This is taken in one of the most beautiful and impressive bldg.s I've toured anywhere, and the most iconic in Iran. The smaller Sheikh Lotfollah mosque on the same square could be the most beautiful. This was taken soon after I arrived in Esfahan city, and in the vast province of Esfahan, which is "the most Persian [province in Iran] in the sense that most foreigners understand the term" according to the LP.

 

- I made copies in a library in Ghazvin of chapters from an entertaining, edifying old book called 'Persian cities' (1960). Some excerpts follow, including this.:

The MASJID-I-SHAH [EMAM]: "At the southern end of the Maidan [see below] is the great Masjid-i-Shah, 'the Shah's mosque' [renamed the 'Masjed-e Emam' in 1979] with its beautiful dome, twin minarets, imposing portal and another pair of minarets. ... Work on it began in the spring of 1611 [1612 per Bradt]. So anxious was the Shah to see rapid progress made that he ordered his chief architect to commence construction of the walls before the foundations had had time to settle. The architect refused, pointing out that the safety of the bldg. would be endangered, but the Shah would not listen. Finally the architect, after taking careful measurements, went into hiding. As the work could not be carried out without his guidance, it came perforce to a standstill, much to the anger of Shah 'Abbas. When the architect deemed that enough time had elapsed for the foundations to bear the weight of the walls, he reappeared; on taking fresh measurements, he found that the foundations had sunk to an appreciable extent. He then went before the Shah, explained fully what he had done, and obtained the monarch's forgiveness. However, as another means of expediting construction, the Shah insisted on the use of ordinary painted and glazed tiles for most of the interior instead of tile-mosaic [as in the older Jame mosque at Yazd]; he nonetheless had the majestically tall entrance portal [30 m.s high] facing on to the maidan, the twin minarets flanking it [both 42 m.s high], the bulbous dome [54 m.s in height] and other conspicuous parts of the bldg. faced with glazed brick mosaic. Notwithstanding these measures, Shah 'Abbas died [in 1629] some years before the finishing touches could be put to the mosque. It's estimated that no less than 18 million bricks and half a million tiles were used in the construction of this great building."

- Inside the door, which is small relative to the portal, a short corridor and then a hallway lead to an inner courtyard surrounded by four eivans. youtube.com/shorts/WIwigbgOaqU?si=qIOJuCXHJt1SOg8c Three lead into vaulted sanctuaries, the largest (the dome chamber), to the south. The dome-chamber is flanked by two courtyards to the east and west containing a medreseh. The whole complex is lavishly decorated with sumptuous blue tiles which "take on a different hue according to the light conditions." (LP)

- According to Bradt, Shah Abbas ordered construction of this mosque in memory of his ancestor Shah Tahmasp I (d 1576). Construction was completed under Shah 'Abbas's grandson Shah Safi (1629-'42).

- "The entrance portal to the mosque is at the central of the south side of the maidan, but the mosque itself is set at an angle, to face Mecca. So successfully did the architects design this change of access, which occurs within the entrance complex, that it is almost imperceptible; nor is the general aspect from the square unbalanced." ('Architecture of the Islamic World' [AOTIW]) Shah 'Abbas clearly preferred the Maidan be oriented on a north-south axis. I wonder if this was for the lighting and the aesthetic.

- This is the underside of a Persian double-dome, "the inner one absorbing and distributing the structural load so allowing the outer dome to have a more eye-catching outline. There is a 14 m. gap /b/ the 2, the outer shell being supported on huge spars embedded into the inner dome."

 

- Some scenes from Pasolini's 'Arabian nights' were filmed in this incredible mosque. See from the 2 min. pt. in the video in the link.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX_vu5UdYvo Pasolini was openly gay if you can't tell from this clip. But the dialogue and tone fit with 'The 'Arabian nights', which is fun and a little racy. I like the fable about the young man in his home-town in Yemen who one day let out a great fart so loud that he had to leave town in disgrace. As an old man, he hoped that people in his town might've forgotten about the fart and that he might be able to return, and so one day he mustered the courage to travel there but soon after he arrived, walking through the streets of the town with hope and trepidation, he passed an open window and heard a young girl ask her mother "When did that happen Mommy?" and her mother replied "Oh that was long ago, back before the time of the great fart." He realized then with great sorrow that he could never return home.

- Pasolini filmed his 'Arabian Nights' in Iran (Esfahan and the Murcheh Khvort citadel), Yemen, the deserts of Ethiopia and Eritrea, and in Nepal (Bhaktapur, Patan and Kathmandu), with incredible settings. He fell in love with Yemen in particular, as anyone would who watches this film, a feast for the eyes, with scenes in Taiz, Zabid, Sana'a, Shibam, the Dar al-Hajar palace, and Seiyun. The beautiful Morricone soundtrack helps too.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUUHykKvpKw

- "Shooting was complicated in Esfahan: military guards threw Pasolini and the crew out because they brought donkeys onto the premises of the Shah Mosque [so dumb] and Pasolini had women singing for the scene; this was explicitly prohibited and cost the production a few days delay." (Wikipedia)

 

- History.: "If the world had no Esfahan, the creator of the world would have no world."

"Esfahan is the meaning of the word 'world.'"

"'World' is the word and 'Esfahan' the meaning."

"The poets of Esfahan had no mean opinion of their city. Rather more modest is the boast of its citizens that "Esfahan is half the world", "Esfahan misf-i-jahan". ... [A]t the height of its glory in the 17th cent., Esfahan was one of the largest cities in the world, rivalling London in size. ... The city owes much to its situation. Not only does it stand in a wide and fertile valley, but it's far from any frontier and, unlike Tabriz, Nishapur, Damghan, and Hamadan, from any invasion route. The Zayandeh-rud (the 'Life-giving river') flows through it and the altitude of 5,200' gives the city a temperate climate. According to the author of the Pahlavi book Eranshahr "the accursed Alexander, the son of Philip" founded Esfahan. But "there are grounds for identifying Esfahan with Strabo's Gabae, where the Achaemenid monarchs at times resided. In default of conclusive evidence in support of these claims, one can safely say that, in light of its good situation and climate, an early origin can be ascribed to it.

- "The legendary hero, the blacksmith Kaveh, is said to have been a native of Esfahan. In his day, Persia groaned under the tyranny of the cruel usurper Zahak (Azhdahak, the dragon of the Avesta), who had a snake growing out of each shoulder. These snakes had to be fed daily on the brains of 2 of his unlucky subjects. When the news came that Zahak had put Kaveh's 2 sons to death to feed his snakes on their brains, the blacksmith incited the populace to rise, hoisted his leather apron on a pole to serve as a standard, and marched at their head against the usurper. The revolt ended with the defeat and death of Zahak.

- "The oldest part of Esfahan was named Gadh or Gai (Strabo's Gabae?), and later Shahristan or 'the Township'. Subsequently a Jewish community settled some 2 miles to the west-NW. In due course the two towns grew to such an extent that they coalesced to form one large city, but this fusion did not occur until @ the 10th cent. The name Esfahan (probably Aspadan, from the older Aspadana) had however been applied jointly to the two towns for some hundreds of years. Opinions differ as to the origins of the Jewish town. Only its Arabic name Yahudiyeh appears to have been preserved. Some authorities maintain that it was Nebuchadnezzar I (604-562 BC) who settled there some of the exiles from Jerusalem, but it's more probable that it was Queen Shushan-Dukht, the Jewish consort of the Sassanian king Yazdigird I (399-420), who founded the town @ 1,000 yr.s later. In Parthian times (249 BC - 226 AD) Esfahan was already the capital of a large province. When Ardeshir I revolted against Artabanus (Ardavan) V, he defeated and killed Shadh Shapur, the satrap of Esfahan, in the early stages of his rebellion. [@ 4 centuries later,] towards the close of the Sassanian era, the city became the place of residence of many of the 'vaspuhran' or members of the 7 great families of Persia. This might have been why Yazdigird III, the last of the Sassanians, sought refuge in Esfahan for a spell following his defeat by the Muslim Arabs before resuming his flight when his pursuers drew near. The city itself surrendered to the Arabs in @ 642 following a series of battles in the neighbourhood.

- "Esfahan became the capital of the province of al-Jibal under Muslim rule, and was renowned for the quality of its textiles ('attabi' in particular, a striped silk fabric named for Attabiyya, the quarter in Baghdad where it was originally made [the origin of the English word 'Tabby' {Huh!} which today applies only to cats with streaked or brindled coats]) and metalwork. The early 10th cent. geographer Ibn Rusta, a native, described the city as half a league in diameter, with 4 gates, a central fortress, and containing 'the Saruq' (likely the ancient Tabarak citadel) which he claimed predated the Flood. Esfahan was ruled in this period by the Persian House of Buwaih and then by the Persian Kakuyid until 1051 when the Seljuq Tughril Beg seized the city and made it the capital of his rapidly growing empire. The following year, the well-known Persian traveler and Isma'ili propagandist Nasir-i-Khusrau (whose teachings greatly influenced Hasan-i Sabbah, the founder of the Order of the Assassins) visited Esfahan, described the city in some detail, and wrote that he had "never seen, in any place where Persian is spoken, a finer, larger and more prosperous city."

- "Alp Arslan retained Esfahan as his capital while his son and successor, Sultan Malikshah (1072-'92) preferred it to any of his other cities.

- In the 1220s, the Mongol tsunami was "checked outside [the city] in a great battle waged against [it] by the heroic Jalal ad-Din Khwarazmshah", but which would only delay the Mongol conquest. "Like the Arabs 600 yr.s earlier, the Mongols refrained from sacking Esfahan and butchering its inhabitants. Rather, after acquiring some of the polish and refinement of the Persians, they became patrons of the arts and took some steps to embellish the city." (A famous stucco mihrab in the Jame masjid is Il-Khanid.) The Muzaffarids succeeded the Mongols, and Timur Leng (Tamerlane) took the city in 1388, sparing the city and the locals, but then slaughtered > 70,000 in his response to a revolt, and built a pyramid of their skulls.

- The Timurids were followed by the Qara-Qoyunlu (the 'Black Sheep' Turcomans), but "the fortunes of Esfahan took an upward turn with the arrival of the Safavid dynasty at the turn of the 16th cent. Shah Isma'il (r 1501-'24), the first Safavid, made Tabriz his capital, but would often visit Esfahan where he laid out the spacious park known as the Naqsh-i-Jahan ('the Picture of the World') in the area to the west of the Maidan." His successor, Shah Tahmasp I (r 1524-'76), spent much time at Esfahan, and would reside at the small Timurid palace fronting on to the great Maidan. (See the write-up for the Ali Qapu.) "It was doubtless in this palace that he entertained the Mughal emperor Hemayun when, in 1541, that monarch had temporarily to abandon his throne and seek sanctuary and support in Persia. Six years later, when the Shah's brother Ilkhas Mirza rebelled against him and allied himself with the Ottoman sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, Turkish forces invaded Persia and occupied Esfahan for a time.

- "The Golden Age of Esfahan began during the reign of Shah 'Abbas the Great [r 1588-1629], the most capable and illustrious of the Safavids. Early in his reign, in the intervals /b/ his campaigns against the Turks and other foes, he visited Esfahan on several occasions. The situation of the city, its good climate, and, above all, its distance from any frontier [relative to Tabriz and Ghazvin], led him to transfer his court there permanently from Ghazvin in the spring of 1598. Over the remaining 31 years of his reign, he replanned and largely rebuilt the city, personally supervising a great part of the work. He was extremely well served by his own architects and master-masons, but didn't hesitate to supplement their work by importing artists and artisans from Italy and other European countries, as well as from India and even China. Once again, as in the time of Darius, craftsmen from many lands were brought to Persia to assist in the embellishment of the royal bldg.s, but in this case they were not all subjects of the king. His greatest achievement in Esfahan is undoubtedly the creation of the magnificent monuments which still grace the Maidan-i-[Imam, amongst which this mosque is pre-eminent]. In this task he consciously or subconsciously copied the Seljuqs' 12th cent. achievements at their Maidan-i-Kuhneh or 'Old Square'. Like them, he believed that his capital should have a fitting centre. The Maidan itself is of noble proportions, being 1,674' long and 540' wide.

- "In the course of his campaigns in Azerbaijan, Shah 'Abbas was impressed with the energy and ability of the Armenian inhabitants of the town of Jolfa, on the Aras (Araxes) river. To encourage trade and industry in Esfahan, he determined to [forcibly] transfer several thousand of them to a site on the south side of the Zayandeh-rud" (and did so at 'New Jolfa'. Cont. in the write-up for the Beit-ol Lahm [Bethlehem] church in New Jolfa.) The Shah was "amply rewarded" for the 'resettlement' "by the impetus which these clever traders and craftsmen gave to the commerce and industry" of the city.

- "With the death of Shah 'Abbas in Jan., 1629, the decline of the Safavid empire set in, but it was long before the process of decay became manifest. As for Esfahan, it continued, until the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1722, to be the great metropolis of the empire. Shah 'Abbas was succeeded by his grandson Shah Safi (r 1629-'42), who was followed by Shah 'Abbas II (r 1642-'66), Shah Sulaiman (r 1666-'94), and the last Safavid, Shah Sultan Husain (1694-1722). The famous Huguenot John Chardin, court jeweller to Charles II, who lived in Esfahan for @ 10 yr.s /b/ 1664 and '77, noted that the city was "as populous as London, which was then, as he rightly remarked, "la ville la plus peuplée de l'Europe". As we know from other sources that London had some 670,000 inhabitants at the close of the 17th cent., we shall not be far wrong if we put the population of Esfahan at a little > 600,000 in those days. According to Chardin, Esfahan had in his time 162 mosques, 48 colleges, 273 hamams, no less than 1,802 caravanserais and 12 cemeteries." (Chardin recorded a couplet he found in one of the royal palaces, which read: "When I was about to marry, the married folk were dumb. Now that I am married, those who are about to marry are deaf." :D )

- "Alas for Esfahan! Its period of glamour and glory was soon to come to a sudden and terrible end. ... Disaster came like a bolt from the blue. From 1720 to '22 Persia suffered a series of shattering blows from the Ghalzai Afghans, the Turks and the Russians. Most of her territory was overrun, and Esfahan itself underwent a terrible siege at the hands of the barbarous Afghans. Muhammad Muhsin, a Persian historian who experienced the siege, has described how the citizens were at length reduced to [cannibalism of the dead]. On one occasion, Muhsin was sent with some others to look for hidden hoards of food. In the course of their search they came upon a cellar filled with sacks which, when they opened them, they found to contain coins worth a fabulous sum. He and his companions were so disappointed at finding $ instead of grain that they left sacks and their contents lying where they had found them." After a siege of seven months and the deaths of 100s of 1000s, the city was forced to surrender, and the Shah abdicated in favour of Mahmud, the Afghan leader, who threw him into prison and slaughtered most male members of the royal family. Fearing a revolt by the Esfahanis, who, despite the ravages of the siege, greatly outnumbered his Afghan troops, Mahmud ordered his men to commit a wholesale massacre. Esfahan has never fully recovered from the combined effects of the siege and this slaughter, in which over 90% of the population lost their lives. [! - I didn't know.] Moreover, large areas of the city were razed to the ground. Mahmud's successor, Ashraf, put the ex-Shah to death in 1727.

- "The famous general Nadr Quli Beg defeated the Afghans, drove them from Esfahan, seized the throne and reigned as Nadir Shah, but made Mashad his capital." (The capital would move to Shiraz under Karim Khan Zand in 1762 and to Tehran in 1786.) In the chaotic period that followed Nadir Shah's assassination in 1747 Esfahan was looted twice, first by the Bakhtiari tribe and later by Afghan rebels and Lurs, thus further adding to its misfortunes and those of its citizens. One James Morier, who visited Esfahan early in the 19th cent., wrote that "one might suppose that God's curse had extended over parts of the city, as it did over Babylon. Houses, bazaars, mosques, palaces, whole streets are to be seen in total abandonment; and I have rode for miles amongst its ruins without meeting with any living creature, except perhaps a jackal peeping over a wall, or a fox running to his hole" ('Persian Cities', 1960). This is hard to believe in light of how well-preserved and lovely the city's early 17th cent. monuments are today, but while "[t]he power and breadth of Shah 'Abbas's vision is still very much in evidence, what remains is just a small taste of what the city looked like at its height" during the early 17th-cent. reign of Shah 'Abbas I. (LP) Wow. Reza Shah Pahlavi is given credit for much of the renovation.

 

- Tourism in Esfahan is less cerebral than in any other city that I toured in Iran. With the exception of the fascinating Jame mosque, several early mosques and shrines and a collection of ancient minarets in the older, northern half of the city, and the adobe ateshkadeh complex at or past the edge of town, Esfahan for tourists is all about a series of exceptional 17th cent. Safavid monuments. In that way, tourism in Esfahan is akin to tourism in Ani (but which is more cerebral), Sivas, Beijing, St. Petersburg or Agra, an exploration of a flowering of art and architecture in a distinctive, magnificent style from a moment in time. Magnificent is truly the best word to describe Esfahan. I've also read that Esfahan has the greatest concentration of Islamic monuments in Iran.

- youtu.be/a9FVrJS4MzU?si=a-iwZjyTpqouJ3NF

- youtu.be/TEHC307aK_E?si=MR6GAoHM4BVrmtJ6

- This vlogger has a suitable level of appreciation and enthusiasm for Esfahan and the local culture.: youtu.be/eVzPH8RT6P0?si=sYuYYensO2U24ulq

 

- I write this is in November, 2024.: In early Jan., 2020, President-elect Trump threatened to target Iranian cultural sites "if Iran retaliates against the U.S." for the assassination of General Soleimani on Jan. 3. He's now set to nominate Fox news troll Pete Hegseth as U.S. Secretary of Defense, who also advocated to hit Iranian cultural sites. I don't know who put that idea in Trump's head, but the Iranian military and the IRGC have famously excavated very deep, extensive, subterranean tunnels and caves to house missile production facilities, etc., and would see no advantage in placing any of their assets at any cultural sites (certainly not after the IDF has repeatedly bombed every mosque, church, hospital, university, etc. in Gaza since Oct. 7, '23). This mosque and that of Sheikh Lotfollah, Esfahan's Jame mosque, the Sheikh Safi-ad Din Khanegah and shrine ensemble at Ardabil, and the Imam Reza shrine in Mashad are the greatest Islamic monuments in the country, and threats to destroy or damage them are nothing but sadistic, unless those threats involve some jealousy as well. But of course any bombing with bunker buster bombs thickly coated in depleted uranium (D.U.), as in Beirut this month, would be even worse, much worse, contaminating the bomb-site forever, causing cancers and birth defects as with Gulf War syndrome, Afghan syndrome, and Balkans syndrome, but worse still as it seems that much more D.U. was used in Beirut. Evil. (I'm not religious, but if I was I might take some interest in the similarity /b/ pentagons and pentagrams, or inverted pentagrams. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigil_of_Baphomet )

 

- I stayed in Esfahan over 9 days, but don't recall anything about the hotel or hostel where I stayed, although it would've been in the 'budget range' (very much so), and European tourists were staying there, more than I'd met in my first month in the country (which isn't saying much). One person I remember was Ellen, a pretty brunette with a hair-lip from Norway, a solo traveler, quiet but adventurous, who recruited my services as a chaperone one evening to accompany her in her search for Sufis. We walked quite a ways and asked anyone we came across who could speak English, but had no luck. It would've been easier to find Christians, Jews or Zoroastrians. (Kermanshah is known for Sufism, but it's officially discouraged in Iran, generally.) I don't know just what she expected from the Sufis, whether or how they would involve her in their observances or their cosmology, but she was on a quest. It seemed she'd come to Iran in a search for enlightenment, or maybe for love.

- "The Islamic Republic of Iran has harassed Sufis, reportedly for their lack of support for the government doctrine of "governance of the jurist" (i.e., that the supreme Shiite jurist should be the nation's political leader)." (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Sufis According to that Wikipedia entry, the persecution and suppression of Sufis in Iran, or at least those in Shi'ite regions, has increased since 2000. Sufis are more or less suppressed across the Islamic world. "Sufism [has been perceived] as emotional and uncontrollable, reaching beyond reason to a state of ecstasy and Truth reached through practices of dancing and physical self-deprivation. It is regarded as a dissenting form of worship at odds with authoritarian power structures." (Wikipedia)

  

I toured the following sights and sites.:

 

Around the Maidan:

1. The MAIDAN: "This huge, open square, laid out in 1612, is one of the largest in the world (500 x 160 m.s), and a majestic example of town planning." (LP) "The mast or pole that was in the centre of the maidan has long since disappeared. Atop this pole, which was @ 25' high, was a target or mark which, on special occasions, was a golden cup; at other times a melon or an apple. It was the practice of the Shah and his nobles to ride at full gallop past the pole, and then, turning back in their saddles in Parthian fashion, to discharge their arrows at their mark. ... The original goalposts [from the Shah's polo ground] are still in place and to be seen at either end of the Maidan," which I don't recall. ('Persian cities')

 

2. The MOSQUE of SHEIKH LOTFOLLAH (1603-1618):

"On the eastern side of the [Maidan] is the superb Masjid-i-Lutfullah [or Lotfollah] aka the Masjid-i-Sadr, the mosque which Shah 'Abbas erected in honour of his saintly father-in-law and which he used for his private devotions. This mosque is much smaller than the Masjid-i-[Emam], but it's an even finer example of what the Shah's architects, builders and craftsmen could accomplish. Its exquisite dome, adorned with lovely arabesques, [and with "pale tiles that change colour from cream through to pink according to the light conditions" {LP}], eclipses in beauty that of its larger neighbour. The interior is covered with tile mosaic rivalled in quality only by similar contemporary work in the ... shrine of Iman Reza at Mashad." ('Persian Cities', 1960) (I didn't make it to Mashad.) The tile-mosaic of the facade has been largely restored but the interior is entirely covered with its original mosaic. The mosque is unusual in that it has no minaret nor a courtyard (as, again, it was private).

- "The portal dedication emphasizes the explicit Shi'a role of the shah as the "reviver of the virtues of his pure ancestors, and propagator of the doctrine of the pure Imams. ... Surface patterns of ceramic shapes, sometimes set into unglazed brick, disguise thick walls which support the single-shell dome (diameter 13 m.s) while turquoise barley-twist cables outlining the full-length squinches lead the eye into the dome. We always wonder how the pattern designer calculated for the diminishing size of the [lozenges] on the dome’s concave surface. No wonder geometry, algebra and mathematics developed in the Islamic world." (Bradt)

- "Sunlight filters through a series of double grilles in the drum, resting on squinches that rise directly from the floor. Each of the 8 pointed arches supporting the dome is outlined by [the said cables] framing a number of inlays with inscriptions or foliage." (AOTIW)

- This mosque is darker, cooler and more intimate than the crowded Masji-e Emam and I took my time to take it all in, and sat by a wall looking up and around, gawking in awe. (Photography in the interior was forbidden.) I should've bought a poster of a photo of the inner dome on sale in a shop or 2 across the Maidan. Here it is.: youtube.com/shorts/i6ymddxcGKs?si=QNKkwKqZCUFDFE_a youtu.be/spSPAKEvFXI?si=xnlMhcpvTFPTnTCQ It's certainly one of the 5 most beautiful buildings I've ever toured. I don't know what most of those five might be, but I know they include the Taj Mahal. So at least 2 of those most beautiful bldg.s were designed by Iranians (or Iranians and Ustad A. Lahori, a Punjabi of Iranian heritage and ethnicity). My top 5 likely includes the Masjed-e Emam as well.

 

-The Maidan (with the Shiekh Lotfollah dome seen at the start): youtube.com/shorts/gJeCuyaYCKc?si=nnoHH8L2QzGaiOcD

 

3. The 'ALI QAPU palace: (See my write-up for my photo taken inside it.)

 

4. The perimeter of the Maidan (i.e. the Emam Khomeini square): "In the centre of the northern side of the Maidan is the high, tiled gateway of the Qaisariyeh, the Imperial bazaar. Flanking this gateway were the two galleries of the Naqqareh-Khaneh where [back in the day] orchestras of trumpets and kettle-drums played violently and discordantly at dusk and again at 2 a.m. [?] [Here a vlogger explores beautiful, restored "VIP" music rooms on the upper floor of this 'gateway' bldg., which were probably closed to tourism in 2000.: youtu.be/llcax66iOCg?si=D_Xn8AykrwfcvU0h ] A line of 2-storeyed bldg.s of uniform, arcaded design runs right @ the square /b/ [the Maidan's] monuments. The ground floor was and still is used to accommodate shops, and dwellings were on the upper floor. Shah 'Abbas housed many of his skilled craftsmen in these bldg.s. ... On great occasions and at times merely for his own pleasure, the Shah would have these bldg.s surrounding the Maidan illuminated with small lamps, of which, we are told, there were no less than 50,000." ('Persian Cities') I bought some good quality books with old photos and quality postcards in shops lining the Maidan, and enjoyed the atmosphere and the views on repeated visits. The LP writes that the square is "(usually) beautifully illuminated" at 8 p.m. when local families visit.

- I patronized a popular cafe on a high, upper level at the NW corner of the square, above and next to the entrance to the bazaar, with great views over the Maidan, and took a few puffs of flavoured smoke from a hookah (although I don't smoke).

 

- The QAISARIYEH or GRAND bazaar (1620): Originally constructed in the 11th cent., this bazaar grew to become one of the largest and most luxurious trading centres in the Middle East, a vaulted, 2-km.-long street linking the older Seljuk neighborhood in the north with the 17th cent. Safavid hood in the south (and with @ 5 km.s of corridors and walkways in total per the LP) and incl. "mosques, tea-shops, hamams and even gardens". Destroyed several times, it dates to the 17th cent. in its current form. I was more impressed with it and its decorative and visibly ancient aspects than any other bazaar that I toured in Iran. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Isfahan_Grand_Bazaar#...

- youtube.com/shorts/4-YOa2_aAnI?si=77F1doJg0QcOC7IX

 

- The CHEHEL SOTOUN ('40 Columns') palace and museum (Cheh-hell So-toon, Safavid, 1647): Shah 'Abbas II built this beautiful palace pavilion for coronations (Solayman aka Safi II was crowned within on March 20, 1668) and the reception of foreign embassies, around a small pavilion built for 'Abbas I (57.8 x 37 m.s). 20 16-m.-tall, wooden columns on the large, open verandah (tālār) are reflected in a pool which provides the other 20, hence the name. But another theory has it that "40 was once used synonymously with 'many' in ancient Persian, and still is in some quarters." (LP) commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chehel_Sotoun,_Isfahan,_I...

- "The 4 columns in the centre [of the portico], surrounding a small basin, rest on bases carved as [stylized] lions, while the alcove at the rear of the portico is decorated with the remains of the mirror-mosaics that, originally, entirely covered the walls." (AOTIW)

- The small, crowded museum within exhibits the obligatory ceramics, old coins, militaria and several Qurans, incl. "one said to be in the handwriting of the 2nd Imam". (LP) Six murals painted on ceramic panels on the interior walls of the banquet hall could be the most famous murals or paintings in Iran. They depict such scenes as:

1. The famous reception of the Mughal Emperor Hemayun, who took refuge in Iran in 1544, by Shah Tahmasp I (r 1524-'76), with a large retinue, musicians and very un-Islamic dancing girls in the foreground. (It's no surprise that this and the two of the other murals that depict banquets were covered up for @ 15 - 20 yr.s following the Islamic revolution. [LP]) It fascinates Indian visitors. Could it be the most famous painting in the country? It's the best represented Persian mural or painting on all the postcard racks. ranasafvi.com/the-famous-humayun-and-shah-tahmasp-fresco-...

2. The reception and entertainment of Walī Moḥammad Khan, Uzbek ruler of Turkistan, by Shah ʿAbbas I, with more dancing girls et al. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Painting_in_Chehel_Sotoun...

3. The reception by Shah ʿAbbās II of an Uzbek ambassador in 1646. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iran,_Chehel_Sotoun,_Cult...

4. The victory of Isma'il I (r 1501-'24) over the Uzbek Saybani Khan at the Battle of Marv in 1510. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Marv#/media/File:Fresco_c... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chehel_Sotoun#/media/File:Chehel_So...

5. A later, Qajar-era mural of a battle, Nadir Shah's victory over the Mughal emperor Mohammad of India at Karnal in 1739 commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chehel_Sotoun_%D8%B9%D9%8... and

6. Another Qajar-era depiction of a battle, Shah Isma'il's "triumph over the Janissary aga at Chaldiran" (Iranicaonline.org) ? - But Chaldiran was a rout for Selim the Grim's Ottomans on Aug. 23, 1514. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Painting_in_Chehel_Sotoun... commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_painting_in_Chehel_Soto...

The walls of the banquet hall are otherwise coated in dazzling decorative detail, of course, with floral arabesques, muqarnas vaulting, etc.

- More murals were discovered in the flanking rooms under a coat of whitewash applied in the Qajar period, incl. landscapes, figural compositions, scenes from Persian poetry with Khosrow and Shirin, et al., etc. (Iranicaonline.org) Two women in one scene in one mural wear garments that are see-through above the waist. (!) commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sathi.jpg

- Alterations have been made over the centuries. The 20 columns in the porch and the exterior walls behind were coated in reflective mirrors in the renovation of 1706 such that "the mass of structure appear[ed] to be of glass, and when new must have glittered with magnificent splendour." (J.J. Morier)

- The superb gardens, 67,000 m.s2 [formerly @ 7 ha.s], with a large pool, 110 x 16 m.s, are included in the collective Unesco site 'Persian Gardens', designated in 2011, one of nine in Iran. And there's much early-19th-cent., stylized stone sculpture in the round of lions and standing maidens on the grounds too. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chehel_Sotoun_%D8%B9%D9%8...

- youtu.be/fVSAFpa1XvM?si=H03IZVoRntBDs323

 

- The HASHT BEHESHT palace (1669, Safavid): (See my comment for my photo taken inside it.)

 

- Safavid BRIDGES across the Zayandeh-rud, incl. the Khaju and the Si-o-SePol: (See my comment for my photo taken on the latter bridge.)

 

- The MEDRESEH-ye CHAHAR BAGH ('School of the Four Gardens'), built by the mother of Shah Sultan Husain, previously known as the Medrese-ye Madar-e Shah ('Seminary of the Shah's mother'), and completed in 1715, is "one of the most beautiful and attractive of the monuments of the whole Safavid era." It includes a mosque with a dome similar to that of the Masjed-e Emam but smaller, and 160 rooms behind rows and rows of pointed-arched eivans, all covered in fine tiles with arabesques, etc. Allegedly Shah Husain spent the night before his execution in 1727 (by the Afghan warlord Ashraf) in one of the small rooms or cells (one of the eivans) looking out onto the courtyard. (I've read that a scene in Pasolini's 'Arabian nights' was filmed in that courtyard.) I walked and gawked through it at least a few times in transit.

- I also took a look @ the former early 18th-cent. caravanserai which became the luxury Abbasi Hotel in 1955 with its fine courtyard and which is handy to the medreseh.

 

- The VANK CATHEDRAL aka the Holy Savior Cathedral aka the Church of the Saintly Sisters (Armenian Apostolic, 1606) and museum, the BEIT-OL LAHM (Bethlehem) aka Bedkhem church (Armenian, 1628), and NEW JOLFA (the Armenian quarter): (See my comment for my photo taken in the Beit-ol Lahm church.)

 

- The GOLESTAN-E SHOHADA cemetery: (See my comment for my photo taken there.)

 

- The KETER DAVID SYNAGOGUE (Kenisa-ye Keter David aka the 'Cathedral Synagogue' aka the Kanise-ye Esfahan [per the LP], 1940): I visited this relatively large, modern synagogue one evening or late one afternoon, @ 800 m.s SW of the Maidan, as it had an entry in my LP guide (the only synagogue with a mention, despite the importance of Judaism to the city's early medieval history, see above). Built in the 'Pahlavi style', I've read that it houses 500-yr.-old copies of the Torah written on vellum, and has a popular mikveh (or 'miqwa', 1944). This article includes photos taken inside.: en.shafaqna.com/171487/living-conditions-are-now-better-t... Sadly, my visit involved another miss a bit similar to that in the Falak ol-aflak in Khorramabad, one of my bigger misses in the country. The bldg. was open, I walked in and immediately met some very friendly, warm, and welcoming locals. My memory's fuzzy but I recall it was wide with pews or rows of chairs (the latter), and with a friendly, grinning woman sitting at the left. The people inside and I had a discussion and they were happy to talk about their lives in Esfahan. I can only paraphrase, but they said they were happy there and had no desire to leave for Israel nor anywhere else. (Again, these are 'the Children of Esther', members in a community with roots that run very deep in the country, back to the early 1st mill. B.C. The 'Aryans', aka Arya, the ancestors of the Persians themselves and the Kurds, arrived only @ millenium or so earlier.) It's possible they were just being charming and agreeable, but they were open, candid and seemed entirely sincere. (This was in 2000, which seems like a long time ago in this context, but this CNN article from 2015 is consistent with my impression.: www.cnn.com/2015/03/11/middleeast/iran-jews-esfahan/index... ) I can't recall what else was said, but near the end of the discussion I remarked that the synagogue seemed relatively new and that there must be older, much more historic synagogues in town, and they responded "Oh yes", nodding with eyebrows raised, etc. and one older man offered to take me to visit some on a tour in his car for a fee. I had the impression they would've been hard to find and to access otherwise, hidden away in alleyways (even Armenian churches in New Jolfa were a trick to find) but that was likely an assumption. It was a fair one (as I explain below). Whatever his fee was it was very reasonable, @ as little as the equivalent of $10.00 or more, and I was tempted but I was on the tightest budget ever and had to decline. (I was paying @ $5.00 per night for a bed most nights, albeit in the cheapest or the worst digs. Most sights and sites were free and every dollar saved prolonged my trip.) I've wondered ever since what he would have shown me. Well the internet to the rescue! I've learned that there are from 16 to 24 synagogues in Esfahan, 7 of which are registered in the list of National monuments of Iran, and that at least 8 are in a cluster in a neighborhood named Joubareh, aka Yahudiyeh (per Google maps) in the older, Seljuk part of town, only 150-400 m.s NE of the world-famous Jame mosque. Most date from the 19th and 20th cent.s (many built over older synagogues), consist of fired mud-brick with adobe cladding, and most have octagonal skylight-towers, some visibly ancient, through which sunlight shines down on the cantor and the dukhan or bimah (typically 3 x 3 m.s) at the centre of each sanctuary. "The entire interior space of the synagogue is “separated” from the outside world and has minimal connection to it. To reach this space, one must follow a path, one that is generally dark and long; a path that cuts off the ongoing connection with the mortal world and prepares one for a renewed “presence”; a presence before the creator of light and illumination." www.7dorim.com/en/pictures/joubareh-neighborhood-isfahan-... maps.app.goo.gl/XaYnbSL9e5SmBD9j6 The Golbahar Mohammad Safari synagogue (8th cent.), @ 100 m.s SW of the Imam Ali square, is said to be the oldest in the city, although apart from an ancient plaque and its stone-carved dukhan, it appears almost new. youtu.be/eOEAhiywLAk?si=WrDl7mD54_29r4-7 The loveliest of the city's synagogues is the Molla Nisan (early 20th cent.) in Joubareh, with its muqarnas vaulting, Persian floral frescos, etc. www.7dorim.com/en/pictures/the-molla-nisan-synagogue-of-i... So I imagine that that man would've taken me to the Golbahar synagogue and then to Joubareh to show me @ the synagogues there, most of which (all?) are locked up today and hard to find. And of course I regret declining his offer. (Several in the site in the next link are unbeknownst to Google maps.)

- Here's a site that's a vault of photos taken in the synagogues in Joubareh, etc.: www.7dorim.com/en/?s=Esfahan

- According to this article re the 'Molla (Mulla) Yaghoob (Jacob) synagogue' archive.diarna.org/site/detail/public/782/ , geniza records from Cairo suggest that Persian communities in ancient times had been quite large. While the community was often highly respected, there were times when its members were under duress to convert, such as during the reign of 'Abbas II, through the threat of confiscation of inheritance. "By 1889 there were only @ 400 Jewish families left in Esfahan and most were poor. The Alliance Israelite Universelle established a school in the city in 1901. By 1968 the school had expanded to provide both a high school and an elementary school for Jewish students. ... Of the 18 functioning synagogues, now only one [the Keter David] is in use" (although the Golbahar looks to be in occasional use at least, in the video in the 3rd-last link above).

- Here a vlogger explores and films at Joubareh. (The lovely panel of 12 tiles [which looks to be Qajar] with 2 angels and the Decalogue above an entrance at the 42 sec. pt. was recently removed or stolen, per photos on google maps.): youtu.be/8XSDI8BigmY?si=ZiAQB04ZCNykooNF

- youtu.be/MhJ16uH0ETI?si=f15RpKuz0LNMuDH9

 

- Watch 'Jewish journey to Iran', an interesting discussion on 'Israel Hayom' /b/ a guy with a Buffalonian accent and a Jewish columnist re her two visits to Iran, specifically to Jewish communities in Tehran, Hamadan and Esfahan.: youtu.be/MHcugV6vgDU?si=Wj9kLWrbqPb5neh8 She was impressed. She's critical, but considers that Iran is filled with "beautiful contradictions", and when asked what surprised her most on her trip (at the 11:40 min. pt.), she (very) readily responds: "How much I loved the country. Aside from Israel, I've never fallen that deeply in love with a country. ... The people, the mentality, the Persian and the Jewish mentality are quite alike. I mean we're very academic, very family-oriented, warm, respectful people, both of us, and I felt a strong connection to the people, and it's beautiful." But she says (at the 45 sec. pt.) that before she visited she rarely thought of Iranian Jews "outside of a pogrom context." Travel's always the best education. (A 2nd cousin of mine repeats a great quote. [I forget from whom.]: "I don't like those people much. I'll have to get to know them better.")

 

- All that said, the main challenge facing Iranian Jewry today is their low population (only 9,826 in 2016 according to a census, although the largest in the Middle and Near East after Israel), and the strict prohibition against Muslim apostasy. Their population can only grow from within or from marriage to foreigners who would then immigrate, a tall order. A far greater number of Iranian Jews live in Israel today than in Iran.

- youtu.be/dUP571KQyRQ?si=Ggmhr_H46uewaYRp

 

- The MASJED-E JAME, the 11th-18th cent. 'Museum of Islamic archictecture': (See my comment for my photo taken in an eivan in that mosque.)

 

- The IMAM ALI MINARET and MOSQUE (Seljuk, 1118-'57): This incredible minaret, the oldest in Esfahan, is 52 m.s high (I've also read 48), 2 m.s shy of the Sarban minaret near Joubareh (if so), the tallest in Esfahan province. A tapering cylindrical shaft built entirely of brick with decorative brick-work in recess, a prominent 'girdle' or balcony near the top, and 4 Kufic inscriptions, 3 highlighted with blue, glazed tiles, it was built together with the Imam Ali mosque during the reign of the Seljuk Khan Sanjar (r 1118-1157). The mosque was designed in the classic 4-eivan plan with a domed sanctuary in the qibla wing, and was renovated during the reign of Shah Isma'il I (1501-'24), much of it covered in tiles with floral and geometric motifs in blue, turquoise and white, a band with a Kufic inscription on the exterior of the dome, etc. www.archnet.org/sites/1611

- "The Chihil Dukhtaran and other Seljuq minarets [such as the Ali minaret] appear to have had considerable influence on the successive Ghurid victory towers built over Afghanistan and North of the Indian Subcontinent in the 12th to 13th cent.s." www.archnet.org/sites/1614

 

- The IMAMZADEH HARUN-e-VILAYET (Safavid, 1512-'13, restored in 1656-'57): "There are many accounts of Harun Vilayet," the man buried within, including that he's the son of the 10th Imam, the son of the 11th, the grandson of the 6th, and of the 7th. Whoever he was, his shrine is "the most important historical structure related to the early Safavid era" and "greatly influenced Safavid Esfahan's urban design in the 16th cent. The square of Harun-i Vilayet was at the centre of the city from the time of the reign of Shah Isma'il, the first Safavid ruler, until Shah 'Abbas I shifted the focus to the Maidan-i Shah in 1590." The shrine's construction is "attributed to Mirza Shah Husain, a vassal of Durmish Khan Shamlu, Isfahan's governor under Safavid Shah Ismail I." www.archnet.org/sites/3904 The interior is "only accessible during performances" of passion plays (Archnet), and was closed when I was there. Interesting murals and paintings with figural compositions of Ali, Fatima et al. adorn the walls of the antechamber as seen on google maps. Devotions here are reputed to work miracles. Some Armenian Christians worship here as well (?).

- Unusually, in 2000, huge (roof-high), very non-iconoclastic (un-Islamic?) portraits of Khomeini and Khamenei loomed to the left and right, respectively, of the ornate, tile-clad eivan in the entrance portal to the medreseh (adjoining the shrine itself), beside and beneath the minaret of Imam Ali. (They reminded me of Ataturk's cult of personality. I'll scan a photo.)

 

- the IMAMZADEH JA'FAR (Il-Khanid, 1320s): This slender, free-standing, octagonal tomb tower was built for a descendant of the 5th Imam. (For some strange reason, a Wikipedia entry writes at length that the occupant was a famous companion of Muhammad [who was also entombed in Jordan]. - ?) It's built with yellow, fired brick, has 2 impressive bands of tile mosaic inscription @ the top, and looks fairly new. (I don't recall it, but I took a photo of it.) www.archnet.org/sites/1617 See this older photo of the bands of tiles from the Smithsonian and be amazed at how much and how well it's been restored since it was taken.: www.si.edu/object/archives/components/sova-fsa-a-06-ref28...

 

- The DARB-e-IMAM ('The Shrine of the Imams', Qara Qoyunlu, from 1453, much of it restored in the 17th and 18th cent.s): This is a funerary complex with 2 shrines, a mosque, a mausoleum with a royal cemetery, and a stone sculpture that I photographed in its courtyard of a lion with a man's head in its open mouth. The cemetery dates to the Seljuk era and "[t]he first bldg. in the complex was built [in 1453 by Jahan Shah, two yr.s after Esfahan fell to the 'Qara Qoyunlu', to house the tomb of his mother, and] ... as an Imamzadeh for two saints, Ibrahim Tabatabai and Zayn al-'Abidin Ali, [alleged] descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib", THE Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law, the 4th Imam, "through Ja'far al-Sadiq", the 6th. 12 more of Ali's descendants are buried there according to tradition. The complex grew to become a venerated burial ground for Safavid princes and dignitaries. "Shah 'Abbas I exhumed the remains of his predecessor Shah Tahmasp, who was defiled by Mongols in Mashhad," and reburied him there. The complex is known for the "brilliance of quality and colour of [its] early Timurid tile work" and its plaster inscription friezes. Its raised tile mosaic patterns and thuluth inscriptions were an influence on later Safavid architects. www.archnet.org/sites/3901

 

- The DARDASHT MINARETS and the TOMB of SULTAN BOKHT AGHA (late 14th cent.): The occupant Sultan (the wife or queen of the Shah and the niece of the last Injuid ruler, Sheikh Abu Ishaq Inju, executed by her husband or her father-in-law in 1357, and celebrated in Persian literature, incl. in the works of Hafez) was married to the Muzaffarid Shah Mahmud Ibn Amir Mobarez al-Din Muhammad, who, "although he was fascinated by [her] perfection," murdered her in a drunken rage one night during Hamadan, and then blamed her for an alleged plot to (somehow) capture and surrender him to his enemy Shah Shoia Ibn Amir Mobarez alDin Muhammad, for whom she would open the gates of Esfahan, all "to avenge the blood of her uncle." An inscription on her tomb reads: "This is the sacred stone which was created by the Great Khatun Sultan Bokht Agha, the daughter of Al-Amir Khosrow Shah. May God grant her success after her death in Ramadan in the year 753." According to popular legend, the Sultan foresaw that her husband would murder her at Ramadan that year, and she ordered her own tombstone and wrote her own epitaph. I've also read that the mausoleum was built in 1375 by her husband the Shah's successor, Shah Shoja Mozaffari, who imprisoned her husband and conquered Esfahan, and that he built it "to honour [the Sultan's] bravery." (I knew none of this then.)

- The twin, cylindrical minarets (15 m.s tall) and the dome of the mausoleum are built in fine, yellow fired brick with interlocking geometric designs and Kufic inscriptions in lines of turquoise and azure glazed bricks and faience, but much missing from the pattern on the dome in 2000. I saw a tall portal topped by twin minarets, one broken and truncated, the other with a crown or 'girdle' near the top (as seen in this photo www.archnet.org/sites/1615 ). Both the broken minaret and the dome have been so well-restored with missing parts replaced since (as seen in photos on-line) that it's hard to believe they weren't entirely intact these past 700 years. The complex includes a large courtyard with a fine eivan that leads to the tomb.

- youtu.be/UgrB3XPLxgk?si=tP0nNDfC1RPTw77Z

- I was taken on a tour through the back-streets and alleyways in neighborhoods just west of the Jame mosque (although all these many years I thought we drove north of the mosque) on the back of the seat of a motorbike (see my write-up for my photo taken at the Jame mosque) on which I saw a photogenic, new mosque (I've read that the number of mosques in Iran has increased from @ 25,000 in 1979 to @ 75,000 today) with a large, onion dome above a tall drum with tall windows, not yet tiled, and the dome of this old tomb with the truncated minarets, and either asked to stop to tour it or returned to it later. (I looked [and looked] for these needles in a haystack on google maps, but found the tomb and minarets while checking a list of sites in town in 'Persian Cities'.) Many old houses with ancient balconies and courtyards with elaborate porches or talars, incl. many old fixer-uppers, were seen on that tour too. Impressive interior walls and doors decorated with stucco were exposed in ruins here and there, including one beside that new mosque. I took a photo of an impressive wall of old windows made with stained glass and wooden panes in a ruined courtyard which has not only been restored since, it's now the 'Javaheri Historical House'. youtu.be/Z3Va46LyWEo?si=cZYv--Z4POHKvs9M

- This short video gives a good impression of the time capsuley quality of those old neighborhoods near the Jame mosque.: youtu.be/wHfsufNIZa0?si=WlEMEFOJ0mfonP5E

 

- The ATESHKADE (or ĀTAŠKADA)-ye ESFAHAN (Zoroastrian fire-temple): This ancient adobe complex, said to be that of a Sassanian Zoroastrian ateshkade (ātaškada), is perched atop a 105-m.-high hill @ 7 km.s west of town which affords good views back to the city and of the Zayandeh-rud. It was threatening to rain when I was there, and I took some good photos of structures at the top of the hill with the dark clouds behind. (I'll scan and upload one.)

- The complex includes the remains of a citadel consisting of @ 20 rooms or small bldg.s, several with the classic chartaq, 'four-arch' floor plan, characteristic of Sassanian fire-temples. (Wikipedia) The Arab historian Masudi visited the site in @ 1970, and "recorded [a] local tradition that the [temple] was converted from one of idol worship to fire worship by King Yustasf (aka Vishtaspa, the patron of Zoroaster) when he adopted the religion of the Magi." Since then, carbon-14 tests have revealed that the oldest elements of the temple (or fortress? whatever it was) date from the Elamite period (!).

- The most distinctive feature of the complex is a plain, adobe, circular tower atop the hill with one door and 7 windows. It "appears to have been a watch-tower" within which a fire served as a beacon, and may date to the Islamic period. It's been partly reconstructed in modern times. (Wikipedia) upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Atashgah_Isfa... According to a brochure, the complex is at 1,680 m.s above sea level and occupies an area of @ 36,000 m.s2.

- itto.org/iran/itemgallery/atashgah-zoroastrian-fire-templ...

- "The bldg.s [in the complex] were used by members of Esfahan's Isma'ili community in the 10th cent. to avoid tax collectors." I relate.

- I'd forgotten, but I wrote on the back of a photo that I walked the 7 or so clicks west to this site.

- After scrambling up to and @ the top and taking it all in, I headed east to the Manar Jomban (but missed a famous pigeon tower or 2 in the area).

- youtube.com/shorts/wy5991letwk?si=HuSQ0Nb4uoEOHzHl

 

- The MANAR JONBAN (Il-khanid, I337, and Safavid): A shrine built over the tomb of the early 14th cent. gnostic Amu Abdollah Karladani, @ 7 km.s west of the city centre, is known as Manar Jonban, 'Shaking Minarets'. Twin minarets stand at the corners of the roof of the 10 m. tall shrine with its single eivan. When one shakes one minaret from within at the top, causing it to wobble or sway back and forth, its twin does so as well at the same frequency. "Although by no means unique in this respect, these 'Shaking Minarets' are probably the most famous of their kind. The minarets [which at 7.5 m.s each aren't so tall,] probably date from the late Safavid period, while the tomb beneath them was built in the 14th cent." (LP) The Doppler effect seen here is a function of the use of light-weight materials in the construction of the minarets, their low height, their distance from one another, and the installation of wooden 'spreaders' in the upper and lower parts of the minarets. The architect designed them specifically for this effect. (That said, local legend has it that both minarets shake as Abu Abdollah shakes in his grave "with fury at being disturbed yet again.") I climbed up a flight of stairs to the roof, and then climbed up a minaret, shook it by leaning back and forth, causing it to sway, and observed its twin get into the act, so I can confirm the reports. (A visit here is a bit like a trip to 'Magnetic Hill' in Moncton on some level.) Tourists aren't permitted to climb up and mess with the minarets anymore, so the custodian puts on a demonstration 5 x a day.

- youtu.be/AJDatkvuXIo?si=Hod-O9Dbshu8jMKB

 

- I had a memorable exchange with a man in a mosque in Esfahan, and was about to include the mosque's name in the following account of the exchange (seeing as I'm writing this in 2024, 24 yr.s later), but I've thought better of it. I was looking around within it, taking in the details, as is my wont, and spoke briefly with a local man who suddenly and very kindly offered to help me to access a portion of it that was closed to the public at the time, about which I knew nothing. (This isn't to say that it wasn't closed to the public at all times in 2000, nor that it isn't closed to the public today. I wouldn't know.) He indicated that I should wait there for him and left for a few minutes. I later learned that he'd gone to look for the caretaker or custodian, the man with the keys, which I gathered from his limited English and his body-language as follows. When he returned he shrugged his shoulders, shook his head, and made a gesture with one arm (his left I think) extended outwards and with the palm of his right hand facing up and positioned close to the crook in his left, outstretched arm, while pointing the thumb of his right hand a few times toward the space /b/ the 2nd and 3rd fingers of that hand and to the crook in his left arm. (See how a picture is worth a thousand words?) He was imitating the action of injecting a needle into his outstretched arm, and was efficiently and effectively communicating that the caretaker of this famous mosque was unavailable to admit me to the said wonderful but mysterious locked portion of it because he was SHOOTING UP! What the ...?! Wow. That's how bad the situation had become locally with the flood of opiates across the Afghan border only @ 900 km.s to the East. I'd heard that this had become a real problem for Iran, and I'd already come across a junkie's needles in an adobe hollow of sorts at Susa, and would later seem them at Tappe Sialk where some kids pointed some out in a similar spot, and then found them by the toilet in a mosque at Firouzabad a few weeks later. I shouldn't have been surprised. Milk from the seeds of poppies grown in the vast poppy fields of Afghanistan (which have grown in total area to that of Rhode Island) has been converted to opium and morphine since ancient times, and increasingly to heroin since the late 19th cent. Annual Afghani production rose from @ 100 tons in the 70s to 2,000 in 1990, the year of the "conclusion" of the C.I.A.'s 10 year 'secret war' against the Soviets with the Afghan Mujahideen, "Operation Cyclone", and to 4,600 tons by 1999. (The Taliban famously attempted to destroy or greatly reduce production in 2000, the year of this trip, and achieved "an almost overnight drop to 185 tons harvested [in 2001]", but that just wouldn't do, and the U.S. invaded later that year, very coincidentally, hot on the heels of 9-11.) Afghanistan is now said to be "the source of over 90% of all the world’s illicit opium." mronline.org/2021/06/29/geopolitics-profit-and-poppies-ho... I'd heard or read that Iranian authorities had made inquiries (to their credit) with Western governments in the late 90s as to how they might address and seek to reduce opiate abuse and mitigate the levels of addiction Iran was facing. I also heard or read that "if the mullahs have resorted to asking for help or advice from the West, you know the situation MUST be bad." I heard that the situation in the city of Kerman, further east (which I didn't visit) was especially bad. Someone, somewhere that trip told me that Afghani suppliers had been training camels to run supply routes while addicting them to heroin, for which they would book it back and forth across the desert in the west and SW for their fix, laden with heroin. And to think that I was in Esfahan less than a year before 9-11, the American invasion of Afghanistan, and the expansion of opiate production to unprecedented levels.

- Of course I hope that that caretaker or custodian managed to turn things around and overcome his addiction to one of the most powerfully addictive drugs out there (at least in 2000). It's not a habit you can maintain without losing control of your life, so I assume his employers or supervisors learned about his problem and that either he prevailed against it or was let go.

Sameer AlSaeed Portrait Rembrandt Lighting

i love samed

Canon 5D Mark II Photos Tan Blond Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess! 24-105mm F/4 USM L Lens !

 

"Beauty will save the world." --Dostoevsky

 

Hello Flickr fans! Excited for my Los Angeles Landscape gallery show in December! Taking a break from finishing the HDR landscapes and finishing some goddesses for my 45surf surfline instead. :) The gallery artist statement will begin with something like:

 

"In every photograph you can see both where the photographer was standing and what they were thinking. So it is that this collection tells the story of my epic journey as no words ever could. And more importantly, I hope that it serves to guide and inspire you along a hero's journey of your own making, owning all the glorious rewards of the risks of your own taking." --Johnny Ranger McCoy

 

Back to the goddesses for the moment:

 

Canon 5D Mark II Photos of Pretty Blonde Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess with Blue Eyes! 24-105mm F/4 USM Lens ! She was tall, thin, fit--very, very fit--with amazing rock-hard abs and a toned, tall body! Long, long legs--long as the day! A classic socal California Beach Babe!

 

Epic video of the epic goddess, shot as the same time as the stills as is Johnny Ranger McCoy's lone-cowboy trademark technique:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y5lQiNQncA

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OfcQ9KCy1Y

 

Join Johnny Ranger McCoy's Hero's Journey Mythology Goddesses facebook! www.facebook.com/45surfHerosJourneyMythology

 

Subscribe to Johnny's youtube for epic goddess videos! www.youtube.com/user/bikiniswimsuitmodels

 

Twitter: twitter.com/45surf

 

Follow me on facebook! facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

 

All the Best on Your Epic Hero's Journey from Johnny Ranger McCoy & the HJM Goddesses! :)

I tried to wear a jacket over the Sandro Ferrone dress. What do you think? It's nice also like this?

model: valerie. explore!

Same day as blue top, but changed tops. The shadows are bad. Will need to go somewhere else

I'm back after this break from internet and Flickr. ;-)

 

From the same session. Straight from scan, not even removed the dust.

____________

De retour après une petite pause internet et flickr... ;-)

Je serai peut-être un peu occupé ces jours-ci... :)

 

Une autre toujours de la même séance.

Direct du scan, sans même enlever les poussières.

____________

 

Natural light only.

 

Mamiya RZ 67 pro II with Mamiya-Sekor 110mm f/2.8 and Iford HP5+ @ 1/50th sec, f/2.8; iso400.

 

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strobist info:

 

pop up flash with diffuser as trigger @ 1/8

 

sb-900 with diffuser @ 1/4 camera left

 

This is from the same set as the last couple of beach pics. This is more of me playing around with the off camera flash, I'm starting to get the hang of using it manually with just the pop up flash as the trigger.

 

This was early in the morning, like around 8:00am and we ended up staying there for like 7 or 8 hours. It was a different beach experience than what we were used to because it was that early there's still little fish in the water and tons of mosquitoes and nasty bugs that bite along with the heat and really strong sun that burned us. So after everything Alis went through I felt bad not posting something from the shooting we did in the morning.

Might as well do another one

6/6

Same stitchwort on same mirror

SAME SEEKZ KAMIT ABOMB

same

Same story, different girl :-)

The 'Evening Star'

 

The sun had set a while back, the light was still warm.

Okavango Delta.

 

Triest - Molo Audace

 

Trieste (/triˈɛst/ tree-EST, Italian: [triˈɛste]; Slovene: Trst [tə̀ɾst, tə́ɾst] is a city and seaport in northeast Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the regional decentralization entity of Trieste. As of 2025, it has a population of 198,668.

 

Trieste is located at the head of the Gulf of Trieste, on a narrow strip of Italian territory lying between the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia; Slovenia lies close, at approximately 8 km (5 mi) east and 10–15 km (6–9 mi) southeast of the city, while Croatia is about 30 km (19 mi) to the south of the city.

 

The city has a long coastline and is surrounded by grassland, forest, and karstic areas.

 

Trieste belonged, as Triest, to the Habsburg monarchy from 1382 until 1918. In the 19th century, the monarchy was one of the Great Powers of Europe and Trieste was its most important seaport. As a prosperous trading hub in the Mediterranean region, Trieste grew to become the fourth largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (after Vienna, Budapest, and Prague). At the turn of the 20th century, it emerged as an important hub for literature and music. Trieste underwent an economic revival during the 1930s, and the Free Territory of Trieste became a major site of the struggle between the Eastern and Western blocs after the Second World War.

 

A deep-water port, Trieste is a maritime gateway for northern Italy, Germany, Austria and Central Europe. It is considered the end point of the maritime Silk Road, with its connections to the Suez Canal and Turkey. Since the 1960s, Trieste has emerged as a prominent research location in Europe because of its many international organisations and institutions. The city lies at the intersection of Latin, Slavic and Germanic cultures, where Central Europe meets the Mediterranean Sea, and is home to diverse ethnic groups and religious communities.

 

A scholarly area, Trieste has the highest percentage of researchers, per capita, in Europe. Città della Barcolana ("City of the Barcolana"), Città della bora ("City of the bora"), Città del vento ("City of Wind"), "Vienna by the sea" and "City of Coffee" are epithets used to describe Trieste.

 

Etymology

 

The most likely origin is the word, Tergeste – with the -est- suffix typical of Venetic – and derived from the hypothetical Illyrian word *terg- "market" (etymologically cognate to the Albanian term treg 'market, marketplace' and reconstructed Proto-Slavic "*tъrgъ") Roman authors also transliterated the name as Tergestum (according to Strabo, the name of the oppidum Tergestum originated from the three battles the Roman Army had to engage in with local tribes, "TER GESTUM [BELLUM]").

 

History

 

Ancient history

 

Since the second millennium BC, the location was an inhabited site. Originally an Illyrian settlement, the Veneti entered the region in the 10th–9th c. BC and seem to have given the town its name, Tergeste, because terg* is a Venetic word meaning market (q.v. Oderzo, whose ancient name was Opitergium). Later, the town was captured by the Carni, a tribe of the Eastern Alps, before becoming part of the Roman Republic in 177 BC during the Second Istrian War.

 

After being attacked by barbarians from the interior in 52 BC, and until 46 BC, it was granted the status of Roman colony under Julius Caesar, who recorded its name as Tergeste in Commentarii de Bello Gallico (51 BC), in which he recounts events of the Gallic Wars.

 

During the imperial period the border of Roman Italy moved from the Timavo River to the Formione (today Risano). Roman Tergeste flourished due to its position on the road from Aquileia, the main Roman city in the area, to Istria, and as a port, some ruins of which are still visible. Emperor Augustus built a line of walls around the city in 33–32 BC, while Trajan built a theatre in the 2nd century. At the same time, the citizens of the town were enrolled in the tribe Pupinia. In 27 BC, Trieste was incorporated in Regio X of Augustan Italia.

 

In the early Christian era Trieste continued to flourish. Between 138 and 161 AD, its territory was enlarged and nearby Carni and Catali were granted Roman citizenship by the Roman Senate and Emperor Antoninus Pius at the pleading of a leading Tergestine citizen, the quaestor urbanus, Fabius Severus.

 

Already at the time of the Roman Empire there was a fishing village called Vallicula ("small valley") in the Barcola area. Remains of richly decorated Roman villas, including wellness facilities, piers and extensive gardens suggest that Barcola was already a place for relaxation among the Romans because of its favourable microclimate, as it was located directly on the sea and protected from the bora. At that time, Pliny the Elder mentioned the vines of the wine Pulcino ("Vinum Pucinum" – probably today's "Prosecco"), which were grown on the slopes.

 

Middle Ages

 

In 788, Trieste submitted to Charlemagne, who placed it under the authority of the count-bishop who in turn was subject to the Duke of Friùli.

 

During the 13th and 14th centuries, Trieste became a maritime trade rival to the Republic of Venice, which briefly occupied it in 1283–87, before coming under the patronage of the Patriarchate of Aquileia. After it committed a perceived offence against Venice, the Venetian State declared war against Trieste in July 1368 and by November had occupied the city. Venice intended to keep the city and began rebuilding its defences, but was forced to leave in 1372. Due to the Peace of Turin in 1381, Venice renounced its claim to Trieste and the leading citizens of Trieste petitioned Leopold III of Habsburg, Duke of Austria, to annex Trieste to his domains. The agreement of voluntary submission (dedizione) was signed at the castle of Graz on 30 September 1382.

 

The city maintained a high degree of autonomy under the Habsburgs, but was increasingly losing ground as a trade hub, both to Venice and to Ragusa. In 1463, a number of Istrian communities petitioned Venice to attack Trieste. Trieste was saved from utter ruin by the intervention of Pope Pius II who had previously been bishop of Trieste. However, Venice limited Trieste's territory to three miles (4.8 kilometres) outside the city. Trieste would be assaulted again in 1468–1469 by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III. His sack of the city is remembered as the "Destruction of Trieste." He then restored the city walls for the fourth time.[9] Trieste was fortunate to be spared another sack in 1470 by the Ottomans who burned the village of Prosecco, only about 5.3 miles (8.5 kilometres) from Trieste, while on their way to attack Friuli.

 

Early modern period

 

Following an unsuccessful Habsburg invasion of Venice in the prelude to the 1508–16 War of the League of Cambrai, the Venetians occupied Trieste again in 1508, and were allowed to keep the city under the terms of the peace treaty. However, the Habsburg Empire recovered Trieste a little over one year later, when the conflict resumed. By the 18th century Trieste became an important port and commercial hub for the Austrians. In 1719, it was granted status as a free port within the Habsburg Empire by Emperor Charles VI, and remained a free port until 1 July 1791. The reign of his successor, Maria Theresa of Austria, marked the beginning of a very prosperous era for the city. Serbs settled Trieste largely in the 18th and 19th centuries, and they soon formed an influential and rich community within the city, as a number of Serbian traders came into ownership of many important businesses and built palaces across Trieste.

 

19th century

 

In the following decades, Trieste was briefly occupied by troops of the French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars on several occasions, in 1797, 1805 and 1809. From 1809 to 1813, Trieste was annexed into the Illyrian Provinces, interrupting its status of free port and losing its autonomy. The municipal autonomy was not restored after the return of the city to the Austrian Empire in 1813. Following the Napoleonic Wars, Trieste continued to prosper as the Free Imperial City of Trieste (German: Reichsunmittelbare Stadt Triest), a status that granted economic freedom, but limited its political self-government. The city's role as Austria's main trading port and shipbuilding centre was later emphasised by the foundation of the merchant shipping line Austrian Lloyd in 1836, whose headquarters stood at the corner of the Piazza Grande and Sanità (today's Piazza Unità d'Italia). By 1913, Austrian Lloyd had a fleet of 62 ships totalling 236,000 tonnes. With the introduction of constitutionalism in the Austrian Empire in 1860, the municipal autonomy of the city was restored, with Trieste becoming capital of the Austrian Littoral crown land (German: Österreichisches Küstenland).

 

With anti-clericalism on the rise in the rest of the Italian peninsula due to the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardina's bellicose policies towards the church and its estates, Pope Leo XIII at times considered moving his residence to Trieste or Salzburg. However, Emperor Franz Joseph rejected the idea. Trieste, along with Rijeka (Fiume), served as an important base for the Imperial-Royal Navy, which in the first decade of the 20th century embarked on a major modernisation programme. With the construction of the Austrian Southern Railway, the first major railway in the Empire, in 1857, Trieste acquired a significant role in the trade of coal.

 

Trieste had long been home to Italian irredentist sentiment, as evidenced by the activity at Caffè Tommaseo. In 1882 this fervour culminated in an attempted assassination of Emperor Franz Joseph at the hands of Wilhem Oberdank (Guglielmo Oberdan), while His Majesty was visiting the city. The perpetrator was arrested, tried, found guilty and ultimately sentenced to death. His legacy was regarded as worthy of martyrdom status by fellow irredentists, while monarchical elements regarded his actions as ignominious. The Emperor, who went on to reign for thirty-four more years, never again visited Trieste.

 

20th century

 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Trieste was a bustling cosmopolitan city frequented by artists and philosophers. James Joyce was a long-stay tourist between 1904 and 1915. Joyce worked on Dubliners and Ulysses while in Trieste. His students included Italo Svevo and a bookshop ran by Umberto Saba was near Joyce's apartment. Other authors with roots in Trieste include Claudio Magris, Jan Morris, Fulvio Tomizza, Enzo Bettiza, Susanna Tamaro, and Ernesto Nathan Rogers. Sigmund Freud, Zofka Kveder, Dragotin Kette, Ivan Cankar, and Scipio Slataper have also been associated with Trieste. The city was the major port on the Austrian Riviera, a term used in tourist marketing.

 

World War I, annexation to Italy and Fascist era

 

Italy, in return for entering World War I on the side of the Allied Powers, had been promised substantial territorial gains, which included the former Austrian Littoral and western Inner Carniola. Italy therefore annexed the city of Trieste at the end of the war, in accordance with the provisions of the 1915 Treaty of London and the Italian-Yugoslav 1920 Treaty of Rapallo.

 

In the late 1920s, following Italian fascists burning down of the Slovene cultural centre in July 1920, the Slovene militant anti-fascist organisation TIGR carried out several bomb attacks in the city centre. In 1930 and 1941, two trials of Slovene activists were held in Trieste by the fascist Special Tribunal for the Security of the State. During the 1920s and 1930s, several monumental buildings were built in the Fascist architectural style, including the University of Trieste and the almost 70 m (229.66 ft) tall Victory Lighthouse (Faro della Vittoria), which became a city landmark. The economy improved in the late 1930s, and several large infrastructure projects were carried out.

 

World War II and aftermath

 

Following the trisection of Slovenia, starting from the winter of 1941, the first Slovene Partisans appeared in Trieste province, although the resistance movement did not become active in the city itself until late 1943.

 

After the Italian armistice in September 1943, the city was occupied by Wehrmacht troops. Trieste became nominally part of the newly constituted Italian Social Republic, but it was de facto ruled by Germany, who created the Operation Zone of the Adriatic Littoral (OZAK) out of former Italian north-eastern regions, with Trieste as the administrative centre. The new administrative entity was headed by Friedrich Rainer, Gauleiter of Carinthia, named supreme commissary of the AK zone. A semblance of indigenous Italian rule was kept in the form of Cesare Pagnini, mayor of Trieste, but every civil official was assigned a representative of the supreme commissar in the form of a Deutsche Berater (German Adviser). Under German occupation, the only concentration camp with a crematorium on Italian soil was built in a suburb of Trieste, at the Risiera di San Sabba on 4 April 1944. From 20 October 1943, to the spring of 1944, around 25,000 Jews and partisans were interrogated and tortured in the Risiera. Three to four thousand of them were murdered here by shooting, beating or in gas vans. Most were imprisoned before being transferred to other concentration camps.

 

The city saw intense Italian and Yugoslav partisan activity and suffered from Allied bombings, over 20 air raids in 1944–1945, targeting the oil refineries, port and marshalling yard but causing considerable collateral damage to the city and 651 deaths among the population. The worst raid took place on 10 June 1944, when a hundred tons of bombs dropped by 40 USAAF bombers, targeting the oil refineries, resulted in the destruction of 250 buildings, damage to another 700 and 463 victims.

 

Occupation by Yugoslav partisans

 

On 30 April 1945, the Slovenian and Italian anti-Fascist Osvobodilna fronta (OF) and National Liberation Committee (Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale, or CLN) of Edoardo Marzari and Antonio Fonda Savio, made up of approximately 3,500 volunteers, incited a riot against the Nazi occupiers. On 1 May Allied members of the Yugoslav Partisans' 8th Dalmatian Corps took over most of the city, except for the courts and the castle of San Giusto, where the German garrisons refused to surrender to anyone but the New Zealanders, due to the partisans' reputation for shooting German and Italian prisoners of war. The 2nd New Zealand Division under General Freyberg continued to advance towards Trieste along Route 14 around the northern coast of the Adriatic sea and arrived in the city the following day (see official histories The Italian Campaign and Through the Venetian Line). The German forces surrendered on the evening of 2 May, but were then turned over to the Yugoslav forces.

 

The Yugoslavs held full control of the city until 12 June, a period known in Italian historiography as the "forty days of Trieste". During this period, hundreds of local Italians and anti-Communist Slovenes were arrested by the Yugoslav authorities, and many of them were never seen again. Some were interned in Yugoslav internment camps (in particular at Borovnica, Slovenia), while others were murdered on the Karst Plateau. British Field Marshal Harold Alexander condemned the Yugoslav military occupation, stating that "Marshal Tito's apparent intention to establish his claims by force of arms...[is] all too reminiscent of Hitler, Mussolini and Japan. It is to prevent such actions that we have been fighting this war." In this most turbulent of periods, the city saw a thorough reorganisation of the political-administrative system: the Yugoslav Fourth Army, to which many figures of prominence were attached (including Edvard Kardelj, a sign of just how important the Isonzo front was in Yugoslav aims) established a provisional Military Command in the occupied areas. Fully understanding the precarious position it found itself in, the Yugoslav Command undertook great efforts to claim the success for itself, faced with the presence of the 2nd New Zealand Division under General Bernard Freyberg in Trieste, which could undermine, as it did, postwar claims of sovereignty and control over the seaport. Cox wrote that it was the first major confrontation of the Cold War and was the one corner of Europe where no demarcation line had been agreed upon in advance by the Allies.. To this effect, a Tanjug Agency communiqué stated: "The seaport of Trieste, Monfalcone and Gorizia could not be occupied by the above mentioned division [the New Zealand Division] as these cities had already been liberated...by the Yugoslav army...It is true that some Allied forces have without our permission entered into the above mentioned cities which might have undesirable consequences unless this misunderstanding is promptly settled by mutual agreement".

 

A city in limbo (1945–1947)

 

After an agreement between the Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito and Field Marshal Alexander, the Yugoslav forces withdrew from Trieste, which came under a joint British-U.S. military administration. The Julian March was divided by the Morgan Line between Anglo-American and Yugoslav military administration until September 1947 when the Paris Peace Treaty established the Free Territory of Trieste. The effective turning point for Trieste's fortunes had already been established, though: President Truman's stipulations, later named the Truman Doctrine, in all but name had sealed the status quo, formalised only in the above-mentioned treaty, one that proved to be a careful balancing act between Yugoslav demands, Italian claims and international aims toward the Adriatic gulf and Eastern Europe in general. Questions arose on the structure of government as soon and even earlier than the signing of the treaty, with neither Italy nor Yugoslavia willing to recognise a joint governor. Initially, the newly established Allied Military Government (AMG) found it difficult to exercise its authority over the newly administered territories (the Italian majority provinces of Trieste, Gorizia and Pola), because of a rooted communist presence, especially in the countryside. This state of affairs did not change until a formal peace treaty with Italy had been signed, granting the AMG the full powers to administer justice and re-establish law and order in those areas under its administration. Replacing the People's Militia, the AMG recruited a civilian police force from the indigenous population along the Anglo-Saxon police model. This exercise of jurisdiction was thus articulated: pursuant to Proclamation No. 1, three tiers of tribunals were established: the Summary Military Courts, with jurisdiction over petty crime, the Superior Military Courts, which could impose punishments not exceeding 10 years imprisonment, and the General Military Court, which could impose the death penalty. Civil courts, as modelled on the Kingdom of Italy's code, were, pursuant to General Order No. 6, re-established July 12, 1945, but the Slovene minority was given the right to be heard, and for proceedings to be, in their own language.

 

Zone A of the Free Territory of Trieste (1947–54)

 

n 1947, Trieste was declared an independent city state under the protection of the United Nations as the Free Territory of Trieste. The territory was divided into two zones, A and B, along the Morgan Line established in 1945.

 

From 1947 to 1954, Zone A was occupied and governed by the Allied Military Government, composed of the American Trieste United States Troops (TRUST), commanded by Major General Bryant E. Moore, the commanding general of the American 88th Infantry Division, and the "British Element Trieste Forces" (BETFOR), commanded by Sir Terence Airey, who were the joint forces commander and also the military governors.

 

Zone A covered almost the same area of the current Italian Province of Trieste, except for four small villages south of Muggia (see below), which were given to Yugoslavia after the dissolution of the Free Territory in 1954. Occupied Zone B, which was under the administration of Miloš Stamatović, then a colonel in the Yugoslav People's Army, was composed of the north-westernmost portion of the Istrian peninsula, between the Mirna River and the cape Debeli Rtič.

 

In 1954, in accordance with the Memorandum of London, the vast majority of Zone A—including the city of Trieste—joined Italy, whereas Zone B and four villages from Zone A (Plavje, Spodnje Škofije, Hrvatini, and Elerji) became part of Yugoslavia, divided between Slovenia and Croatia. The final border line with Yugoslavia and the status of the ethnic minorities in the areas was settled bilaterally in 1975 with the Treaty of Osimo. This line now constitutes the border between Italy and Slovenia.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Molo Audace is a pier located on the shores of Trieste, Italy right in the centre of the city, a few steps from Piazza Unità d'Italia and the Grand Canal. It separates the San Giorgio basin from the San Giusto basin of the Old Port.

 

History

 

In 1740, the ship San Carlo sank in Trieste harbour, close to the shore. Instead of removing the wreck, it was decided to use it as the basis for the construction of a new pier, which was built between 1743 and 1751 and was named after San Carlo.

 

At the time, the pier was shorter than it is today; it measured only 95 m (312 ft) in length and was joined to the land by a small wooden bridge. In 1778, it was lengthened by 19 m (62 ft) and from 1860 to 1861, by a further 132 m (433 ft), thus reaching its current length of 246 m (807 ft). The bridge was also eliminated, joining the pier directly to the mainland.

 

At that time, both passenger and merchant ships docked at the San Carlo quay, with much movement of people and goods.

 

On 3 November 1918, at the end of World War I, the first ship of the Italian Royal Navy to enter the port of Trieste and dock at the San Carlo pier was the destroyer Audace, whose anchor is now displayed at the base of the Victory lighthouse.

 

In memory of this event, in March 1922, the name of the pier was changed to Molo Audace, and in 1925 a bronze compass rose was erected at the end of the pier, with an epigraph in the centre commemorating the landing, and on the side the inscription 'Cast in bronze enemy III November MCMXXV (3 November 1925)'. The rose, supported by a white stone column, replaced an earlier all-stone compass rose. The date MCMIL (1949) engraved on the column commemorates its restoration after being damaged during World War II.

 

Over time, as maritime traffic moved to other areas of the port, the Audace pier gradually lost its mercantile function, and today only passing boats occasionally dock there. The pier has thus remained a popular place for strolling, a walkway stretching out over the sea of undoubted charm, completing the promenade along the banks and in Piazza Unità d'Italia.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Triest ([triˈɛst], in Südtirol auch [ˈtriəst] triestinisch/venetisch sowie italienisch Trieste, furlanisch Triest, slowenisch, serbisch, kroatisch Trst, lateinisch Tergeste) ist eine in Norditalien am Golf von Triest gelegene Hafen- und Großstadt mit 198.668 Einwohnern (Stand 31. Dezember 2024), darunter eine slowenische Minderheit. Triest liegt an der oberen Adria direkt an der Grenze zu Slowenien, ist Hauptstadt der autonomen Region Friaul-Julisch Venetien und war bis 2017 Hauptstadt der Provinz Triest, bevor diese aufgelöst wurde.

 

Triest ist Sitz des römisch-katholischen Bistums Triest. Die Stadt ist seit 1924 Universitätsstadt und beherbergt zwei bekannte Observatorien für Astronomie bzw. für Geophysik. Sie ist Hauptsitz von weltweit tätigen Unternehmen wie dem Kaffeeproduzenten illycaffè S.p.A., der Versicherungsgesellschaft Generali, dem Schiffbauunternehmen Fincantieri und dem Schifffahrtsunternehmen Italia Marittima (ehemals Lloyd Triestino bzw. Österreichischer Lloyd).

 

Bereits 774 wurde Triest Teil des Frankenreiches unter dem späteren Kaiser Karl dem Großen. In der Kontinuität des Kaisertums entwickelte sich aus dem Ostteil des Frankenreiches das Heilige Römische Reich deutscher Nation, dessen Bestandteil Triest mit kurzen Unterbrechungen (siehe Absatz Geschichte) bis zu dessen Untergang 1806 fast 1000 Jahre lang blieb. Auch danach gehörte die Stadt als Teil des dem Deutschen Bund angehörigen Kaisertums Österreich von 1815 bis 1866 zum deutschen Staatsverband. Von 1382 bis 1918 war Triest Teil der Habsburgermonarchie bzw. von Österreich-Ungarn. Es war sein bedeutendster Handelshafen, einer der Stützpunkte der k.u.k. Kriegsmarine sowie Sitz des Statthalters des Österreichischen Küstenlandes (Litorale) bzw. der 1861 daraus gebildeten drei Kronländer Gefürstete Grafschaft Görz und Gradisca, Markgrafschaft Istrien und Reichsunmittelbare Stadt Triest.

 

Kulturell und historisch blieb Triest auch als Teil Italiens seit 1918 ein Ort des Zusammentreffens von Kulturen, Sprachen, Ethnien und Religionen („Città mitteleuropea“). Nach dem Kriegsende 1945 wurden die Stadt und ihr gemischtsprachiges Hinterland erfolgreich von Jugoslawien beansprucht; nach einem Intermezzo als Freies Territorium Triest unterstand Triest ab 1954 wieder dem italienischen Staat.

 

Triest geriet durch den Ost-West-Konflikt, als es so wie Berlin an der Bruchlinie zwischen Ost und West lag, jahrzehntelang in eine verkehrspolitische Randposition. Der Nachteil dieser Grenzlage und der daraus resultierende Verlust an wirtschaftlicher Bedeutung fielen mit dem EU-Beitritt Sloweniens 2004 und seinem Beitritt zum Schengen-Raum, der am 21. Dezember 2007 zum Wegfall der Grenzkontrollen zu Italien führte, und dem Beitritt Kroatiens zur EU im Jahr 2013 weg.

 

Triest ist mit seinem Tiefwasserhafen heute wie vor 1918 ein maritimes Tor für Norditalien, Deutschland, Österreich und Mitteleuropa und gilt als Endpunkt der maritimen Seidenstraße (Maritim Silk Road bzw. 21st Century Maritim Silk Road) mit ihren Verbindungen über den Suezkanal bzw. die Türkei und dem Landweg nach China, Japan und viele Länder Asiens.

 

Der Hafen von Triest hat ein internationales Zollfreigebiet (Freihafen) mit fünf Freizonen. Seit den 1960er Jahren ist Triest durch seine vielen internationalen Organisationen und Einrichtungen einer der wichtigsten Forschungsstandorte Europas, eine internationale Schul- und Universitätsstadt und hat einen der höchsten Lebensstandards unter Italiens Städten. Die Stadt wurde 2020 als eine der 25 kleinen Städte der Welt mit der besten Lebensqualität und 2021 als eine der zehn sichersten Städte der Welt bewertet. Sie hat in Europa den höchsten Anteil an Forschern und Wissenschaftlern im Verhältnis zur Bevölkerung.

 

Triest hat eine sehr lange Küstenlinie, freien Meerzugang in Barcola und ist von Grünland, Wald- und Karstflächen umgeben. In der Stadt befand sich auf dem Molo Sartorio der Mareograf, auf dessen festgelegte Werte aus den Jahren 1875 und 1900 sich in Mitteleuropa die meisten Bezugshöheangaben mit der Kennzeichnung „Meter über Adria“ beziehen. Triest ist auch die Città della Barcolana, wie die Hinweisschilder an den Stadteinfahrten verdeutlichen, und damit jährlicher Austragungsort dieser weltgrößten Segelregatta.

 

Triest liegt an einem Schnittpunkt der lateinischen, slawischen, griechischen und jüdischen Kultur, wo Mitteleuropa auf den mediterranen Raum trifft. Es gilt daher als eine der literarischen Hauptstädte und wurde wegen seiner unterschiedlichen Ethnien und Religionsgemeinschaften oft als frühes New York bezeichnet. Es gibt daneben noch weitere nationale und internationale Bezeichnungen für die Stadt wie zum Beispiel Trieste città della bora, Città del vento, Trieste città mitteleuropea, Trieste città della scienza – City of Science, Wien am Meer oder Stadt des Kaffees, in denen einzelne prägende Eigenschaften herausgehoben werden.

 

Geographie

 

Lage

 

Triest liegt im Nordosten Italiens am Golf von Triest, einer Meeresbucht der Oberen Adria, wenige Kilometer von der slowenischen Grenze entfernt. Die Stadt ist Teil der historischen Region Julisch Venetien (Venezia Giulia), die vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg auch als Österreichisches Küstenland bekannt war und deren Gebiet heute auf die Staaten Italien, Slowenien und Kroatien verteilt ist. Da Triest durch die Grenzziehungen des 20. Jahrhunderts einen Großteil seines Hinterlandes verlor, wurde Julisch-Venetien mit Friaul zur autonomen Region Friaul-Julisch Venetien vereinigt, deren Hauptstadt Triest seit 1962 ist.

 

Triest und sein Hinterland erstrecken sich vom Abhang einer hohen Küstenstufe des gleichnamigen Karsts (Triestiner Karst), die zum Binnenland in eine steinige, schrattige, kalkhaltige und wasserarme Hochlandschaft übergeht, hin zu einer küstennahen Flachlandzone am Adriatischen Meer. Die hoch gelegenen Landschaftsbereiche sind für ihre Höhlen, Dolinen und andere Karstformen bekannt. Das Stadtgebiet von Triest dehnt sich dabei südwärts in ein Flyschgebiet aus, das in Form einer Doppelmulde über das Stadtgebiet und die Landesgrenze hinaus bis nach Pazin reicht.

 

Charakteristisch für diese Gegend ist auch der Bodentyp Terra rossa, ein aus Kalkstein-Verwitterung hervorgegangener roter Lehm, der besonders für den Anbau von Wein geeignet ist. Im Weinbaugebiet Carso, das die Stadt Triest umschließt, wird vor allem die Weinrebe Carso Terrano, eine Varietät der Rebsorte Refosco, angebaut. Das Anbaugebiet erhielt 1985 das Qualitätssiegel DOC. 1986 eröffnete die Provinz Triest zwischen den Ortschaften Opicina und Sistiana die Terrano-Weinstraße („Strada del vino Terrano“).

 

Als wichtigster Hafen Österreichs bzw. Österreich-Ungarns (1382–1918) wurde Triest zu einem Zentrum der Nautik und der Meereskunde. Das Hafenbecken erhielt am Molo Sartorio einen langfristig beobachteten Pegel, auf den sich seit dem 19. Jahrhundert das mitteleuropäische Höhensystem Meter über Adria bezieht; er wurde von der 1841 gegründeten Wetterwarte betreut, die heute zum Geophysikalischen Institut Triest gehört.

 

Klima

 

In Triest herrscht ein feucht-subtropisches Klima (Cfa-Klima nach Köppen).[7][8][9] Es zeichnet sich durch heiße, regenreiche Sommer und milde, regenreiche Winter aus. Im Sommer wird eine Durchschnittstemperatur von 25 °C, im Winter von 8 °C erreicht.

 

Die sommerlichen Wassertemperaturen bewegen sich in Küstennähe von 24 °C bis zu 28 °C. Der jährliche Niederschlag beträgt ca. 1023 mm, die relative Luftfeuchtigkeit 64 %. In Triest herrscht an ca. 200 Tagen im Jahr Windstille. In der Stadt ist es somit im Vergleich zu anderen Meeresstädten nicht besonders windig.

 

Charakteristisch für das Klima von Triest sind verschieden auftretende Winde, wie Bora und Scirocco. Die Winde sind die Ursache für das günstige Klima der Stadt, da es selten zur selben Zeit kalt und nass ist. Manche Winde sind nicht von Jahreszeiten abhängig, sondern entstehen im Verlaufe bestimmter Wetterkonstellationen. Im Laufe der Zeit haben sich dafür traditionell überlieferte Bezeichnungen verfestigt. Sie besitzen Namen etwa wie Grecale, Libeccio, Maestrale, Tramontana oder Ponente.

 

Die oft im Winter, aber auch im sonstigen Jahr aufkommende Bora ist ein kalter, trockener Fallwind aus Nordosten, der plötzlich beginnt, auch wochenlang andauern kann und in starken Böen vom Land auf das offene Meer bläst. Er wird in der Bucht von Triest kanalisiert und erreicht dadurch in der Stadt hohe Windgeschwindigkeiten, in Einzelfällen weit über 100 km/h. Während die hohen Windgeschwindigkeiten im Stadtgebiet von Triest besonders im Winter in Verbindung mit Eis und Schnee zu Chaos führen können, hat die Bora auf das Wohlempfinden der Menschen positive Auswirkungen. Man sagt: „Die Bora bläst die schlechten Launen fort.“ Viele Kranke fühlen sich an Boratagen von ihren Leiden, der Wetterfühligkeit und den Schmerzen befreit.

 

Der seltenere Scirocco ist im Gegensatz zur Bora ein warmer, feuchter Ost-Südostwind, der von schweren Wolken und Regen begleitet wird. Im Sommer ist der Libeccio am häufigsten, eine leichte Brise aus Südwesten durch Fallwinde aus den Apenninen, die vom Meer Richtung Land weht und warme Sommernächte abkühlt. Die Tramontana ist ein kalter Winterwind und folgt der Bora oder dem Maestro in deren Anschluss. Sie kann sehr schnell aufkommen, was mit einem Temperaturabfall oder mit dem plötzlichen Ende lokaler Winde beginnt.

 

Die meteorologische Station im Triester Hafen gehört zum Istituto Tecnico Nautico “Tomaso di Savoia”. Ebenfalls betreibt die Universität Triest eine meteorologische Mess- und Beobachtungsstation im Stadtgebiet.

 

Infolge des Klimas und trotz der nördlichen Lage kann in Triest einerseits noch ausgezeichnetes Olivenöl gewonnen werden (man spricht von der Lage der Stadt an der Olivenöl-Buttergrenze) und andererseits kämpft die Stadtverwaltung bzw. kämpfen die Hauseigentümer regelmäßig mit Termitenbefall der historischen Immobilien.

 

Geschichte

 

Gründung

 

Zur Zeit der Gründung Aquileias durch die Römer war die Gegend um Triest von keltischen und illyrischen Stämmen bewohnt. Als die Römer ab 177 v. Chr. von Aquileia aus Feldzüge nach Istrien unternahmen, erhielten sie Unterstützung durch Bewohner einer Ortschaft namens Tergeste, des ersten Ortes in Illyrien, im Gebiet der Histrer. In diese Zeit fällt auch die Gründung von drei römischen Militärlagern, der 13 Hektar großen Hauptanlage San Rocco zwischen den zwei kleineren Forts in Monte Grociana Piccola im Nordosten und Montedoro im Südwesten. Im Jahr 128 v. Chr. kam es zur erstmaligen Ansiedlung römischer Bürger in Tergeste. Die Siedlung Tergeste wurde vom griechischen Geografen Artemidor von Ephesos 104 v. Chr. erwähnt und war damals bereits eine römische Ansiedlung auf dem heutigen Stadthügel San Giusto, wo auch die Siedlungsursprünge liegen.

 

In der zweiten Hälfte des 1. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. wurde im Triestiner Vorort Barcola eine aufwändige fürstliche römische Villa errichtet. Diese private Villa befand sich zwischen dem heutigen Friedhof und der Kirche San Bartolomeo, ungefähr auf der Höhe Viale Miramare 48, unmittelbar am Meer mit einmaligem Panoramablick. Die Villa Maritima erstreckte sich an der Küste entlang und gliederte sich in Terrassen in einen feudalen Repräsentationsbereich, Prunksaal, einen separaten Wohnbereich, einen Garten, einige zum Meer offene Einrichtungen und eine Therme. Erweiterungen und Umbauarbeiten lassen sich bis in die zweite Hälfte des 1. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. nachweisen. Die gefundenen Kunstwerke, Statuen und Mosaike befinden sich heute im Museum Lapidario Tergestino im Kastell San Giusto, wobei vergleichbare Werke bisher nur in Rom und Kampanien gefunden wurden.

 

Schon ab dem ersten Jahrhundert nach Christus entwickelte sich dann Barcola (als Vallicula bzw. später Valcula) mit seinen klimatischen Vorzügen und einer Reihe von Villen für Patrizier und Adligen zu einem exklusiven römischen Touristenort. An den Hängen wurden damals, wie schon Plinius der Ältere erwähnt, die Reben des Weines Pulcino (ein vermutlicher Vorgänger des Prosecco) angebaut. Es war der nur dort gezogene Lieblingswein der Kaiserin Livia, der Ehefrau des Augustus, und soll schon von den Griechen unter der Bezeichnung Prätetianum gerühmt worden sein.

 

Um Christi Geburt fungierte Triest als Grenzfestung gegen die in den Ostalpen siedelnden Japyden. Den Namen Tergeste, der wahrscheinlich „Markt“ bedeutet und aus dem Triest wurde, behielten die Römer bei, als sich Mitte des 1. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. Tergeste als römische Kolonie zu einem wichtigen Hafenort im Römischen Reich, mit Handelsstraßen entlang der Adria und über die Julischen Alpen entwickelte. Allerdings erlangte Triest damals nie die Bedeutung des dem Golf von Triest gegenüberliegenden Aquileia. Das römische Tergeste hatte durch einen Hafen Zugang zum Meer und war ab 33 v. Chr. durch neue Mauern geschützt. Im Jahr 27 v. Chr. wurde Tergeste der X. italischen Region „Venetia et Histria“ zugeteilt. Zur Zeit Trajans (98–117 n. Chr.) zählte die Stadt 12.000 Einwohner und erhielt eine Basilika und ein Theater. Gegen Ende des 3. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. wurden die reichen römischen Wohnhäuser und Villen verlassen und setzte eine Zeit der Rückentwicklung und des Rückzuges auf den Hügelbereich ein, der erneut befestigt wurde. Die Bauwerke bekamen einen ländlichen Charakter und statt Mauerwerk wurde oft Holz verwendet.

 

Nach dem Untergang des Weströmischen Reichs im Jahr 476 teilte Triest das allgemeine Schicksal Istriens, wo Ostgoten, Byzantiner und Langobarden einander in der Herrschaft folgten, bis die Stadt 774 dem Reich Karls des Großen als ein Teil der Mark Friaul einverleibt wurde. Unter Kaiser Lothar III. erhielt der Bischof von Triest weltliche Hoheit über die Stadt.

 

Triest behielt die Unabhängigkeit unter seinen Bischöfen bis zur Eroberung durch Venedig 1203. Für die nächsten 180 Jahre bestand die Geschichte Triests hauptsächlich aus einer Reihe von Konflikten mit dem mächtigen Venedig im Spannungsverhältnis zum Anspruch des Patriarchen von Aquilea. Venedig erzwang auch den Abriss der Stadtmauer, die aber im Laufe des 14. Jahrhunderts wieder aufgebaut wurde. Da Triest keine eigene Armee hatte, war es Pflicht der Bürger, der sie sich nicht entziehen konnten, selbst Wache auf den Mauern zu halten und Kriegsdienst zu leisten. Um die Unabhängigkeit Triests zu wahren, stellten sich dann die Bürger Triests selbst im Jahr 1382 unter den Schutz Leopolds III. von Österreich, der auch Landesherr des benachbarten Herzogtums Krain war. Die Eigenständigkeit der Stadt musste unangetastet bleiben und die österreichischen Vorrechte bezogen sich nur auf die Ernennung eines militärischen Statthalters.

 

Unter österreichischer Krone

 

Triest war von 1382 bis 1918 habsburgisch-österreichisch. Am 30. September 1382 nahm Herzog Leopold III. die freiwillige Unterwerfung der Stadt Triest in der Burg von Graz an. Im 15. Jahrhundert kam es in der Stadt immer wieder zu erbitterten Konflikten zwischen der kaiserlichen Partei, den Anhängern der Herren von Duino und den Venezianern. Besonders in den Jahren 1467 bis 1469 führten die Bürgerkämpfe zu Terrorakten und Verwüstungen in den Straßen Triests. Das Protektorat entwickelte sich aber langsam zu einem wirklichen Besitzverhältnis, dem Österreichischen Küstenland (Litorale). Vertreten wurde die habsburgische Herrschaft in Triest lange Zeit nominell durch das Geschlecht der Grafen von Montenari. Die Statthalterschaft wurde vorerst ad personam vom jeweiligen Monarchen (der zumeist auch Kaiser des Heiligen Römischen Reiches war, aber dort nicht in dieser Funktion entschied, sondern als Herrscher der Habsburgischen Erblande) verliehen, später dann erblich nach dem Gesetz der Primogenitur an den ältesten Sohn des Grafen von Montenari weitergegeben.

 

Abgesehen von wiederholten kurzen Besetzungen (vor allem 1508/09) durch Venedig und der napoleonischen Periode (1797, 1805–1806 und 1809–1813) blieb Triest bis zum Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges Teil des habsburgischen Österreichs.

 

Triests Aufstieg im 18. Jahrhundert

 

Triests Aufstieg in der Donaumonarchie begann 1719 mit der Erhebung der Stadt zum Freihafen durch Karl VI. – ein Status, den die Stadt bis 1891 behielt. Karls Nachfolger Maria Theresia und Joseph II. unterstützten Triests wirtschaftlichen Aufschwung durch das Anlegen städtebaulich wichtiger Viertel, der Maria-Theresien-Stadt (Borgo Teresiano) nordöstlich des heutigen Hauptplatzes und der Josephsstadt (Borgo Giuseppino) südwestlich.

 

Als einziger großer Seehafen Österreichs nahm Triest eine wichtige strategische Stellung in der Habsburgermonarchie ein und war Ausgangspunkt kurzlebiger Kolonialerwerbungen (Triestiner Handelskompanie). Der Druck Venedigs hemmte jedoch lange Zeit die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Triests. Erst die Eroberung Venedigs durch Napoleon am Ende des 18. Jahrhunderts und der anschließende Friede von Campo Formio, in dem Venedig Österreich zugesprochen wurde, leitete den Niedergang der Republik Venedig und die Blütezeit Triests ein.

 

Mit österreichischer Unterstützung löste Triest Venedig in seiner führenden Rolle im Handel mit dem Nahen Osten ab und entwickelte sich zum größten Handelszentrum der Adria. 1802 wurden im Triester Hafen 483.326 Tonnen Güter umgeschlagen, die von 5.442 Schiffen transportiert worden waren. Auf dem Höhepunkt der Blütezeit Triests waren es rund 100 Jahre später mehr als doppelt so viele Schiffe und mehr als zehnmal so viele Güter, hauptsächlich Kaffee, Zucker und Südfrüchte sowie Weine, Öle, Baumwolle, Eisen, Holz und Maschinen.

 

Gründerzeit im 19. Jahrhundert

 

1804 wurde Triest Teil des neu gegründeten Kaisertums Österreich, weiter als Teil des Litorales. Unter Napoleon wurde Triest 1809 den Illyrischen Provinzen zugeschlagen und damit bis 1813 französisch. Diese kurze Zeit hinterließ ihre Spuren in klassizistischen Bauwerken wie der Triester Oper Teatro Verdi, die nach den Plänen des Architekten Matthäus Pertsch entstand.

 

1813 eroberte Österreich Triest unter General Christoph Freiherr von Lattermann zurück. Nach dem Wiener Kongress 1815 wurde Triest im österreichischen Kaiserstaat in das neu geschaffene Königreich Illyrien eingegliedert.

 

Nachdem Triest unter der Habsburgerherrschaft bereits über Jahrhunderte Bestandteil des Heiligen Römischen Reiches deutscher Nation war, gehörte es als österreichische Stadt zum Deutschen Bund, der 1815 auf dem Wiener Kongress als Ersatz für das alte, 1806 untergegangene Reich geschaffen wurde. Die Stadt markierte in etwa die Südausdehnung des Deutschen Bundes bis zur Adria. Insofern war Triest in Folge der bürgerlichen Revolution von 1848 Teil des Wahlgebietes zur deutschen bzw. Frankfurter Nationalversammlung. Bei diesen ersten gesamtdeutschen, freien und demokratischen Wahlen wurden in den Wahlkreisen Küstenland-Triest-Stadt 1 und 2 mit Karl Ludwig von Bruck, Gabriel Jenny sowie Friedrich Moritz Burger drei Abgeordnete in das Frankfurter Parlament des sich konstituierenden Deutschen Reiches gewählt. Alle drei waren vor dem 27. Juli 1848 in der Frankfurter Paulskirche eingetroffen. Auch nach dem Scheitern der Revolution und des Reiches blieb Triest Bestandteil des wiederhergestellten Deutschen Bundes bis zu dessen Ende 1866. Mit dem in diesem Jahr zur Beendigung des Deutschen Krieges geschlossenen Prager Frieden schieden Österreich und damit auch Triest nach jahrhundertelanger Zugehörigkeit aus dem deutschen Staatenbund aus.

 

Am 1. Juli 1829 führte Josef Ressel mit dem in Triest erbauten Schiff Civetta die erste erfolgreiche Testfahrt mit einer Schiffsschraube durch. In dieser Zeit begann in Triest die Gründung von Versicherungsgesellschaften, Werften, Bankniederlassungen und Schifffahrtsunternehmen, darunter die Assicurazioni Generali (1831), der Österreichische Lloyd (1833), die Werft San Marco (1839/1840), die Werft Giuseppe Tonellos (1852) und 1860 das Lloyd-Arsenal, da die privaten Werften mit der Produktion den schnell wachsenden Schifffahrtsunternehmen nicht mehr nachkommen konnten.

 

1850 wurde Triest Sitz der kaiserlich-königlichen Zentralseebehörde. Seit 1857 verbindet die Österreichische Südbahn Triest über den Semmering mit Wien. Diese erste Gebirgsbahn Europas wurde nach den Plänen und unter der Leitung von Carl Ritter von Ghega erbaut.

 

1857/58 entstand aus der Maschinenfabrik Strudenhoff in Sant’Andrea und der Werft San Rocco das Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (S.T.T.) in Muggia, der Stadt in der Bucht gegenüberliegend. Dieses neue Großunternehmen kaufte 1897 auch die mittlerweile zur Großwerft ausgebaute Werft von Giuseppe Tonello dazu. Die S.T.T. war in der Lage, Schiffe mit einer Verdrängung von bis zu 20.500 Tonnen – etwa die großen Schlachtschiffe der k. u. k. Kriegsmarine – zu bauen.

 

Ab 1867 wurden die alten Hafenanlagen, die dem wachsenden Handel nicht mehr entsprachen, ausgebaut. Zuerst wurde der nördlich gelegene Freihafen (punto franco) erweitert. Die Hafenstadt zog in der Monarchie unter anderem den Hauptnutzen aus dem 1869 eröffneten Suezkanal. Österreichische Industrieerzeugnisse wurden nun auch in der Türkei, in Ägypten und Syrien abgesetzt, für diese Handelsbeziehungen brauchte man aber den Kanal nicht.

 

Von Triest gingen im 19. Jahrhundert Linienschiffe in die Neue Welt, vor allem die Vereinigten Staaten. Diese Linienschiffe fuhren bis in die 1960er Jahre nach New York.

 

Triest und der Nationalismus

 

In den Revolutionen von 1848 fanden in den österreichischen Provinzen Lombardei und Venetien Aufstände gegen die habsburgische Herrschaft und für einen geeinten italienischen Nationalstaat statt (siehe auch Risorgimento). 1848 wurde der Triester Hafen von der königlich sardinischen und der neapolitanischen Flotte und später von der ersteren allein unter dem italienischen Vizeadmiral Albini blockiert. Triest blieb Österreich treu und erhielt den Titel Città Fedelissima – die „allergetreuste Stadt“.

 

1849 wurde die österreichische Verwaltungseinheit Königreich Illyrien in ihre Bestandteile zerlegt. Triest und das unmittelbar angrenzende Territorium wurden als Reichsunmittelbare Stadt Triest und ihr Gebiet mit eigener Verfassung und Landtag und im Status eines Kronlandes konstituiert; ebenso Görz und Gradisca und Istrien. (Kärnten und Krain, bis dahin ebenso Teile Illyriens, wurden ebenfalls eigene Kronländer.)

 

1852–1861 wurden die drei politischen Einheiten zum Kronland Österreichisches Küstenland zusammengefasst. Die Reichsverfassung 1861 teilte die drei Teile wieder in eigenständige Kronländer, die bis 1918 bestanden. Gemeinsam blieben ihnen nur der k.k. Statthalter in Triest als Vertreter des Kaisers und der Wiener Regierung und ein gemeinsames Publikationsorgan ihrer Rechtsvorschriften. Der 1867 erfolgte Umbau des Einheitsstaates Kaisertum Österreich zur österreichisch-ungarischen Monarchie änderte für die Selbstverwaltung Triests nichts; es wurde nunmehr zu Cisleithanien gerechnet und war im Abgeordnetenhaus des Reichsrats in Wien, dem cisleithanischen Parlament, mit zuletzt fünf Abgeordneten vertreten.

 

Allerdings setzte auch in dem zum größten Teil von Italienern bewohnten Triest eine zunehmende italienische irredentistische Bewegung ein, die darauf abzielte, Triest als italienischsprachiges Gebiet von Österreich-Ungarn loszulösen und dem 1861 gegründeten Nationalstaat Italien anzuschließen. Der Irredentismus hatte seinen Höhepunkt, als 1882 Kaiser Franz Joseph I. Triest anlässlich der 500-jährigen Dauer der habsburgischen Herrschaft über die Stadt besuchte. Während antiösterreichischer Demonstrationen entging der Kaiser nur knapp dem Bombenattentat von Guglielmo Oberdan (Wilhelm Oberdank) und seinen Komplizen. Triest blieb im Nationalitätenkampf bis 1914 einer der heißesten Konfliktherde Österreich-Ungarns, da Österreich auf diese für Handel und k.u.k. Kriegsmarine überaus wichtige Hafenstadt weder verzichten konnte noch wollte. (Ungarn hatte für sich die Hafenstadt Rijeka ausgebaut.)

 

Insgesamt blickte die Triestiner Elite Richtung Wien, während sich einige wenige junge italienische Irredentisten für Italien aufopferten. Nur eine Minderheit forderte eine Vereinigung mit dem Königreich von Savoyen bzw. Italien, aber von vielen italienischsprachigen Triestinern wurde der slawische Nationalismus als Herausforderung wahrgenommen.

 

Weiterer Aufschwung vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg

 

1880 betrug die Umschlagsmenge in den Triester Häfen 1,225 Millionen Tonnen. Bis 1912 stieg diese Menge auf 4,573 Millionen Tonnen. 1883 wurde der 30 Millionen Kronen teure Hafenumbau im Süden der Stadt vollendet. Die Lagerflächen sowie der neue Südbahnhof (stazione meridionale, heute Trieste Centrale), der heute als einziger Personenbahnhof der Stadt noch besteht, wurden großteils auf aufgeschüttetem Land errichtet.

 

Trotz der politischen und nationalen Probleme blühte Triest wirtschaftlich und kulturell weiter auf. Neben der Südbahn Triest–Wien mit Anschluss an das mährisch-schlesische Industriegebiet bot ab 1909 die Neue Alpenbahn über Görz und Villach nach Salzburg eine Direktverbindung nach Westösterreich und Süddeutschland. Der wichtigste Bahnhof bis 1918 war der Staatsbahnhof (stazione dello stato) der k.k. Staatsbahnen. Zwischen ihm und dem Lloydareal erstreckte sich der neue Hafen (porto nuovo), der ab 1898 ausgebaut wurde und bis zum Ende der Monarchie Josephs-Hafen hieß.

 

Um 1900 stand die Stadt in ihrer vollen wirtschaftlichen Blüte und stellte ihren Reichtum durch zahlreiche Prachtbauten zur Schau. In Triest wirkten einige der Architekten, die in Wien für prächtige Ringstraßengebäude im Stil des Historismus verantwortlich zeichneten, wie etwa Heinrich von Ferstel (z. B. Lloydpalast), Wilhelm von Flattich (z. B. Südbahnhof) und Friedrich Schachner (diverse Palais). Schriftsteller und Künstler wie James Joyce und Italo Svevo verkehrten in der Stadt. Der Ire Joyce kam gerade in der Hafenstadt Triest mit dem Vielvölkerstaat Österreich-Ungarn in Kontakt, wobei er einerseits seine Eindrücke aus Triest in seinen Werken verarbeitete und andererseits das damalige Staatswesen wie folgt beurteilte: “They called the Austrian Empire a ramshackle empire, I wish to God there were more such empires.”

 

Triest war eines der ökonomisch bestentwickelten Gebiete des Habsburgerreiches. 1906 lag das zu versteuernde Pro-Kopf-Einkommen eines Triestiners bei 54 Kronen, während jenes eines Wieners bei rund 9 Kronen lag.

 

Die Triester Innenstadt mit ihrem kosmopolitischen Bevölkerungsgemenge aus Italienern (75 %), Slawen (18 %), Deutschen (5 %) und Einwohnern anderer Völker avancierte, wie Claudio Magris Jahrzehnte später festhielt, zur literarischen Hauptstadt Mitteleuropas. Die anliegenden Bezirke zählten meist Slowenen (52 %), Italiener (43 %) und Deutsche (4 %) als Einwohner, die ländliche Umgebung war fast vollständig slowenisch (93 %). Fast jeder Triestiner war mehrsprachig, wobei Italienisch die führende Verständigungssprache war.

 

In den Jahren vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg wurde, vor allem auf Drängen von Erzherzog Thronfolger Franz Ferdinand, in Triest eine Serie von Schiffbauten für die k.u.k. Kriegsmarine durchgeführt. Der Thronfolger nahm an den Stapelläufen meist teil, z. B. 1911 bei Viribus Unitis und 1912 bei Tegetthoff.

 

Erster Weltkrieg

 

Mit dem Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkrieges im August 1914 stockte die wirtschaftliche und künstlerisch-literarische Entwicklung in Triest schlagartig. Viele tausende Triestiner übersiedelten noch vor der Kriegserklärung Italiens an Österreich-Ungarn am 23. Mai 1915 ins Innere Österreich-Ungarns. Aus Triest zogen anfangs etwa 32.500 Männer zwischen 18 und 37 Jahren an die Front und im Laufe des Krieges wurden ungefähr 50.000 Triestiner im Alter bis 50 Jahren eingezogen. Das Hausregiment der Triestiner, das k.u.k. Infanterieregiment Nr. 97, wurde am 11. August 1914 per Eisenbahn Richtung Lemberg in Galizien transportiert und war dort in schwerste Abwehrkämpfe gegen die vordringende russische Armee verwickelt.

 

Am 23. Mai 1915 erklärte das bis dahin neutrale Italien als neues Mitglied der Triple Entente Österreich-Ungarn den Krieg. Damit entstand wenige Kilometer nordwestlich der Stadt eine Front; viele Ausländer wie James Joyce mussten Triest verlassen. Die italienische Kriegserklärung löste massive Protestkundgebungen gegen Italiener aus, insbesondere stürmte eine Menschenmenge die Redaktion der Zeitung Il Piccolo, wurde der Sitz der Lega nazionale zerstört bzw. Geschäfte und Kaffeehäuser italienischer Besitzer geplündert. Mit dem Kriegseintritt Italiens wurde Triest militarisiert. Wegen der nahen Front wurden Luftabwehr-Stellungen auf Dächern und Plätzen gebaut; Schulen und Gebäude wurden in Spitäler umfunktioniert. Junge Marinaretti und Scauti halfen älteren Soldaten bei der Überwachung der öffentlichen Ordnung. Die Stadt entvölkerte sich und es kehrten etwa 35.000 Regnicoli – in Triest lebende italienische Arbeiter – mit ihren Familien in die italienische Heimat zurück. Viele Regnicoli verließen jedoch die Stadt nicht und etwa 15.000 von ihnen wurden von den Behörden zusammen mit über tausend verdächtig erscheinenden Personen in verschiedene Lager interniert. Etwa 900 Triestiner mit italienischer Gesinnung desertierten aus dem Habsburger Heer, passierten illegal die Grenze und traten den italienischen Streitkräften bei. Oft mit Misstrauen von den italienischen Kameraden und Kommandanten betrachtet, erreichte trotzdem die Hälfte dieser Irredentisten den Dienstgrad eines italienischen Offiziers. Die italienfreundliche Einstellung mancher Triestiner und die Frontlage Triests führte zu scharfer Überwachung der Stadt durch die k.u.k. Militärbehörden. Das 10. Bataillon des k.u.k. Infanterieregiments Nr. 97 war in Triest verblieben; es war an der Verteidigung der Karstlinie in den Isonzoschlachten beteiligt und wurde 1915/16 fast vollständig aufgerieben.

 

Der altem irredentistischen istrianischen Adel entstammende, 1907 geborene Schriftsteller Diego de Castro schätzte später die Triestiner während des Krieges als weitgehend habsburgisch bzw. austrophil ein und äußerte, die kleine, unbeugsame Gruppe von Irredentisten um Mario Alberti sei auf zweieinhalb Prozent der Gesamtbevölkerung von Triest beschränkt gewesen.

 

Erst 1917 verlagerte sich die Front an den von Triest weiter entfernten Piave. Im Herbst 1918 begann sich die Doppelmonarchie aufzulösen. Am 29. Oktober 1918 wurde der neue südslawische Staat, der SHS-Staat, gegründet. Er schnitt Deutschösterreich, am 30. Oktober gegründet, und die nördlich und östlich davon gelegenen Gebiete Altösterreichs von der Adria ab. Valentino Pittoni, der Führer der Triestiner Linken, forderte im Oktober 1918 die Bildung einer „Adriarepublik Triest“, um so den Anschluss an Italien zu verhindern.

 

Der k.k. österreichische Statthalter Alfred von Fries-Skene übergab am 30. Oktober 1918 dem triestinischen Comitato di salute pubblica die Macht. Am gleichen Tag beauftragte Kaiser Karl I. Admiral Nikolaus Horthy, die k.u.k. Kriegsmarine dem südslawischen Staat zu übergeben; dies wurde am nächsten Tag vollzogen.

 

Da mit baldigem Eintreffen italienischer Truppen nicht gerechnet werden konnte und unklar war, ob Triest an den südslawischen Staat fällt, beschloss das Komitee, die italienischen Marinebehörden in Venedig um die Entsendung von Truppen zu bitten. Da k.u.k. Schiffe aber nicht mehr zur Verfügung standen, mussten sich die Triestiner von den Südslawen eine ehemalige k.u.k. Korvette ausleihen, um unter südslawischer Flagge nach Venedig zu gelangen.

 

Die Waffenstillstandskommission der zerfallenden k.u.k. Armee unter Viktor Weber von Webenau unterzeichnete am 3. November 1918 bei Padua den Waffenstillstand von Villa Giusti. Am gleichen Tag landeten Italiener, von Venedig kommend, unbehelligt am Molo San Carlo von Triest, der 1922 Molo Audace benannt wurde, und nahmen die Stadt symbolisch für Italien in Besitz. Die Begeisterung der Bevölkerung war, wie de Castro später deutete, nicht mit dem bisherigen Elitenphänomen Irredentismus zu erklären, sondern mit der Freude über das Ende der Hungerzeit während des Krieges und über den Nicht-Einschluss der Stadt in den SHS-Staat. Das Stadtzentrum war überwiegend von Italienern bewohnt, die anliegenden Viertel aber teilweise von Slowenen (18 %). Im Vertrag von Saint-Germain wurde Triest im Herbst 1919 gemeinsam mit Istrien und Ostfriaul auch formell Italien zugesprochen.

 

Viele k.u.k. Soldaten aus Triest und Umgebung kehrten erst 1920 aus der russischen Kriegsgefangenschaft zurück.

 

Faschismus

 

Nach dem Anschluss Triests an Italien strebten die nationalen Kräfte eine Italianisierung der ansässigen nichtitalienischen Bevölkerung an, was insbesondere zur Unterdrückung der slowenischen Minderheit führte. Triest wurde zu einem Zentrum der jungen faschistischen Bewegung.[36] Slowenische Vereinigungen und Versammlungen wurden verboten. Der Gebrauch der slowenischen Sprache im öffentlichen Leben wurde untersagt. Slowenische Familiennamen wurden willkürlich und ohne Einverständnis der Betroffenen italianisiert. Zahlreiche Slowenen flohen in dieser Zeit in das benachbarte Königreich der Serben, Kroaten und Slowenen. In Triest kam es wiederholt zu gewaltsamen Ausschreitungen zwischen Italienern und Slowenen.

 

Der Konflikt erreichte einen seiner Höhepunkte am 13. Juli 1920, als das Narodni dom, das Gemeindezentrum der slowenischen Bevölkerung, von italienischen Faschisten niedergebrannt wurde. Der Anschlag wurde vom späteren Sekretär der National-Faschistischen Partei (Partito Nazionale Fascista), Francesco Giunta, initiiert und wurde als Vergeltungsmaßnahme bezeichnet, weil bei Unruhen in Split zwei italienische Soldaten von jugoslawischen Sicherheitskräften erschossen worden waren.

 

Obwohl sich in der Zeit nach 1919 vor allem die Industrie in Triest entwickelte, hatte die Angliederung an Italien langfristig negative Konsequenzen für die wirtschaftliche Situation der Stadt. Die ehemals wichtigste Hafenstadt der Habsburgermonarchie wurde mit einem Schlag zu einem der zahlreichen italienischen Adriahäfen und verlor aufgrund ihrer Randlage in Italien ihre wirtschaftliche Bedeutung.

 

Seit dem 30. Oktober 1922 stand ganz Italien unter der faschistischen Herrschaft Mussolinis. Die Italianisierung der Slowenen im nordöstlichen Italien wurde nun verstärkt.

 

Zweiter Weltkrieg

 

Im Zweiten Weltkrieg war Italien mit Deutschland verbündet. Nach der Landung alliierter Truppen in Süditalien im Juli 1943 und der italienischen Kapitulation am 8. September 1943 durch König Viktor Emanuel III. wurde Norditalien von deutschen Truppen besetzt, die sich Mussolinis Repubblica Sociale Italiana bis Ende April 1945 als Marionettendiktatur hielten, um den endgültigen Zusammenbruch der Achsenmächte zu verhindern.

 

Die deutsche Besatzungsmacht fasste Triest mit Udine, Gorizia, Pula, Fiume (Rijeka) und Laibach/Lubiana zur Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland (OZAK) zusammen. Die Zone unterstand dem Höheren SS- und Polizeiführer Odilo Globocnik. Auf seine Veranlassung wurde in einem Vorort von Triest in der ehemaligen Reismühle Risiera di San Sabba das einzige nationalsozialistische Konzentrationslager auf italienischem Boden eingerichtet. Der Gebäudekomplex der ehemaligen Reismühle diente nach dem Kriegsaustritt Italiens und dem Einmarsch von Wehrmacht und SS als Gefangenenlager für entwaffnete italienische Soldaten. Von Oktober 1943 an kam die Risiera unter SS-Kommando. Das Lager diente hauptsächlich zur Inhaftierung von Geiseln, Partisanen und anderen politischen Gefangenen bzw. als Sammellager für Juden vor ihrer Deportation in die Vernichtungslager. Es wurden aber auch mobile Gaskammern installiert und ein Krematorium gebaut. Vom 20. Oktober 1943 bis zum Frühjahr 1944 wurden in der Risiera etwa 25.000 Juden und Partisanen verhört und gequält. 3000 bis 5000 von ihnen wurden hier durch Erschießen, Erschlagen oder in Gaswagen ermordet. Die Mannschaft des Konzentrationslagers bestand vorwiegend aus deutschen SS-Mitgliedern. Als 1945 jugoslawische Partisanen Triest einnahmen, sprengte die SS einige Teile des Lagers, um ihre Spuren zu verwischen.

 

Freies Territorium Triest

 

Am Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges wurde Triest von den jugoslawischen Partisanen Titos für Jugoslawien beansprucht, was mit der Existenz der dortigen slowenischen Bevölkerungsgruppe begründet wurde. Triest wurde von den jugoslawischen Partisanen besetzt, die die Stadt selbst jedoch kurz darauf auf Druck der Alliierten wieder verließen, ohne aber den Anspruch auf Triest aufzugeben. Damit begann eine Zeit, in der sich Jugoslawien und Italien um den Besitz der Stadt stritten.

 

Durch den Pariser Friedensvertrag von 1947 zwischen Italien und den Alliierten wurde Triest mit dem nordwestlichen Teil Istriens bis einschließlich Cittanova/Novigrad im Süden als Freies Territorium Triest (englisch Free Territory of Trieste, italienisch Territorio Libero di Trieste, slowenisch Svobodno tržaško ozemlje, kroatisch Slobodni teritorij Trsta) zu einem neutralen Staat unter Oberhoheit der Vereinten Nationen erklärt (ähnlich wie es die Freie Stadt Danzig unter dem Schutz des Völkerbundes in der Zwischenkriegszeit gewesen war). Der Gouverneur sollte vom Sicherheitsrat der Vereinten Nationen ernannt werden, administrativ war das Gebiet jedoch in zwei Zonen unterteilt. Die Zone A, die die Stadt Triest mit ihrer nächsten Umgebung umfasste, unterstand britisch-amerikanischer Militärverwaltung, die Zone B, die das Hinterland der Stadt und den Nordwesten Istriens umfasste, jugoslawischer Militärverwaltung.

 

Vom Provisorium zum Definitivum

 

Durch das Londoner Abkommen zwischen Italien und Jugoslawien von 1954 wurde das Freie Territorium Triest aufgelöst. Das Gebiet der bisherigen Zone A wurde provisorisch wieder italienischer Zivilverwaltung unterstellt, das Gebiet der bisherigen Zone B jugoslawischer Zivilverwaltung, wobei der jugoslawische Teil nördlich des Flüsschens Dragonja der damaligen Teilrepublik Slowenien einverleibt wurde, der Teil südlich der Dragonja jedoch Kroatien (über den Grenzverlauf bestehen bis heute Divergenzen; siehe auch: Internationale Konflikte der Nachfolgestaaten Jugoslawiens). Von 1954 bis 1961 verließen mehr als 20.000 Triestiner ihre Stadt und wanderten aus. Die Mehrzahl ging nach Australien und dabei besonders nach Melbourne und Sydney.

 

Am 10. November 1975 wurde im Vertrag von Osimo die Demarkationslinie von 1954 endgültig als italienisch-jugoslawische Grenze festgelegt und damit die Zugehörigkeit der Stadt Triest zu Italien definitiv bestätigt. 1962 wurde Triest die Hauptstadt der Region Friaul-Julisch Venetien.

 

Durch die Auflösung der Donaumonarchie und die unmittelbare Grenzlage zum nach 1945 sozialistisch regierten Jugoslawien war Triest bis Mitte der 1980er Jahre wirtschaftlich weitgehend isoliert. Mit dem Zerfall Jugoslawiens, dem Eintritt des nunmehr unabhängigen Slowenien in die EU im Jahr 2004 und dem Beitritt Sloweniens zum Schengen-Raum Ende 2007 verlor die Stadt ihre jahrzehntelange Randposition. 2004 bewarb sich Triest (erfolglos) für die EXPO 2008. Der Hafenumschlag ging zeitweise gerade wegen des Zusammenbruchs des Kommunismus bzw. der positiven Entwicklung des benachbarten Hafens von Koper (Slowenien) zurück.

 

Seit 2011 gibt es die auf Selbstbestimmung der Triestiner bzw. Ausbau des Freihafens pochende Bewegung „Trieste Libera / Svobodni Trst / Free Triest“. Diese Bewegung möchte mit Bezug auf den Friedensvertrag von 1947 bzw. 1954 an die wirtschaftlichen Erfolge eines geeinten großen mitteleuropäischen Wirtschaftsraumes anknüpfen und verlangt, dass Triest von einem Gouverneur der UNO verwaltet werden soll. Am Molo Audace kommt es immer wieder zu anti-italienischem Vandalismus. Die Organisation Trieste Pro Patria bzw. Trieste Italiana veranstaltet in Triest immer wieder Demonstrationen, um auf die italienischen Wurzeln Triests bzw. das „italienische“ Istrien aufmerksam zu machen.

 

Am Beginn der Wirtschaftskrise im Jahr 2008 stockte die umstrittene städtebauliche Entwicklung des Porto Vecchio (Alter Hafen). Im Februar 2019 genehmigte der Stadtrat die Rahmenplanung für die Erneuerung des Hafens. Auch durch das Abwandern der Industrie ist die früher erhebliche Umweltverschmutzung (vorwiegend Bleibelastung des Golfs von Triest) stark zurückgegangen. Die Jugendarbeitslosigkeit betrug 2012 17,67 % und stieg 2013 auf 23,25 %.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Molo Audace ist ein Kai am alten Hafen der norditalienischen Großstadt Triest.

 

Lage

 

Der Kai liegt zwischen den Hafenbecken Bacino San Giusto und Bacino San Giorgio in unmittelbarer Nähe des Hauptplatzes von Triest, der Piazza dell’Unità d’Italia, und dem ehemaligen Händlerviertel Borgo Teresiano.

 

Geschichte

 

Der Kai wurde 1754 über dem Wrack des spanischen Schiffes San Carlo erbaut, das 1739 an dieser Stelle gesunken war, und wurde zunächst San Carlo genannt. Ursprünglich wesentlich schmaler und kürzer, war der Kai vom Ufer losgelöst und nur über eine Holzbrücke zu erreichen. Er diente vornehmlich zur Be- und Entladung von Handelsschiffen. 1756 wurde der Kai um 19 Meter und 1860 um weitere 132 Meter verlängert. Zum Zeitpunkt der Verlängerung wurde die Mole mit dem Festland fest verbunden. 1922 erhielt der Kai seinen heutigen Namen, der vom ersten italienischen Zerstörer Audace abgeleitet ist, welcher am 3. November 1918 an dieser Stelle anlegte und die Stadt Triest unter italienische Kontrolle brachte. Zur Erinnerung an dieses Ereignis wurde am im Meer liegenden Ende der Mole eine bronzene Windrose auf weißem Natursteinsockel errichtet. Die Umschrift der Metallplatte besteht aus den Namen für die in Triest charakteristischen Winde.

 

Heute wird die Mole nicht mehr zur Beladung von Schiffen genutzt, sondern dient hauptsächlich als Uferpromenade.

 

(Wikipedia)

View inside a Rabari house in Bhujodi village.

 

The region of Gujarat has played host to many a tribal culture and nourished them from the very earliest periods of history. One such tribe here, the Rabaris, still pursue a pastoral lifestyle—much in the same way as they did ages ago.

The Rabaris are a semi-nomadic tribe—pursuing a pre-agrarian, pastoral lifestyle—found mainly in the Kutch and Saurashtra regions of Gujarat. Though living today in permanent settlements, they are believed to have originally migrated from Baluchistan more than a millennium ago.

But over these thousand and more years, the Rabaris have undergone many changes and have been widely influenced by the local cultures with which they came in contact. Not only are they divided into distinct clans, they also prefer to trace their origin to Hindu Gods and even the Rajputs.

Without delving into the garbled clues provided by folk lore about their origin, a closer look at the Rabari today leads one into his quaint, colourful and rugged lifestyle.

By no means are the Rabaris an isolated people. The men are on the move—almost 10 out of the 12 months—in search of grazing pastures for their livestock; while the women and children remain in their villages. These villages are normally small, devoid of more than superficial amenities and, almost always, set in bleak, barren suroundings.

In a typical village, their rectangular houses, called vandhas, are built in rows. The white-washed mud walls and tiled roofs may have an appearance of starkness when viewed from outside. But within each house, the Rabari’s fondness for patterns is easily visible from the many geometric patterns that adorn its interiors. The tiny mirrors embedded into these mud-plaster patterns only enhance their beauty as they catch the faint glimmer of light streaming in from a small window or a low doorway. A home usually consists of two rooms, and an extended enclosure in the verandah which forms the kitchen.

The room at the back is normally used as a storehouse—a virtual treasure house of embroidered clothes and quilts kept in carved wooden pataras (chests); and the kothis and kothlas (granaries) made of mud and cowdung. The other room is mainly a living room decorated with embroidered torans or decorated doorways, while the doors are covered with brass foil etched in a myriad patterns. Often, the only piece of furniture that one might find is a carved, wooden cradle.

The community’s main stay is milk and milk produce from their livestock in order to purchase commodities that they trade in various forms at the local village or town markets.

Much of the handiwork seen in their decorated homes is that of their women. In fact, Rabari women are famous for their embroidery work, called bharat kaam, from which they make numerous traditional garments and furnishings. The kediyun, a gathered jacket with an embroidered smock, worn by young Rabari men and children, skirts and blouses for the women and girls—are al dexterously embroidered. Interestingly, the Rabari girl, completes over the years, her entire dowry which includes clothes as well as beautiful quilts or derkee.

Kokulashtami, after the rains, is marriage time. The men are back from their wanderings for this al important occasion. All marriages take place on this one day. Since child marriage is still very much in vogue within this tribe, outsiders are distrusted. Again, the Rabari marries only within the tribe and often into families which are closely located. Marrying outside the fold leads to social castigation and is very rare. While Rabari couples are probably the most exotically dressed, the marriage is a simple ritual performed by a Brahmin priest.

Rabaris, by and large, and ardent followers and worshippers of the Mother Goddess. Each clan has its own tribal goddess as the patron deity, though their homes often have pictures of other gods and goddesses as well. Strong tendencies of deifying and invoking the dead are still prevalent—a pointer to the community’s old world origin.

Another old world custom that has persisted is the custom of tattooing and there is a marked similarity In the motifs used in their embroideries and tattoos.

As an outsider it is difficult to communicate with these people since they speak a dialect which is a mixture of Marwari and Gujarati. But once they understand the visitor’s innocent curiosity, they exude the warmth and friendship that has always been a part of their make-up.

 

Same turret on the other side

Part of the mythic origins of “Santa Claus” is partly from the Norse/Nordic god, Odin or Wotan.

 

On the left is Odin & Freya (Mrs. Claus) and on the right is a 1700s-1800s version of St. Nicholas.

 

Kind of like Pokémon in the character’s evolution? I took this photo without a flash as I wanted the illuminated runes (ones I'm not familiar with) in Odin’s war-hammer to be glowing and visible as he had obviously put in a lot of time and effort in creating this hammer.

+

This lovely Fiat 500 can be seen in the same location on google street view, link below

 

www.google.co.uk/maps/@48.865594,2.283326,3a,75y,180h,90t...

This set mixes it up a bit with both a pretty blonde and brunette goddess! You can see them both modeling the Gold 45 Revolver swimsuits as well as a 45SURFER camera bracket mount for shooting stills & video at the same time.

 

Here's some epic video of the beautiful goddesses:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=txvupr5xOZ4 (modeling swimsuit)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4G5w3u6L8x8 (modeling swimsuit)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pYrQbPayZs (modeling the bracket)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGSVw9jbAR0 (pretty closeups!)

 

Nikon D800 Photos of Brunette and Blonde Swimsuit Bikini Goddesses with Pretty Green Eyes and Pretty Blue Eyes shot with the Nikon D800E and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens!

 

Shot in both RAW & JPEG, but all these photos are RAWs finished in Lightroom 4 ! :)

 

All the Gold'N'Virtue swimsuits with the main equation to Moving Dimensions Theory on the swimsuits: dx4/dt=ic. Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! :) You can read more about my research and Hero's Journey Physics here:

herosjourneyphysics.wordpress.com/ MDT PROOF#2: Einstein (1912 Man. on Rel.) and Minkowski wrote x4=ict. Ergo dx4/dt=ic--the foundational equation of all time and motion which is on all the shirts and swimsuits. Every photon that hits my Nikon D800e's sensor does it by surfing the fourth expanding dimension, which is moving at c relative to the three spatial dimensions, or dx4/dt=ic!

 

Modeling both the the Gold 45 Revolver(TM) Gold'N'Virtue(TM) Black Bikini and the Red, White, an Blue American flag bikini!

 

May the HJM Goddesses guide, inspire, and exalt ye along yer heroic artistic journey! all the bets on your Heroic Journey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

       

Since I took up photography in 2009 I reckon I've come to the Tokyo Metropolitan Building three or four times and I always end up taking the same scene looking out towards Mt. Fuji. I haven't gotten any better at shooting the scene; it's just my tastes which have changed.

 

Date: 2/24/13

Camera: SLT-A99V

Exposure: 13.0 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100

Lens: 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM

 

© 2013 Benjamin Torode - All Rights Reserved.

No Use Without Written Permission.

same sunset at the stitched image but at a different place! #sunset #OCNJ

Subscribe to my youtube for epic bikini swimsuit model goddess videos shot at the same time as stills!

www.youtube.com/bikiniswimsuitmodels

 

New epic video of the day's bikini swimsuit model shoot:

youtu.be/yNo_xFAFeeU

youtu.be/2xk3_XcjdG4

 

Nikon D800E photography of Pretty Brunette Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess @ the 45SURF Summer Beach House! Gorgeous Brown Eyes! I'm thiking about adding a deck and a pool to the beach house / surf shack! You'll have to visit!

 

Join/like my facebook page! www.facebook.com/45surfHerosJourneyMythology

 

Follow me on facebook! facebook.com/elliot.mcgucken

 

Classic California--an athletic model goddess in Red, White, & Blue American Flag Gold 45 Revolver bikini with the Moving Dimensions Theory Equation on it: dx4/dt=ic! Tall, thin, fit and very, very pretty!

 

Here's some new epic video of the epicly pretty brunette goddess--shooting stills & video @ the same time!:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_7feV3T1Rs (Sony NEX 6 Video with 50mm F/1.8 Prime (nice bokeh!))

www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7pH5VBiO6g

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqAoJZgqSs4 (Sony NEX 6 Video with 50mm F/1.8 Prime (nice bokeh!))

 

Be sure to enjoy the epic videos in full screen HD! :)

 

Photos shot with the AMAZING Nikon D800 E and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens and the B W 77mm XS-Pro Kaesemann Circular Polarizer with Multi-Resistant Nano Coating. Classic California Brunette Beach Babe! Beautiful Swimsuit Bikini Model Goddess with Pretty Blue Eyes and wavy sandy-brownhair!

 

Shot in both RAW & JPEG, but all these photos are RAWs finished in Lightroom 5 ! :)

 

Modeling the classic 45surf t-shirts and the Gold 45 Revolver Gold'N'Virtue Bikini on a sunny Malibu summer afternoon--my favorite for shooting on the beautiful socal beach!

 

Shot with the new Nikon D800E and Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II AF-S Nikkor Zoom Lens.

 

Captured in both RAW and JPEG.

 

Modeling the black & gold "Gold 45 Revolver" Gold'N'Virtue swimsuits with the main equation to Moving Dimensions Theory on the swimsuits: dx4/dt=ic. Yes I have a Ph.D. in physics! :) You can read more about my research and Hero's Journey Physics here:

herosjourneyphysics.wordpress.com/ MDT PROOF#2: Einstein (1912 Man. on Rel.) and Minkowski wrote x4=ict. Ergo dx4/dt=ic--the foundational equation of all time and motion which is on all the shirts and swimsuits. Every photon that hits my Nikon D800e's sensor does it by surfing the fourth expanding dimension, which is moving at c relative to the three spatial dimensions, or dx4/dt=ic!

 

May the Hero's Journey Mythology Goddess inspire you (as they have inspired me!) along your own artistic journey! Love, love, love the 70-200mm F/2.8 Lens! :)

 

All the Best on Your Epic Hero's Journey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

 

May the classic California HJM Goddesses guide, inspire, and exalt ye along yer heroic artistic journey!

 

All the Best on Your Epic Hero's Journey from Johnny Ranger McCoy!

 

The books behind the pretty goddess on the Malibu beach hut and surfboard are The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, Homer's Iliad, Homer's Odyssey, Shakespeare, and Herman Melville's Moby Dick! My favorite books! Will have some video of the pretty model reading them beside a campfire soon.

 

They're all collectors editions! My books cost as much as my surfboards!

 

And for those who always ask, I shoot in RAW! Always! :)

 

A Gold 45 Goddess exalts the archetypal form of Athena--the Greek Goddess of wisdom, warfare, strategy, heroic endeavour, handicrafts and reason. A Gold 45 Goddess embodies 45SURF's motto "Virtus, Honoris, et Actio Pro Veritas, Amor, et Bellus, (Strength, Honor, and Action for Truth, Love, and Beauty," and she stands ready to inspire and guide you along your epic, heroic journey into art and mythology. It is Athena who descends to call Telemachus to Adventure in the first book of Homer's Odyssey--to man up, find news of his true father Odysseus, and rid his home of the false suitors, and too, it is Athena who descends in the first book of Homer's Iliad, to calm the Rage of Achilles who is about to draw his sword so as to slay his commander who just seized Achilles' prize, thusly robbing Achilles of his Honor--the higher prize Achilles fought for. And now Athena descends once again, assuming the form of a Gold 45 Goddess, to inspire you along your epic journey of heroic endeavour.

Halifax Transit 2010 NovaBus LFS artic #730.

 

I posted this same bus on the same route earlier this week.

A Class 08 British Railways shunter 13238 meets the industrial Ruston 48ds at Furland.

The difference in size is very noticeable.

1:76 Scale, OO Gauge.

08 by Bachmann - 48ds by Hornby

same location as previous two shots.

Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 CITY-CBG (YP67 XCD) www.flickr.com/photos/138705729@N04/27446817389/in/photol... is seen on its first day in service on December 22nd 2017 & Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 CITY-EV (LC71 EFD) www.flickr.com/photos/138705729@N04/52345226901/in/photos... is also seen on its first day in service on September 9th 2022

GurtenClassic 2013, Bern, Switzerland

Same Image

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl

year after year

Running over the same old ground

What have you found?

The same old fears

Wish you were here...

 

--Pink Floyd 'Wish You Were Here'

 

I love visiting Shenandoah National Park (SNP) here in Virginia. It is about a 45 minute ride for me to get to the Northern Entrance at Front Royal, which to some may seem like a long ride, but not to me.

 

SNP is a beautiful National Park, not one that has the 'Grandness' of a Yosemite or Yellowstone with its magestic mountains or waterfalls, but the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah Valley offer something totally different in their own beauty and tranquility to visitors here.

 

Ever since I 'really' started coming into this park a few years ago when I moved to the Winchester area I feel like when I take images from here they are the 'same old thing', whether just overlook hopping or hiking.

 

Which brings me to that Pink Floyd song 'Wish You Were Here'. The line 'Running over the same old ground, the same old fears' plays through my thoughts as I drive along the Skyline Drive looking for inspiration to capture this beauty in a different way than I previously have. So that is it in a nutshell, I am on a quest of sorts to try to change the way I capture the beauty of this park that I love so much.

 

As the summer rolls into Autumn I am hoping to spend some time on the weekends shooting quite a bit of fresh images from here and processing them in a series of B&W images. I think for me, that is where I can show my vision of this beautiful place.

 

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts and ramble on a bit.

       

. . . But not at the same time.

 

Dr. Henry Jekyll and his brutish alter ego, Mr. Edward Hyde.

Shot on iPhone 5.

I grabbed a few shots in the city today, continuing to play with blurred movement of pedestrians. Then, on the way home, I noticed a wonderful sunset so did a low angle with the colours in the background (in comments). I was quietly pleased with it all - and then I got home and my girls pointed out that it was all very, very similar to stuff I had already done. Yep, they're right. It's same same. Oh well, that's a 365 for you.

I found out today I'm going to LA in 10 days - I'll be there for 5 days for work. I'm excited because I've never been to LA, and because it should make for some cool street shots. I'm hoping to get a burger at Red Robin (365:2011 mates who are contacts of a certain Disneyland obsessed young woman will get that reference).

Irresponsible actions of a few ruin it for all. Reminds of the recent mess at Oregon Outback.

Emirates Towers have always been my favourite buildings in Dubai and I love photographing them every time I get the chance to. Some of you might remember this shot, which I took a while ago from DIFC, while trying to dodge security. Well, last March, when I went along with David’s GPP class I didn’t have the security guys breathing down my neck so I could take my time and retake the same shot at a different time of the day.

 

In terms of post-processing, 7 exposures were tone-mapped with Photomatix and then (after quite a bit of masking) the original sky from the -2E.V. exposure was dropped in.

 

To view the blog entry go to: www.momentaryawe.com/blog/?p=2553

Out skiing again on the same lake as yesterday. This time we took a bite to eat and a flask of coffee. We skied a little further than yesterday and found a jetty to sit on and watch the sun go down as we ate our snack.

It was now HarlingDarling wondered where the biscuits were, and the extra thermos cup, and I wondered where the bananas were. We came to the unfortunate conclusion that they were forgotten, still on the kitchen table.

If you are of a grammatical turn of mind you may have noticed the use of the passive form there; they were forgotten. HarlingDarling definitely noticed and reminded me quite forcefully that actually I had forgotten them. Fortunately I had thrown in a couple of chocolate bars at the last moment, otherwise my popularity rating would have sunk through the ice, down to the muddy depths!

The title of this Blip is "Parallel Shadows" and all shadows from a light source 150,000,000 kms away must indeed be parallel. But here (and on the ice) they actually look as if they are fanning out. It took a bit of discussion with HD and her artist's knowledge of perspective to figure out why it is so! Think about straight and parallel railway tracks disappearing into a single point in the distance...

My apologies for introducing a bit of grammar and maths into my blip. It's a work related injury that ex-language teachers of a mathematical bent often suffer from.

Sameer half lenght portrait

Okay, so here's the story: When i was in junior high, i used to talk to this boy on the phone like every single day. And since we didn't have a cordless phone in our house, this means i would spend hours perched on a stool in the kitchen, with my feet propped up on the stove, just talking about...well, nothing, probably...until my parents made me hang up. Now flash forward like 15 years or something, and suddenly i'm spending hours on the phone with this very same boy, still talking about pretty much nothing, and sort of loving how familiar and comfortable it feels. And so even though i have a cordless phone now, and a cell phone, and i can talk where i want and when i want, i still get this urge sometimes to climb up onto the counter and put my feet on the stove and talk to him until my parents scream at me to do my homework. It's kind of the highlight of my day.

 

That little tale was so disturbingly cute that i just grossed myself out. Yuck.

 

21/365

Corfe Castle is in the Dorset village that has the same name. Built by William the Conqueror it dates back to the 11th century. Once owned by Elizabeth the first it was later owned by Sir John Bankes who fought on the side the King in the Civil War. As a result it was under siege twice by the Parliamentarians.

Same as rings and brooches, it's enough to have these long thin lego "platforms" and to combine with different shapes, sizes and colours.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

  

The Airco DH.2 was a single-seat biplane "pusher" aircraft which operated as a fighter during the First World War. Early air combat over the Western Front indicated the need for a single-seat fighter with forward-firing armament. As no means of firing forward through the propeller of a tractor aeroplane was available to the British, Geoffrey de Havilland designed the DH.2 as a smaller, single-seat development of the earlier two-seat DH.1 pusher design. The DH.2 first flew in July 1915.

 

The majority of DH.2s were fitted with the 100 hp (75 kW) Gnôme Monosoupape rotary engine, but later models received the 110 hp (82 kW) Le Rhône 9J. The rear-mounted rotary engine made the DH.2 easy to stall, but also made it highly maneuverable, since the aircraft’s center of gravity was located in a highly beneficial position.

 

The fighter was armed with a single .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun, which was originally able to be positioned on one of three flexible mountings in the cockpit and with the pilot transferring the gun between mountings in flight at the same time as flying the aircraft. Once pilots learned that the best method of achieving a kill was rather to aim the whole aircraft than the gun, the machine gun was fixed in the forward-facing center mount, although this was initially banned by higher authorities until a clip which fixed the gun in place, but could be released if required, was approved.

 

After evaluation at Hendon on 22 June 1915, the first DH.2 arrived in France for operational trials, but it was shot down and its pilot killed. No. 24 Squadron RFC, the first squadron equipped with the DH.2 and the first complete squadron entirely equipped with single-seat fighters in the RFC, arrived in France in February 1916. At the height of the type's deployment, the DH.2 equipped seven fighter squadrons on the Western Front and quickly proved more than a match for the Fokker Eindecker. DH.2s were also heavily engaged during the Battle of the Somme, No. 24 Squadron alone engaging in 774 combats and destroying 44 enemy machines.

 

The DH.2 had sensitive controls and at a time when service training for pilots in the RFC was very poor it initially had a high accident rate, gaining the nickname "The Spinning Incinerator", but as familiarity with the type increased it was recognized as very maneuverable and relatively easy to fly.

The arrival of more powerful German tractor biplane fighters at the front such as the Halberstadt D.II and the Albatros D.I, which appeared in September 1916, meant that the DH.2 was outclassed in turn. It remained in first line service in France, however, until No. 24 and No. 32 Squadron RFC completed re-equipment with Airco DH.5s in June 1917, and a few remained in service as fighters on the Macedonian front and in Palestine until late autumn of that year. By this time the type was totally obsolete as a fighter, and new uses were found.

 

One role was as an advanced trainer into 1918, the other was armed reconnaissance at low altitudes, where the types high agility and the excellent forward field of view could be exploited. For the latter role, the Royal Air Force (founded in April 1918) converted roundabout thirty DH.2's into TR.2s. The machines received external armor plating for the pilot and an uprated Le Rhône 9Jb rotary engine with 130 hp (96 kW), driving a new four blade propeller, in order to compensate for the raised overall weight. However, the extra weight, nevertheless, hampered top speed and rate of climb, but the type’s original high agility was retained.

 

Originally, an armament of three machine guns was planned, with two additional, belt-fed fixed Vickers guns for strafing attacks. The two additional guns were placed behind the pilot and fired forwards and downwards through the cockpit floor. While the concept proved to be successful, the plan was quickly dropped since the weapons' extra weight (on top of the armor plating) and vibrations made the aircraft sluggish, nose-heavy and unstable – both in the air and on the ground. Consequentially, the idea was quickly dropped and only the original gun mount in the aircraft's nose was kept. As a compromise, the nose section was modified so that the Lewis gun could now be tilted downwards by up to 60° and fixed for strafing attacks. The drum magazines for the Lewis machine gun were retained, though, so that the weapon had to be raised back into horizontal position every time the pilot wanted to change the magazine (while flying the aircraft over enemy lines, of course).

 

The first TR.2-equipped unit, RAF 157 Squadron, was sent out to France with 24 aircraft in June 1918, but the machines only flew a limited number of missions until the end of hostilities. At this time, however, the DH.2s had already been progressively retired, and at war's end no surviving airframes of the total of 453 DH.2s and TR.2s produced by Airco were retained.

  

General characteristics:

Crew: one

Length: 25 ft 2½ in (7.69 m)

Wingspan: 28 ft 3 in (8.61 m)

Height: 9 ft 6½ in (2.91 m)

Wing area: 249 ft² (23.13 m²)

Empty weight: 1,061 lb (482 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 1,630 lb (740 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Gnôme Le Rhône 9Jb rotary engine, 130 hp (96 kW)

Performance:

Maximum speed: 90 mph (145 km/h) at sea level

Range: 236 mi (380 km)

Service ceiling: 12,500 ft (4,100 m)

Rate of climb: 475 ft/min (145 m/min)

Wing loading: 6,55 lb/ft² (32 kg/m²)

Power/mass: 0.079 hp/lb (130 W/kg)

Endurance 2½ hours

Climb to 5,000 ft (1,500 m) 28 minutes

 

Armament:

1× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis machine gun, using 47-round drum magazines

 

The kit and its assembly:

Well, this one is another Group Build submission, this time the RAF Centenary GB at whatifmodelers.com. I used this occasion to tackle a build that I had on my list for a long time, and it also offered the opportunity to apply an exotic, yet reality-inspired, paint scheme.

 

The kit is the vintage 1965(!) Revell kit, in its 2007 re-incarnation. Not a lot of aircraft, and building the whole thing basically from struts that hold everything together is not an easy task - you need patience.

 

The kits was left mostly OOB (well there’s not much mass to change…), I just modified the nose section, so that the idea of a downward-tiltable machine gun became visually plausible, and I added some 0.5mm styrene sheet to the flanks and to the floor, simulation retrofitted armor plates.

Another modification concerns the propeller; following common practice at the aircraft’s era, this is just a second two blade propeller (IIRC from a Sopwith Triplane) stuck onto the original one, so that a staggered four blade propeller was created. Makes the aircraft look a little beefier.

 

The real horror started with the rigging process, though, and in order to avoid damage I painted the model before the delicate work started. Rigging was done, as usual, with dark grey sprue material – and the DH.2 needs lots of it!

  

Painting and markings:

The paint scheme was inspired by the trial schemes that were actually applied to some Sopwith Salamander attack aircraft in July 1918, even though, AFAIK, none of these was used in front line use. However, the scheme’s concept (Orfordness Report E30/A) of “depicting” trenches and the rough frontline “landscape” on an aircraft and other details like asymmetric roundels in order to confuse enemies and impede aiming is pretty unique, and this build was a great occasion to apply it.

I was able to dig up some information concerning the camouflage trials and the colors that were used:

the upper tones were mixed individually from a few basic colors, and I did follow a similar approach in order to achieve a unique and pretty retro look. The colors are/were:

 

“Light Earth” (White, Indian Red and Raw Sienna); I went for Humbrol 62 (Sand), which is a bright, almost orange tone. I did some mixing experiments and the color turned either into a pink of skin tone, or into a yellow-ish tan, depending on the mix ratios. After that, Humbrol 62 appeared to be a convenient OOB option, since I found mixing for the lightest camouflage tone hazardous.

 

“Green” (Ultramarine Blue, Chrome Yellow and Raw Sienna); I used a 1:1 mix of Humbrol 80 (Grass Green) and 170 (Brown Bess), with a little 15 (Midnight Blue) added.

 

“Dark Purple Earth” (from Indian Red, Ultramarine Blue and White); I settled on a 1:1 mix of Humbrol 68 (Purple) and 98. Sick result!

 

The undersides, landing gear and struts were painted in “Light Green Grey” (Mixed from White, Chrome, Brunswick Green and Indian Red); I’d assume that the tone would be very similar to Sky, but I used Tamiya XF-71 (Flat Grey Green, a.k.a. IJN Grey), which is a bit darker and more greenish.

 

According to the Orfordness Report E30/A, the lower wings’ upper surface carried, by tendency, patterns with considerably more Light Earth - probably an early attempt of counter-shading? All the upper colors were furthermore separated through black lines, 2-4” wide, which were done with acrylic Revell 09 (Anthracite) and a thin brush.

 

On some aircraft the wings’ undersides were painted differently – some had upper and lower wings’ undersides painted black, while some only had the lower wings painted in this fashion. Because of the odd look I went for the “lower-wings-in black-only” option, painted with Revell 06 (Tar Black), which is actually a very dark grey.

 

This all results in a REALLY distinct and colorful look - it’s almost sad that the DH.2 offers so little surface to apply the scheme, which is a faithful adaptation of the Orfordness Report E30/A recommendations.

 

In order to make the exhaustive rigging process easier, all major surfaces were painted and weathered, and decals (gathered from various sources, none is OOB) were applied, so that only some minor repairs had to be made.

  

Due to the delicate rigging and the complex paint scheme, this tiny model was a nerve-wrecking affair. But I think that the result was worth the effort – the paint scheme and the markings look so odd that it is hard to believe that the livery is actually based on a real camouflage proposal! And from the beauty pics I’d assume that the paint scheme – at least from above, would have been quite effective. But I won’t tackle another DH.2 soon…