'^ In 1908, only 128 people in Manhattanville owned homes; the rest were either renters or lodgers.'"

 

By 1909, Manhattanville's 1300 African-Americans were living in "clearly defined" segregated sections; the poorest lived in the "Mixed Ale Row" old brick tenement blocks of 130th and 131st Streets; a better-off class lived on the south side of Lawrence Street and West 126th Street ; and those of "excellent reputation" on West 126th Street's two newer blocks between Amsterdam and Claremont.

 

Distributors, processing plants, garages, gas storage facilities, railway services, and dockside coal barges located in Manhattanville.*" Streets were reconfigured in 1920 when the name of "Manhattan Street" was jettisoned to make the route the oblique continuation of West 125th Street . West of Momingside Avenue, old West 125th Street became LaSalle Street. West 126th Street became Moylan Place, and West 127th Street became Tiemann Place.-' Lawrence Street was renamed West 126th Street in the 1930s.

 

The Depression and the years of World War II exacted a toll on Manhattanville's tenement buildings, which suffered neglect, disrepair, and eventually demolition. As many returning veterans moved elsewhere, the influx of newly-arriving Puerto Ricans and blacks from the south shifted the area's ethnic demography.

 

Around 1947, Columbia University and a dozen neighboring institutions founded the non-profit Momingside Heights, Inc. , ostensibly for the civic improvement of the whole Momingside-Manhattanville area, although the focus was south of West 125th Street. Teachers College deployed student volunteers to canvas a third of Manhattanville's 45,000 residents. Although the survey results showed Manhattanville as having a higher rate of accidents, tuberculosis, pneumonia and infant mortality than the whole city, it also revealed a stable community of multi-religious whites, blacks, Latinos, and Asians living harmoniously.

 

The community became the target of the major 1950s "improvement" campaign of the City Slum Clearance Commission chaired by Robert Moses which forced the relocation of tens of thousands of residents for the creation of the Morningside Gardens co-operative apartments and the lower-income Grant Houses. As many whites moved out of the area, both the Grant and Manhattanville "projects" became virtually black-and Latino-segregated. However, today as a whole, Manhattanville retains a rich characteristic ethnic diversity.

 

The St. Mary's Legacy in Today's Church

 

One has only to approach the complex of St. Mary's church, parish house and Sunday school to experience its 175-year history. In an urban world that long ago abandoned wood for stone, the clapboard frame parish house, built as a rectory, greets passersby as an irresistable anomaly.^ An abundance of memorials and gifts exhibited in the interior of the church commemorate its nineteenth-century past.

 

Three marble tablets from the old church are memorials to the Rev. William Richmond, St. Mary's first rector; to his brother James Cook Richmond, who succeeded him for a time; and to Mr. Thomas T. Groshen, a lay reader who enjoyed the praise of the vestry for his industry in raising funds to erect the original church building. Brass tablets memorialize the church's founder, Jacob Schieffelin, and his son Richard Lawrence Schieffelin, the first clerk of the vestry, and George Richard Schieffelin, vestryman and Diocesan Convention delegate for forty years. Jacob Schieffelin donated the old bell, now installed in the archway of the Choir, purported to be the same one used on the Academy which had stood nearby in Manhattanville's nascent years.

 

Uninscribed and of unknown origin, the bell is believed to have been brought from the West Indies by a sea captain and now commemorates the memory of all sea-farers. The most enduring gift, however, is perhaps St. Mary's church seal: the ecclesiastical symbol of the Agnus Dei is taken from the centuries-old Schieffelin crest. Jacob Schieffelin's family burial vault, which he had built in 1828, is still located under the porch of the church.

 

Building Descriptions

 

Church. St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal Church is of English Gothic design. Constructed of red brick with cast-stone detail, it is oriented with its broad gable end facing West 126th Street. The front is dominated by a large pointed-arch window opening with traceried infill holding leaded glass. The cast-stone sill below the window carries the inscription "1823 St. Mary's Church Manhattanville 1908" in Old English letters. The gable rises to a small open bell tower. Bands of brick laid in a herringbone pattern accent the facade at the springing of the arch and at the base of the bell tower. The cast-stone gable coping terminates in bosses adorned with carved figures. The bell tower with stone-trimmed pointed-arch opening contains a belt which was reinstalled from the first church building. The bell tower finial takes the form of a Celtic cross.

 

The main entrance to the church is through the open gable-roofed porch at the western side. It has three pointed-arch openings, two of which are approached by stone steps, while the third has a quatrefoil parapet at its base. The porch floor is paved with slate. The openwork beams of the porch roof are visible on the porch ceiling. A quatrefoil motif adorns the gable end beneath the roof. Shallow steps within the porch lead to a pointed-arch opening containing wood double doors with arched panels. A small secondary entrance to the church is located near the eastern end of the main facade.

 

The eastern and western side elevations of the church are punctuated by broad pointed-arch window openings with tracery containing leaded glass. The window openings are flanked by stepped buttresses with cast-stone coping. Small gable-roofed transepts project from the north end of these two elevations. That on the western elevation contains another entrance. A low wrought-iron fence with Gothic motifs links the buttresses and encloses the basement area ways. The broad slopes of the slate-covered roof rise from the east and west elevations. The roof is accented by two peaked roof dormers on each side.

 

- From the 1998 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report

San Simeon Creek, San Simeon, CA

It is not common to find a closed McDonalds in Central Florida, especially one that was not relocated. This restaurant operated from 1975 to 2005. The surrounding area is very grim. An original Publix Supermarket (located next door) closed around the same time as this McDonalds, despite Publix's corporate offices being located across the street.

 

View more photos of this McDonalds

 

Location: 1937 New Tampa Highway (George Jenkins Blvd), Lakeland, Florida

A loaded westbound coal train rolls down the hill through Glacial Lake Missoula sediments at the Schilling cut west of Missoula.

Relocated to the Balaton Area History Center from the nearby town of Burchard, which now consists of about two occupied houses and a few run-down outbuildings.

The Royal Palace (Khm ព្រះបរមរាជវាំងនៃព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា, Preah Barum Reachea Veang Nei Preah Reacheanachak Kampuchea; French: Palais royal de Phnom Penh), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is a complex of buildings which serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia. Its full name in the Khmer language is Preah Barum Reachea Veang Chaktomuk Serei Mongkol (Khmer: ព្រះបរមរាជវាំងចតុមុខសិរីមង្គល). The Kings of Cambodia have occupied it since it was built in the 1860s, with a period of absence when the country came into turmoil during and after the reign of the Khmer Rouge.

 

The palace was constructed after King Norodom relocated the royal capital from Oudong to Phnom Penh in the mid-19th century. It was built atop an old citadel called Banteay Kev. It faces towards the East and is situated at the Western bank of the cross division of the Tonle Sap River and the Mekong River called Chaktomuk (an allusion to Brahma).

 

HISTORY

The establishment of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh in 1866 is a comparatively recent event in the history of the Khmer and Cambodia. The seat of Khmer power in the region rested in or near Angkor north of the Great Tonle Sap Lake from 802 AD until the early 15th century. After the Khmer court moved from Angkor in the 15th century after destroyed by Siam, it first settled in Phnom Penh which back then named as Krong Chatomok Serei Mongkol (Khmer: ក្រុងចតុមុខសិរីមង្គល) in 1434 (or 1446) and stayed for some decades, but by 1494 had moved on to Basan, and later Longvek and then Oudong. The capital did not return to Phnom Penh until the 19th century and there is no record or remnants of any Royal Palace in Phnom Penh prior to the 19th century. In 1813, King Ang Chan (1796–1834) constructed Banteay Kev (the 'Crystal Citadel') on the site of the current Royal Palace and stayed there very briefly before moving to Oudong. Banteay Kev was burned in 1834 when the retreating Siamese army razed Phnom Penh. It was not until after the implementation of the French Protectorate in Cambodia in 1863 that the capital was moved from Oudong to Phnom Penh, and the current Royal Palace was founded and constructed. At the time that King Norodom (1860–1904) the eldest son of King Ang Duong, who ruled on behalf of Siam, signed the Treaty of Protection with France in 1863, the capital of Cambodia resided at Oudong, about 45 kilometres northeast of Phnom Penh. Earlier in 1863 a temporary wooden Palace was constructed a bit north of the current Palace site in Phnom Penh. The first Royal Palace to be built at the present location was designed by architect Neak Okhna Tepnimith Mak and constructed by the French Protectorate in 1866. On the year of 1865, year of the cow, at nine o'clock in the morning, King Norodom moved the Royal court from Oudong to the new Royal Palace in Phnom Penh and the city became the official capital of Cambodia the following year. Over the next decade several buildings and houses were added, many of which have since been demolished and replaced, including an early Chanchhaya Pavilion and Throne Hall (1870). The Royal court was installed permanently at the new Royal Palace in 1871 and the walls surrounding the grounds were raised in 1873. Many of the buildings of the Royal Palace, particularly of this period, were constructed using a combination of traditional Khmer architectural but also incorporating significant European features and design as well. One of the most unusual surviving structures from this period is the iron-sided Napoleon Pavilion which was a gift from France in 1876. It is currently closed to the public for renovations because of its poor state of conservation. King Sisowath (1904–1927) made several major contributions to the current Royal Palace, adding the Phochani Hall in 1907 (inaugurated in 1912), and from 1913-1919 demolishing several old buildings, and replacing and expanding the old Chanchhaya Pavilion and the Throne Hall with the current structures. These buildings employ traditional Khmer artistic style and Angkorian inspired design, particularly in the Throne Hall, though some European elements remain. The next major construction came in the 1930s under King Monivong with the addition of the Royal Chapel, Vihear Suor (1930), and the demolition and replacement of the old Royal residence with the Khemarin Palace (1931), which serves as the official Royal residence to this day. From the reign of King Sihanouk, other significant additions are the 1956 addition of the Villa Kantha Bopha to accommodate foreign guests, and the 1953 construction of the Damnak Chan originally installed to house the High Council of the Throne.

 

BUILDINGS OF THE ROYAL PALACE

The complex is divided by walls into four main compounds. On the south side is the Silver Pagoda, to the north side is the Khemarin Palace and the central compound contains the Throne Hall and to the west is the private sector or the Inner Court. The buildings of the palace were built gradually over time, and some were dismantled and rebuilt as late as the 1960s. Some older buildings date back to the 19th century.

 

ARCHITECTURE AND AREA

The Royal Palace of Cambodia is a fine example of Khmer architecture with a slight French touch featuring its layout of the defensive wall (kampaeng), throne hall (preah tineang), Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Wat Preah Keo Morakot), stupas (chedei), towering spires (prang prasat) and mural paintings. The Royal Palace of Phnom Penh covers an area of 402m x 435m.

 

THRONE HALL

The Preah Tineang Tevea Vinnichay Mohai Moha Prasat or "Throne Hall" (Khmer: ព្រះទីនាំងទេវាវិនិច្ឆ័យមហ័យមហាប្រាសាទ) means the "Sacred Seat of Judgement."

 

The Throne Hall is where the king's confidants, generals and royal officials once carried out their duties. It is still in use today as a place for religious and royal ceremonies (such as coronations[1] and royal weddings) as well as a meeting place for guests of the King. The cross-shaped building is crowned with three spires. The central, 59-metre spire is topped with the white, four-faced head of Brahma. Inside the Throne Hall contains three royal thrones (one is more of western style and the other two are traditional) and golden busts of Cambodians kings and queens starting from the reign of King Ang Doung onwards. This Throne Hall is the second to be built on this site. The first was constructed of wood in 1869-1870 under King Norodom. That Throne Hall was demolished in 1915. The present building was constructed in 1917 and inaugurated by King Sisowath in 1919. The building is 30x60 metres. As with all buildings and structure at the Palace, the Throne Hall faces east and is best photographed in the morning. When visiting note the thrones (Reach Balaing in front and Preah Thineang Bossabok higher at the back) and the beautiful ceiling frescoes of the Reamker. To the north of the thrones stands the statue of His Majesty Sisowath Monivong standing holding the Royal Sword. The statue is made with gold and shows him dressed in casual clothes. While to the south of the thrones stands the gold statue of His Majesty King Sisowath sitting on the Preah Thineang Bossabok dressed and covered with the Royal Regalia of Cambodia (as you can see he is wearing the Crown, the Sopourna Bat or the royal footwear and in his right hand holds the Royal Sword. He sits on the Preah Thineang Bossabok which is made to look like the real one to the right.

 

The traditional throne or The Preah Tineang Bossabok (Khmer: ព្រះទីនាំងបុស្បុក) is an ancient nine-level classical Khmer-style throne. Each Khmer King has to be seated on it on the coronation day while wearing the Royal Regalia. It is covered with intricate floral carvings and has two levels of small statues of Garudas lifting the upper part of the bossabok. Three of the nine levels of the throne represent the levels of hell, middle earth and the heavens. Surrounding the bossabok are the four gold nine-tiered umbrellas, these are called the Aphirom (Khmer: អភិរម្យ). Finally, the bossabok is topped by the white Royal Nine-tiered umbrella (Khmer: ព្រះមហាស្វេតឆ័ត្រ) that signifies the universal power the king has. In front of the bossabok is the throne. The table that stands next to the Royal Throne holds on it a golden tea set and the golden set of betel and areca nuts container set, which are part of the regalia and are always on the table, or otherwise called the Pean Preah Srei (Khmer: ពានព្រះស្រី). Behind the preah thineang bossabok is another bossabok called the Preah Tineang Nearyrath Sophea (Khmer: ព្រះទីនាំងនារីរ័ត្នសោភា), the Preah Thineang Bossabok is for the king and the Preah Thineang Nearyrath Sophea at the back is for the queen. Like every king has to sit on the front bossabok, every queen also needs to sit on the taller bossabok behind. After sitting on the bossaboks while wearing the regalia, the kings and queens will be escorted to their palanquins to be paraded around the city.

 

MOONLIGHT PAVILION

The Preah Thineang Chan Chhaya (Khmer: ព្រះទីន័ងច័ន្ទឆាយា) or "Moonlight Pavilion", is an open-air pavilion that serves as stage for Khmer classical dance in the past and present. It is one of the most notable buildings of the palace as it easily seen from the outside as it was built alongside a section of the palace walls. The Chan Chhaya Pavilion has a balcony that was used as a platform for viewing parades marching along Sothearos Boulevard of Phnom Penh. The current Pavilion is the second incarnation of the Chanchhaya Pavilion, this one constructed in 1913–14 under King Sisowath to replace the earlier wooden pavilion built under King Norodom. The current pavilion is of a similar design as the earlier version. The Chanchhaya Pavilion dominates the facade of the Palace on Sothearos Blvd. The Pavilion serves as a venue for the Royal Dancers, as a tribune for the King to address the crowds and as a place to hold state and Royal banquets. Most recently, the Pavilion was used for a banquet and a tribune for the new King at the 2004 coronation of King Norodom Sihamoni.

 

SILVER PAGODA

The Silver Pagoda is a compound located on the South side of the palace complex. It features a royal temple officially called Preah Vihear Preah Keo Morakot (Khmer: ព្រះវិហារព្រះកែវមរកត) but is commonly referred to as Wat Preah Keo (Khmer: វត្តព្រះកែវ). Its main building houses many national treasures such as gold and jeweled Buddha statues. Most notable is a small crystal Buddha (the "Emerald Buddha" of Cambodia) — undetermined whether made of Baccarat Crystal in 19th century or of other kind of crystal in 17th century — and a near-life-size, Maitreya Buddha encrusted with 9,584 diamonds dressed in royal regalia commissioned by King Sisowath. During King Sihanouk's pre-Khmer Rouge reign, the Silver Pagoda was inlaid with more than 5,000 silver tiles and some of its outer facade was remodelled with Italian marble.

 

There are also other structures surrounding the main building or the vihear. To the east is the statue of King Norodom sits on a white horse. To the north of the vihear is the library. At the northwestern corner is the bell tower and south of that is the model of Angkor Wat. South of the vihear stand four structures: from west to east the Chedi (stupa) of H.M. King Suramarit and Queen Kossamak, the Dharmasala, the Chedi of Princess Kantha Bupha and The Phnom Mondop (mount mondop) where the statue of Preah Ko is situated. The wall that surrounds the structures is covered with the painting of the epic story of Reamker but because neglected care, the bottom half of the painting faded throughout the years.

 

KHEMARIN PALACE

The Khemarin Palace is the common English name for a building called Khemarin Moha Prasat (Khmer: ខេមរិន្រ្តមហាប្រាសាទ) [Prasat (temple or palace) Khmer + Indra] or in Khmer meaning the "Palace of the Khmer King." It is used as an official residence of the King of Cambodia. This compound is separated from other buildings by a small wall and is located to the right of the Throne Hall. The main building is topped with a single spired prang.

 

OTHER STRUCTURES

Other structures include, Hor Samran Phirun, Hor Samrith Phimean, Damnak Chan, Phochani Pavilion (dance hall), Serey Monkol Pavilion (royal conference hall), King Jayavarman VII Pavilion, Vihear Suor (royal chapel), Villa Kantha Bopha, Villa Chumpou, Villa Sahametrei, and some less significant buildings in an area closed to the public.

 

GARDENS

The palace has various gardens with tropical flowers and plants, such as Allamanda cathartica, Couroupita guianensis and Jatropha integerrima.

 

THE ROYAL PALACE TODAY

The Royal Palace has had some major modifications to its buildings over time; nearly all of the King Norodom era buildings have been demolished completely. The King's living area (closed to public) has also undergone big changes. In the 1960s at Queen Kossamak's command the Silver Pagoda was rebuilt due to the original aging structure being too weak to stand.

 

The palace has always been a popular tourist attraction in Phnom Penh. Visitors are able to wander around the Silver Pagoda compound and the central compound containing the Throne Hall and Chan Chhaya Pavilion. The King's living area, which actually takes up half of the total palace ground area, including Khemarin Palace, Villa Kantha Bopha, Serey Mongkol Pavilion, royal gardens, and a number of other buildings and pavilions, is closed to the public.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Kingdom | Richmond, VA | October 5, 2013

 

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