VIDEO: (Coming soon!)

 

••• SCRIPT/LYRICS: •••

 

MOLEMAN'S EPIC RAP BATTLES!!!!!!

 

GARNET…

 

…VS…

 

…FIRESTORM!!!

 

BEGIN!

 

Firestorm:

We could think about what gimmicks convolute our history:

Mixups with Russians, nature-forces and Yoruba witchery,

And we could think of crises wrought on our identity…

Yes, surely…

…But today, let's only think of flaming enemies with fury!

Hey, here comes a question most alarming; not to be dismissed,

And one whose comprehension won't take an atomic physicist:

Why let a contest measure merger-might to choose from we and you

When the answer is plainer than combining two plus freaking two?!

Don't get too cocky, Ronald; let's see this done as it ought to be:

Transmute lit lyrics from raw beats, and lecture blockheads properly!

It's gonna be a far cry from your Brightest Day; I'm going dark,

With aims to end this in a Flash just like my debut story arc!

Complete transparency, now; tip: skip on a kicked-in butt tonight.

Called on and dared to speak out? Quit, not even picking up the mic!

You see your worth as apt for some Gem-world princess, or even goddess,

Yet I wouldn't appraise your value at one-half Nicki Minaj's!

It's a lock, and un-jail-breakable, at that: you're getting blasted;

Your cut's unfit for this face-off, falling flat in every facet.

Why, it's evident: our foe lacks proper grasp of her position,

Just as suits the fruit of reckless, raw romance at first collision!

Molecules are being rewritten, spelling death for sucker golems;

Souring your Sugar sweetness!

That reminds me of a poem… how's it go?

A Ruby's red, and a Sapphire's colored blue;

When they're together, all the better to set fire onto you!

 

Garnet:

It seems your touted tangibility-tweaking tricks are getting screwy:

Though plainly made with fazing aims, your statements phase directly through me!

Fisticuffs raised to the max, I'll put it heavy-handedly:

This space-borne stone immortal's here to Vandalize you Savagely!

Don't think the balanced bond behind a harmonizing master humbled

By the body-bunking counterpart of Simon and Garfunkel;

You're the one Nuclear waste it's best to keep left in the ashcan:

That brute in Supes' ill-fated Quest for Peace was less a hack, man!

Your own saw Lanterns, Squads, the Reds and A-bombs quell your mission;

That's as jacked up as your black successor's break on television!

You'd do well to fission: squishies risk affliction, sticking to that kind of nexus;

It's as if you're mixing in black clouds in morning-time for breakfast.

Hawking off your power-set as something there's no reproducing?

Your old flame Lorraine objects, and check that shared New 52 scene!

Take me on? You're tripping; I could go all Summer Day,

Mad-laughing as you're curse-slapped, your collapse one stone's throw-down away!

 

Firestorm:

I'd hardly call that verse a gem, but do see you're impassioned;

Now, brace for an opposite, unequal nuclear reaction!

I'd advise you set about disarming; keep at trying to battle,

And you'll only fall apart, so turn around, three-eyes: skedaddle!

Put a bubble on your gushing pride, and hear just what I'm made of:

Nobel Prize-commemorated brains and brawn prime for the playoffs…

Oh, and right: the atoms' might, infused not in a tiny me,

But through a union whose inducement gets them splitting violently!

The irony…

These elements comprising me like father, son and holy ghost,

Your cotton candy composition couldn't come remotely close;

These bogglers are built to leave your flipping mind

As broken as that gay love metaphor between two different kinds!

Pursuing this is straight-up suicidal; heed some good advice:

Lest you be undone swiftly as a Slipknot, fleeing would be wise!

Hmm… knots, you say?

Tying yours sure garnered fandom's queerness-touting cheers.

What an accomplishment; it merely took damn-near six thousand years!

Our souls, conjoining, form an epic entelechy, knowing which,

Forgo all hopefulness of cloning this, as shown amiss with Soviets,

You cloying, kitschy clod! As for the riffs you spit haphazardly,

Those bare-bones bars have less meat than the prick who nicked your anthem, G!

Ours? Fine-tuned to the quantum level; spliced into arrangements

Set to shake your union to the brink of thrice-induced estrangement,

And don't count on pulling back together, damaged faith restored,

'Cause just the two of us are stronger than your whole volcanic Megazord!

 

Garnet:

Yeah, I'd imagine you'd know all about that, Orange Ranger,

But your floating mentor-head ought to have warned you to the danger;

What if I told you you'll be blindsided, both blacking-out in quick turn,

When I yank you from the Matrix like my name was Laurence Fishburne?

Known to wreck hard-headed haters, your hot one'll prove no different,

As part-timing casuals get taught the sum of true commitment!

Wanna see a giant of a power couple? I'm your girl; espouse its meaning:

Steady-rocking since mankind, they say, was still fresh out of Eden!

Plus, your Time Squad of a secret team can bite me;

Your whole future's at an end, and naught will tweak it, even slightly!

I mean, blimey: screw false pretense for some cackling magician bull;

That mind-entrapping weeks-long bender? Flatly unforgivable!

I'm dropping bombs; the biggest Ron, his mommy or his pops have seen,

For overkill to match the namesake of a poor man's Constantine:

Destabilizing deconstruction, it'll make them draw a blank.

I'd call your deal a nature-crime; rechristen Raymond: "Ronnie Frank"!

 

Firestorm:

You say your bodyguard-love schtick will never come to dissolution,

Like a pair of mutant, midget technicolor Whitney Houstons!

Think we'll have a problem here?

Now, that's bananas! We'll be home by daylight,

NASA asked that she's seen, fee-free, to her own, one-way flight!

Girl, your jointly self-absorbed felicity's an utter joke;

Make threats of dropping bombs, and watch your dignity go up in smoke!

You're unprepared for prime time, Gemmy! How can you expect to win this

When your origin got upstaged by a Robot Chicken Christmas?

From N.Y.C. streets to Justice Leagues, we've made ourselves a name;

You've kept ones shared with countless drones, all bred and trained to be the same!

I live up to and past the heights of my Star-Spangled heritage;

You aren't worth your own weight at the ideal price per carat, bitch:

You're meritless! You call those palette-swapped foam Hulk props on you gauntlets?

Come at me with them, and catch a flaming knuckle through the faceplate!

Your lame cheeto P.S.A. coach couldn't top this all-new hotness,

So if you can't stand the heat, beam back on up into your safe space.

See all notions that it's nearly so severely hard to beat her

Shattered like the trust invested in her dear, departed leader!

You perceive self-value more-than-constituting both your parts' sum,

But the math says otherwise; check any jewelry broker's charts, hon!

Half of you served in a royal court as its official seer;

You've gone some kind of third-eye-blind, though, if this isn't crystal-clear:

You don't look awesome, and it's time you went to bed!

Now close the deal!

I'll let your godson know that what you did today was choke, for real!

 

Garnet:

Oh, you'll find no exhaustion here; I'm far from prone to break a sweat:

When I wipe the floor with phony-hot shits, it's liable to wind up painted red!

It's viable to say I've wholly got this: child's play, though only for Garnet;

Joining in on it? You're gonna get rolled and left cold, all your folks going: "Oh no, they are dead."

Try on a total toxin-taste: raw space-rock rhymes, created ground-up,

Like your Ogaden oasis, the fate of which I wouldn't take it you're too proud of.

A tenth-level belter, I rep rebel melders:

Test against my mettle? Best inject some Nth; augment your cells, or get to shelter!

It's a song of ice and fire; when you're packing just the latter,

Your whole rhythm-ride's implosion-bound, and plasma's gonna splatter.

As for your nuclear family values? I'm beyond such rigid norms,

With Multiplex strengths, all rolled up inside one monolithic form!

Ever-flowering, love letter-showered, empowering, towering gay-romantic titan,

Shade thrown my way's, with a hand-flick, reflected, and BAM: it's the source who sees dishonor.

Dominant during debates, dissent-drainingly as any achromatic tyrant,

Try shouting this down, and watch me unshakenly pluck out your core; ensure you'll be a goner!

 

………

 

(*SOLO ROUND!*)

 

………

 

Martin Stein:

How's Stein's schooling session's starting something Sapph's supposed to handle?

Kindergarten rooms have brought her whole proud pairing to a standstill!

Singlehandedly one-upping that accursed menagerie,

Observe: in verse, a worse-disturbing blasphemy!

Your present-perspicacity has faltered from foresight-fixation; your taste in soulmates shows, for starters:

Even Jason never sunk to such low standards with his partners!

When this atomic architect takes to the floor,

The only overhyped-up ship that's headed for a wreck is yours!

 

Sapphire:

I see a glorified Jiminy Cricket with a nonexistent sex life.

He will find less clemency afforded here than with his ex-wife!

You've not met a Crystal cold to you as this; you'd better hide:

No psycho on any of infinite Earths could hope to sway me to your side.

Your Doomsday Clock is ticking; precognition needn't spell what's gonna happen,

When the baddest blue boss bombshells 'bout you break since Doc Manhattan's!

This alleged Legend won't see tomorrow: it's apparent you'll be slaughtered;

Deploring the oracle was a mistake just as aberrant as your daughter!

 

Martin Stein:

Hey, h- …Oh, why should I fall back onto dumb distraction-tunes,

When you're as prone to cause your own strikeout, all while we shoot the moon?

Cut with the C.R.A.P.; let this theory of mine be self-fulfilled: you'll cease to diss me,

Lest I cut your lifeline like your Greek ancestors three from Disney!

 

Sapphire:

If that Titanic travesty of trite trash-talk's all you've got,

Then it's no inner-fascist speaking when I say you should be shot!

Though I'd have warned you, that would be to squander breath for me; I know this:

You'd be heedless even with a quarter-century of notice!

 

Ruby:

Hit the streets, relapsed to homelessness: you'll want to keep anonymous;

A fuming-to-the-brim stone's bent on bringing your Apokalips!

The CW can have Ms. Kane informed on termination:

There was no room for her once this Ruby rose to the occasion!

 

Ronnie Raymond:

It was plain why you would be a cowboy: shit got polarizing.

Now, take one more comic page to heart: ride into the horizon;

No horsebacking, though! Try force-propelled ascension through the sky;

Yo, when you get to space's vacuum, tell your brethren I said "Hi",

And like the Happy of those five red dwarves reneged on standing with you,

Just back down from whence you've stepped up. Better yet, abandon ship, too!

Gangster-rapping worthily of some Dakotaversal bang-baby,

Watch this meta-S.T.A.R. extinguish your eternal flame, baby!

 

Ruby:

Funny you'd mention horizons: the events that I discern

Are painting you abyss-inbound, and past the point of no return!

Your jerkhole gripes and talking smack? I wouldn't fly to such judgments, were I to be you;

Full-circled like a Tokamak, your lapped back attacks will bite you something entirely new!

 

Ronnie Raymond:

A tempered temper lends to endless energy attained to blow through;

Rage has got you burning out, and that's my okay to K.O. you,

So let's leave the hero business to myself and the professor,

Making sure they'll see the written notice of your surrend

er!

 

Ruby:

Have you turned your own brains to jelly?! You're intoxicated; face it:

Flying off the rails, you'll plummet to rock bottom, getting wasted!

I'm out to bring hurt beyond mere heartbreak, and thus, your wounds yet need more salting,

Like your record's blackest mark, which Rusch won't soon let be forgotten!

Sapphire: That was rotten, alright; biting to look back upon as Sodom's burning.

White light this night, too, will end your torment, though with no returning!

Ruby: Or, in more straightforward wording: DIE. You must be nuts,

'Cause if the wedding stage didn't clue you in…

R+S: Today belongs to us!

 

Martin Stein:

I'll gladly rain on your reunion, jerks; it's time to face the truth:

You're plainly out of it as any circus sideshow saber-tooth!

Ronnie Raymond: If the professor is the passenger beside my pilot, punks,

That puts you as the ones blindfolded, bound and gagged inside our trunk!

Firestorm: You've walked Earth since prehistory?

Well, let's address the elephant…

A flung-back Furby's apt to outpace your epochal relevance!

You'll soon return to purpose-lacking, playing parent off the table,

Once our 'verses clash, and Steven takes an arrow in the navel!

 

Ruby:

Dude; leukemia is one thing, but those bars of your creation?

Sapphire: Cancerous beyond the help of your most cosmic incarnation!

R+S: Striking with a shadow's subtle grace, yet shining steel's lethality,

You may think it's Injustice, but we're winning by fatality! (Frosty!)

(*♪, ♪-♪-♪, ♪-♪*)

Garnet: You're getting throttled,

Harder than you dropped the ball with Brainiac's whole ship of bottles!

Take a moment to think, now, of just how very wrong you were, disputing me:

A clear-cut polymerized paragon; let no-con-fusion be.

 

?????????:

The trigger word's been stated! Now, my trap is activated;

Thus, the trump card's played in my fair maiden's name, so sayeth I!

The coming game's experience? You bums should take to fearing it,

Because it's time to D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-DIE!

 

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon:

I'm the overkill O.G. of owning old O.C.G. scenes; don't test me:

M.C. B.E.U.D. on the track? Best bet that it's your Death-T!

I inflict direct attacks; take life points down to zero, no doubt,

For this joke of a Gem-Knight and Elemental HERO dropout!

I drop right on in, without a brutal cost; sans Cyber-Stein:

Bring triple threats, converging onto Ruby, Ron, Sapphire and Stein!

You're all exhausted; left defenseless as a goblin-force one-shotter:

Losing hands dealt to you all played-out, and now I strike like Yata

Garasu, to lock you pussy Fusionists in strangleholds!

You'd never bend my will in shining armor forged of rarest gold.

In terms of targets fixed upon you, you'll have no chance to Scapegoat it:

One fell burst-stream's zapping your whole sheepish quartet of components!

Weighing you against me, the Millennium Scales will tip so hard,

You'll catapult, with robo-turtles wishing they could flick as far.

You're standing on the edge; ensuing shock is sure to wreck your balance,

Come the baddest dragon's dark discharge from his Zorc Necrophallus!

Need I spell it out? Your destiny is FINAL; undisputed!

As for changing fate, moreover, that's my job, with gods tributed!

Crushing you, why would I spring some virus? That ain't worth my time,

When all your values at their highest couldn't match a third of mine!

The legend that began it all: oft-mimicked, never replicated.

My pot runneth over; it's not necessary to explain it!

You'll beg for some shadow penalty, such twistedness you'll face;

For those who come in behind Blue-Eyes, a Limp Bizkit's what they taste!

 

Firestorm:

Self-special-summoning into our double-duel? Screw that whole deal;

If I had wanted a royale, I'd just be playing Battlefield!

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon: Don't drag this out with dialogue, delaying; I haven't got all day,

And when this card is heartless to you, how can you so much as pray?

Garnet: Well, I'd say you've let your defenses down, and I ain't talking misprints:

Your effect on me's, put simply as your text box, nonexistent!

 

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon:

It's the rapper-kingdom finals, whelp; that isn't gonna fly:

Those one-star-studded gauntlets plainly tell that you're unqualified!

I've got you insects flipping out, but doing so won't serve to bite me,

For your lot's too basic!

Lusterless!

Dull!

…Let alone worthy to ride me,

While I shine on ever brightly, even scaled down for the big screen;

Steal the thunder of Gate-Guards: my lyrics' layout's labyrinthine!

This collective looks combustion-bound, face flared up; in a frenzy,

But I've felled far more infernal red-eyed monsters full of envy.

Cards here stacked against you steeper still than Reshef of Destruction,

White light's sealing your demise, so though you guessed correct on one thing,

Know my arsenal's evolved to make for new alternatives;

With chaos rituals to maximize the pain, I'll burn you, bitch!

Watch me send this three-eyed sucker straight to the grave; negate a compensating deck search:

End malformed mashups' miseries, like the doggy saying "Edward"!

 

Garnet:

Oh, you can banish that shit; try, instead, Fullmetal Jacket,

'Cause I have to ask it: what is your mammoth malfunction, maggot?!

Firestorm: I have had it with these Muto-fighting dragons, coalesced as one,

But for us coming back from this hijacking, hopes look next to none…

Our best's yet unexhausted…

Garnet: The sole option left to take here…

Firestorm: …Should we all agree we want it.

Garnet: …Would be nuclear in nature.

Firestorm: Are you thinking what I am?

Garnet: I don't think that's how fusion works.

Firestorm: Well, screw the rules; we have fan fiction logic!

Garnet: Let's just do this, jerk…

 

………

 

Garnetstorm:

Know your last-minute winning plays; details: I take no pleasure in this

As I bust loose from our tightest spot and get direct to business,

No less vocal for it, mind you, while I counter-steal the show,

And finish what your master started, with one down, and three to go!

These blows will knock you sideways, keeping up the damage all the same,

With meteoric impacts fit to fuel your blackest rival's flames!

I'm breaking your sustaining chains; those of my components' restraint, too:

But four pieces here need come together to obliterate you!

Brightly-blazing stone conglomerate, far from some shadow puppet:

Mega-mixture; this vanilla triple-dipper can go shove it!

If you're triple-A, call me the alphabet's whole backmost leg;

No Toonish trickery required, I'll deflect attacks all day!

My fighting spirit's too intense to stay; my presence here is fleeting,

But the Last Turn is upon us, and you're set for searing beating!

Wanna end this with a draw? I'll go Berserker, then: get violent,

And remake Destroy All Monsters; stomp out this tri-headed tyrant.

 

WHO WON?

 

WHO'S NEXT?

 

I DECIDE!

 

MOLE…

 

…MAN'S…

 

HA!

 

…EPIC RAP BATTLES!!!!!!!

210|365

Today I am catching up on my Be Still 52 class... week 9 was Tangible, we were encouraged to get our pictures off the computer, make some prints, hold them in your hands, feel the paper, treasure the experience. I wish I had followed a theme better for this assignment but glad I finished one.

We live in a world that begs for perfection. An ideal that is so tangible, that even the greatest linguistic scholars would prefer to study the meaning of love than tackle this futile topic.

The funny thing is, if I was to tell you that perfectionism was a disease, you'd laugh and tell me that it is either a half cocked idea for attention or an elitist copout.

I disagree with both of the aforementioned. Here's why:

What if there was an illness that stopped you getting out of bed because you you were afraid you weren't going to be good enough?

What if every time you picked up a paint brush, you put it back down?

What if you could never finish a piece of art because you simply didn't know which move to make?

What's if every relationship you were ever in failed because you tried to be the best possible person, FOR the other person?

    

These symptoms could be put on laziness, obsessiveness or many of the levels of psychotic delusions that are floating around.

Think again.

Imagine you couldn't get out of bed because of the stereotypical perspective of the world around you didn't include your body image, size or job description?

Imagine you picked up the brush and put it back down, because you were afraid that you would never complete it the way you saw it in your head?

What's if you were building a piece of furniture, and you couldn't finish it, because you were so afraid of the last piece that was being put in place was not right, and you had no way of making it right?

What if you were constantly fucking up in a relationship and never knowing why, even though you thought you were doing the best you could?

    

These are all symptoms of perfectionism.

    

We are human, we are not perfect, yet the society that we live in has an idea that we climb a certain threshold, like a checkpoint in a video game we become inexcusable for the past levels errors, if we should happen to make them in our current environment.

    

This is fucked up.

The desire for perfect is futile, because, who are you being perfect for? Whose idealism are you striving for?

How is John Banks, living in suburbia, shooting weddings for a multitude of clientele constantly booked?

He believes in his shit.

He believes in his work.

    

Imagine if you could change the whole idea of failing, into the new thought "fear of being perfect"?

Imagine if it was the erroneous thought that had somehow bord it's way into your head and manifested itself into a fear, constantly changing and altering your present mindset.

    

Imagine saying to yourself "I didn't fuck up, I just feared I couldn't do it perfectly and that scared me".

    

This is the real story.

    

We are all so very capable of so very much, but the thing is, there is only a few elements of the social spectrum that are accepted as the norm. At the moment.

You think Van Gough gave a fuck about his popularity? Because that's all that perfectionism is… a desire for popularity.

    

You want your product to be good and in this age, well liked? So you perfect it.

I wanna say, fuck that shit in the ass.

    

Too much is going un noticed and un done because the perfectionist ideals out there.

The perfectionists are setting the standards and the perfectionists aren't releasing the goods.

That's fucked up.

    

This needs to change.

    

This weeks 52, exhibits the way I see the world, or at least want to. My initial idea was to place one splash image, the one, second from the last. The crown of splashes.

The thing is, whilst I was doing this, set up on a 200X150mm X 2 sheet of melamine with a speed gun and a turkey baster strapped to a clothing rack, I realised JUST HOW MUCH FUN IT WAS.

My idea of capturing the perfect went out the window and became an adventure of capturing the moment. As many times as I could.

    

It's not worth being perfect. There is nothing to strive for if you are.

     

The only tangible souvenir I got from Montpellier is this poster of the saint. Although it doesn't look very flattering, its the oldest known painting of San Roque, circa 13th century.

Bright Brussels 2018

 

Bright Brussels is a light festival, a fascinating route through the city consisting of a dozen light installations that are artistic, interactive, playful,... and simply captivating. Bright Brussels is a free event that is open to all from 18:30 to 23:00, for four nights from 22 to 25 February.

 

For this edition, a massive, must-see installation is hanging in the extraordinary setting that is the Citroen garage on place de l'Yser/IJzerplein. The route then stretches over the historical heart of the city through the Beguinage - Dixmude and Dansaert neighbourhoods, from Sainctelette to Sainte-Catherine/Sint-Katelijne. Come and (re-)discover these neighbourhoods' rich architectural heritage thanks to the magic of light!

 

TETRO (FR) + Whitevoid (DE) - Stalactite

 

At the heart of the majestic structure of the Citroen building, with its clean lines, is an enormous suspended structure, floating above the visitors. It generates light motifs and complex shapes to the rhythm of the electronic music of Boris Divider. This artistic light display by Christopher Bauder is called Stalactite. It offers an immersive experience of the madness of the 21st century.

 

Venue: Former Citroen garage

  

OCUBO and Telmo Ribeiro (PT) - Underlight

 

'Underlight' is a simulation of the aurora borealis. It combines coloured lasers, smoke machines and the wind to create lighting effects. These form a coloured curtain with the accompaniment of haunting music to plunge the audience into a splendid sound and light show.

 

Venue: Quai du Commerce and Parc du Quai a la Houille

  

Aerosculpture (FR) - Lumiere d'eau (Light in water)

 

What becomes of the basins of our fountains when winter robs them of their water? Are they filled to the brim with other, highly illuminated wavelengths, in the hope that a school of flying fishes will be attracted by the light and come to take possession of their banks? This is the story told by the installation 'Lumiere d'eau' with its moving, glittering lights spread over the surface of the basin and about a hundred lighter-than-air fish, caught by invisible hooks, that are lit by the colours of this imaginary water to offer us a thousand reflections moving and swirling in the wind.

 

Venue: Vismet, Fontaine Anspach

  

Estudio Sergio Ramos (ES) - Triple jet

 

This installation reminds us of the need to recover the identity of our cities by valuing their diversity and plurality. 'Triple jet' uses a strong symbol with an internationally recognised graphic identity, the Mannekenn Pis, who has landed in a public place as the main protagonist of a new urban landscape.

 

Venue: Institut Pacheco

  

OCUBO (PT) - Flower Power

 

'Flower Power' is an experimental immersive video mapping show. It is based on experimentation with the physical forces of water and gravity. It explores the aesthetic of one of the most beautiful and colourful phenomena in nature, flowers. Inspired by the colour, movement and fusion of these phenomena, the project transforms the everyday image of a flower into something magical and poetical.

 

Venue: Place du Beguinage

  

Tetro and Trafik (FR) - 160

 

'160' is an interactive sound and light installation that offers an intuitive instrument for exploring representation, projection and the relationship in space of shapes, colours and sound. It consists of 20 square arches, each containing eight lit segments. 160 light strips are deployed over the 60 m of the structure.

 

Venue: Vismet

  

Mathilde Lemesle (FR) - Aux fenetres de Bruxelles - Appel d'air (At the windows of Brussels - Drawing in air)

 

'At the windows of Brussels - Drawing in air' is a light installation created for the 2018 Bright Brussels Festival. This exterior video mapping show is located on the facade of a house and plays with the features of that setting. Lighting effects are a way for visitors to rediscover the many sides of places.

 

Venue: Rue du Nom de Jesus

  

Dolus and Dolus (FR): Stratum

 

'Stratum' is an interactive installation that uses gesture to influence a 'lit area'. Running one's hand over a capture interface reproduces it in space using layers of light. This reaction generates a visible and tangible reflection of the gesture, like an ephemeral geology of movement.

 

Venue: Rue du Marche aux Porcs

  

Collectif Coin (FR) - Child Hood

 

'Child Hood' is a cloud. Comprising a multitude of luminous balloons, it hovers between numerical minimalism and a monumental kinetic installation. It invades space. The wind rushes in between the balloons. Like the ultimate interpreter, it injects a note of chaos into a finely measured sound and light composition.

 

Venue: Place du Nouveau Marche aux Grains

  

THEORIZ (FR) - Crystallized

 

'CRYSTALLIZED' is an immersive sculpture composed of steel, sounds and holographic images. Inspired by Bismuth crystal and built according to the laws of light propagation, CRYSTALLIZED is a mysterious, ever-changing sculpture that goes from atoms to liquid-crystal. The audience is drawn to appreciate the infinite, hypnotising lighting effects of the work from its different perspectives.

 

Venue: Former Atelier Coppens

linktr.ee/ewitsoe

Warszawa, Poland

Autumn

"We Have Never Met" project puts myself and another photographer together from anywhere in the world as we shoot one roll of the same film together...kind of....at a distance anyway. And then combinging the effort into a tangible photowalk of sorts.

Vol 2 is with a French photographer living in my own backyard, Warszawa...and we have never met.

You can find the entire series on my Behance profile. Hit me up if you are interested in participating. Thanks for watching!

EXPLORE # 75 ~ 200th Explore Photo

 

A scopion-mimic jumping spider found at the La Mesa Ecopark.. This photo was sitting in my computer since February 20, 2009 and I almost forgot about this. Thanks Tedt for the help at the Ecopark.

 

White background is the lid of a bucket of KFC fried chicken and used by Tedt as a flash diffuser. It works !! I have one too.

Today would have been the annual Pinedorado Parade in Cambria. But instead we must satisfy our nostalgia by looking back at last year's. These cars are always my favorite part of the event, and to me they are the very spirit of nostalgia made tangible. Now, on top of that feeling, even a photo of them from last year is a look back to another era, when we were relatively carefree and couldn't imagine that one year hence we'd be living anxiously in a quasi-wartime world.

 

Anyway, on the technical side of it, I continue to be impressed by how Capture One handles my RAFs. And consequently I'm also gaining new respect for my Touit. It's often stated that it doesn't have the Zeiss pop, and it's true that it does not give the pronounced sense of depth and form that I get from my vintage 25mm Distagon, but I realized today that when C1's lens correction is applied, it doesn't straighten out barreling as I expected, but instead appears to correct for pincushioning, and as a result of either its inflating of the center (or maybe it's actually undoing a baked in correction?) the lens suddenly gains some Zeiss pop! The flat subject reaches out as soon as the correction is applied, and suddenly the Touit isn't just an optically capable lens, it's the Zeissy lens I think we all want it to be. Maybe not to the extent of some of the classics, but this lens already conveyed depth better than the XF35, and now it's been given a still greater advantage in that area. Seeing the results it's capable of in attractive lighting has reaffirmed my decision to set aside the XF in favor of the Touit several years ago.

 

This also reminded me of five years ago when I was shooting almost exclusively with my Nikon and 35/1.8G, which is a very barrel distorted lens that utilizes significant in-camera correction. When I started shooting in raw and processing in Lightroom, I was surprised to find that I was consistently turning on the distortion correction, comparing the results, and then turning it back off. While the lens needed the correction to not obviously distort straight lines or very close subjects, in normal uses I realized that correcting the lens flattened the results, while leaving it distorted preserved more depth and realism. What I discovered today with the Touit in C1 was the same thing: turning its correction on was the same as turning LR's off for the Nikon, only the effect is even more pronounced. So not only is this a pleasing discovery in itself, it's also a bit like running into an old friend.

 

Edit: I looked it up and the Touit does naturally have slight barrel distortion as I recalled. And the OpticalLimits review notes that C1's correction strangely corrects it from 2% barrel to 1% pincushion. And yet, in my version of C1, it appears straight to me without correction, and when correction is applied I see barrel added. So I don't know what's going on, and I haven't tested enough to draw conclusions, but it feels as if the barrel is being corrected automatically, and C1 made a decision to apply an aesthetically pleasing correction that overrides the automatic? If that's not the case, then I just have no idea why its correction adds barrel to a lens that has it to begin with. Whatever the case, I'm glad they do what they do.

 

(DSCF1641c)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfzplPIrzjY

   

These ships are really amazing. There was a tangible connection to the past when walking the decks of these ships, especially the trans-oceanic ones.

 

I was exploring the San Francisco Maritime Museum on labor day with my wife and decided to test out the New Portra 400 film with the 500 C/M handheld (with the flash-grip - without the flash - and a prism finder). I also mistakenly scanned this at 100MegaPix. The results astounded me. This Film is SHARP! (and my scanner is better than I thought it was). The Wide-angle 50mm Distagon lens is not the sharpest in my collection, but this shot and scan shows it is much better than I thought it was. I was attempting hyperfocal but I slightly missed the focus as foreground objects seem a little sharper than background objects (yet I *still* see a hint of the vertical wires on the distant bridge).

 

Kodak (new) Portra 400 - C-41

SEKONIC L-778 DUAL SPOT F METER (shot @ 400ASA)

Hasselblad B60 POLARIZER

(Exposure Unrecorded - spot-metered through the filter)

Hasselblad 500 C/M w/50mm f4 Zeiss Distagon CF T*

Epson PERFECTION V750-M PRO SCANNER

(20110906_SFmaritimeMus_Portra400new_03193001)

The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme,

Man in his cosmic aspect is a being very superior to that which is commonly looked upon as a "man," and which is described in books on anthropology, anatomy, &c. Such external sciences deal only with the grossly material body of external terrestrial man, while the essential body of macrocosmic and microcosmic man is beyond the reach of external observation. In the study of man as a cosmic being there are three subjects to be considered, although the three are only three aspects of one. These three subjects are God, Nature, and Man, and neither one of them can be understood in its inner essence without an understanding of the other two. External science, "natural philosophy," and theology seek to separate them. They regard man as a being separated, distinct, and independent of nature, and nature as something independent of man; while of God they know nothing, and regard the divine power, which is the cause of all life, as if it were something external to nature and man, and beyond their reach. For this reason the "man" of modern science has become an unnatural being, without any conceivable object for his existence, and nature is to him an organism evolved by accidence and subject to no other than mechanically acting law. The divine, spiritual, creative, and hidden powers in man and in nature are entirely removed from the field of perception of the "rationalist." spirit, a self-conscious, luminous sphere of unimaginable extent; as, in fact, at present the mental sphere of man has no defined limits; it reaches as far as his thoughts can go. He was created for the purpose of being the image of God. The glory of God was residing in him, and he was penetrated by the light of divine love. In man is contained everything, God, and the Christ, and the angels, the celestial and terrestrial kingdoms, and the powers of hell. Outside of him is nothing of which he can conceive; he can know nothing except that which exists in his mind. No god or devil, no spirit or any power whatever, can act within man unless it enters into his constitution. Only that which exists in him has existence for him. Without a realisation of this fact the mysteries of religion will remain incomprehensible. It may be interesting and amusing to speculate about all the different gods and celestial hosts that go to make up the Pantheons of the various nations, but such a study does not constitute real knowledge. Only when man's spiritual perceptions are unfolded and he attains divine knowledge of self, then will he know the Christ and all the celestial powers whose aggregate goes to make up the kingdom of God existing within himself.

"The Spirit of God resides from eternity to eternity only in heaven—that is to say, in His own essence, in the power of the majesty. When it became inbreathed into the image of man, then was heaven in man; for God willed to reveal Himself in man, as in an image created after His own likeness, and to manifest the great wonders of His eternal wisdom." (Stiefel, i. 36.) "Simultaneously with the introduction of His divine image, Adam received also the living word of God (spiritual intelligence) to furnish food for his soul." (Menschwerdung, i. 3, 24.) "God created Adam to (enjoy) eternal life in Paradise in a state of paradisiacal perfection. Divine love illumined his interior, as the sun is illuminating the world." (Stiefel, i. 36.) "In Paradise there is perfect life without disturbance, and a perpetual day, and the paradisiacal man is clear like transparent glass, and he is fully penetrated by the light of the divine sun." 1 (Signature, xi. 5 1.)

 

His body likewise appeared luminous, because its terrestrial substance was absorbed in the celestial essence. It radiated a pure, divine light. 2

 

"The inner holy corporeity of the pure element penetrated through the four elements and kept the Limus of earth—that is to say, the external sulphuric (terrestrial) body within itself as in a state of absorption. Nevertheless, that body was actually present, but in such a way as darkness dwells in light, so that the darkness cannot manifest itself on account of the light." (Mysterium, xvi. 6.) "All the qualities of the inner and holy body, together with the external ones, were in primordial man attuned in one harmony. Neither of them lived in its own state of desire; but they had their desire in the soul wherein the divine light was manifest. This, the divine light radiated through all the qualities, and produced in them an equal, harmonious temperature." (Mysterium, xvi. 5.) "The inner man kept the external one imprisoned within itself and penetrated it in a manner comparable to iron, which glows if it is penetrated by fire, so that it seems as if it were itself fire. But when the fire becomes extinct, then does the black, dark iron become manifest." (Mysterium, xvi. 7.) "The pure element penetrated through the external roan and overpowered the four elements; moreover, the power of the heat and the cold was in the flesh. But as the light of God was shining therein, they were in equal harmony, so that neither one of them became manifest before the other. Thus God the Father is called a wrathful, jealous God and a consuming fire, and He is all that in regard to His qualities; but of these qualities nothing becomes manifest in His light." (Stiefel, xi. 75.) "Primordial man in Paradise, being fixed therein, was in a state such as time is before God and God in time. As time is a spectacle before God, likewise the external life of man was a spectacle before the inner and holy man, who was the true image of God." (Mysterium, xvi. 8.) In the same sense the Bhagavad Gita says that the true self, the God, Atma, or " Christ," is not a participator, but merely a spectator in that which concerns the external illusion. "The inner body was a dwelling-place of the Godhead, an image of divine substantiality. In that body the soul had her meekness, and her fire was rendered mild thereby, for she received there the love and meekness of God." (Tilk., i. 233.) Owing to this resemblance to God, Adam's will and thoughts were as one. His mind was pure and uncomplicated, childlike, unsophisticated, and devoted to God; he did not need to speculate about the unknown, because he had the power to perceive that which he wanted to know. He enjoyed the perception of divine and terrestrial things. 1 "The mind of Adam was innocent like that of a child, playing with the wonders of its Father. There was in him no self-knowledge of evil will, no avarice, pride, envy, anger, but a pure enjoyment of love." (Threefold Life, xi. 23.) "When Adam was created in Paradise, there his life was burning like a flame of pure oil. Therefore his perception was celestial, and his intelligence was surpassing and comprehending things beyond nature." (Signature, vii. 2.) "The inner man stood in heaven; his essences were the Paradise; his body was indestructible. He knew the language of God and the angels, and the language of nature, as may be seen by Adam giving names to all creatures, to each according to its own essence and quality." (Forty Questions, iv. 7.) "Adam, after having been created by God, was in Paradise in a state of joy and glorification, beautiful and filled with knowledge. God then brought before him, as the lord of the world, all the animals, so that he might behold them, and give a name to each according to its special essence and power. And Adam knew that he was within every creature, and he gave to each its appropriate name. God can see into the hearts of all things, and the same could be done by Adam." 1 (Three Principles, x. 17.) In this state of godlike being he had power over all things; for all things existed in him and he in all, and there was nothing that could have done him any external injury. To express it in other words, all things existed subjectively in his mind, as they now do in ours, but his mind was his " body," and where the centre of his consciousness was, there was his "form." 2 "As God is a Lord over all, so man in the power of God was to be a lord over this world." (Menschwerdung, i. 4, 7.) "The soul in the power of God penetrates through all things, and is powerful over all, as God Himself; for she lives in the power of His heart." (Three Principles, xxii. 17.) "As gold is incorruptible in the fire, so man was subject to nothing, only to the One God dwelling in him, and manifested in him by the power of His holy being." (Mysterium, xvi. 12.) "Everything was subject to Adam; his rule extended into heaven and over the earth, and in all elements and stars. This was because divine power was manifested in him." 1 (Mysterium, xvi. 2.) "The will-spirit of man penetrated through all creatures, and was injured by none, because none could grasp it. No creature can apprehend the power and light of the sun in its own will, but must remain passive to become penetrated by it; thus it was then the case with the will-spirit of man." (Grace, vii. 2.)

"Before his fall, man could rule over the sun and the stars. Everything was in his power. 2 Fire, air, water, and earth could not tame him; no fire burned him, no water drowned, no air suffocated him; all that lived stood in awe of him." (Threefold Life, xi. 23.) "No heat, no cold, no sickness, nor accident, nor any fear could touch or terrify him. His body could pass through earth and rocks without breaking anything in them; for a man who could be overpowered by the terrestrial nature, or who could be broken to pieces, would not be eternal." 3 (Menschwerdung, i. 2, 13.) Likewise that nature which surrounded him, and which is called Eden, was illuminated by the celestial light, and it was thereby exalted to paradisiacal magnificence. "Adam was in Paradise, that is to say, in the temperature. Thereby he was placed in a certain locality, namely, in that where the holy world was blooming out through the earth and bearing the fruits of Paradise." (Grace, v. 34.) "'Eden' means the locality, but 'Paradise' is the out-flowing or the life of God in divine harmony." (Letters, xxxi. 28.) "In Paradise the substance of the divine world penetrated the substance belonging to time, comparable to the power of the sun penetrating a fruit growing on a tree, and endowing it with such qualities as render it lovely to the sight and good to the taste." (Mysterium, xvii. 5.) "Thus the holy divine world was predominant through all the three principles of the human quality, and there was an equal accord, and no enmity or opposite will was manifest betwixt the principles." 1 (Mysterium, xvii. 20.) There were in Paradise all the products which we meet in the terrestrial world, but they were there in a state of ethereality and of supernatural beauty. This paradisiacal beauty was, however, not manifested in all parts of the world. "In Paradise there are growths, the same as in this world, but not in (terrestrial) tangibility. There Heaven is in the place of the earth, the Light of God instead of the sun, and the Eternal Father in the place of the power of the stars." (Three Principles, ix. 20.) "The Paradise is not anything corporeal or tangible in a terrestrial sense, but its corporeity and tangibility is like that of the angels. It is there a clear,

visible, substance, as if it were material, and it is actually "material;" but it is formed only out of the power, without any addition of terrestrial matter, and it is, therefore, perfectly transparent." (Three Principles, ix. 18.)

 

"The tangible world, or nature, before the time of the wrath of God, was thin, ethereal, lovely, and clear, so that the sourcive spirits could look through everything and penetrate it. There were therein neither terrestrial rocks nor earth, and there was no created light needed, such as it is now; but the light was generated in all things in the midst of each thing, and everything was in the light." (Aurora, xviii. 29.) The whole world would have been all Paradise if it had not been corrupted by Lucifer. But as God knew that Adam was going to fall, it bloomed out in only one place, wherein man might find a suitable dwelling-place, and be fortified therein." (Mysterium, xvii. 7.) "God saw and knew that man was going to fall, and therefore the Paradise did not bloom and bear fruits in the whole of the world by means of the earth, although it was manifest everywhere, but only in the Garden of Eden, wherein Adam was tempted, did it become revealed in its full magnificence." 1 (Letters, xxxix. 28.) For all that, man, although having been endowed with great splendour by the Creator, did not yet enjoy true similarity with God. 2 "In Adam was manifest the kingdom of grace, the divine life, because he lived in the temperature (harmony) of the qualities, but he did not know that God was revealed in him. Likewise his self-will did not know that which is good, because it had as yet experienced no evil. How could there be any joy where no sorrow is known?" (Grace, ix. 15.) "The soul was in her own essence from eternity, but as a created thing she was formed to represent the image of God at the time of the creation of the body. Nevertheless she is per se not yet the true image, but only an essential fire for its production." (Tilk., i. 81.)

 

"The soul of man, which has been breathed into him by God, is from the Eternal Father; but with that she has not yet attained the birth of the Son, wherein is the end of nature, and from which no created being issues." (Three Principles, ix. 13.)

Man can attain real similarity to God and perfect beatitude only by decisively willing to put his will into the Son, as the Heart or Light of the Father. "God has the eternal and unchangeable will to generate His Heart and his Son, and thus the soul should put her immutable will into the heart of God. Then would she be in heaven and Paradise, and enjoy the inexpressible happiness of God the Father, which He enjoys in the Son, and she would hear the inexpressible words in the heart of God." 1 (Three Principles, x. 14.) "Adam was conceived in the love of God and born into this world. He was in possession of a divine substantiality, and his soul was of the will, the first principle, the quality of the Father. This will should be directed, together with the imagination, into the heart of the Father, that is to say, into the Word and the Spirit of love and purity. Then would man's soul retain the substance of God in the Word of Life." (Menschwerdung, i. 10,

 

"The living soul, from the eternal will of the Father, was breathed into man, and this will has no other purpose than to give birth to His only Son. 1 Of this will God the Father infused into man, and this is the eternal soul of man. The soul ought to put her regenerated will into the eternal will of the Father, in the heart of God. Then will she receive the power of the heart of God and also His holy eternal light, wherein arises the Paradise and the celestial kingdom and eternal joy." (Three Principles, xxvi. 16.) "If the soul sinks her will into the meekness, i.e., the obedience of God, she becomes a fountain of the heart of God, and receives divine power, and all her essences become angelic and joyful. Then her harsh essences will also be useful to her, and appear to her more mild and useful, than if they had already originally been entirely sweet and mild." (Three Principles, xiii. 31.) It was within his power to decide, and he was free to do so, because there was in him not only the principle of light, but also the fire-principle,—not only perception, but will. "The light and the power of the light is a desire, and wants to come in possession of the noble image made after God's likeness, because it has been created for the world of light. Likewise the dark world or the craving wrath desires the same, for man has all the worlds within himself, and there is a great battle taking place in man. That principle with which he identifies himself with in his desire and his will, will rule in him." (Tilk., i. 381.) "As the soul is essential and her very substance is a

desire, it is clear that she is in two kinds of Fiat. The first is her own soul-property; the other belongs to the second principle, issuing from the will of God in the soul. The soul desiring for God for the purpose of forming herself in His image and likeness, this desire of God acts as a Fiat in her own centre; for the desire of God wants to possess the soul. On the other hand, she herself desires to possess the centre in the power of the fire, wherein the life of the soul originates." (Eye, vii.)

"The will of the soul is free, and she can either sink into nothing within herself and conceive of herself as the nothing, when she will sprout like a branch out of the tree of divine life, and eat of the love of God; or she may in her own self-will rise up in the fire and desire to become a separate tree." 1 (Forty Questions, ii. 2.) There existed in man also the third principle, wherein resides sensual desire. He was not endowed with this principle for the purpose of surrendering himself to it, but that he might introduce it into the light of God, and glorify Him by means of that light."Man was a mixed individuality, and destined to be an image according to the inner, and also according to the outer world; but as the symbol of God, he was to rule with the inner consciousness over the external one." (Menschwerdung, i. 3, 13.) "When man remains in harmonious order, so as not to let one world into the other, he is then the likeness of God; but the image or the mirror of the world. of light he should surely introduce into the external world." (Six Theosophical Points, vi. 12.) "The constellation (the astral influences) of the macrocosm should not be permitted to rule over man; but he has his own constellation (the spirit, the idea) within himself, which is capable of becoming attuned to the harmony of the rise and evolution of the divine world within." (Letters, i. 8.) "All of man's desire should have been placed into the light; then would the light have shone within his essence and desire, and filled everything as with one will." (Tilk., i. 542.) "The soul of Adam could have ruled powerfully over the external principle if she had entered again with her will into the heart of God, into the word of the Lord." 1 (Forty Questions, iv. 2.) Thus it was intended that, by means of the instrumentality of man, the paradisiacal splendour should be continually spread out and increased over terrestrial nature, and that all the hidden treasures of nature should be uncovered. "The external world is also of God and belonging to God, and man has been created therein, so that he may bring again the external into the internal one; the end into the beginning." (Letters, xi. 18.) "Adam was also created in the external quality, so that he may manifest in forms and execute in works that which had been perceived in eternal wisdom." (Menschwerdung, i. 4.) "Man has been created in Paradise, for it was out-blooming through the earth, and from the earth of Paradise was Adam's body created, because he was a lord of the earth, and it was his destiny to unfold the wonders of the earth. If it had not been for that purpose, God might have endowed him with an angelic body; but in that case the substantiated being with its wonderful qualities would not have been unfolded." 1 (Menschwerdung, ii. 12.)

 

www.sacred-texts.com/eso/ldjb/ldjb10.htm

 

Digital prints on metallic paper: original photos from he Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian institution, series of 70

 

[In]tangible Tangles (2021) is a series of found images of moccasins from the archives of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s anthropology department. The series began from pandemic scrolling through various museums’ archives, but these specific images grabbed her attention because the shoes are displayed with their soles facing the camera, instead of at an angle to show as much of the shoe as possible. “You really having this feeling there are bodies in them, like they’re lying down,” Myre said.

In addition to the visible wear and tear on the soles, the shoes are also photographed with tags stating their acquisition number and tribal affiliations. Some were acquired as early as the 1860s, while others are newer, having entered the museum’s holdings only a few decades ago. What the photographs don’t show is under what circumstances they were acquired. Many are shoes for children, reminding Myre of residential schools in both the US and Canada, which separated Indigenous children from their parents in order to assimilate them into the culture of their colonizers and have them forgot their cultural traditions and languages. Often, the children were routinely abused; many were killed there.

ballata per pietra e acqua

 

I like when photography becomes tangible. So I printed a few copies of this lo-fi zine. Maybe one day the paper will be crumpled, aged, and the photos faded. And the zine will look even better.

 

Mi piace quando la fotografia diventa tangibile. E' per questo che ho stampato qualche copia di questa zine a bassa fedeltà.

Forse un giorno la carta sarà stropicciata, invecchiata e le foto sbiadite. E la zine sarà ancora più bella.

From the same place as this, this and this.

 

+ 2 new haircut shots

 

*Today I put some photos on friends only. If you would like to be added as a friend, let me know.

{seventy one}

A crystalline riddle — a breach within the fabric of the tangible world.

 

The wall, once mundane, is transformed into a living manuscript: vines and roots creep like petrified veins across the peeling turquoise skin. Yet within this organic decay, a geometric interloper erupts — a form both alien and familiar, as though summoned from a fractured algorithm or a lucid dream gone rogue.

 

It is not stone. Nor glass. It reflects the chaotic pulse of nature but resists its rhythm. It is mirror-matter, vectorial flesh — a rift in the logic of growth.

 

Where the organic twists, the synthetic slices. Where the roots spiral in entropy, the shard ascends in calculated defiance.

 

This is a vision of emergence. Of quiet rebellion. The structure appears as a future relic or an ancient whisper crystallized — an entity rewriting the rules of presence. It is the dream of a machine embedded in the memory of ivy. A ghost of geometry awakening in the epidermis of decay.

At the amusement park, it seems everything spins or moves. There is the tangible spinning object, for example, this ride. And then there is the metaphorical, the carnival barker and the spin of his solicitations and viewpoint to persuade me.

 

I think of just how elusive finding the true fixed "objective" spot is. It turns out that what looks like the fixed is not really fixed. For example, the fixed rail that I grasp onto slowly shifts as the dirt moves and the tectonic plates slide. That plate sits is on the earth, which rotates on its axis at roughly a thousand miles an hour. And the earth in turn, spins around the sun at 67,000 miles an hour. Oh, and our star? It also rotates in its orbit around the Milky Way galaxy as it moves.

 

There is a whole lot of spinning and moving going on. Everything has spin, even down to the electrons spinning in their probability shells around their atom's nucleus.

 

My head spins just thinking about it as my feet stay firmly planted on these stairs in front of this spinning ride on terra firma.

 

It seems for now about the only thing I can do to escape is find a spin zone that is more to my liking. I think I will go home, plop down on my big reclining chair, and turn on Bill O'Reilly's no-spin zone news editorial for some comfort.

Nutro – Нутро - means the guts or the insides, something that governs your inner being, that can be crude and raw and towards the outside, but also something that you feel inside. It’s your core and your being connected to your physical being in a very tangible way.

Something or nothing?

There are only two alternatives, something or nothing. Existence or non-existence?

Existence is a fact!

We know something exists (the physical universe),

but why?

Two questions arise …why is there something rather than nothing?

And where did that something come from?

Obviously, something cannot arise from nothing, no sane person would entertain such an impossible concept. However, an incredible fantasy that the universe created itself from nothing, is being proposed by some, high profile atheists, and presented to the public as though it is science. A sort of ‘theory of everything’ that purports to eliminate a creator. For example, the campaigning, militant atheist Lawrence Krauss has written a book which claims the universe can come from nothing, ‘A Universe from Nothing’. Anyone who is silly enough to spend money on a book which makes such a wild, impossible claim, soon realises that Krauss’s ‘nothing’ is not nothing at all, but an exercise in ‘smoke and mirrors’. His ‘nothing’ involves the pre-existence of certain, natural laws and quantum effects.

A well, publicised example of the universe allegedly being able to arise from nothing was one presented by Professor Stephen Hawking, and summed up in a single sentence:

“Because there is a law, such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing”

 

It is not intelligent, sensible or scientific to believe that everything created itself from nothing.

In a state of infinite and eternal nothingness, nothing exists and nothing happens - EVER.

Nothing means absolutely ‘nothing’. Nothing tangible and no physical laws, no information, not even abstract things, like mathematics. If nothing exists there can be no numbers or anything based on numbers.

 

Furthermore, you don’t need to be a genius, or a scientist, to understand that something CANNOT create itself.

Put simply, it is self-evident that - to create itself, a thing would have to pre-exist its own creation to carry out the act of creating itself. In which case, it already exists.

And, if anything at all exists, i.e. in this example ‘gravity’, it cannot be called 'nothing'.

Furthermore, ‘gravity’ cannot be a creative agent, it is merely an inherent property of matter – it is obvious that a property of something cannot create that which it is a property of. And also, How can something pre-exist that which it is a property of? Thus, we are obliged to conclude that nonsense remains nonsense, even when presented by highly regarded scientists.

“Fallacies remain fallacies, even when they become fashionable.” GK Chesterton.

 

Such nonsensical propositions are vain attempts to undermine the well, established, law of cause and effect, which is fatal to atheist ideology.

Incredibly, Hawking's so-called replacement for God completely ignores this law of cause and effect, which applies to ALL temporal (natural) entities, without exception.

Therefore, Stephen Hawking's natural, 'theory of everything' which he summed up in a single sentence can, similarly, be debunked in a single sentence:

Because there is a law of cause and effect, the universe can't and won't create itself from nothing.

 

Religion?

Once we admit the obvious fact that the universe cannot arise of its own accord from nothing (nothing will remain nothing forever), the only alternative is that ‘something’ has always existed – an infinite ‘something’. For anything to happen, such as the origin of the universe, the infinite something, cannot just exist in a state of eternal, passive inactivity, it must be capable of positive activity.

If we examine the characteristics, powers, qualities and attributes which exist now, we must conclude that the ‘something’, that has always existed, must have amazing (godlike) powers to be able to produce all the wonderful qualities we see in the universe, including: information, natural laws, life, intelligence, consciousness, etc.

This means we need to believe in some sort of ‘godlike entity’. The only remaining question is - which god?

Is the godlike entity a creator, or simply nature or natural forces as atheists claim? Seeking an answer to that question is the essential role of religion, which essentially utilises logic and reason, rather than just relying on blind faith.

 

Why God MUST exist ...

There are only two states of being (existence) – temporal and infinite. That. which has a beginning, is ‘temporal’. That which has no beginning is ‘infinite’.

Everything that exists must be one or the other.

The temporal (unlike the infinite) is not autonomous or non-contingent, it essentially relies on something else for its beginning (its cause) and its continued existence.

The universe and all natural things are temporal. Hence, they ALL require a cause or causes.

They could NOT exist without a cause to bring them into being. This is a FACT accepted by science, and enshrined in the Law of Cause and Effect.

The Law of Cause and Effect tells us that every, natural effect requires a cause. And that - an effect cannot be greater than its cause/s.

This is a fundamental principle, essential to the scientific method.

“All natural science is based on the hypothesis of the complete causal connection of all events” Dr Albert Einstein. The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Hebrew University and Princeton University Press p.183

No temporal effect can be greater than (superior to) the sum-total of its cause or causes

It is obvious that - something cannot give what it doesn’t possess.

A temporal entity can be a subsidiary cause of another temporal entity, but cannot be the initial (first) cause of the entire, temporal realm - which includes ALL natural effects and entities.

Consider this simple chain of causes and effects:

A causes B

B causes C

C causes D

D causes E

‘A, B, C & D’ are all causes and may all look similar, but they are not, there is an enormous and crucial difference between them. Causes B, C & D are fundamentally different from cause A.

Why?

Because A is the very first cause and thus had no previous cause. It exists without a cause. It doesn’t rely on anything else for its existence, it is completely independent of causes - while B, C & D would not exist without A. They are entirely dependent on A.

Causes; B, C & D are also effects, whereas A is not an effect, only a cause.

So, we can say that the first cause ‘A’ is both self-existent and necessary. It is necessary because the rest of the chain of causes and effects could not exist without it.

We also must say that the subsequent causes and effects B, C, D and E are all contingent. That is; they are not self-existent, they all depend entirely on other causes to exist. We can also say that A is eternally self-existent, i.e. it has always existed, it had no beginning.

Why?

Because if A came into being at some point, there must have been something other than itself that brought it into being … which would mean A was not the first cause (A could not create A) … the something that brought A into being would be the first cause. In which case, A would be contingent and no different from B, C, D & E. We can also say that A is adequate to produce all the properties of B, C, D & E.

Why?

Well, in the case of E, we can see that it relies entirely on D for its existence. E can in no way be superior to D, because D had to contain within itself everything necessary to produce E.

The same applies to D, it cannot be superior to C. Furthermore, neither E or D can be superior to C, because both rely on C for their existence, and C had to contain everything necessary to produce D & E.

Likewise, with B, which is wholly responsible for the existence of C, D & E.

As they all depend on A for their existence and all their properties, abilities and potentials, none can be superior to A, whether singly or combined. A had to contain everything necessary to produce B, C, D & E including all their properties, abilities and potentials.

Thus, we deduce that; nothing in the universe can be superior in any way to the very first cause of the universe, because the whole universe, and all material things that exist, depend entirely on the abilities and properties of the first cause to produce them.

Conclusion …

A first cause must be uncaused, must have always existed, and cannot be in any way inferior to all subsequent causes and effects. In other words, the first cause of the universe must be eternally, self-existent and omnipotent (greater than everything that exists). No natural entity can have those attributes, that is why a Supernatural, Creator God MUST exist.

 

Entropy

The initial (first) cause of the temporal realm had to be something non-temporal (uncaused), i.e. something infinite.

The word ‘temporal’ is derived from tempus, Latin for time. - All temporal things are subject to time - and, as well as having a beginning in time, natural things can also expect to naturally degenerate, with the passage of time, towards a decline in function, order and existence. The material universe is slowly in decline and dying.

The natural realm is not just temporal, but also temporary (finite). Science acknowledges this with the Second Law of Thermodynamics (law of entropy).

As all natural things are temporal, we know that the initial (first), infinite cause of everything temporal cannot be a natural agent or entity.

The infinite, first cause of everything natural can also be regarded as ‘supernatural’, in the sense that it is not subject to natural laws that are intrinsic only to natural things, which it caused.

This fact is verified by science, in the First Law of Thermodynamics, which tells us that there is no ‘natural’ means by which matter/energy can be created.

However, as the first cause existed before the natural realm (which is subject to natural laws, without exception), the issue of the first cause being exempt from natural laws (supernatural) is not something extraordinary or magical. It is the original and normal default state of the infinite.

If the material universe was infinite, entropy wouldn’t exist. Entropy is a characteristic only of natural entities.

The infinite cannot be subject to entropy, it does not deteriorate, it remains the same forever.

Entropy can apply only to temporal, natural entities.

Therefore, we know that the material universe, as a temporal entity, had to have a beginning and, being subject to entropy, will have an end.

That which existed before the universe, as an original cause of everything material, had to be infinite, because you cannot have an infinite chain of temporal (material) events. The temporal can only exist if it is sustained by the infinite.

As all natural entities are temporal, the (infinite) first cause could not possibly be a natural entity.

So, the Second Law of Thermodynamics supports and confirms the only logical conclusion we can reach from the Law of Cause and Effect, that a natural, first cause is impossible, according to science.

This is fatal to the atheist ideology of naturalism because it means there is no alternative to an infinite, supernatural, first cause (a Creator God).

The Bible explains that the universe was created perfect, without the effects of entropy such as decay, corruption and degeneration. It was the sin of humankind that corrupted the physical creation, resulting in physical death and universal entropy ...

Scripture: Romans 8:18–25

"I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."

Can there be multiple infinite, first causes? It is evident that there can be only one ‘infinite’ entity. If, for example, there are two infinite entities, neither could have its own, unique properties.

Why?

Because, unless they possessed identical properties, neither would be infinite. However, if they both possessed the very same properties, there would be no distinction between them, they would be identical and thus a single entity.

To put it another way …

God, as an infinite being, can only be a single entity, if He was not, and there was another infinite being, the properties which were pertinent to the other infinite being would be a limitation on His infinite character, and vice versa. So, neither entity would be infinite.

 

Creation - an act of will?

For an infinite cause to produce a temporal effect, such as the universe, an active character and an act of will must be involved. If the first cause was just a blind, mechanistic, natural thing, the universe would just be a continuation of the infinite nature of the first cause, not temporal (subject to time). For example, if the nature of water in infinite time was to be frozen, it would continue its frozen nature infinitely. There must be an active agent involved.

Time applies to the temporal, not the infinite. The infinite is omnipresent, it always was, it always is, and it always will be. It is the “Alpha and the Omega” as the Bible explains.

Jesus claimed to be omnipresent, when referred to Himself as “I am”. He was revealing that His spirit was the infinite, Divine spirit (the infinite, first cause of everything temporal).

Therefore, what we know about the characteristics of this supernatural entity, are as follows:

The single, supernatural entity:

1. Has always existed, has no cause, and is not subject to time. (is infinite, eternally self-existent, autonomous and non-contingent).

2. Is the first, original and deliberate cause of everything temporal (including the universe and every natural entity and effect).

3. Cannot be, in any way, inferior to any temporal or natural thing that exists.

In simple terms, this means that the single, infinite, supernatural, first cause of everything that exists in the temporal realm, has the capability of creating everything that exists, and cannot be inferior in any powers and attributes to anything that exists. This is the entity we recognise as the creator God.

The Bible tells us that we were made in the image of this God. This is logical because it is obvious, we cannot be superior to this God (an effect cannot be greater than its cause).

So, all our qualities and attributes must be possessed by the God in whose image we were made.

All our attributes come from the creator, or supernatural, first cause.

Remember, the logic that something cannot give what it doesn’t possess.

We have life. Thus, our creator must be alive.

We are intelligent. Thus, our creator must be intelligent.

We are conscious. Thus, our creator must be conscious.

We can love. Thus, our creator must love.

We understand justice. Thus, our creator must be just, etc. etc.

Therefore, we can logically discern the character and attributes of the creator from what is seen in His creation.

This FACT - that an effect cannot be greater than its cause/s, is recognised as a basic principle of science, and is it crucial to understanding the nature and attributes of the first cause.

It means nothing in the universe that exists, resulting from the action of the first cause, can be in anyway superior to the first cause. We must conclude that, at least, some attributes of the first cause can be seen in the universe.

Atheists frequently ask how can we possibly know what God is like?

The Bible (which is inspired by God) tells us many things about the character of God, but regardless of scripture, the universe itself gives us evidence of God’s nature.

For example: can the properties of human beings, in any way, be superior to the first cause?

To suggest they are, would be to violate the scientific principle that an effect cannot be greater than its cause.

All the powers, properties, qualities and attributes we observe in the universe, including all human qualities, must be also evident in the first cause.

If there is life in the universe, the first cause must have life.

If there is intelligence in the universe the first cause must have intelligence.

The same applies to consciousness, skill, design, purpose, justice, love, beauty, forgiveness, mercy etc.

Therefore, we must conclude that the eternally, self-existent, non-natural (supernatural), first cause, has life, is conscious, has intelligence and created the temporal as an act of will.

We know, from the law of cause and effect, that the first cause cannot possibly be any of the natural processes frequently proposed by atheists, such as: the so-called, big bang explosion, singularity or quantum mechanics.

They are all temporal, moreover, it is obvious that none of them are adequate to produce the effect. They are all grossly inferior to the result.

 

To sum up:

Using impeccable logic and reason, supported by our understanding of established, natural, physical laws (which apply to everything of a natural, temporal nature) acknowledged by science, humans have been able to discover the existence of a single, infinite, supernatural, living, intelligent, loving and just creator God.

God discovered, not invented!

Contrary to the narrative perpetuated by atheists, a personal, creator God is not a “human invention”, and He is certainly not a backward substitute for reason or science, but rather, He is an enlightened, human discovery, based on unimpeachable logic, reason, rationality, natural laws and scientific understanding.

The real character of atheism unmasked.

Is belief in God just superstitious, backward thinking, suitable only for the uneducated or scientific illiterates, as atheists would have us believe?

Stephen Hawking is widely acknowledged as the best brain in modern atheism, his natural explanation for the origin of the universe "Because there is a law, such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing" was claimed by some, to have made belief in a creator God redundant. This is an atheistic, natural, creation story, summed up in a single sentence.

When we realise what atheists actually believe, it doesn’t take a genius to understand that it is atheism, not monotheism, which is a throwback to an unenlightened period in human history. It is a throwback to a time when Mother Nature or other natural or material, temporal entities were regarded by some as having autonomous, godlike, creative powers –

“the universe can and will create itself from nothing”

The discredited concept of worshipping nature itself (naturalism) or various material things (Sun, Moon, idols etc.) as some sort of autonomous, non-contingent, creative, or self-creative agents, used to be called paganism. Now it has been re-invented as 21st century atheism ...

The truth about modern atheism is it is just pagan naturalist beliefs repackaged.

“It is absurd for the Evolutionist to complain that it is unthinkable for an admittedly unthinkable God to make everything out of nothing, and then pretend that it is more thinkable that nothing should turn itself into everything.” - G.K. Chesterton.

 

God’s power.

Everything that exists is dependent on the original and ultimate cause (God) for its origin, continued existence and operation.

This means God affords everything all the power it needs to function. Everything operates only with God’s power. We couldn’t even lift a little finger, if the power to do so was not permitted by God.

What caused God?

Ever since the 18th century, atheist philosophers such as David Hume, Bertrand Russell etc. have attempted to debunk the logical evidence for a creator God, as the infinite, first cause and creator of the universe.

The basic premise of their argument is that a long chain of causes and effects, going back in time, did not necessarily require a beginning (no first cause, but rather an infinite regress). And that, if every effect requires an adequate cause (as the Law of Cause and Effect states), then God (a first cause) could no more exist without a cause, than anything else.

This latter point is summed up in the what many atheists regard as the killer question:

“What caused God then?”

This question wasn’t sensible in the 18th century, and is not sensible today, but incredibly, many atheists still think it is a good argument against the Law of Cause and Effect and continue to use it.

As explained previously, the Law of Cause and Effect applies to all temporal entities.

Temporal entities have a beginning, and therefore need a cause. They are all contingent and dependent on a cause or causes for their beginning and existence, without exception.

It is obvious to any sensible person that the very first cause, because it is FIRST, had nothing preceding it.

First means 'first', it doesn’t mean second or third. If we could go back far enough with a chain of causes and effects, however long the chain, at some stage we must reach an ultimate beginning, i.e. the cause which is first, having no previous cause. This first cause must have always existed with no beginning. It is essentially self-existent from an infinite past and for an infinite future. It must be completely autonomous and non-contingent, not relying on any cause or anything else for its existence. Not temporal, but infinite.

So, the answer to the question is that - God was not caused, only temporal entities (such as ALL natural things) essentially require a cause.

God is the eternally, self-existent, ultimate, non-contingent, supernatural, first. infinite cause of everything temporal.

As explained earlier, the first cause could not be a natural entity, it had to be supernatural, as ALL natural entities are temporal and contingent (they all require causes).

Is the atheist, infinite regress argument sensible?

This is the argument against the need for a first cause of the universe. The proposition is that; a long chain of natural causes and effects, going back in time, did not necessarily require a beginning (an infinite regress). This proposition is nonsensical.

Why?

It is self-evident that you cannot have a chain of temporal effects going backwards in time, forever. It is the inherent nature of all temporal things to have a beginning. Likewise, for a long chain of temporal causes and effects, there must be a beginning at some point in time. Contingent things do not become non-contingent, simply by being in a long chain.

Temporal + temporal can never equal infinite.

Moreover, the Second Law of Thermodynamics tells us that everything physical is subject to entropy.

Therefore, it is an absurd notion that there could be a long chain of temporal elements in which, although every individual link in the chain requires a beginning, the complete chain does not. And, although every individual link in the chain is subject to the law of entropy, the chain as a whole is not, and is miraculously unaffected by the effects of entropy, throughout an infinite past, which would have caused its demise.

What about the idea that infinite regress is acceptable in maths?

Maths is a type of information - and information, like truth, is not purely physical.

It can require physical media to make it tangible, but while the physical media is always subject to entropy, information is not. 1+1 = 2 will always be true, it is unaffected by time, or even whether there are any humans left to do mathematical calculations.

Jesus said; Heaven and Earth may pass away, but my words will go on forever. Jesus is pointing out that truth and information are unaffected by entropy.

For example: historical truths, such as the fact that Henry VIII had six wives, will always be true. Time cannot erode or change that truth. Even if all human records of this truth were destroyed, it would never cease to be true.

As the Christian, apologist Peter Keeft has made clear, maths is entirely dependent on a positive integer, i.e. the number one. Without this positive integer, no maths is possible. 2 is 2 ones, 3 is 3 ones, etc.

The concept of the number one also exists as a characteristic of the one, infinite, first cause. - God is one. - God embodies that positive integer (number one/first cause), essential for the operation of maths. Without the number one, there could be no number two or three, etc. etc. There could be no positive numbers, no negative numbers and no fractions.

The fact that an infinite ‘first’ cause exists, means that number one is bound to exist. In a state of eternal and infinite nothingness, there would be no information and no numbers and nothing would be ‘first’. So, like everything else, maths is made possible only by the existence of the one, infinite, first cause (God).

 

The Law of Cause and Effect

Dominant Principle of Classical Physics

Chance Events? Nothing happens by chance! Classical Science, which dominated studies

of the physical universe before the Twentieth Century, generally held an opinion that

there are no events that happen by chance. For many centuries, it seemed obvious that

all things were caused by something physical or mental. This idea was expressed by

Hippocrates of Cos (c. 460-377 B.C.): “Every natural event has a natural cause.” [1, p.

12].

History of the Concept of Cause and Effect. The concept of order maintained by the law

of cause and effect is a scientific principle with a history traceable through Hebrew,

Babylonian, Greek, and modern civilizations.

Hebrew Concept of Causality. Certain Hebrews acknowledged the role of causality in the

universe before the Babylonians and Greeks. These Hebrews denied chance and its offspring

chaos:

That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting

That there is none besides Me;

I am the LORD, and there is no other;

I form the light and create darkness,

I make peace and create calamity;

I, the LORD, do all these things.…

Shall the clay say to him who forms it, “What are you making?”

Or shall your handiwork say, “He has no hands”?…

 

FOUNDATIONS OF SCIENCE

The Law of Cause and Effect. Dominant Principle of Classical Physics. David L. Bergman and Glen C. Collins

www.thewarfareismental.net/b/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/b...

 

"The Big Bang's Failed Predictions and Failures to Predict: (Updated Aug 3, 2017.) As documented below, trust in the big bang's predictive ability has been misplaced when compared to the actual astronomical observations that were made, in large part, in hopes of affirming the theory."

kgov.com/big-bang-predictions

Editor’s Note: There are a myriad of tangible benefits resulting from research and technology demonstrations performed aboard the International Space Station. Throughout the months ahead, we will release stories from the updated “International Space Station Benefits for Humanity” book to highlight the ways in which the station impacts life on Earth. The current Veggie investigation on station provides lighting and nutrient supply for a space garden, which may also supply fresh food for crew members on the orbiting laboratory and on future long-duration missions like the Journey to Mars. This and previous plant growth studies, like the one below, help create technology to enable NASA exploration to the planets beyond while improving plant growth methods on Earth.

 

Some of the most important tasks in space biology include the creation of reliable and effectively functioning life support systems, and providing sustaining food sources for crew members. For long-term interplanetary spaceflights and planetary bases, the human life support system and food production has to be based on regenerating the living environment from life support products through physical/chemical and biological processes. Greenhouses will most likely be designed for the cultivation of vegetables, primarily greens and herbs. However, in order to implement these plans, plants must grow, develop, and reproduce in spaceflight with cultivation productivity similar to Earth. To address this need, a series of 17 Rasteniya experiments were conducted from 2002-2011 using the Lada greenhouse on the Russian segment of the International Space Station.

 

Credits: NASA

 

Read full article:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/russian_...

 

More about space station research:

www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html

 

Flickr Album: Space Station Research Affects Lives:

www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157634178107799/

 

________________________________

These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...

 

The tangible signs of the Chase Line electrification are now showing, with the erection of the masts well advanced. The down side is that clear shots of the line are disappearing at an equally fast rate, with the showing Class 170 No. 170632 departing from Bloxwich on 9th June 2018 while forming the West Midlands Railway 2K59 1042 Birmingham New Street - Rugeley Trent Valley serviced. The original Bloxwich station, which closed in 1965, was positioned beyond the background bridges and closer to the centre of the town. The new station opened in 1989 and is better located for the large housing estates that were built in the surrounding area during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Copyright Photograph John Whitehouse - all rights reserved

Canon 40d - 24-70 L USM

Whole Brittany is ripe with old, gracefully decaying buildings, but Mont Saint-Michel is really saturated with the signs of ancient times.

The edge of a memory, just beyond reach...

   

(Textures by Distressed Jewell)

Bright Brussels 2018

 

Bright Brussels is a light festival, a fascinating route through the city consisting of a dozen light installations that are artistic, interactive, playful,... and simply captivating. Bright Brussels is a free event that is open to all from 18:30 to 23:00, for four nights from 22 to 25 February.

 

For this edition, a massive, must-see installation is hanging in the extraordinary setting that is the Citroen garage on place de l'Yser/IJzerplein. The route then stretches over the historical heart of the city through the Beguinage - Dixmude and Dansaert neighbourhoods, from Sainctelette to Sainte-Catherine/Sint-Katelijne. Come and (re-)discover these neighbourhoods' rich architectural heritage thanks to the magic of light!

 

TETRO (FR) + Whitevoid (DE) - Stalactite

 

At the heart of the majestic structure of the Citroen building, with its clean lines, is an enormous suspended structure, floating above the visitors. It generates light motifs and complex shapes to the rhythm of the electronic music of Boris Divider. This artistic light display by Christopher Bauder is called Stalactite. It offers an immersive experience of the madness of the 21st century.

 

Venue: Former Citroen garage

  

OCUBO and Telmo Ribeiro (PT) - Underlight

 

'Underlight' is a simulation of the aurora borealis. It combines coloured lasers, smoke machines and the wind to create lighting effects. These form a coloured curtain with the accompaniment of haunting music to plunge the audience into a splendid sound and light show.

 

Venue: Quai du Commerce and Parc du Quai a la Houille

  

Aerosculpture (FR) - Lumiere d'eau (Light in water)

 

What becomes of the basins of our fountains when winter robs them of their water? Are they filled to the brim with other, highly illuminated wavelengths, in the hope that a school of flying fishes will be attracted by the light and come to take possession of their banks? This is the story told by the installation 'Lumiere d'eau' with its moving, glittering lights spread over the surface of the basin and about a hundred lighter-than-air fish, caught by invisible hooks, that are lit by the colours of this imaginary water to offer us a thousand reflections moving and swirling in the wind.

 

Venue: Vismet, Fontaine Anspach

  

Estudio Sergio Ramos (ES) - Triple jet

 

This installation reminds us of the need to recover the identity of our cities by valuing their diversity and plurality. 'Triple jet' uses a strong symbol with an internationally recognised graphic identity, the Mannekenn Pis, who has landed in a public place as the main protagonist of a new urban landscape.

 

Venue: Institut Pacheco

  

OCUBO (PT) - Flower Power

 

'Flower Power' is an experimental immersive video mapping show. It is based on experimentation with the physical forces of water and gravity. It explores the aesthetic of one of the most beautiful and colourful phenomena in nature, flowers. Inspired by the colour, movement and fusion of these phenomena, the project transforms the everyday image of a flower into something magical and poetical.

 

Venue: Place du Beguinage

  

Tetro and Trafik (FR) - 160

 

'160' is an interactive sound and light installation that offers an intuitive instrument for exploring representation, projection and the relationship in space of shapes, colours and sound. It consists of 20 square arches, each containing eight lit segments. 160 light strips are deployed over the 60 m of the structure.

 

Venue: Vismet

  

Mathilde Lemesle (FR) - Aux fenetres de Bruxelles - Appel d'air (At the windows of Brussels - Drawing in air)

 

'At the windows of Brussels - Drawing in air' is a light installation created for the 2018 Bright Brussels Festival. This exterior video mapping show is located on the facade of a house and plays with the features of that setting. Lighting effects are a way for visitors to rediscover the many sides of places.

 

Venue: Rue du Nom de Jesus

  

Dolus and Dolus (FR): Stratum

 

'Stratum' is an interactive installation that uses gesture to influence a 'lit area'. Running one's hand over a capture interface reproduces it in space using layers of light. This reaction generates a visible and tangible reflection of the gesture, like an ephemeral geology of movement.

 

Venue: Rue du Marche aux Porcs

  

Collectif Coin (FR) - Child Hood

 

'Child Hood' is a cloud. Comprising a multitude of luminous balloons, it hovers between numerical minimalism and a monumental kinetic installation. It invades space. The wind rushes in between the balloons. Like the ultimate interpreter, it injects a note of chaos into a finely measured sound and light composition.

 

Venue: Place du Nouveau Marche aux Grains

  

THEORIZ (FR) - Crystallized

 

'CRYSTALLIZED' is an immersive sculpture composed of steel, sounds and holographic images. Inspired by Bismuth crystal and built according to the laws of light propagation, CRYSTALLIZED is a mysterious, ever-changing sculpture that goes from atoms to liquid-crystal. The audience is drawn to appreciate the infinite, hypnotising lighting effects of the work from its different perspectives.

 

Venue: Former Atelier Coppens

TELSTAR LOGISTICS UNVEILS MODEL 442 SHAREHOLDER VALUE GENERATOR

New Device Converts Nebulous Energy into Tangible Results

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

SIERRA NEVADAS, Calif., 03-MAY-2006 Telstar Logistics is proud to announce the successful completion and deployment of the Model 442 Shareholder Value Generator, an event which marks the beginning of a new and more exciting era of production.

 

Installed underground in a remote mountain facility, Model 442 leverages innovations in Terrestrial Infiltration, Marine Buoyancy, and Aerospace Propulsion developed by Telstar Logistics while delivering our best-of-breed services.

 

Designed to provide stable, seamless solutions in any environment, the Shareholder Value Generator converts hybrid media energy into robust and scalable output. The impactful results quickly pay off where it matters most -- on the customer's bottom line.

 

"Telstar Logistics is the only company poised to deliver a product that customers can actually use," said Steve Jurvetson, senior test pilot for Telstar Logistics Aerospace Systems. "With the Model 442, organizations can easily increase production of an existing application without changing the application and still maintain high levels of performance."

 

Patents pending. NSFW. Batteries sold separately.

 

About Telstar Logistics

Telstar Logistics is a leading provider of integrated services via Land, Air, Sea, and Space. For more information about Telstar Logistics, its products, and its history, visit our Investor Relations page.

 

From the journals of Raphael of Gannetgul, recorded during his time in exile.

  

Though, the door was not attached to any tangible surface, Raphael noticed that the wooden door felt heavy and the hinges seemed rusted and resisted his weight as he pushed it open. As the wooden slab labored open, Raphael beheld a spectacular sight. A marble throne room, bedecked in crimson. Elegant in its simplicity. A single table was placed near the center of the room, upon it was a golden vase that held a bouquet of humble poppies and a set of metallic scales. Two ornate peacocks roamed around the table displaying their visual cacophony of plumage for the visitors. Raphael had never seen this place before, yet it felt strangely familiar. He suddenly felt at home in this great hall.

  

“Ahai!” a melodic voice came from a female figure seated upon the throne at the far end of the hall. Raphael found it strange that he had not noticed the woman before. “Come in friends. I have been expecting you for some time now.”

  

The woman arose from her throne and gracefully walked toward Raphael and the Ruler of the Realm Between All Realms. The woman was tall and had flowing chestnut hair that was smartly worn in a style that displayed the graceful lines of her neck. She was garbed in a soft white toga that shimmered like icy cirrus clouds illuminated by the setting sun. Sprouting from her shoulders was a set of gossamer wings, which she wore folded upon back. In her hand she grasped a familiar sword.

  

Raphael suddenly recognized the fair creature before him. Scrambling to drop to his knee, he hurriedly took off his wide-brimmed hat and averted his eyes respectfully.

  

“My goddess! Lady Anora… I am not worthy of such an audience.”

  

“Arise,” the goddess Anora said with authority, as she stepped before Raphael, “Do you know what this is?” She held the sword that she clutched in her hands out to Raphael for him to inspect.

  

“Aye goddess. It is a sword that I found in the desert. At the time I believed it to be your answer to my prayers.” Raphael stood, but continued to look down at his feet.

  

“Look upon me Rapahel of Gannetgul, and hear what I have to say.” Anora lifted Raphael’s chin with her slender fingers until their eyes met. “This is no ordinary sword. It was the blade of my lover, High King Jude of Willowstone. The skeleton that you took such care to bury in the desert was all that remained of him. Your actions have shown great compassion and an unending sense of justice.”

  

“Goddess, it was nothing, truly. I was only doing what was right.”

  

“You are pure of heart Raphael of Gannetgul, and I am truly sorry for the course that your life has taken.” Anora guided Raphael to the table, “I cannot bring back what you have lost, nor can I ease your suffering. However, I can give you the instruments that will aid you in delivering my justice upon the unjust.”

  

Raphael now noticed upon the table a brace of dark steel pistols and two curved sabres sheathed in chocolate brown leather.

  

“Take these Raphael, they will aid you and others as you journey across Galacia and beyond.” Anora stepped back toward her throne, hugging the sword of the High King to her chest. “Know that I will not forget what you have done for me Raphael, and that I will never forsake one with a heart as pure as yours. Farewell Raphael... and Farewell to you too Lunarius, my old friend.”

  

Anora was suddenly gone, and Raphael was left alone in the great hall with the Ruler of the Realm Between All Realms.

  

“Come, we must now travel behind the red door.” The gaunt man held open the wooden door for Raphael.

  

“So, you’re name is Lunarius, eh?” Raphael gathered his weapons from the table and followed his host through the portal.

  

For the entire story, click here... www.flickr.com/photos/10211834@N07/sets/72157635218437758...

  

For more information on the Vastari Desert, or to follow Raphael's progress... Click this link... www.flickr.com/photos/10211834@N07/9508632581/

  

Comments and feedback are always welcome!

   

“Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography.” -- George Eastman

 

It is not often I post things to my stream that were not taken by me, but this is one occasion. Simply, this is a glass negative found across the street at the Salvation Army. If I had to guess I would say it is probably a bit over 100 years old, considering that was the era when glass plates were being shot.

 

Say the 1890's. Amazing huh?

 

So at about 3 pm today I found myself holding a piece of glass with an image of three gentlemen on it over 100 years old.

 

I love my job.

 

But more importantly, I love photography. This really just sort of blows my mind. I start thinking about the fact that I am holding a once-sensitized piece of glass, that contains the imprint of light that bounced off of these three men over 100 years ago. In a sense it is almost a "light shadow" cast by them and captured on this glass.

 

And here I am using a state of the art scanner to digitize that image and bring it on to the web. Once again, amazing.

 

I don't want to make it seem like I am taking a dig at digital photography (digital imaging is why this image exists on the web right now) but this is a very big reason why I shoot film. The tangible nature. Being able to hold a piece of film that was struck by the very light that came off of the subject. Thinking that, that very same piece of film may one day be pulled from a box in someone's attic 80 years down the road, and that someone can hold it up to the light and see what I saw. They will even be able to still print it or scan it.

 

But it is not the ability to still print it or scan it that so amazes me. It is the physical evidence that light has left behind on this particular piece of film, or paper, or glass. Digital doesn't have that. The sensor carries no trace of that light, rather it is converted into electronic bits and bytes. A digital copy. A replica of what that light cast. There is nothing tangible, nothing physical to hold unless a print is made, which so often it never is.

 

And in some way this makes me deeply uneasy. I don't like thinking of the work of my life as being so intangible. It scares me in a sense and I never feel quite easy with digital images, despite the many amazing shots I have taken on digital cameras. And also despite how careful and redundant I am in backing those same images up. But it is not just my work. I think of all the pictures snapped every day. All those snap shots of sons and daughters. Mothers and grandmas. Beautiful sunsets and sunrises. And I think of what awful percentage of those images will have ceased to exist within ten years. Or twenty. Let alone a hundred years from now.

 

I know that even film is not permanent, nothing is really. Not our negatives. Nor us. Or our planet, or even our universe. But nonetheless, I am pretty certain that I will not be able to pull any of my CDs of digital files out of a box in 100 years and still have them be usable. Nor any CF cards. My external drives won't last more than 10 years I bet. My digital files won't ever be anything more than bits and bytes. Sure I can print them, but those are just copies of copies. Better than nothing, but still far lacking.

 

And so I shoot film, because I like to think each of those negatives carries the physical effect of light off of a beautiful waterfall striking it. Or the light bouncing off of my son Owen playing when he was 6 months old. And then again when he was 12 months old. Or even the very light that reflected off of an old friend no longer living. It is not so hard to hold a negative, or a plate like this, in your hand and feel like you are holding just a tiny shred of some past time itself. The last physical remainder of a moment long extinct, and that when I hold a negative in my hand, I am touching that light again. And that is one of the things that drives me to shoot film. That deep sense of not just recording light and time, but preserving it.

 

“What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time.” -- John Berger

 

-------------------------------------------------

 

If you have not browsed through it, the photo stream run by the Library of Congress is amazing. Really sit down and take your time taking it in. Don't just browse, really give yourself the time to look.

  

Bright Brussels 2018

 

Bright Brussels is a light festival, a fascinating route through the city consisting of a dozen light installations that are artistic, interactive, playful,... and simply captivating. Bright Brussels is a free event that is open to all from 18:30 to 23:00, for four nights from 22 to 25 February.

 

For this edition, a massive, must-see installation is hanging in the extraordinary setting that is the Citroen garage on place de l'Yser/IJzerplein. The route then stretches over the historical heart of the city through the Beguinage - Dixmude and Dansaert neighbourhoods, from Sainctelette to Sainte-Catherine/Sint-Katelijne. Come and (re-)discover these neighbourhoods' rich architectural heritage thanks to the magic of light!

 

TETRO (FR) + Whitevoid (DE) - Stalactite

 

At the heart of the majestic structure of the Citroen building, with its clean lines, is an enormous suspended structure, floating above the visitors. It generates light motifs and complex shapes to the rhythm of the electronic music of Boris Divider. This artistic light display by Christopher Bauder is called Stalactite. It offers an immersive experience of the madness of the 21st century.

 

Venue: Former Citroen garage

  

OCUBO and Telmo Ribeiro (PT) - Underlight

 

'Underlight' is a simulation of the aurora borealis. It combines coloured lasers, smoke machines and the wind to create lighting effects. These form a coloured curtain with the accompaniment of haunting music to plunge the audience into a splendid sound and light show.

 

Venue: Quai du Commerce and Parc du Quai a la Houille

  

Aerosculpture (FR) - Lumiere d'eau (Light in water)

 

What becomes of the basins of our fountains when winter robs them of their water? Are they filled to the brim with other, highly illuminated wavelengths, in the hope that a school of flying fishes will be attracted by the light and come to take possession of their banks? This is the story told by the installation 'Lumiere d'eau' with its moving, glittering lights spread over the surface of the basin and about a hundred lighter-than-air fish, caught by invisible hooks, that are lit by the colours of this imaginary water to offer us a thousand reflections moving and swirling in the wind.

 

Venue: Vismet, Fontaine Anspach

  

Estudio Sergio Ramos (ES) - Triple jet

 

This installation reminds us of the need to recover the identity of our cities by valuing their diversity and plurality. 'Triple jet' uses a strong symbol with an internationally recognised graphic identity, the Mannekenn Pis, who has landed in a public place as the main protagonist of a new urban landscape.

 

Venue: Institut Pacheco

  

OCUBO (PT) - Flower Power

 

'Flower Power' is an experimental immersive video mapping show. It is based on experimentation with the physical forces of water and gravity. It explores the aesthetic of one of the most beautiful and colourful phenomena in nature, flowers. Inspired by the colour, movement and fusion of these phenomena, the project transforms the everyday image of a flower into something magical and poetical.

 

Venue: Place du Beguinage

  

Tetro and Trafik (FR) - 160

 

'160' is an interactive sound and light installation that offers an intuitive instrument for exploring representation, projection and the relationship in space of shapes, colours and sound. It consists of 20 square arches, each containing eight lit segments. 160 light strips are deployed over the 60 m of the structure.

 

Venue: Vismet

  

Mathilde Lemesle (FR) - Aux fenetres de Bruxelles - Appel d'air (At the windows of Brussels - Drawing in air)

 

'At the windows of Brussels - Drawing in air' is a light installation created for the 2018 Bright Brussels Festival. This exterior video mapping show is located on the facade of a house and plays with the features of that setting. Lighting effects are a way for visitors to rediscover the many sides of places.

 

Venue: Rue du Nom de Jesus

  

Dolus and Dolus (FR): Stratum

 

'Stratum' is an interactive installation that uses gesture to influence a 'lit area'. Running one's hand over a capture interface reproduces it in space using layers of light. This reaction generates a visible and tangible reflection of the gesture, like an ephemeral geology of movement.

 

Venue: Rue du Marche aux Porcs

  

Collectif Coin (FR) - Child Hood

 

'Child Hood' is a cloud. Comprising a multitude of luminous balloons, it hovers between numerical minimalism and a monumental kinetic installation. It invades space. The wind rushes in between the balloons. Like the ultimate interpreter, it injects a note of chaos into a finely measured sound and light composition.

 

Venue: Place du Nouveau Marche aux Grains

  

THEORIZ (FR) - Crystallized

 

'CRYSTALLIZED' is an immersive sculpture composed of steel, sounds and holographic images. Inspired by Bismuth crystal and built according to the laws of light propagation, CRYSTALLIZED is a mysterious, ever-changing sculpture that goes from atoms to liquid-crystal. The audience is drawn to appreciate the infinite, hypnotising lighting effects of the work from its different perspectives.

 

Venue: Former Atelier Coppens

BeStill 52 ~ Tangible Art (week 11)

kk preset simple ~ soft light @ 25%

kk preset makelight ~ soft light @ 75%

Many thanks to Kim Klassen for the use of her presets/textures

cliente: minera esperanza

 

Estudio Sístole Films.

Austin Mausoleum in St. James Cemetery. Final resting place of James Austin (March 6, 1813 - February 27, 1897), a businessman who was president of both the Dominion Bank and the Consumer's Gas Company. Toronto, Canada. Spring afternoon, 2021. Pentax K1 II.

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Austin_(businessman)

James Austin (March 6, 1813 – February 27, 1897) was a prominent nineteenth century Toronto businessman and the builder of Spadina House, now a museum.

 

Life and career

 

He was born in Tandragee, County Armagh, Northern Ireland, to a Methodist family. He immigrated to Canada at age sixteen along with his parents and became apprenticed to a printer, William Lyon Mackenzie. While not directly involved, his close association with Mackenzie led Austin to flee to the United States following the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837.

 

In 1843, those involved in the rebellion were granted amnesty, and Austin returned to Toronto. Entering business, he joined with Patrick Foy to found the Austin & Foy Wholesale Company in the Daniel Brooke Building at the corner of King and Jarvis streets in Toronto. The wholesale company was successful, but Austin was interested in pursuing other ventures and it was dissolved in 1870, leaving Austin with a fair amount of money.

 

He then became a central player in the Toronto financial world. In 1871, he founded The Dominion Bank, ancestor of today's Toronto-Dominion Bank. He remained president of that institution until his death, but he was also involved in many others. He became president of the Queen City and the Hand-to-Hand insurance companies, and chairman of the North of Scotland Canadian Mortgage Company. He also was involved in the Consumers' Gas Company, being one of its founding directors. In 1881, he increased his control over Consumers' Gas and became president of that company.

 

In 1844, he married Susan Bright, and they had five children. His eldest son Charles died at 13, and his second son James (Jim) died of pneumonia at 38. In 1866, he built Spadina House to house his family, which is now a museum.

 

He retained all of his positions up until his death, despite suffering from deafness late in life. He died after several months of illness at the age of eighty-four. At his death, he had a fortune of some $300,000, which was divided between his son and daughter. His business interests and his home passed on to his surviving son, Albert William Austin.

 

Legacy

 

Austin Terrace, Toronto - formerly a carriage drive for Casa Loma to Bathurst Street.

 

Austin Crescent, Toronto - residential street off Austin Terrace

 

www.biographi.ca/en/bio/austin_james_12E.html

 

AUSTIN, JAMES, printer and businessman; b. 6 March 1813 in Tandragee (Northern Ireland), son of John Marks Austin; m. 28 Nov. 1844 Susan Bright in Toronto, and they had three sons and two daughters; d. there 27 Feb. 1897.

 

James Austin’s father, having heard favourable reports of Upper Canada, decided to emigrate with his wife and five children. Reaching York (Toronto) in October 1829, they spent two months there while seeking a farm. Before the Austins left to settle in Trafalgar Township, 16-year-old James was apprenticed to William Lyon Mackenzie* to learn the printing trade. Austin spent four and a half years in Mackenzie’s shop and later struck out on his own as a printer. After the rebellion of 1837–38 he considered it prudent, because of his association with Mackenzie, to leave the province, so he retreated to the United States for some years.

 

By 1843 Austin judged it safe to return. He possessed sufficient capital to set up as a wholesale and retail grocer in partnership with another Irishman, Patrick Foy. What made them an unusual combination was that Foy was a Roman Catholic and a tory, Austin a Methodist and a reformer. Their successful collaboration was, in Foy’s words, “an example of what Orange and Green might do when working in harmony instead of dissipating their energies against each other.” Perhaps the partnership was made easier because Austin was not, it appears, particularly devout in his religious observance, a fact reflected in his membership in a firm styled as liquor merchants in the 1846–47 city directory.

 

Foy and Austin prospered sufficiently that in 1849 they were able to lend $20,000 to another ambitious Irish Catholic, Frank Smith*, to establish himself in the grocery trade in London. That same year fire destroyed their Toronto premises, but they soon reopened and even leased space in the prestigious new St Lawrence Hall, which they in turn rented out. Their grocery business continued to flourish through the 1850s, but by 1859 Canada was in the grip of a severe depression. Austin concluded that it had become so difficult to establish the credit-worthiness of customers that “in other channels more money was to be made, and that on a much more secure basis.” He therefore liquidated the partnership with Foy, who carried on in the business, and invested his proceeds in other, less risky enterprises, including the Consumers’ Gas Company of Toronto.

 

Austin’s skills as a financier and rentier quickly made him a leading figure in Toronto’s business community. In 1866 he purchased Spadina, the house built by William Warren Baldwin* on the escarpment overlooking the rapidly growing city and later occupied by his son Robert*. Austin’s bid of £3,550 topped those of John Ross*, former president of the Grand Trunk Railway, and John Macdonald*, the dry-goods magnate. The Baldwin home was demolished and the Austin family soon built a grander house (also named Spadina) on the site, tangible evidence of James’s arrival as a prominent member of the local élite. Spadina, in which the contents and decoration of Austin’s time were largely preserved by his descendants, is now a museum.

 

By the 1860s Toronto businessmen had become increasingly restive with Montreal’s commercial and financial dominance over the Canadian economy. In 1867 William McMaster* decided to found a Toronto-based bank as a protest against the restrictive credit policies of the Bank of Montreal; he invited Austin to become a director. The Canadian Bank of Commerce was a success from the start, and by 1869 McMaster was eager to expand rapidly. The more cautious Austin was afraid of moving too quickly and of the bank’s becoming over-extended, so he did not stand for re-election to the board in 1870.

 

Within a few months, however, Austin had become involved in plans to set up another bank hatched by a group of Torontonians that included John Ross, John Crawford, Walter Sutherland Lee*, and Senator James Cox Aikins*. They had joined with three prominent businessmen from Ontario County to the east of the city, Joseph Gould*, James Holden, and Aaron Ross. The original plan had been for their new Dominion Bank, organized in 1869 but not opened, to take over the troubled Royal Canadian Bank, of which Crawford was president, but it had proved impossible to raise the necessary funds. Eventually Holden approached Austin, and he and a group of friends including Frank Smith, Peleg Howland, Samuel Nordheimer, and Joseph Hooper Mead agreed in late 1870 to invest, provided the takeover of the Royal Canadian was dropped. With their support stock subscriptions worth more than $500,000 were quickly pledged.

 

In January 1871 Austin became president of the Dominion Bank, which opened on 1 February. He soon suggested that, in addition to its main office on King Street East, there should be a branch nearer the residential quarter, mainly for the convenience of savings depositors. This was located on Queen Street West. Other chartered banks soon followed this innovative practice of operating multiple branches in larger urban centres. Before the recession of 1874 struck, the Dominion Bank had three good years which set it firmly on its feet; the paid-up capital had increased to nearly $1,000,000. Although profits declined in the mid 1870s, growth resumed once good times returned in the 1880s. By 1896 its capital had increased to $1,500,000. Austin himself had originally acquired $32,000 worth of shares and by 1875 held stock with a par value of nearly $180,000, making him by far the largest shareholder. Until his death in 1897 Austin remained intimately involved in all aspects of the bank’s management. He faithfully attended the weekly meetings of the board at which every application for a sizeable loan was carefully discussed. As in the grocery business, the key to success lay in correctly assessing the credit-worthiness of each borrower. In the absence of a large corporate bureaucracy, Austin and his cashier, Robert Henry Bethune, ran the day-to-day affairs of the bank.

 

In 1871 Austin also joined with William Holmes Howland to found the Queen City Fire Insurance Company. The incorporators argued that forming a local company to write insurance only on property in York County would be beneficial, since it would prevent premiums flowing to foreign insurers (the geographical restriction was eliminated in 1887). The investors raised $10,000 and the company commenced business in the summer of 1871. Besides Austin and Howland, who served as president, the directors were Robert G. Barrett, Thomas McCrossan, John MacNab, and William Paterson. Acceptance of a directorship meant intimate involvement in the most minute details of the company’s activities. The board met weekly to consider all applications for insurance and reinsurance as well as the investment of funds on hand. When the company’s secretary-manager, Hugh Scott, left the city temporarily, Austin and McCrossan agreed to visit the office daily and assume his functions. Austin became vice-president in 1875, which further increased his responsibilities. Occasionally he inspected property on which the company was considering lending money. In 1884, the meetings of the directors became fortnightly, with Austin still in faithful attendance. When Howland died in 1893 Austin succeeded him as president although he was 80 years of age. Perhaps there is a hint that by 1897 his managerial style reflected an age already passing: after his death the board immediately decided to hold its meetings on a monthly basis.

 

The insurance company, of course, fitted well with Austin’s other financial interests, particularly the Dominion Bank. Company funds were deposited in the bank until permanently invested, and its vault became the repository for all securities. In 1873 the bank’s accountant was made company auditor, and when it was proposed two years later that a branch office of the insurance company be opened on the premises of the People’s Loan and Deposit Office, the suggestion was rejected by the company’s board. As a skilled investor, Austin was relied upon by the board to find profitable investments in building societies, mortgages, stocks, and bonds. On one occasion in 1871 he offered to sell to the company a mortgage that he himself held. The question of whether it was ethical to make such a purchase from a director was raised, but the board decided to go ahead, “viewing the mortgage as a transferable financial security, and as being very desirable and safer, such being very difficult to procure at present.”

 

Austin’s 40 shares of stock in the company (out of a total of 2,000) proved a desirable investment. After a year in business a 10 per cent dividend was declared on the paid-up capital of $10,000, a return which continued until 1880, when the dividend was doubled. In 1882 the board decided to increase the capital stock to $50,000; the funds required were supplied to the shareholders by paying a special 400 per cent dividend ($40,000) out of the accumulated surplus. Thereafter the company paid a regular 5 per cent annual dividend (25 per cent on the original $10,000 investment). Business remained so good that despite the depression of the early 1890s, bonus dividends were paid on three occasions. In 1887 the policyholders were even granted a 5 per cent dividend, which must have been an unusual practice for a joint-stock insurance company.

 

Banking and insurance did not exhaust the range of Austin’s financial interests. In 1875 he joined another prominent Toronto financier, Edmund Boyd Osler*, on the Canadian board of management of the Aberdeen-based North of Scotland Mortgage Company. As chairman, Austin oversaw the investment of Scottish funds in Canadian land. His associate in the Dominion Bank, James Holden, also persuaded him to take an interest in the Port Whitby and Port Perry Railway. In the 1860s Holden had hoped to channel the trade of the interior through Whitby and ultimately to extend the line to Georgian Bay and beyond, but the rails reached only as far as Port Perry on Lake Scugog, and the company was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. Austin examined the proposition and consulted a couple of Torontonians prominent in the grocery trade, James Michie and Alexander Thomson Fulton. In 1872 they decided to put money into the road, Austin becoming president and Michie vice-president, leaving Holden in charge of day-to-day operations. The syndicate soon got the company’s affairs in order, extended the line to Lindsay in 1876, and fulfilled Austin’s prediction that, “if properly managed, it can’t fail to be profitable.”

 

In fact, virtually all of Austin’s business activities seem to have been successful. In 1889, for instance, he subdivided part of Spadina’s extensive grounds. On the sale of these building-lots he probably realized about $200,000, a healthy profit on his original investment of $14,000 for the entire property. To his son Albert William* he gave funds to invest in mortgages when the young man went to Winnipeg in 1880 to make his fortune. In 1882, with the backing of his father and E. B. Osler, Albert incorporated the Winnipeg Street Railway Company, which he ultimately sold to rival interests for $175,000 in 1894. In time he would succeed his father as president of both the Dominion Bank and the Consumers’ Gas Company.

 

James Austin was not merely a financier and rentier, for he demonstrated early that he possessed the strategic judgement of a good corporate manager. The Consumers’ Gas Company had been established for about a decade to provide lighting in Toronto, when in 1859 Austin invested heavily in it and was promptly elected to its board of directors. Although the utility remained profitable, demand for gas fell sharply after the depression of 1859, and in these trying times Austin’s fellow directors chose him in 1867 as vice-president. In 1874 complaints were made by some of the office staff that the president, Edward Henderson Rutherford, was padding his expenses; these accusations were investigated by the board and found, to its chagrin, to be correct. The directors therefore turned to Austin to take over as president, which he remained for the rest of his life.

 

Austin’s major challenge as a manager was coping with technological change. During the 1870s a process of producing gas from coal by injecting water vapour and petroleum into the retorts was developed in the United States. This “carburetted water gas” was not only cheaper to produce but its calorific value could be accurately regulated, and Consumers’ Gas had adopted the new technique by 1880. After some initial problems with quality, the innovation was a great success, permitting rates to be cut from $1.75 per thousand cubic feet in 1879 to 90¢ by 1896. At the same time profits stayed high and large reserves piled up in the treasury.

 

Austin also had to cope with growing competition in the lighting market. In 1879 Consumers’ Gas sought to protect itself by procuring an amendment to its provincial charter to permit it to enter the electrical business. In 1889 the company decided to purchase the rights to the Westinghouse system of lighting, but city council would not allow it to string electric wires along public thoroughfares. The aldermen were convinced that accumulated profits from gas sales would be used to finance the electrical business. Not only was Consumers’ Gas prevented from supplying electricity, but in 1891 the city replaced a large number of gas street-lights with brighter electric lamps.

 

Despite this reverse, the gas company continued to prosper under Austin’s management, introducing volume discounts for large customers and encouraging the use of gas for cooking and heating. In 1887 it secured an amendment to its charter which permitted it to build up a large reserve fund to meet the cost of repairs and additions. Once that fund reached a certain size there were to be reductions in rates, but Austin shrewdly maintained the fund at a level just below the point that would trigger rate cuts and financed extensive capital works out of retained earnings. Despite fierce criticism from municipal authorities, the company never wavered and it was in excellent shape at Austin’s death.

 

In the 1890s, when Austin was over eighty and suffering from increasing deafness, he became a reclusive figure. He died in February 1897 after an illness of several weeks and, though a Methodist, he was buried in the family vault at St James’ Cemetery (Anglican). His career reveals much about the qualities required to succeed in business in 19th-century Canada. He once wrote to his son Albert, “The successful man is always considered a smart man and be careful you hold to that reputation.” Those who dealt with Austin recognized the shrewdness that took him from printer’s apprentice to bank president. He also seems to have possessed great entrepreneurial skill as well as the ability to adapt to changing times and to new types of business organization. In Austin’s case good management was aided by good luck. The Dominion Bank and the Queen City Fire Insurance Company were soundly enough established that when recession occurred in the mid 1870s they were able to survive and prosper without serious difficulties. But James Austin seems to have learned very early the lesson that accurately assessing the credit-worthiness of those with whom one dealt was all-important.

 

One other point bears mention: the small size of the local business élite in a regional centre such as Toronto. Austin might have left the board of the Canadian Bank of Commerce owing to a disagreement with William McMaster, but he and McMaster would still sit together for years on the board of Consumers’ Gas. Austin and William Howland founded the Queen City Fire Insurance Company together, but in 1886, when Howland became mayor, they found themselves facing each other across the bargaining table on the issue of gas rates. That did not destroy their business relationship. Shrewdness, adaptability, luck, and amiability earned James Austin a sizeable fortune in the course of his long business career.

  

tangible time capsules

 

www.xantheberkeley.com/creating-tangible-time-capsules/

Our Daily Challenge - Starts With "H" 7.17.12

 

George Carlin on homelessness : we need to change the name of it. A home is an abstract idea & a state of mind [therefore subconsciously, via the power of language, the problem is more acceptable as a complex social issue that is difficult to solve]. What people really need are houses : real, physical, tangible structures... not so complex & something we CAN improve.

The Cathedral of Pisa , officially the Primate Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta , in the center of the Piazza del Duomo, also known as Piazza dei Miracoli , is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Pisa as well as the Primate church .

 

A masterpiece of the Romanesque , in particular of the Pisan Romanesque , it represents the tangible testimony of the prestige and wealth achieved by the maritime republic of Pisa at the moment of its apogee.

 

Its construction began in 1063 ( 1064 according to the Pisan calendar in force at the time) by the architect Buscheto , with the tenth part of the spoils of the Palermo campaign in Sicily against the Muslims ( 1063 ) led by Giovanni Orlandi belonging to the Orlandi family [ 1] . Different stylistic elements blend together: classical, Lombard-Emilian , Byzantine and in particular Islamic, proving the international presence of Pisan merchants in those times. In that same year the reconstruction of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice also began , so it may also be that there was a rivalry between the two maritime republics at the time to create the most beautiful and sumptuous place of worship.

 

The church was built in an area outside the early medieval city walls , to symbolize the power of Pisa which did not require protection. The chosen area was already used in the Lombard era as a necropolis and, already in the early 11th century , an unfinished church was built which was to be dedicated to Santa Maria. The new large church of Buscheto, in fact, was initially called Santa Maria Maggiore until it was finally named after Santa Maria Assunta.

 

In 1092 the church changed from a simple cathedral to being primatial, the title of primate having been conferred on Archbishop Daiberto by Pope Urban II , an honor which today is only formal. The cathedral was consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasius II , as recorded by the inscription placed internally on the counter-façade at the top left.

 

In the first half of the 12th century the cathedral was enlarged under the direction of the architect Rainaldo , who lengthened the naves by adding three bays in front of the old facade [2] according to the Buscheto style, widened the transept and designed a new facade, completed by the workers led by the sculptors Guglielmo and Biduino . The date of the start of the works is uncertain: immediately after Buscheto's death around the year 1120 , according to some, around the year 1140 according to others. The end of the works dates back to 1180 , as documented by the date affixed to the bronze doors by Bonanno Pisano on the main door.

 

The current appearance of the complex building is the result of repeated restoration campaigns that took place in different eras. The first radical interventions followed the disastrous fire on the night between 24 and 25 October 1595 [3] , which destroyed many decorative interventions and following which the roof was rebuilt and the three bronze doors of the facade were made, the work of sculptors from the workshop of Giambologna , including Gasparo Mola and Pietro Tacca . Starting from the eighteenth century, the progressive covering of the internal walls began with large paintings on canvas, the "quadroni" with Stories of Pisan blesseds and saints , executed by the main artists of the time thanks to the initiative of some citizens who financed themselves by creating a special business.

 

The Napoleonic spoliations of the Cathedral of Pisa and the Opera del Duomo were significant, many works converged on the Louvre where they are exhibited today, including The Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas among the Doctors of the Church by Benozzo Gozzoli , now in the Louvre, Death of San Bernardo dell'Orcagna and San Benedetto , the work of Andrea del Castagno .

 

Among the various noteworthy interventions, it is worth mentioning the dismantling of Giovanni Pisano's pulpit which was reassembled only in 1926 in a different position and with several parts missing, including the staircase, and the dismantling of the monument to Henry VII created by Lupo di Francesco which was located in front of the door of San Ranieri and subsequently replaced by a simplified and symbolic version.

 

The subsequent interventions took place during the nineteenth century and affected both the internal and external decorations, which in many cases, especially the sculptures on the facade, were replaced by copies (the originals are in the Museo dell'Opera del duomo ).

 

The building has a Latin cross shape with a large dome at the intersection of the arms. The longitudinal body, divided into five naves , extends over ten bays . This plan continues in the choir with two more bays and a final apse crowning the central nave alone. The transept has 4 bays on each side (or six if we include the two in common with the longitudinal body) and has three naves with apses ending on both sides. In the center four large pillars delimit the rectangular cross ending at the top with a large elliptical dome.

 

The building, like the bell tower, has sunk perceptibly into the ground, and some defects in the construction are clearly visible, such as the differences in level between Buscheto's nave and the extension by Rainaldo (the bays towards the west and the facade) .

 

The exterior of the cathedral is mainly in white and gray marble although the older stones placed at the lower levels of the longitudinal body are of other poorer material. There is no shortage of valuable materials, especially on the facade, where there are multicolored marble inlays, mosaics and also bronze objects from war booty, including the Griffin used on the top of the roof at the back (east side), perhaps taken from Palermo in 1061 ( today there is a copy on the roof, the original is in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo ).

 

The longitudinal body, transept and choir have a rich facing punctuated by three orders or floors. On the lower floor, long rows of pilasters supporting blind arches , in turn enclosing lozenges or windows, punctuate the space on all sides of the building with very few interruptions (only the apse of the right transept). The second floor still has pilasters but this time these do not support blind arches and are rather architraved , a motif interrupted only in the apse of the right transept (where blind arches appear again) and in the main apse where two orders of loggias are visible . In addition to the windows and lozenges, inlaid oculi also appear between the pilasters . The third floor has columns or semi-columns which again support blind arches (longitudinal body and choir) or an architrave (transept) with the usual alternation of windows, lozenges and inlaid oculi.

 

The raised round arches on the facade and in the main apse recall elements of Muslim art from Sicily . The blind arches with lozenges recall the similar structures of the churches of Armenia . Even the ellipsoidal dome rebuilt after the fire of 1595, surmounted by a lantern, recalls Islamic architecture.

 

The gray and white marble façade , decorated with colored marble inserts, was built by master Rainaldo in the 12th century and finished by 1180. On the lower floor, the seven blind arches which enclose lozenges, one every two, echo the same motif which spreads over the remaining three sides of the Cathedral. On the façade, however, the ornamentation becomes richer: semi-columns placed against semi-rectangular pillars replace the slender pilaster strips on the sides and are surmounted by Corinthian or figurative capitals. The arches are embellished with a rich texture of vegetal motifs and the lozenges are also larger and inlaid with multicolored marble. The empty spaces between the three portals have marble slabs forming square or rectangular motifs and are embellished with horizontal ornamental bands with plant motifs. The empty spaces between the arches are also filled with marble tablets inlaid with geometric or animal motifs. Noteworthy is the one at the top right of the main portal which depicts a Christian brandishing the cross between two beasts and the writing of Psalm 21 : Salva me ex ore leonis et a cornibus unicornium humilitatem meam (Save me from the mouth of the lion Lord and my humility from the unicorn's horns), the original of which is preserved in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo .

 

Of the three portals , the central one has larger dimensions and is enclosed by two columns decorated with vegetal motifs which support, above the capitals, two lions to symbolize the two "faces" of Christ the Judge , the one who condemns on the left and the one who rewards and is merciful on the right (note the saved and protected lamb between the legs). All three portals have eighteenth-century mosaics by Giuseppe Modena da Lucca in their lunettes depicting the Assumption of the Virgin (centre), Santa Reparata (left) and Saint John the Baptist (right). The bronze doors were made by various artists of the caliber of Giambologna , after the fire of 1595, replacing the two wooden side doors and the bronze-covered wooden royal door by Bonanno Pisano which bore the date of 1180 (seen and described before the fire) to testify to the completion of the façade in that year. To the left of the north left portal, there is Buscheto's tomb.

 

The four upper floors are characterized by four orders of superimposed loggias, divided by finely sculpted frames, behind which there are single , double and triple lancet windows . Many of the friezes on the arches and frames were redone in the 17th century after the fire of 1595, while the polychrome marble inlays between the arches are original. Even higher up, to crown it, the Madonna and Child by Andrea Pisano and, in the corners, the four evangelists by Giovanni Pisano (early 14th century).

 

Contrary to what one might think, since ancient times the faithful have entered the Cathedral through the door of San Ranieri , located at the back in the transept of the same name, in front of the bell tower. This is because the nobles of the city went to the cathedral coming from via Santa Maria which leads to that transept. This door was cast around 1180 by Bonanno Pisano , and is the only door to escape the fire of 1595 which heavily damaged the church. The door is decorated with twenty-four panels depicting stories from the New Testament. This door is one of the first produced in Italy in the Middle Ages, after the importation of numerous examples from Constantinople , (in Amalfi , in Salerno , in Rome , in Montecassino , in Venice ...) and one admires an entirely Western sensitivity, which breaks away from the Byzantine tradition.

 

The original gràdule of the Duomo, designed by Giovanni Pisano and dating back to the end of the 13th century, were removed in 1865 and replaced by the current churchyard . These gràdule consisted of small walls, decorated with squares carved with figures of animals and heads, close to the external perimeter of the cathedral and served as a base for the numerous sarcophagi of the Roman era which, during the medieval era, were reused for the burials of nobles (among whom Beatrice of Canossa stands out ) and heroes. Currently some fragments are visible in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, while the sarcophagi were all moved within the enclosure of the monumental cemetery .

 

The lower register of the facade is not very rich in figurative sculptural decorations unlike other contemporary Romanesque cathedrals, but it still gives a rich meaning both to its unitary components and a complex allegory in its overall vision. To read the latter you need to start from the left where the outermost capital of the left side portal shows two ferocious lions devouring weak prey and two human figures further behind. The former represent the struggle between good and evil where evil dominates [6] , but behind them the figure of the old man stacking wood and the young man towering over a ram perhaps represent Abraham and Isaac and the sacrificial ram (or two peasants virtuous at work) which show preparation for God's plan of salvation. The arch that starts from the same capital shows a row of dragons that two virtuous human figures in the center are forced to face in the continuous struggle between good and evil. [6]

 

At the level of the central portal we enter the New Testament which concretizes the plan of salvation brought about by God starting from Abraham . It is the portal dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption and her Son , whose divine judgment is represented by the two lions of justice, the one that condemns on the left and the one that protects and saves on the right with the little lamb protected between its legs, for Divine Mercy or Justice whatever it is. [6] The 42 stylized human figurines present on the decorated arch show the 42 generations that separate, according to the Gospel of Matthew , Abraham from Jesus Christ (the figurines are actually 43 but perhaps due to renovation needs or other reasons for filling the frieze ). This transition from the old to the new is strengthened by the two marble inlays in the intrados of the main arch where a ferocious dragon and a lion facing each other depicting the perennial struggle between the evil forces (left inlay) [6] become two equally ferocious unicorns but in the middle to whom a Christian appears brandishing a cross to defend himself from them (inlay on the right) and where we read in Latin:

 

de ore leonis libera me domine et a cornibus unicorni humilitatem mea ("Save me from the lion's mouth, Lord, and my humility from the unicorn's horns", psalm 21 ).

The last element of this complex narrative is the outermost capital of the right portal, which acts as a pendant to that of the left portal from which we started. We are well beyond the coming of Jesus where the evil lions, previously in the foreground, are relegated to a backward and out of the way position, always ready to strike as shown by the heads turned back and the tongue out, but in a contorted position due to the continuous escapes to which the Savior and the Church forces them to do. [6] In a prominent position there are now two naked human figurines, the souls of those saved by the Savior through the intercession of the Church , which are composed and serene figures with large eyes, well anchored with their arms to the garland of the capital and the feet resting well on the acanthus leaves, symbol of men of faith, victorious over sin and blessed by faith rather than merit.

 

The five- nave interior is covered in black and white marble, with monolithic columns of gray marble and capitals of the Corinthian order . The arches of the ten bays are round arches (those of the central nave) or raised arches in the Moorish style of the time (those of the side naves).

 

The central nave has a seventeenth-century gilded coffered ceiling, in gilded and painted wood, by the Florentines Domenico and Bartolomeo Atticciati ; it bears the Medici coat of arms in gold . Presumably the ancient ceiling had a structure with exposed wooden trusses. The four side naves have a cross-shaped plastered roof. The coffered roof is also present in the choir and in the central nave of the transept, while a plastered barrel roof is present in the side naves of the transept. The coverage of the lateral naves of the transept at the level of the two bays shared with the lateral naves of the longitudinal body is curious: these are cross-shaped (as in the lateral naves of the longitudinal body), but are higher (as in the lateral naves of the transept) . There is also a women's gallery of Byzantine origin that runs along the entire church, including the choir and transept and which has a coffered roof (central body) or wooden beams (transept). Even higher up, thin and deep windows allow the church to be lit.

 

The interior suggests a spatial effect that has some analogy with that of mosques , for the use of raised arches, for the alternation of white and green marble bands, for the unusual elliptical dome , of oriental inspiration, and for the presence of women's galleries with solid monolithic granite columns in the mullioned windows , a clear sign of Byzantine influence. The architect Buscheto had welcomed stimuli from the Islamic Levant and Armenia . [7]

 

Only part of the medieval decorative interventions survived the fire of 1595. Among these is the fresco with the Madonna and Child by the Pisan Master of San Torpè in the triumphal arch (late 13th-early 14th century), and below it the Cosmatesque flooring , of a certain rarity outside the borders of Lazio . It was made of marble inlays with geometric "opus alexandrinum" motifs (mid- 12th century ). Other late medieval fresco fragments have survived, among them Saint Jerome on one of the four central pillars and Saint John the Baptist , a Crucifix and Saint Cosimo and Damian on the pillar near the entrance door, partially hidden by the compass .

 

At the meeting point between the transept and the central body the dome rises, the decoration of which represented one of the last interventions carried out after the fire mentioned. Painted with the rare encaustic painting technique [8] (or wax on wall) [9] , the dome represents the Virgin in glory and saints ( 1627 - 1631 ), a masterpiece by the Pisan Orazio Riminaldi , completed after his death. which occurred in 1630 due to the plague, by his brother Girolamo . The decoration underwent a careful restoration which returned it to its original splendor in 2018.

 

The presbytery, ending in a curved apse, presents a great variety of ornaments. Above, in the basin, the large mosaic of Christ enthroned between the Virgin and Saint John is made famous by the face of Saint John, a work by Cimabue from 1302 which miraculously survived the fire of 1595. Precisely that Saint John the Evangelist was the The last work created by Cimabue before his death and the only one for which certified documentation exists. It evokes the mosaics of Byzantine churches and also Norman ones, such as Cefalù and Monreale , in Sicily . The mosaic, largely created by Francesco da Pisa, was finished by Vincino da Pistoia with the depiction of the Madonna on the left side ( 1320 ).

 

The main altar, from the beginning of the twentieth century, features six Angels contemporary with Ludovico Poliaghi , and in the center the bronze Crucifix by Giambologna , of which there are also the two candle-holder Angels at the end of the rich marble transenna, while the third Angel on the column to the left of the altar is by Stoldo Lorenzi .

 

Below, behind the main altar, there is the large decorative complex of the Tribune, composed of 27 paintings depicting episodes from the Old Testament and Christological stories. Begun before the fire with the works of Andrea del Sarto (three canvases, Saint Agnes , Saints Catherine and Margaret and Saints Peter and John the Baptist ) del Sodoma and Domenico Beccafumi ( Stories of Moses and the Evangelists ), it was completed after this calamity with the works of several Tuscan painters, including Orazio Riminaldi .

 

The pulpit , a masterpiece by Giovanni Pisano (1302-1310), survived the fire, but was dismantled during the restoration work and was not reassembled until 1926 . With its articulated architectural structure and complex sculptural decoration, the work is one of the largest narratives in fourteenth-century images that reflects the renewal and religious fervor of the era. The episodes from the Life of Christ are carved in an expressive language on the slightly curved panels . The structure is polygonal, as in the similar previous examples, in the baptistery of Pisa , in the cathedral of Siena and in the church of Sant'Andrea in Pistoia , but for the first time the panels are slightly curved, giving a new idea of ​​circularity in its type. Equally original are: the presence of caryatids , sculpted figures in place of simple columns, which symbolize the Virtues ; the adoption of spiral brackets instead of arches to support the mezzanine floor; the sense of movement, given by the numerous figures that fill every empty space.

 

For these qualities combined with the skilful narrative art of the nine scenes it is generally considered Giovanni's masterpiece and more generally of Italian Gothic sculpture. The pulpit commissioned from Giovanni replaced a previous one , created by Guglielmo ( 1157 - 1162 ), which was sent to the cathedral of Cagliari . Since there is no documentation of what the pulpit looked like before its dismantling, it was rebuilt in a different position from the original one and, certainly, with the parts not in the same order and orientation as had been thought. It is not known whether or not he had a marble staircase.

 

The right transept is occupied by the Chapel of San Ranieri , patron saint of the city, whose relics are preserved in the magnificent shrine on the altar. Also in the chapel, on the left, is preserved part of the fragmentary tomb of Henry VII of Luxembourg , Holy Roman Emperor , who died in 1313 in Buonconvento while besieging Florence in vain . The tomb, also dismantled and reassembled, (it was sculpted by Tino di Camaino in 1313 - 1315 ) and was originally placed in the center of the apse, as a sign of the Ghibelline faith of the city. It was also a much more complex sculptural monument, featuring various statues. Moved several times for political reasons, it was also separated into several parts (some inside the church, some on the facade, some in the Campo Santo). Today we find the sarcophagus in the church with the deceased depicted lying on it, according to the fashion in vogue at that time, and the twelve apostles sculpted in bas-relief. The lunette painted with curtain-holding angels is instead a later addition from the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio (end of the 15th century ). The other remains of the monument have been reassembled in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo . The left transept is occupied by the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, in the center of which is the large silver tabernacle designed by Giovan Battista Foggini (1678-86).

 

On the numerous side altars there are sixteenth-seventeenth century paintings. Among the paintings housed on the minor altars, we remember the Madonna delle Grazie with saints, by the Florentine mannerist Andrea del Sarto, and the Madonna enthroned with saints in the right transept, by Perin del Vaga , a pupil of Raphael , both finished by Giovanni Antonio Sogliani . The canvas with the Dispute of the Sacrament is in Baroque style, by the Sienese Francesco Vanni , and the Cross with saints by the Genoese Giovanni Battista Paggi . Particularly venerated is the image of the thirteenth-century Madonna and Child , known as the Madonna di sotto gli organi , attributed to the Volterra native Berlinghiero Berlinghieri .

 

Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than twenty other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.

 

The city is also home to the University of Pisa, which has a history going back to the 12th century, the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, founded by Napoleon in 1810, and its offshoot, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies.

 

History

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Pisa.

Ancient times

The most believed hypothesis is that the origin of the name Pisa comes from Etruscan and means 'mouth', as Pisa is at the mouth of the Arno river.

 

Although throughout history there have been several uncertainties about the origin of the city of Pisa, excavations made in the 1980s and 1990s found numerous archaeological remains, including the fifth century BC tomb of an Etruscan prince, proving the Etruscan origin of the city, and its role as a maritime city, showing that it also maintained trade relations with other Mediterranean civilizations.

 

Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a great center by the times described; and gives the epithet of Alphēae to the city because it was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius river flowed. The Virgilian commentator Servius wrote that the Teuti founded the town 13 centuries before the start of the common era.

 

The maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. Pisa took advantage of being the only port along the western coast between Genoa (then a small village) and Ostia. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against Ligurians and Gauls. In 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as Portus Pisanus. In 89 BC, Portus Pisanus became a municipium. Emperor Augustus fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name to Colonia Iulia obsequens.

 

Pisa supposedly was founded on the shore, but due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about 11 km (7 mi) north of the Arno's, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was 4.0 km (2.5 mi) away from the coast. Currently, it is located 9.7 km (6 mi) from the coast. However, it was a maritime city, with ships sailing up the Arno. In the 90s AD, a baths complex was built in the city.

 

Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

During the last years of the Western Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the other cities of Italy, probably due to the complexity of its river system and its consequent ease of defence. In the seventh century, Pisa helped Pope Gregory I by supplying numerous ships in his military expedition against the Byzantines of Ravenna: Pisa was the sole Byzantine centre of Tuscia to fall peacefully in Lombard hands, through assimilation with the neighbouring region where their trading interests were prevalent. Pisa began in this way its rise to the role of main port of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea and became the main trading centre between Tuscany and Corsica, Sardinia, and the southern coasts of France and Spain.

 

After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, but soon recovered. Politically, it became part of the duchy of Lucca. In 860, Pisa was captured by vikings led by Björn Ironside. In 930, Pisa became the county centre (status it maintained until the arrival of Otto I) within the mark of Tuscia. Lucca was the capital but Pisa was the most important city, as in the middle of tenth century Liutprand of Cremona, bishop of Cremona, called Pisa Tusciae provinciae caput ("capital of the province of Tuscia"), and a century later, the marquis of Tuscia was commonly referred to as "marquis of Pisa". In 1003, Pisa was the protagonist of the first communal war in Italy, against Lucca. From the naval point of view, since the ninth century, the emergence of the Saracen pirates urged the city to expand its fleet; in the following years, this fleet gave the town an opportunity for more expansion. In 828, Pisan ships assaulted the coast of North Africa. In 871, they took part in the defence of Salerno from the Saracens. In 970, they gave also strong support to Otto I's expedition, defeating a Byzantine fleet in front of Calabrese coasts.

 

11th century

The power of Pisa as a maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century, when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical maritime republics of Italy (Repubbliche Marinare).

 

At that time, the city was a very important commercial centre and controlled a significant Mediterranean merchant fleet and navy. It expanded its powers in 1005 through the sack of Reggio Calabria in the south of Italy. Pisa was in continuous conflict with some 'Saracens' - a medieval term to refer to Arab Muslims - who had their bases in Corsica, for control of the Mediterranean. In 1017, Sardinian Giudicati were militarily supported by Pisa, in alliance with Genoa, to defeat the Saracen King Mugahid, who had settled a logistic base in the north of Sardinia the year before. This victory gave Pisa supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. When the Pisans subsequently ousted the Genoese from Sardinia, a new conflict and rivalry was born between these major marine republics. Between 1030 and 1035, Pisa went on to defeat several rival towns in Sicily and conquer Carthage in North Africa. In 1051–1052, the admiral Jacopo Ciurini conquered Corsica, provoking more resentment from the Genoese. In 1063, Admiral Giovanni Orlandi, coming to the aid of the Norman Roger I, took Palermo from the Saracen pirates. The gold treasure taken from the Saracens in Palermo allowed the Pisans to start the building of their cathedral and the other monuments which constitute the famous Piazza del Duomo.

 

In 1060, Pisa had to engage in their first battle with Genoa. The Pisan victory helped to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean. Pope Gregory VII recognised in 1077 the new "Laws and customs of the sea" instituted by the Pisans, and emperor Henry IV granted them the right to name their own consuls, advised by a council of elders. This was simply a confirmation of the present situation, because in those years, the marquis had already been excluded from power. In 1092, Pope Urban II awarded Pisa the supremacy over Corsica and Sardinia, and at the same time raising the town to the rank of archbishopric.

 

Pisa sacked the Tunisian city of Mahdia in 1088. Four years later, Pisan and Genoese ships helped Alfonso VI of Castilla to push El Cid out of Valencia. A Pisan fleet of 120 ships also took part in the First Crusade, and the Pisans were instrumental in the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. On their way to the Holy Land, the ships did not miss the occasion to sack some Byzantine islands; the Pisan crusaders were led by their archbishop Daibert, the future patriarch of Jerusalem. Pisa and the other Repubbliche Marinare took advantage of the crusade to establish trading posts and colonies in the Eastern coastal cities of the Levant. In particular, the Pisans founded colonies in Antiochia, Acre, Jaffa, Tripoli, Tyre, Latakia, and Accone. They also had other possessions in Jerusalem and Caesarea, plus smaller colonies (with lesser autonomy) in Cairo, Alexandria, and of course Constantinople, where the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus granted them special mooring and trading rights. In all these cities, the Pisans were granted privileges and immunity from taxation, but had to contribute to the defence in case of attack. In the 12th century, the Pisan quarter in the eastern part of Constantinople had grown to 1,000 people. For some years of that century, Pisa was the most prominent commercial and military ally of the Byzantine Empire, overcoming Venice itself.

 

12th century

In 1113, Pisa and Pope Paschal II set up, together with the count of Barcelona and other contingents from Provence and Italy (Genoese excluded), a war to free the Balearic Islands from the Moors; the queen and the king of Majorca were brought in chains to Tuscany. Though the Almoravides soon reconquered the island, the booty taken helped the Pisans in their magnificent programme of buildings, especially the cathedral, and Pisa gained a role of pre-eminence in the Western Mediterranean.

 

In the following years, the powerful Pisan fleet, led by archbishop Pietro Moriconi, drove away the Saracens after ferocious battles. Though short-lived, this Pisan success in Spain increased the rivalry with Genoa. Pisa's trade with Languedoc, Provence (Noli, Savona, Fréjus, and Montpellier) were an obstacle to Genoese interests in cities such as Hyères, Fos, Antibes, and Marseille.

 

The war began in 1119 when the Genoese attacked several galleys on their way home to the motherland, and lasted until 1133. The two cities fought each other on land and at sea, but hostilities were limited to raids and pirate-like assaults.

 

In June 1135, Bernard of Clairvaux took a leading part in the Council of Pisa, asserting the claims of Pope Innocent II against those of Pope Anacletus II, who had been elected pope in 1130 with Norman support, but was not recognised outside Rome. Innocent II resolved the conflict with Genoa, establishing Pisan and Genoese spheres of influence. Pisa could then, unhindered by Genoa, participate in the conflict of Innocent II against king Roger II of Sicily. Amalfi, one of the maritime republics (though already declining under Norman rule), was conquered on August 6, 1136; the Pisans destroyed the ships in the port, assaulted the castles in the surrounding areas, and drove back an army sent by Roger from Aversa. This victory brought Pisa to the peak of its power and to a standing equal to Venice. Two years later, its soldiers sacked Salerno.

 

New city walls, erected in 1156 by Consul Cocco Griffi

In the following years, Pisa was one of the staunchest supporters of the Ghibelline party. This was much appreciated by Frederick I. He issued in 1162 and 1165 two important documents, with these grants: Apart from the jurisdiction over the Pisan countryside, the Pisans were granted freedom of trade in the whole empire, the coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, a half of Palermo, Messina, Salerno and Naples, the whole of Gaeta, Mazara, and Trapani, and a street with houses for its merchants in every city of the Kingdom of Sicily. Some of these grants were later confirmed by Henry VI, Otto IV, and Frederick II. They marked the apex of Pisa's power, but also spurred the resentment of other cities such as Lucca, Massa, Volterra, and Florence, thwarting their aim to expand towards the sea. The clash with Lucca also concerned the possession of the castle of Montignoso and mainly the control of the Via Francigena, the main trade route between Rome and France. Last, but not least, such a sudden and large increase of power by Pisa could only lead to another war with Genoa.

 

Genoa had acquired a dominant position in the markets of southern France. The war began in 1165 on the Rhône, when an attack on a convoy, directed to some Pisan trade centres on the river, by the Genoese and their ally, the count of Toulouse, failed. Pisa, though, was allied to Provence. The war continued until 1175 without significant victories. Another point of attrition was Sicily, where both the cities had privileges granted by Henry VI. In 1192, Pisa managed to conquer Messina. This episode was followed by a series of battles culminating in the Genoese conquest of Syracuse in 1204. Later, the trading posts in Sicily were lost when the new Pope Innocent III, though removing the excommunication cast over Pisa by his predecessor Celestine III, allied himself with the Guelph League of Tuscany, led by Florence. Soon, he stipulated[clarification needed] a pact with Genoa, too, further weakening the Pisan presence in southern Italy.

 

To counter the Genoese predominance in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Pisa strengthened its relationship with its traditional Spanish and French bases (Marseille, Narbonne, Barcelona, etc.) and tried to defy the Venetian rule of the Adriatic Sea. In 1180, the two cities agreed to a nonaggression treaty in the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, but the death of Emperor Manuel Comnenus in Constantinople changed the situation. Soon, attacks on Venetian convoys were made. Pisa signed trade and political pacts with Ancona, Pula, Zara, Split, and Brindisi; in 1195, a Pisan fleet reached Pola to defend its independence from Venice, but the Serenissima soon reconquered the rebel sea town.

 

One year later, the two cities signed a peace treaty, which resulted in favourable conditions for Pisa, but in 1199, the Pisans violated it by blockading the port of Brindisi in Apulia. In the following naval battle, they were defeated by the Venetians. The war that followed ended in 1206 with a treaty in which Pisa gave up all its hopes to expand in the Adriatic, though it maintained the trading posts it had established in the area. From that point on, the two cities were united against the rising power of Genoa and sometimes collaborated to increase the trading benefits in Constantinople.

 

13th century

In 1209 in Lerici, two councils for a final resolution of the rivalry with Genoa were held. A 20-year peace treaty was signed, but when in 1220, the emperor Frederick II confirmed his supremacy over the Tyrrhenian coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, the Genoese and Tuscan resentment against Pisa grew again. In the following years, Pisa clashed with Lucca in Garfagnana and was defeated by the Florentines at Castel del Bosco. The strong Ghibelline position of Pisa brought this town diametrically against the Pope, who was in a dispute with the Holy Roman Empire, and indeed the pope tried to deprive Pisa of its dominions in northern Sardinia.

 

In 1238, Pope Gregory IX formed an alliance between Genoa and Venice against the empire, and consequently against Pisa, too. One year later, he excommunicated Frederick II and called for an anti-Empire council to be held in Rome in 1241. On May 3, 1241, a combined fleet of Pisan and Sicilian ships, led by the emperor's son Enzo, attacked a Genoese convoy carrying prelates from northern Italy and France, next to the isle of Giglio (Battle of Giglio), in front of Tuscany; the Genoese lost 25 ships, while about a thousand sailors, two cardinals, and one bishop were taken prisoner. After this major victory, the council in Rome failed, but Pisa was excommunicated. This extreme measure was only removed in 1257. Anyway, the Tuscan city tried to take advantage of the favourable situation to conquer the Corsican city of Aleria and even lay siege to Genoa itself in 1243.

 

The Ligurian republic of Genoa, however, recovered fast from this blow and won back Lerici, conquered by the Pisans some years earlier, in 1256.

 

The great expansion in the Mediterranean and the prominence of the merchant class urged a modification in the city's institutes. The system with consuls was abandoned, and in 1230, the new city rulers named a capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain") as civil and military leader. Despite these reforms, the conquered lands and the city itself were harassed by the rivalry between the two families of Della Gherardesca and Visconti. In 1237 the archbishop and the Emperor Frederick II intervened to reconcile the two rivals, but the strains continued. In 1254, the people rebelled and imposed 12 Anziani del Popolo ("People's Elders") as their political representatives in the commune. They also supplemented the legislative councils, formed of noblemen, with new People's Councils, composed by the main guilds and by the chiefs of the People's Companies. These had the power to ratify the laws of the Major General Council and the Senate.

 

Decline

The decline is said to have begun on August 6, 1284, when the numerically superior fleet of Pisa, under the command of Albertino Morosini, was defeated by the brilliant tactics of the Genoese fleet, under the command of Benedetto Zaccaria and Oberto Doria, in the dramatic naval Battle of Meloria. This defeat ended the maritime power of Pisa and the town never fully recovered; in 1290, the Genoese destroyed forever the Porto Pisano (Pisa's port), and covered the land with salt. The region around Pisa did not permit the city to recover from the loss of thousands of sailors from the Meloria, while Liguria guaranteed enough sailors to Genoa. Goods, however, continued to be traded, albeit in reduced quantity, but the end came when the Arno started to change course, preventing the galleys from reaching the city's port up the river. The nearby area also likely became infested with malaria. The true end came in 1324, when Sardinia was entirely lost to the Aragonese.

 

Always Ghibelline, Pisa tried to build up its power in the course of the 14th century, and even managed to defeat Florence in the Battle of Montecatini (1315), under the command of Uguccione della Faggiuola. Eventually, however, after a long siege, Pisa was occupied by Florentines in 1405.[9] Florentines corrupted the capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain"), Giovanni Gambacorta, who at night opened the city gate of San Marco. Pisa was never conquered by an army. In 1409, Pisa was the seat of a council trying to set the question of the Great Schism. In the 15th century, access to the sea became more difficult, as the port was silting up and was cut off from the sea. When in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian states to claim the Kingdom of Naples, Pisa reclaimed its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.

 

The new freedom did not last long; 15 years of battles and sieges by the Florentine troops led by Antonio da Filicaja, Averardo Salviati and Niccolò Capponi were made, but they failed to conquer the city. Vitellozzo Vitelli with his brother Paolo were the only ones who actually managed to break the strong defences of Pisa and make a breach in the Stampace bastion in the southern west part of the walls, but he did not enter the city. For that, they were suspected of treachery and Paolo was put to death. However, the resources of Pisa were getting low, and at the end, the city was sold to the Visconti family from Milan and eventually to Florence again. Livorno took over the role of the main port of Tuscany. Pisa acquired a mainly cultural role spurred by the presence of the University of Pisa, created in 1343, and later reinforced by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (1810) and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (1987).

 

Pisa was the birthplace of the important early physicist Galileo Galilei. It is still the seat of an archbishopric. Besides its educational institutions, it has become a light industrial centre and a railway hub. It suffered repeated destruction during World War II.

 

Since the early 1950s, the US Army has maintained Camp Darby just outside Pisa, which is used by many US military personnel as a base for vacations in the area.

 

Geography

Climate

Pisa has a borderline humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) and Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). The city is characterized by cool to mild winters and hot summers. This transitional climate allows Pisa to have summers with moderate rainfall. Rainfall peaks in autumn. Snow is rare. The highest officially recorded temperature was 39.5 °C (103.1 °F) on 22 August 2011 and the lowest was −13.8 °C (7.2 °F) on 12 January 1985.

 

Culture

Gioco del Ponte

In Pisa there was a festival and game fr:Gioco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge) which was celebrated (in some form) in Pisa from perhaps the 1200s down to 1807. From the end of the 1400s the game took the form of a mock battle fought upon Pisa's central bridge (Ponte di Mezzo). The participants wore quilted armor and the only offensive weapon allowed was the targone, a shield-shaped, stout board with precisely specified dimensions. Hitting below the belt was not allowed. Two opposing teams started at opposite ends of the bridge. The object of the two opposing teams was to penetrate, drive back, and disperse the opponents' ranks and to thereby drive them backwards off the bridge. The struggle was limited to forty-five minutes. Victory or defeat was immensely important to the team players and their partisans, but sometimes the game was fought to a draw and both sides celebrated.

 

In 1677 the battle was witnessed by Dutch travelling artist Cornelis de Bruijn. He wrote:

 

"While I stayed in Livorno, I went to Pisa to witness the bridge fight there. The fighters arrived fully armored, wearing helmets, each carrying their banner, which was planted at both ends of the bridge, which is quite wide and long. The battle is fought with certain wooden implements made for this purpose, which they wear over their arms and are attached to them, with which they pummel each other so intensely that I saw several of them carried away with bloody and crushed heads. Victory consists of capturing the bridge, in the same way as the fistfights in Venice between the it:Castellani and the Nicolotti."

 

In 1927 the tradition was revived by college students as an elaborate costume parade. In 1935 Vittorio Emanuele III with the royal family witnessed the first revival of a modern version of the game, which has been pursued in the 20th and 21st centuries with some interruptions and varying degrees of enthusiasm by Pisans and their civic institutions.

 

Festivals and cultural events

Capodanno pisano (folklore, March 25)

Gioco del Ponte (folklore)

Luminara di San Ranieri (folklore, June 16)

Maritime republics regata (folklore)

Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa

Pisa Book Festival

Metarock (rock music festival)

Internet Festival San Ranieri regata (folklore)

Turn Off Festival (house music festival)

Nessiáh (Jewish cultural Festival, November)

Main sights

 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

While the bell tower of the cathedral, known as "the leaning Tower of Pisa", is the most famous image of the city, it is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza del Duomo, also known, since the 20th century, as Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), to the north of the old town center. The Piazza del Duomo also houses the Duomo (the Cathedral), the Baptistry and the Campo Santo (the monumental cemetery). The medieval complex includes the above-mentioned four sacred buildings, the hospital and few palaces. All the complex is kept by the Opera (fabrica ecclesiae) della Primaziale Pisana, an old non profit foundation that has operated since the building of the Cathedral in 1063 to maintain the sacred buildings. The area is framed by medieval walls kept by the municipal administration.

 

Other sights include:

Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, church sited on Piazza dei Cavalieri, and also designed by Vasari. It had originally a single nave; two more were added in the 17th century. It houses a bust by Donatello, and paintings by Vasari, Jacopo Ligozzi, Alessandro Fei, and Pontormo. It also contains spoils from the many naval battles between the Cavalieri (Knights of St. Stephan) and the Turks between the 16th and 18th centuries, including the Turkish battle pennant hoisted from Ali Pacha's flagship at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

St. Sixtus. This small church, consecrated in 1133, is also close to the Piazza dei Cavalieri. It was used as a seat of the most important notarial deeds of the town, also hosting the Council of Elders. It is today one of the best preserved early Romanesque buildings in town.

St. Francis. The church of San Francesco may have been designed by Giovanni di Simone, built after 1276. In 1343 new chapels were added and the church was elevated. It has a single nave and a notable belfry, as well as a 15th-century cloister. It houses works by Jacopo da Empoli, Taddeo Gaddi and Santi di Tito. In the Gherardesca Chapel are buried Ugolino della Gherardesca and his sons.

San Frediano. This church, built by 1061, has a basilica interior with three aisles, with a crucifix from the 12th century. Paintings from the 16th century were added during a restoration, including works by Ventura Salimbeni, Domenico Passignano, Aurelio Lomi, and Rutilio Manetti.

San Nicola. This medieval church built by 1097, was enlarged between 1297 and 1313 by the Augustinians, perhaps by the design of Giovanni Pisano. The octagonal belfry is from the second half of the 13th century. The paintings include the Madonna with Child by Francesco Traini (14th century) and St. Nicholas Saving Pisa from the Plague (15th century). Noteworthy are also the wood sculptures by Giovanni and Nino Pisano, and the Annunciation by Francesco di Valdambrino.

Santa Maria della Spina. A small white marble church alongside the Arno, is attributed to Lupo di Francesco (1230), is another excellent Gothic building.

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno. The church was founded around 952 and enlarged in the mid-12th century along lines similar to those of the cathedral. It is annexed to the Romanesque Chapel of St. Agatha, with an unusual pyramidal cusp or peak.

San Pietro in Vinculis. Known as San Pierino, it is an 11th-century church with a crypt and a cosmatesque mosaic on the floor of the main nave.

 

Borgo Stretto. This medieval borgo or neighborhood contains strolling arcades and the Lungarno, the avenues along the river Arno. It includes the Gothic-Romanesque church of San Michele in Borgo (990). There are at least two other leaning towers in the city, one at the southern end of central Via Santa Maria, the other halfway through the Piagge riverside promenade.

Medici Palace. The palace was once a possession of the Appiano family, who ruled Pisa in 1392–1398. In 1400 the Medici acquired it, and Lorenzo de' Medici sojourned here.

Orto botanico di Pisa. The botanical garden of the University of Pisa is Europe's oldest university botanical garden.

Palazzo Reale. The ("Royal Palace"), once belonged to the Caetani patrician family. Here Galileo Galilei showed to Grand Duke of Tuscany the planets he had discovered with his telescope. The edifice was erected in 1559 by Baccio Bandinelli for Cosimo I de Medici, and was later enlarged including other palaces. The palace is now a museum.

Palazzo Gambacorti. This palace is a 14th-century Gothic building, and now houses the offices of the municipality. The interior shows frescoes boasting Pisa's sea victories.

Palazzo Agostini. The palace is a Gothic building also known as Palazzo dell'Ussero, with its 15th-century façade and remains of the ancient city walls dating back to before 1155. The name of the building comes from the coffee rooms of Caffè dell'Ussero, historic meeting place founded on September 1, 1775.

Mural Tuttomondo. A modern mural, the last public work by Keith Haring, on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio, painted in June 1989.

Museums

Museo dell'Opera del Duomo: exhibiting among others the original sculptures of Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano, the Islamic Pisa Griffin, and the treasures of the cathedral.

Museo delle Sinopie: showing the sinopias from the camposanto, the monumental cemetery. These are red ocher underdrawings for frescoes, made with reddish, greenish or brownish earth colour with water.

Museo Nazionale di San Matteo: exhibiting sculptures and paintings from the 12th to 15th centuries, among them the masterworks of Giovanni and Andrea Pisano, the Master of San Martino, Simone Martini, Nino Pisano and Masaccio.

Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale: exhibiting the belongings of the families that lived in the palace: paintings, statues, armors, etc.

Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti per il Calcolo: exhibiting a collection of instruments used in science, between a pneumatic machine of Van Musschenbroek and a compass which probably belonged to Galileo Galilei.

Museo di storia naturale dell'Università di Pisa (Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa), located in the Certosa di Calci, outside the city. It houses one of the largest cetacean skeletons collection in Europe.

Palazzo Blu: temporary exhibitions and cultural activities center, located in the Lungarno, in the heart of the old town, the palace is easy recognizable because it is the only blue building.

Cantiere delle Navi di Pisa - The Pisa's Ancient Ships Archaeological Area: A museum of 10,650 square meters – 3,500 archaeological excavation, 1,700 laboratories and one restoration center – that visitors can visit with a guided tour.[19] The Museum opened in June 2019 and has been located inside to the 16th-century Medicean Arsenals in Lungarno Ranieri Simonelli, restored under the supervision of the Tuscany Soprintendenza. It hosts a remarkable collection of ceramics and amphoras dated back from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century BC, and also 32 ships dated back from the second century BCE and the seventh century BC. Four of them are integrally preserved and the best one is the so-called Barca C, also named Alkedo (written in the ancient Greek characters). The first boat was accidentally discovered in 1998 near the Pisa San Rossore railway station and the archeological excavations were completed 20 years later.

 

Churches

St. Francis' Church

San Francesco

San Frediano

San Giorgio ai Tedeschi

San Michele in Borgo

San Nicola

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno

San Paolo all'Orto

San Piero a Grado

San Pietro in Vinculis

San Sisto

San Tommaso delle Convertite

San Zeno

Santa Caterina

Santa Cristina

Santa Maria della Spina

Santo Sepolcro

 

Palaces, towers and villas

Palazzo della Carovana or dei Cavalieri.

Pisa by Oldypak lp photo

Pisa

Palazzo del Collegio Puteano

Palazzo della Carovana

Palazzo delle Vedove

Torre dei Gualandi

Villa di Corliano

Leaning Tower of Pisa

 

Sports

Football is the main sport in Pisa; the local team, A.C. Pisa, currently plays in the Serie B (the second highest football division in Italy), and has had a top flight history throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, featuring several world-class players such as Diego Simeone, Christian Vieri and Dunga during this time. The club play at the Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo Anconetani, opened in 1919 and with a capacity of 25,000.

 

Notable people

For people born in Pisa, see People from the Province of Pisa; among notable non-natives long resident in the city:

 

Giuliano Amato (born 1938), politician, former Premier and Minister of Interior Affairs

Alessandro d'Ancona (1835–1914), critic and writer.

Silvano Arieti (1914–1981), psychiatrist

Gaetano Bardini (1926–2017), tenor

Andrea Bocelli (born 1958), tenor and multi-instrumentalist.

Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907), poet and 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.

Massimo Carmassi (born 1943), architect

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1920–2016), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Maria Luisa Cicci (1760–1794), poet

Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari (1677–1754), a musical composer and maestro di cappella at Pistoia.

Alessio Corti (born 1965), mathematician

Rustichello da Pisa (born 13th century), writer

Giovanni Battista Donati (1826–1873), an Italian astronomer.

Leonardo Fibonacci (1170–1250), mathematician.

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), physicist.

Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944), philosopher and politician

Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639), painter.

Count Ugolino della Gherardesca (1214–1289), noble (see also Dante Alighieri).

Giovanni Gronchi (1887–1978), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Giacomo Leopardi [1798–1837), poet and philosopher.

Enrico Letta (born 1966), politician, former Prime Minister of Italy

Marco Malvaldi (born 1974), mystery novelist

Leonardo Ortolani (born 1967), comic writer

Antonio Pacinotti (1841–1912), physicist, inventor of the dynamo

Andrea Pisano (1290–1348), a sculptor and architect.

Afro Poli (1902–1988), an operatic baritone

Bruno Pontecorvo (1913–1993), nuclear physicist

Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006), filmmaker

Ippolito Rosellini (1800–1843), an Egyptologist.

Paolo Savi (1798–1871), geologist and ornithologist.

Antonio Tabucchi (1943–2012), writer and academic

Sport

Jason Acuña (born 1973), Stunt performer

Sergio Bertoni (1915–1995), footballer

Giorgio Chiellini (born 1984), footballer

Camila Giorgi (born 1991), tennis player

The Old Newsagency:

 

This building is locally known as the 'cafe'. The verandah detailing suggests a circa 1880 Victorian period construction. The shop is currently empty and boarded up. It appears to be a purpose built retailing structure and is well located overlooking the river bank. The history of this building is not known.

 

Aboriginal History of Wilcannia:

 

Wilcannia is located on the Darling River, about halfway between Bourke and Wentworth. The river is known as Barka by the local Aboriginal people or Barkandji, literally people belonging to the Barka, and it is surrounded on all sides by Barkandji speaking people. The people from along the Barka and varying distances either side from near Bourke down to Wentworth all recognised the Barkandji language as their primary language, but they were divided into subgroups with different dialects of this one language. The Barkandji language is very different from all the neighbouring languages including the adjoining Ngiyampaa/Ngemba to the east, the Kulin, and Murray River languages to the south, and the Yardli and Thura-Yura language groups to the west and north.

 

Barkandji have a unique culture and depended heavily on the grinding or pounding of seeds on large grinding dishes or mortars and pestles, such as grass, portulaca, and acacia seeds. In the riverine areas, there is a strong emphasis on aquatic plant food tubers and corms, and fish, yabbies, turtles, mussels, and shrimps as well as water birds and their eggs. Insect foods were also important, such as parti or witchetty grubs along the rivers and creeks, and termite larvae in the Mallee country. Large and small canoes were cut out, necessitating ground edge axes, and string manufacture for fish nets, hunting nets, bags, and belts was an important part of the culture. The Wilcannia area still shows tangible evidence of traditional life in the form of canoe trees, coolamon trees, middens, heat retainer ovens, ashy deposits, stone tool quarries and artefacts.

 

Thomas Mitchell led the first exploring party to reach Wilcannia and gave the Barkandji their first unpleasant taste of what was to come. Mitchell travelled via the Bogan to the Darling River near Bourke and then down the river to Wilcannia then Menindee, reaching it in July 1835. Mitchell was harassed by Barkandji as he did not understand that he had to properly negotiate permission for use of water, grass, land to camp on etc., and in addition his men were abusing women behind his back and breaking all the rules. He gave them names such as the Fire Eaters and the Spitting Tribe as they tried to warn him off. His comments show that the Barkandji groups he met occupied "different portions of the river", and that they owned the resources in their territories including the water in the river. The exclusive possession enjoyed by the Barkandji and the need to obtain permission before using any of their resources is demonstrated by the following comment about the "Spitting Tribe" from the river near Wilcannia:

 

"The Spitting Tribe desired our men to pour out the water from their buckets, as if it had belonged to them; digging, at the same time a hole in the ground to receive it when poured out; and I have more than once seen a river chief, on receiving a tomahawk, point to the stream and signify that we were then at liberty to take water from it, so strongly were they possessed with the notion that the water was their own"

 

A hill 15 kilometres north of Wilcannia was named Mount Murchison by Mitchell and this became the name of the very large original station that included the location that was to become Wilcannia township.

 

In 1862 the area northwest of Mount Murchison Station was still frontier country with continual conflict. Frederic Bonney was based at Mount Murchison homestead and then nearby Momba homestead from 1865 to 1881 and he bluntly states in his notebooks that in this period "natives killed by settlers - shot like dogs"

 

Bonney recorded extensive detail about the lives, language, culture, and personalities of the Aboriginal people at Mount Murchison/Momba and left us with extremely significant series of photos of Aboriginal people taken in this period. He does not elaborate about the way the station was set up except for his comment above. Frederic Bonney not only respected and looked after the local people but he sympathised with them, worked with them, and respected them. The Bonney papers and photographs are a treasure of information about the Aboriginal people living there between 1865 and 1881. Bonney published a paper in 1884 but long after he had returned to England to live he campaigned for the better treatment of the Aboriginal people, and he tried to educate the public about the complexity of Aboriginal culture.

 

Bonney names about 44 individual Aboriginal people living at Momba in this period, and one group photo from the same period shows a total of 38 people. Descendants of some of the people Bonney describes still live in Wilcannia and surrounding areas today.

 

Aboriginal people worked on Moomba and Mount Murchison Station, and from very early times fringe camps grew up around Wilcannia. The land straight across the River from the Wilcannia post office was gazetted as an Aboriginal Reserve, and this became the nucleus of a very large fringe camp that grew into a substantial settlement spaced out along the river bank in the 1930s to the 1970s. By 1953 the Aboriginal Welfare Board had built a series of 14 barrack-like and inappropriately designed houses in an enlarged reserve, now an attractive tree lined settlement known as the Mission (although never a mission it was beside a Catholic School and clinic, thus the name). Today Aboriginal people are the majority of the population of the vibrant, creative, and culturally active town of Wilcannia, and the main users of the post office facilities.

 

Wilcannia History:

 

The first secure pastoralists at Mount Murchison were the brothers Hugh and Bushby Jamieson of Mildura Station on the Murray, who in 1856 took up Tallandra and Moorabin blocks, later extended with other blocks and named Mount Murchison Station. Captain Cadell's paddlesteamer Albury was the first to travel up the Darling, landing flour and other stores for the Jamiesons at Mount Murchison in February 1859. The Albury then loaded 100 bales of wool from their woolshed and brought it down to Adelaide. At this time there were no other stations on the Darling between Mt Murchison and Fort Bourke. A little later:

 

"An enterprising attempt has just been made by Mr. Hugh Jamieson, of Mount Murchison, to bring fat sheep speedily to Adelaide. Mr. Jamieson having chartered Captain Cadell's steamer, Albury, that vessel was prepared, and received on board at Mildura 550 fine fat sheep. These were landed at Moorundee last Tuesday, after a rapid passage of two days, all the sheep being in splendid condition when put ashore"

 

Jamiesons sold in 1864 to Robert Barr Smith and Ross Reid from Adelaide. The brothers Edward and Frederic Bonney were leasing some adjacent blocks and possibly worked at Mount Murchison for these owners. In 1875 they bought the Mount Murchison/Momba complex, one of the largest stations in New South Wale. In 1865 it was known as Mount Murchison, in 1881 it was all known as Momba, later splitting into smaller stations. The original Mount Murchison Station homestead block was also known as Head Station or Karannia, the Barkandji name for the area just north of the town near where the Paroo River comes into the Barka. The original Mount Murchison woolshed was located on what is now Baker Park, Wilcannia, which is adjacent to the current Post Office.

 

The site of Wilcannia was selected on Mount Murchison Station in 1864 by John Chadwick Woore, who was appointed Commissioner of Crown Lands of the Albert District in 1863 and was based at Wilcannia. The town was proclaimed in 1866 and in the 1870s it became a coaching centre for prospectors exploiting the region's gold, copper, silver, and opal resources, and the administrative, service, and shipping centre for the pastoral industry. Wilcannia was incorporated as a municipality in 1881, and around this time it became New South Wales biggest inland port and Australia's third largest inland port (after Echuca Victoria and Morgan South Australia). 'The Queen of the River' or 'Queen City of the West'. At the height of its prosperity around 1880, the town boasted a population of 3,000. According to the Register of the National Estate, during 1887 alone, 222 steamers took on 26,550 tonnes of wool and other goods at Wilcannia wharves. The value of goods coming down the Darling River in 1884 was 1,359,786 pounds, and included over 30,000 bales of wool. The customs house, another Wilcannia stone building now demolished, located immediately between the Post office and the river bank and wharfs, took 17,544 pounds in customs duties in 1889. Paddlesteamers gradually declined, particularly after the 1920s, although a few continued to trade up and down the river into the 1940's, still remembered by elderly Wilcannia residents.

 

Wilcannia in the 1870s and into the 1900s was the centre of the pastoral and mining boom of the far west of New South Wales, and it was the centre of the paddlesteamer river trade from the Upper Darling to the Murray River and outlets such as Adelaide and Melbourne. The frequent dry seasons and lack of water in the river led to other methods of transporting goods being used, such as camel trains, but when the water came down the river trade always returned. The river trade built Wilcannia's fine buildings, but it was also its undoing, as the New South Wales government intervened to reduce the river trade because goods were moving to and from Adelaide and Melbourne, not Sydney.

 

Plans to improve navigation on the river were suggested in 1859 after Captain Cadell's first successful voyage up the Darling that was followed by other paddlesteamers. Cadell gave evidence at a New South Wales Select Committee that the Darling would be become reliable for boats if a system of locks were built at very reasonable cost that would hold back water during the drier seasons. The plans to build locks along the Darling River to make navigation more consistent were investigated again and again, but were not realised because the New South Wales government believed trade would benefit Victoria and South Australia.

 

After the opening of the Sydney to Bourke railway line in 1885, Wilcannia lost its status as the major commercial centre of the Darling River. The trade from the far North West New South Wales then tended to go to the railhead at Bourke and straight to Sydney. There were plans in the 1880s for the railway to be run from Cobar to Wilcannia, however this plan was continuously put off. Plans for a railway to Wilcannia continued to be made throughout the 1890's and early 1900's, and including a proposal from Cobar to Broken Hill then linking to South Australia as the Great Western Railway. In 1907 "a large petition was forwarded to Sydney from Wilcannia for presentation to the Premier urging immediate construction of the Cobar-Wilcannia Railway, and subsequent extension to Broken Hill".

 

The New South Wales government attempt to stop trade leaking out of the state resulted in their refusal to build a railway to Wilcannia (as goods tended to go to Wilcannia and down the river), or to extend the railway to South Australia for the same reasons. The bend in the river on the north side of town celebrates this government intransigence by its name "Iron Pole Bend", the iron pole said to have been placed at the surveyed location of the proposed railway bridge. New South Wales eventually built a railway through the low population Ivanhoe route to the south of Wilcannia reaching Broken Hill in 1927, and even then it stopped at Broken Hill and did not join the South Australian line until 1970. The link between Broken Hill and the South Australian railway was provided from 1884 to 1970 by the narrow gauge private railway 'the Silverton Tramway', which also took trade from Wilcannia.

 

The combination of missing out on the railway and locking of the river, the severe drought on 1900 - 1901, and the damage to the pastoral economy by drought, rabbits, and over grazing, led to a down turn in Wilcannia's prospects, leaving the fine stone buildings such as the post office languishing as tangible reminders of a time when Wilcannia was known as the "Queen City of the West" and was the largest inland port in New South Wales and the third largest inland port in Australia.

 

Source: New South Wales Heritage Register.

The Cathedral of Pisa , officially the Primate Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta , in the center of the Piazza del Duomo, also known as Piazza dei Miracoli , is the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Pisa as well as the Primate church .

 

A masterpiece of the Romanesque , in particular of the Pisan Romanesque , it represents the tangible testimony of the prestige and wealth achieved by the maritime republic of Pisa at the moment of its apogee.

 

Its construction began in 1063 ( 1064 according to the Pisan calendar in force at the time) by the architect Buscheto , with the tenth part of the spoils of the Palermo campaign in Sicily against the Muslims ( 1063 ) led by Giovanni Orlandi belonging to the Orlandi family [ 1] . Different stylistic elements blend together: classical, Lombard-Emilian , Byzantine and in particular Islamic, proving the international presence of Pisan merchants in those times. In that same year the reconstruction of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice also began , so it may also be that there was a rivalry between the two maritime republics at the time to create the most beautiful and sumptuous place of worship.

 

The church was built in an area outside the early medieval city walls , to symbolize the power of Pisa which did not require protection. The chosen area was already used in the Lombard era as a necropolis and, already in the early 11th century , an unfinished church was built which was to be dedicated to Santa Maria. The new large church of Buscheto, in fact, was initially called Santa Maria Maggiore until it was finally named after Santa Maria Assunta.

 

In 1092 the church changed from a simple cathedral to being primatial, the title of primate having been conferred on Archbishop Daiberto by Pope Urban II , an honor which today is only formal. The cathedral was consecrated in 1118 by Pope Gelasius II , as recorded by the inscription placed internally on the counter-façade at the top left.

 

In the first half of the 12th century the cathedral was enlarged under the direction of the architect Rainaldo , who lengthened the naves by adding three bays in front of the old facade [2] according to the Buscheto style, widened the transept and designed a new facade, completed by the workers led by the sculptors Guglielmo and Biduino . The date of the start of the works is uncertain: immediately after Buscheto's death around the year 1120 , according to some, around the year 1140 according to others. The end of the works dates back to 1180 , as documented by the date affixed to the bronze doors by Bonanno Pisano on the main door.

 

The current appearance of the complex building is the result of repeated restoration campaigns that took place in different eras. The first radical interventions followed the disastrous fire on the night between 24 and 25 October 1595 [3] , which destroyed many decorative interventions and following which the roof was rebuilt and the three bronze doors of the facade were made, the work of sculptors from the workshop of Giambologna , including Gasparo Mola and Pietro Tacca . Starting from the eighteenth century, the progressive covering of the internal walls began with large paintings on canvas, the "quadroni" with Stories of Pisan blesseds and saints , executed by the main artists of the time thanks to the initiative of some citizens who financed themselves by creating a special business.

 

The Napoleonic spoliations of the Cathedral of Pisa and the Opera del Duomo were significant, many works converged on the Louvre where they are exhibited today, including The Triumph of Saint Thomas Aquinas among the Doctors of the Church by Benozzo Gozzoli , now in the Louvre, Death of San Bernardo dell'Orcagna and San Benedetto , the work of Andrea del Castagno .

 

Among the various noteworthy interventions, it is worth mentioning the dismantling of Giovanni Pisano's pulpit which was reassembled only in 1926 in a different position and with several parts missing, including the staircase, and the dismantling of the monument to Henry VII created by Lupo di Francesco which was located in front of the door of San Ranieri and subsequently replaced by a simplified and symbolic version.

 

The subsequent interventions took place during the nineteenth century and affected both the internal and external decorations, which in many cases, especially the sculptures on the facade, were replaced by copies (the originals are in the Museo dell'Opera del duomo ).

 

The building has a Latin cross shape with a large dome at the intersection of the arms. The longitudinal body, divided into five naves , extends over ten bays . This plan continues in the choir with two more bays and a final apse crowning the central nave alone. The transept has 4 bays on each side (or six if we include the two in common with the longitudinal body) and has three naves with apses ending on both sides. In the center four large pillars delimit the rectangular cross ending at the top with a large elliptical dome.

 

The building, like the bell tower, has sunk perceptibly into the ground, and some defects in the construction are clearly visible, such as the differences in level between Buscheto's nave and the extension by Rainaldo (the bays towards the west and the facade) .

 

The exterior of the cathedral is mainly in white and gray marble although the older stones placed at the lower levels of the longitudinal body are of other poorer material. There is no shortage of valuable materials, especially on the facade, where there are multicolored marble inlays, mosaics and also bronze objects from war booty, including the Griffin used on the top of the roof at the back (east side), perhaps taken from Palermo in 1061 ( today there is a copy on the roof, the original is in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo ).

 

The longitudinal body, transept and choir have a rich facing punctuated by three orders or floors. On the lower floor, long rows of pilasters supporting blind arches , in turn enclosing lozenges or windows, punctuate the space on all sides of the building with very few interruptions (only the apse of the right transept). The second floor still has pilasters but this time these do not support blind arches and are rather architraved , a motif interrupted only in the apse of the right transept (where blind arches appear again) and in the main apse where two orders of loggias are visible . In addition to the windows and lozenges, inlaid oculi also appear between the pilasters . The third floor has columns or semi-columns which again support blind arches (longitudinal body and choir) or an architrave (transept) with the usual alternation of windows, lozenges and inlaid oculi.

 

The raised round arches on the facade and in the main apse recall elements of Muslim art from Sicily . The blind arches with lozenges recall the similar structures of the churches of Armenia . Even the ellipsoidal dome rebuilt after the fire of 1595, surmounted by a lantern, recalls Islamic architecture.

 

The gray and white marble façade , decorated with colored marble inserts, was built by master Rainaldo in the 12th century and finished by 1180. On the lower floor, the seven blind arches which enclose lozenges, one every two, echo the same motif which spreads over the remaining three sides of the Cathedral. On the façade, however, the ornamentation becomes richer: semi-columns placed against semi-rectangular pillars replace the slender pilaster strips on the sides and are surmounted by Corinthian or figurative capitals. The arches are embellished with a rich texture of vegetal motifs and the lozenges are also larger and inlaid with multicolored marble. The empty spaces between the three portals have marble slabs forming square or rectangular motifs and are embellished with horizontal ornamental bands with plant motifs. The empty spaces between the arches are also filled with marble tablets inlaid with geometric or animal motifs. Noteworthy is the one at the top right of the main portal which depicts a Christian brandishing the cross between two beasts and the writing of Psalm 21 : Salva me ex ore leonis et a cornibus unicornium humilitatem meam (Save me from the mouth of the lion Lord and my humility from the unicorn's horns), the original of which is preserved in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo .

 

Of the three portals , the central one has larger dimensions and is enclosed by two columns decorated with vegetal motifs which support, above the capitals, two lions to symbolize the two "faces" of Christ the Judge , the one who condemns on the left and the one who rewards and is merciful on the right (note the saved and protected lamb between the legs). All three portals have eighteenth-century mosaics by Giuseppe Modena da Lucca in their lunettes depicting the Assumption of the Virgin (centre), Santa Reparata (left) and Saint John the Baptist (right). The bronze doors were made by various artists of the caliber of Giambologna , after the fire of 1595, replacing the two wooden side doors and the bronze-covered wooden royal door by Bonanno Pisano which bore the date of 1180 (seen and described before the fire) to testify to the completion of the façade in that year. To the left of the north left portal, there is Buscheto's tomb.

 

The four upper floors are characterized by four orders of superimposed loggias, divided by finely sculpted frames, behind which there are single , double and triple lancet windows . Many of the friezes on the arches and frames were redone in the 17th century after the fire of 1595, while the polychrome marble inlays between the arches are original. Even higher up, to crown it, the Madonna and Child by Andrea Pisano and, in the corners, the four evangelists by Giovanni Pisano (early 14th century).

 

Contrary to what one might think, since ancient times the faithful have entered the Cathedral through the door of San Ranieri , located at the back in the transept of the same name, in front of the bell tower. This is because the nobles of the city went to the cathedral coming from via Santa Maria which leads to that transept. This door was cast around 1180 by Bonanno Pisano , and is the only door to escape the fire of 1595 which heavily damaged the church. The door is decorated with twenty-four panels depicting stories from the New Testament. This door is one of the first produced in Italy in the Middle Ages, after the importation of numerous examples from Constantinople , (in Amalfi , in Salerno , in Rome , in Montecassino , in Venice ...) and one admires an entirely Western sensitivity, which breaks away from the Byzantine tradition.

 

The original gràdule of the Duomo, designed by Giovanni Pisano and dating back to the end of the 13th century, were removed in 1865 and replaced by the current churchyard . These gràdule consisted of small walls, decorated with squares carved with figures of animals and heads, close to the external perimeter of the cathedral and served as a base for the numerous sarcophagi of the Roman era which, during the medieval era, were reused for the burials of nobles (among whom Beatrice of Canossa stands out ) and heroes. Currently some fragments are visible in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, while the sarcophagi were all moved within the enclosure of the monumental cemetery .

 

The lower register of the facade is not very rich in figurative sculptural decorations unlike other contemporary Romanesque cathedrals, but it still gives a rich meaning both to its unitary components and a complex allegory in its overall vision. To read the latter you need to start from the left where the outermost capital of the left side portal shows two ferocious lions devouring weak prey and two human figures further behind. The former represent the struggle between good and evil where evil dominates [6] , but behind them the figure of the old man stacking wood and the young man towering over a ram perhaps represent Abraham and Isaac and the sacrificial ram (or two peasants virtuous at work) which show preparation for God's plan of salvation. The arch that starts from the same capital shows a row of dragons that two virtuous human figures in the center are forced to face in the continuous struggle between good and evil. [6]

 

At the level of the central portal we enter the New Testament which concretizes the plan of salvation brought about by God starting from Abraham . It is the portal dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption and her Son , whose divine judgment is represented by the two lions of justice, the one that condemns on the left and the one that protects and saves on the right with the little lamb protected between its legs, for Divine Mercy or Justice whatever it is. [6] The 42 stylized human figurines present on the decorated arch show the 42 generations that separate, according to the Gospel of Matthew , Abraham from Jesus Christ (the figurines are actually 43 but perhaps due to renovation needs or other reasons for filling the frieze ). This transition from the old to the new is strengthened by the two marble inlays in the intrados of the main arch where a ferocious dragon and a lion facing each other depicting the perennial struggle between the evil forces (left inlay) [6] become two equally ferocious unicorns but in the middle to whom a Christian appears brandishing a cross to defend himself from them (inlay on the right) and where we read in Latin:

 

de ore leonis libera me domine et a cornibus unicorni humilitatem mea ("Save me from the lion's mouth, Lord, and my humility from the unicorn's horns", psalm 21 ).

The last element of this complex narrative is the outermost capital of the right portal, which acts as a pendant to that of the left portal from which we started. We are well beyond the coming of Jesus where the evil lions, previously in the foreground, are relegated to a backward and out of the way position, always ready to strike as shown by the heads turned back and the tongue out, but in a contorted position due to the continuous escapes to which the Savior and the Church forces them to do. [6] In a prominent position there are now two naked human figurines, the souls of those saved by the Savior through the intercession of the Church , which are composed and serene figures with large eyes, well anchored with their arms to the garland of the capital and the feet resting well on the acanthus leaves, symbol of men of faith, victorious over sin and blessed by faith rather than merit.

 

The five- nave interior is covered in black and white marble, with monolithic columns of gray marble and capitals of the Corinthian order . The arches of the ten bays are round arches (those of the central nave) or raised arches in the Moorish style of the time (those of the side naves).

 

The central nave has a seventeenth-century gilded coffered ceiling, in gilded and painted wood, by the Florentines Domenico and Bartolomeo Atticciati ; it bears the Medici coat of arms in gold . Presumably the ancient ceiling had a structure with exposed wooden trusses. The four side naves have a cross-shaped plastered roof. The coffered roof is also present in the choir and in the central nave of the transept, while a plastered barrel roof is present in the side naves of the transept. The coverage of the lateral naves of the transept at the level of the two bays shared with the lateral naves of the longitudinal body is curious: these are cross-shaped (as in the lateral naves of the longitudinal body), but are higher (as in the lateral naves of the transept) . There is also a women's gallery of Byzantine origin that runs along the entire church, including the choir and transept and which has a coffered roof (central body) or wooden beams (transept). Even higher up, thin and deep windows allow the church to be lit.

 

The interior suggests a spatial effect that has some analogy with that of mosques , for the use of raised arches, for the alternation of white and green marble bands, for the unusual elliptical dome , of oriental inspiration, and for the presence of women's galleries with solid monolithic granite columns in the mullioned windows , a clear sign of Byzantine influence. The architect Buscheto had welcomed stimuli from the Islamic Levant and Armenia . [7]

 

Only part of the medieval decorative interventions survived the fire of 1595. Among these is the fresco with the Madonna and Child by the Pisan Master of San Torpè in the triumphal arch (late 13th-early 14th century), and below it the Cosmatesque flooring , of a certain rarity outside the borders of Lazio . It was made of marble inlays with geometric "opus alexandrinum" motifs (mid- 12th century ). Other late medieval fresco fragments have survived, among them Saint Jerome on one of the four central pillars and Saint John the Baptist , a Crucifix and Saint Cosimo and Damian on the pillar near the entrance door, partially hidden by the compass .

 

At the meeting point between the transept and the central body the dome rises, the decoration of which represented one of the last interventions carried out after the fire mentioned. Painted with the rare encaustic painting technique [8] (or wax on wall) [9] , the dome represents the Virgin in glory and saints ( 1627 - 1631 ), a masterpiece by the Pisan Orazio Riminaldi , completed after his death. which occurred in 1630 due to the plague, by his brother Girolamo . The decoration underwent a careful restoration which returned it to its original splendor in 2018.

 

The presbytery, ending in a curved apse, presents a great variety of ornaments. Above, in the basin, the large mosaic of Christ enthroned between the Virgin and Saint John is made famous by the face of Saint John, a work by Cimabue from 1302 which miraculously survived the fire of 1595. Precisely that Saint John the Evangelist was the The last work created by Cimabue before his death and the only one for which certified documentation exists. It evokes the mosaics of Byzantine churches and also Norman ones, such as Cefalù and Monreale , in Sicily . The mosaic, largely created by Francesco da Pisa, was finished by Vincino da Pistoia with the depiction of the Madonna on the left side ( 1320 ).

 

The main altar, from the beginning of the twentieth century, features six Angels contemporary with Ludovico Poliaghi , and in the center the bronze Crucifix by Giambologna , of which there are also the two candle-holder Angels at the end of the rich marble transenna, while the third Angel on the column to the left of the altar is by Stoldo Lorenzi .

 

Below, behind the main altar, there is the large decorative complex of the Tribune, composed of 27 paintings depicting episodes from the Old Testament and Christological stories. Begun before the fire with the works of Andrea del Sarto (three canvases, Saint Agnes , Saints Catherine and Margaret and Saints Peter and John the Baptist ) del Sodoma and Domenico Beccafumi ( Stories of Moses and the Evangelists ), it was completed after this calamity with the works of several Tuscan painters, including Orazio Riminaldi .

 

The pulpit , a masterpiece by Giovanni Pisano (1302-1310), survived the fire, but was dismantled during the restoration work and was not reassembled until 1926 . With its articulated architectural structure and complex sculptural decoration, the work is one of the largest narratives in fourteenth-century images that reflects the renewal and religious fervor of the era. The episodes from the Life of Christ are carved in an expressive language on the slightly curved panels . The structure is polygonal, as in the similar previous examples, in the baptistery of Pisa , in the cathedral of Siena and in the church of Sant'Andrea in Pistoia , but for the first time the panels are slightly curved, giving a new idea of ​​circularity in its type. Equally original are: the presence of caryatids , sculpted figures in place of simple columns, which symbolize the Virtues ; the adoption of spiral brackets instead of arches to support the mezzanine floor; the sense of movement, given by the numerous figures that fill every empty space.

 

For these qualities combined with the skilful narrative art of the nine scenes it is generally considered Giovanni's masterpiece and more generally of Italian Gothic sculpture. The pulpit commissioned from Giovanni replaced a previous one , created by Guglielmo ( 1157 - 1162 ), which was sent to the cathedral of Cagliari . Since there is no documentation of what the pulpit looked like before its dismantling, it was rebuilt in a different position from the original one and, certainly, with the parts not in the same order and orientation as had been thought. It is not known whether or not he had a marble staircase.

 

The right transept is occupied by the Chapel of San Ranieri , patron saint of the city, whose relics are preserved in the magnificent shrine on the altar. Also in the chapel, on the left, is preserved part of the fragmentary tomb of Henry VII of Luxembourg , Holy Roman Emperor , who died in 1313 in Buonconvento while besieging Florence in vain . The tomb, also dismantled and reassembled, (it was sculpted by Tino di Camaino in 1313 - 1315 ) and was originally placed in the center of the apse, as a sign of the Ghibelline faith of the city. It was also a much more complex sculptural monument, featuring various statues. Moved several times for political reasons, it was also separated into several parts (some inside the church, some on the facade, some in the Campo Santo). Today we find the sarcophagus in the church with the deceased depicted lying on it, according to the fashion in vogue at that time, and the twelve apostles sculpted in bas-relief. The lunette painted with curtain-holding angels is instead a later addition from the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio (end of the 15th century ). The other remains of the monument have been reassembled in the nearby Museo dell'Opera del Duomo . The left transept is occupied by the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, in the center of which is the large silver tabernacle designed by Giovan Battista Foggini (1678-86).

 

On the numerous side altars there are sixteenth-seventeenth century paintings. Among the paintings housed on the minor altars, we remember the Madonna delle Grazie with saints, by the Florentine mannerist Andrea del Sarto, and the Madonna enthroned with saints in the right transept, by Perin del Vaga , a pupil of Raphael , both finished by Giovanni Antonio Sogliani . The canvas with the Dispute of the Sacrament is in Baroque style, by the Sienese Francesco Vanni , and the Cross with saints by the Genoese Giovanni Battista Paggi . Particularly venerated is the image of the thirteenth-century Madonna and Child , known as the Madonna di sotto gli organi , attributed to the Volterra native Berlinghiero Berlinghieri .

 

Pisa is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the city contains more than twenty other historic churches, several medieval palaces, and bridges across the Arno. Much of the city's architecture was financed from its history as one of the Italian maritime republics.

 

The city is also home to the University of Pisa, which has a history going back to the 12th century, the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, founded by Napoleon in 1810, and its offshoot, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies.

 

History

For a chronological guide, see Timeline of Pisa.

Ancient times

The most believed hypothesis is that the origin of the name Pisa comes from Etruscan and means 'mouth', as Pisa is at the mouth of the Arno river.

 

Although throughout history there have been several uncertainties about the origin of the city of Pisa, excavations made in the 1980s and 1990s found numerous archaeological remains, including the fifth century BC tomb of an Etruscan prince, proving the Etruscan origin of the city, and its role as a maritime city, showing that it also maintained trade relations with other Mediterranean civilizations.

 

Ancient Roman authors referred to Pisa as an old city. Virgil, in his Aeneid, states that Pisa was already a great center by the times described; and gives the epithet of Alphēae to the city because it was said to have been founded by colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius river flowed. The Virgilian commentator Servius wrote that the Teuti founded the town 13 centuries before the start of the common era.

 

The maritime role of Pisa should have been already prominent if the ancient authorities ascribed to it the invention of the naval ram. Pisa took advantage of being the only port along the western coast between Genoa (then a small village) and Ostia. Pisa served as a base for Roman naval expeditions against Ligurians and Gauls. In 180 BC, it became a Roman colony under Roman law, as Portus Pisanus. In 89 BC, Portus Pisanus became a municipium. Emperor Augustus fortified the colony into an important port and changed the name to Colonia Iulia obsequens.

 

Pisa supposedly was founded on the shore, but due to the alluvial sediments from the Arno and the Serchio, whose mouth lies about 11 km (7 mi) north of the Arno's, the shore moved west. Strabo states that the city was 4.0 km (2.5 mi) away from the coast. Currently, it is located 9.7 km (6 mi) from the coast. However, it was a maritime city, with ships sailing up the Arno. In the 90s AD, a baths complex was built in the city.

 

Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages

During the last years of the Western Roman Empire, Pisa did not decline as much as the other cities of Italy, probably due to the complexity of its river system and its consequent ease of defence. In the seventh century, Pisa helped Pope Gregory I by supplying numerous ships in his military expedition against the Byzantines of Ravenna: Pisa was the sole Byzantine centre of Tuscia to fall peacefully in Lombard hands, through assimilation with the neighbouring region where their trading interests were prevalent. Pisa began in this way its rise to the role of main port of the Upper Tyrrhenian Sea and became the main trading centre between Tuscany and Corsica, Sardinia, and the southern coasts of France and Spain.

 

After Charlemagne had defeated the Lombards under the command of Desiderius in 774, Pisa went through a crisis, but soon recovered. Politically, it became part of the duchy of Lucca. In 860, Pisa was captured by vikings led by Björn Ironside. In 930, Pisa became the county centre (status it maintained until the arrival of Otto I) within the mark of Tuscia. Lucca was the capital but Pisa was the most important city, as in the middle of tenth century Liutprand of Cremona, bishop of Cremona, called Pisa Tusciae provinciae caput ("capital of the province of Tuscia"), and a century later, the marquis of Tuscia was commonly referred to as "marquis of Pisa". In 1003, Pisa was the protagonist of the first communal war in Italy, against Lucca. From the naval point of view, since the ninth century, the emergence of the Saracen pirates urged the city to expand its fleet; in the following years, this fleet gave the town an opportunity for more expansion. In 828, Pisan ships assaulted the coast of North Africa. In 871, they took part in the defence of Salerno from the Saracens. In 970, they gave also strong support to Otto I's expedition, defeating a Byzantine fleet in front of Calabrese coasts.

 

11th century

The power of Pisa as a maritime nation began to grow and reached its apex in the 11th century, when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical maritime republics of Italy (Repubbliche Marinare).

 

At that time, the city was a very important commercial centre and controlled a significant Mediterranean merchant fleet and navy. It expanded its powers in 1005 through the sack of Reggio Calabria in the south of Italy. Pisa was in continuous conflict with some 'Saracens' - a medieval term to refer to Arab Muslims - who had their bases in Corsica, for control of the Mediterranean. In 1017, Sardinian Giudicati were militarily supported by Pisa, in alliance with Genoa, to defeat the Saracen King Mugahid, who had settled a logistic base in the north of Sardinia the year before. This victory gave Pisa supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. When the Pisans subsequently ousted the Genoese from Sardinia, a new conflict and rivalry was born between these major marine republics. Between 1030 and 1035, Pisa went on to defeat several rival towns in Sicily and conquer Carthage in North Africa. In 1051–1052, the admiral Jacopo Ciurini conquered Corsica, provoking more resentment from the Genoese. In 1063, Admiral Giovanni Orlandi, coming to the aid of the Norman Roger I, took Palermo from the Saracen pirates. The gold treasure taken from the Saracens in Palermo allowed the Pisans to start the building of their cathedral and the other monuments which constitute the famous Piazza del Duomo.

 

In 1060, Pisa had to engage in their first battle with Genoa. The Pisan victory helped to consolidate its position in the Mediterranean. Pope Gregory VII recognised in 1077 the new "Laws and customs of the sea" instituted by the Pisans, and emperor Henry IV granted them the right to name their own consuls, advised by a council of elders. This was simply a confirmation of the present situation, because in those years, the marquis had already been excluded from power. In 1092, Pope Urban II awarded Pisa the supremacy over Corsica and Sardinia, and at the same time raising the town to the rank of archbishopric.

 

Pisa sacked the Tunisian city of Mahdia in 1088. Four years later, Pisan and Genoese ships helped Alfonso VI of Castilla to push El Cid out of Valencia. A Pisan fleet of 120 ships also took part in the First Crusade, and the Pisans were instrumental in the taking of Jerusalem in 1099. On their way to the Holy Land, the ships did not miss the occasion to sack some Byzantine islands; the Pisan crusaders were led by their archbishop Daibert, the future patriarch of Jerusalem. Pisa and the other Repubbliche Marinare took advantage of the crusade to establish trading posts and colonies in the Eastern coastal cities of the Levant. In particular, the Pisans founded colonies in Antiochia, Acre, Jaffa, Tripoli, Tyre, Latakia, and Accone. They also had other possessions in Jerusalem and Caesarea, plus smaller colonies (with lesser autonomy) in Cairo, Alexandria, and of course Constantinople, where the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus granted them special mooring and trading rights. In all these cities, the Pisans were granted privileges and immunity from taxation, but had to contribute to the defence in case of attack. In the 12th century, the Pisan quarter in the eastern part of Constantinople had grown to 1,000 people. For some years of that century, Pisa was the most prominent commercial and military ally of the Byzantine Empire, overcoming Venice itself.

 

12th century

In 1113, Pisa and Pope Paschal II set up, together with the count of Barcelona and other contingents from Provence and Italy (Genoese excluded), a war to free the Balearic Islands from the Moors; the queen and the king of Majorca were brought in chains to Tuscany. Though the Almoravides soon reconquered the island, the booty taken helped the Pisans in their magnificent programme of buildings, especially the cathedral, and Pisa gained a role of pre-eminence in the Western Mediterranean.

 

In the following years, the powerful Pisan fleet, led by archbishop Pietro Moriconi, drove away the Saracens after ferocious battles. Though short-lived, this Pisan success in Spain increased the rivalry with Genoa. Pisa's trade with Languedoc, Provence (Noli, Savona, Fréjus, and Montpellier) were an obstacle to Genoese interests in cities such as Hyères, Fos, Antibes, and Marseille.

 

The war began in 1119 when the Genoese attacked several galleys on their way home to the motherland, and lasted until 1133. The two cities fought each other on land and at sea, but hostilities were limited to raids and pirate-like assaults.

 

In June 1135, Bernard of Clairvaux took a leading part in the Council of Pisa, asserting the claims of Pope Innocent II against those of Pope Anacletus II, who had been elected pope in 1130 with Norman support, but was not recognised outside Rome. Innocent II resolved the conflict with Genoa, establishing Pisan and Genoese spheres of influence. Pisa could then, unhindered by Genoa, participate in the conflict of Innocent II against king Roger II of Sicily. Amalfi, one of the maritime republics (though already declining under Norman rule), was conquered on August 6, 1136; the Pisans destroyed the ships in the port, assaulted the castles in the surrounding areas, and drove back an army sent by Roger from Aversa. This victory brought Pisa to the peak of its power and to a standing equal to Venice. Two years later, its soldiers sacked Salerno.

 

New city walls, erected in 1156 by Consul Cocco Griffi

In the following years, Pisa was one of the staunchest supporters of the Ghibelline party. This was much appreciated by Frederick I. He issued in 1162 and 1165 two important documents, with these grants: Apart from the jurisdiction over the Pisan countryside, the Pisans were granted freedom of trade in the whole empire, the coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, a half of Palermo, Messina, Salerno and Naples, the whole of Gaeta, Mazara, and Trapani, and a street with houses for its merchants in every city of the Kingdom of Sicily. Some of these grants were later confirmed by Henry VI, Otto IV, and Frederick II. They marked the apex of Pisa's power, but also spurred the resentment of other cities such as Lucca, Massa, Volterra, and Florence, thwarting their aim to expand towards the sea. The clash with Lucca also concerned the possession of the castle of Montignoso and mainly the control of the Via Francigena, the main trade route between Rome and France. Last, but not least, such a sudden and large increase of power by Pisa could only lead to another war with Genoa.

 

Genoa had acquired a dominant position in the markets of southern France. The war began in 1165 on the Rhône, when an attack on a convoy, directed to some Pisan trade centres on the river, by the Genoese and their ally, the count of Toulouse, failed. Pisa, though, was allied to Provence. The war continued until 1175 without significant victories. Another point of attrition was Sicily, where both the cities had privileges granted by Henry VI. In 1192, Pisa managed to conquer Messina. This episode was followed by a series of battles culminating in the Genoese conquest of Syracuse in 1204. Later, the trading posts in Sicily were lost when the new Pope Innocent III, though removing the excommunication cast over Pisa by his predecessor Celestine III, allied himself with the Guelph League of Tuscany, led by Florence. Soon, he stipulated[clarification needed] a pact with Genoa, too, further weakening the Pisan presence in southern Italy.

 

To counter the Genoese predominance in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Pisa strengthened its relationship with its traditional Spanish and French bases (Marseille, Narbonne, Barcelona, etc.) and tried to defy the Venetian rule of the Adriatic Sea. In 1180, the two cities agreed to a nonaggression treaty in the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, but the death of Emperor Manuel Comnenus in Constantinople changed the situation. Soon, attacks on Venetian convoys were made. Pisa signed trade and political pacts with Ancona, Pula, Zara, Split, and Brindisi; in 1195, a Pisan fleet reached Pola to defend its independence from Venice, but the Serenissima soon reconquered the rebel sea town.

 

One year later, the two cities signed a peace treaty, which resulted in favourable conditions for Pisa, but in 1199, the Pisans violated it by blockading the port of Brindisi in Apulia. In the following naval battle, they were defeated by the Venetians. The war that followed ended in 1206 with a treaty in which Pisa gave up all its hopes to expand in the Adriatic, though it maintained the trading posts it had established in the area. From that point on, the two cities were united against the rising power of Genoa and sometimes collaborated to increase the trading benefits in Constantinople.

 

13th century

In 1209 in Lerici, two councils for a final resolution of the rivalry with Genoa were held. A 20-year peace treaty was signed, but when in 1220, the emperor Frederick II confirmed his supremacy over the Tyrrhenian coast from Civitavecchia to Portovenere, the Genoese and Tuscan resentment against Pisa grew again. In the following years, Pisa clashed with Lucca in Garfagnana and was defeated by the Florentines at Castel del Bosco. The strong Ghibelline position of Pisa brought this town diametrically against the Pope, who was in a dispute with the Holy Roman Empire, and indeed the pope tried to deprive Pisa of its dominions in northern Sardinia.

 

In 1238, Pope Gregory IX formed an alliance between Genoa and Venice against the empire, and consequently against Pisa, too. One year later, he excommunicated Frederick II and called for an anti-Empire council to be held in Rome in 1241. On May 3, 1241, a combined fleet of Pisan and Sicilian ships, led by the emperor's son Enzo, attacked a Genoese convoy carrying prelates from northern Italy and France, next to the isle of Giglio (Battle of Giglio), in front of Tuscany; the Genoese lost 25 ships, while about a thousand sailors, two cardinals, and one bishop were taken prisoner. After this major victory, the council in Rome failed, but Pisa was excommunicated. This extreme measure was only removed in 1257. Anyway, the Tuscan city tried to take advantage of the favourable situation to conquer the Corsican city of Aleria and even lay siege to Genoa itself in 1243.

 

The Ligurian republic of Genoa, however, recovered fast from this blow and won back Lerici, conquered by the Pisans some years earlier, in 1256.

 

The great expansion in the Mediterranean and the prominence of the merchant class urged a modification in the city's institutes. The system with consuls was abandoned, and in 1230, the new city rulers named a capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain") as civil and military leader. Despite these reforms, the conquered lands and the city itself were harassed by the rivalry between the two families of Della Gherardesca and Visconti. In 1237 the archbishop and the Emperor Frederick II intervened to reconcile the two rivals, but the strains continued. In 1254, the people rebelled and imposed 12 Anziani del Popolo ("People's Elders") as their political representatives in the commune. They also supplemented the legislative councils, formed of noblemen, with new People's Councils, composed by the main guilds and by the chiefs of the People's Companies. These had the power to ratify the laws of the Major General Council and the Senate.

 

Decline

The decline is said to have begun on August 6, 1284, when the numerically superior fleet of Pisa, under the command of Albertino Morosini, was defeated by the brilliant tactics of the Genoese fleet, under the command of Benedetto Zaccaria and Oberto Doria, in the dramatic naval Battle of Meloria. This defeat ended the maritime power of Pisa and the town never fully recovered; in 1290, the Genoese destroyed forever the Porto Pisano (Pisa's port), and covered the land with salt. The region around Pisa did not permit the city to recover from the loss of thousands of sailors from the Meloria, while Liguria guaranteed enough sailors to Genoa. Goods, however, continued to be traded, albeit in reduced quantity, but the end came when the Arno started to change course, preventing the galleys from reaching the city's port up the river. The nearby area also likely became infested with malaria. The true end came in 1324, when Sardinia was entirely lost to the Aragonese.

 

Always Ghibelline, Pisa tried to build up its power in the course of the 14th century, and even managed to defeat Florence in the Battle of Montecatini (1315), under the command of Uguccione della Faggiuola. Eventually, however, after a long siege, Pisa was occupied by Florentines in 1405.[9] Florentines corrupted the capitano del popolo ("people's chieftain"), Giovanni Gambacorta, who at night opened the city gate of San Marco. Pisa was never conquered by an army. In 1409, Pisa was the seat of a council trying to set the question of the Great Schism. In the 15th century, access to the sea became more difficult, as the port was silting up and was cut off from the sea. When in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded the Italian states to claim the Kingdom of Naples, Pisa reclaimed its independence as the Second Pisan Republic.

 

The new freedom did not last long; 15 years of battles and sieges by the Florentine troops led by Antonio da Filicaja, Averardo Salviati and Niccolò Capponi were made, but they failed to conquer the city. Vitellozzo Vitelli with his brother Paolo were the only ones who actually managed to break the strong defences of Pisa and make a breach in the Stampace bastion in the southern west part of the walls, but he did not enter the city. For that, they were suspected of treachery and Paolo was put to death. However, the resources of Pisa were getting low, and at the end, the city was sold to the Visconti family from Milan and eventually to Florence again. Livorno took over the role of the main port of Tuscany. Pisa acquired a mainly cultural role spurred by the presence of the University of Pisa, created in 1343, and later reinforced by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa (1810) and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies (1987).

 

Pisa was the birthplace of the important early physicist Galileo Galilei. It is still the seat of an archbishopric. Besides its educational institutions, it has become a light industrial centre and a railway hub. It suffered repeated destruction during World War II.

 

Since the early 1950s, the US Army has maintained Camp Darby just outside Pisa, which is used by many US military personnel as a base for vacations in the area.

 

Geography

Climate

Pisa has a borderline humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) and Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa). The city is characterized by cool to mild winters and hot summers. This transitional climate allows Pisa to have summers with moderate rainfall. Rainfall peaks in autumn. Snow is rare. The highest officially recorded temperature was 39.5 °C (103.1 °F) on 22 August 2011 and the lowest was −13.8 °C (7.2 °F) on 12 January 1985.

 

Culture

Gioco del Ponte

In Pisa there was a festival and game fr:Gioco del Ponte (Game of the Bridge) which was celebrated (in some form) in Pisa from perhaps the 1200s down to 1807. From the end of the 1400s the game took the form of a mock battle fought upon Pisa's central bridge (Ponte di Mezzo). The participants wore quilted armor and the only offensive weapon allowed was the targone, a shield-shaped, stout board with precisely specified dimensions. Hitting below the belt was not allowed. Two opposing teams started at opposite ends of the bridge. The object of the two opposing teams was to penetrate, drive back, and disperse the opponents' ranks and to thereby drive them backwards off the bridge. The struggle was limited to forty-five minutes. Victory or defeat was immensely important to the team players and their partisans, but sometimes the game was fought to a draw and both sides celebrated.

 

In 1677 the battle was witnessed by Dutch travelling artist Cornelis de Bruijn. He wrote:

 

"While I stayed in Livorno, I went to Pisa to witness the bridge fight there. The fighters arrived fully armored, wearing helmets, each carrying their banner, which was planted at both ends of the bridge, which is quite wide and long. The battle is fought with certain wooden implements made for this purpose, which they wear over their arms and are attached to them, with which they pummel each other so intensely that I saw several of them carried away with bloody and crushed heads. Victory consists of capturing the bridge, in the same way as the fistfights in Venice between the it:Castellani and the Nicolotti."

 

In 1927 the tradition was revived by college students as an elaborate costume parade. In 1935 Vittorio Emanuele III with the royal family witnessed the first revival of a modern version of the game, which has been pursued in the 20th and 21st centuries with some interruptions and varying degrees of enthusiasm by Pisans and their civic institutions.

 

Festivals and cultural events

Capodanno pisano (folklore, March 25)

Gioco del Ponte (folklore)

Luminara di San Ranieri (folklore, June 16)

Maritime republics regata (folklore)

Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa

Pisa Book Festival

Metarock (rock music festival)

Internet Festival San Ranieri regata (folklore)

Turn Off Festival (house music festival)

Nessiáh (Jewish cultural Festival, November)

Main sights

 

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

While the bell tower of the cathedral, known as "the leaning Tower of Pisa", is the most famous image of the city, it is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza del Duomo, also known, since the 20th century, as Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), to the north of the old town center. The Piazza del Duomo also houses the Duomo (the Cathedral), the Baptistry and the Campo Santo (the monumental cemetery). The medieval complex includes the above-mentioned four sacred buildings, the hospital and few palaces. All the complex is kept by the Opera (fabrica ecclesiae) della Primaziale Pisana, an old non profit foundation that has operated since the building of the Cathedral in 1063 to maintain the sacred buildings. The area is framed by medieval walls kept by the municipal administration.

 

Other sights include:

Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, church sited on Piazza dei Cavalieri, and also designed by Vasari. It had originally a single nave; two more were added in the 17th century. It houses a bust by Donatello, and paintings by Vasari, Jacopo Ligozzi, Alessandro Fei, and Pontormo. It also contains spoils from the many naval battles between the Cavalieri (Knights of St. Stephan) and the Turks between the 16th and 18th centuries, including the Turkish battle pennant hoisted from Ali Pacha's flagship at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

St. Sixtus. This small church, consecrated in 1133, is also close to the Piazza dei Cavalieri. It was used as a seat of the most important notarial deeds of the town, also hosting the Council of Elders. It is today one of the best preserved early Romanesque buildings in town.

St. Francis. The church of San Francesco may have been designed by Giovanni di Simone, built after 1276. In 1343 new chapels were added and the church was elevated. It has a single nave and a notable belfry, as well as a 15th-century cloister. It houses works by Jacopo da Empoli, Taddeo Gaddi and Santi di Tito. In the Gherardesca Chapel are buried Ugolino della Gherardesca and his sons.

San Frediano. This church, built by 1061, has a basilica interior with three aisles, with a crucifix from the 12th century. Paintings from the 16th century were added during a restoration, including works by Ventura Salimbeni, Domenico Passignano, Aurelio Lomi, and Rutilio Manetti.

San Nicola. This medieval church built by 1097, was enlarged between 1297 and 1313 by the Augustinians, perhaps by the design of Giovanni Pisano. The octagonal belfry is from the second half of the 13th century. The paintings include the Madonna with Child by Francesco Traini (14th century) and St. Nicholas Saving Pisa from the Plague (15th century). Noteworthy are also the wood sculptures by Giovanni and Nino Pisano, and the Annunciation by Francesco di Valdambrino.

Santa Maria della Spina. A small white marble church alongside the Arno, is attributed to Lupo di Francesco (1230), is another excellent Gothic building.

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno. The church was founded around 952 and enlarged in the mid-12th century along lines similar to those of the cathedral. It is annexed to the Romanesque Chapel of St. Agatha, with an unusual pyramidal cusp or peak.

San Pietro in Vinculis. Known as San Pierino, it is an 11th-century church with a crypt and a cosmatesque mosaic on the floor of the main nave.

 

Borgo Stretto. This medieval borgo or neighborhood contains strolling arcades and the Lungarno, the avenues along the river Arno. It includes the Gothic-Romanesque church of San Michele in Borgo (990). There are at least two other leaning towers in the city, one at the southern end of central Via Santa Maria, the other halfway through the Piagge riverside promenade.

Medici Palace. The palace was once a possession of the Appiano family, who ruled Pisa in 1392–1398. In 1400 the Medici acquired it, and Lorenzo de' Medici sojourned here.

Orto botanico di Pisa. The botanical garden of the University of Pisa is Europe's oldest university botanical garden.

Palazzo Reale. The ("Royal Palace"), once belonged to the Caetani patrician family. Here Galileo Galilei showed to Grand Duke of Tuscany the planets he had discovered with his telescope. The edifice was erected in 1559 by Baccio Bandinelli for Cosimo I de Medici, and was later enlarged including other palaces. The palace is now a museum.

Palazzo Gambacorti. This palace is a 14th-century Gothic building, and now houses the offices of the municipality. The interior shows frescoes boasting Pisa's sea victories.

Palazzo Agostini. The palace is a Gothic building also known as Palazzo dell'Ussero, with its 15th-century façade and remains of the ancient city walls dating back to before 1155. The name of the building comes from the coffee rooms of Caffè dell'Ussero, historic meeting place founded on September 1, 1775.

Mural Tuttomondo. A modern mural, the last public work by Keith Haring, on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio, painted in June 1989.

Museums

Museo dell'Opera del Duomo: exhibiting among others the original sculptures of Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano, the Islamic Pisa Griffin, and the treasures of the cathedral.

Museo delle Sinopie: showing the sinopias from the camposanto, the monumental cemetery. These are red ocher underdrawings for frescoes, made with reddish, greenish or brownish earth colour with water.

Museo Nazionale di San Matteo: exhibiting sculptures and paintings from the 12th to 15th centuries, among them the masterworks of Giovanni and Andrea Pisano, the Master of San Martino, Simone Martini, Nino Pisano and Masaccio.

Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale: exhibiting the belongings of the families that lived in the palace: paintings, statues, armors, etc.

Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti per il Calcolo: exhibiting a collection of instruments used in science, between a pneumatic machine of Van Musschenbroek and a compass which probably belonged to Galileo Galilei.

Museo di storia naturale dell'Università di Pisa (Natural History Museum of the University of Pisa), located in the Certosa di Calci, outside the city. It houses one of the largest cetacean skeletons collection in Europe.

Palazzo Blu: temporary exhibitions and cultural activities center, located in the Lungarno, in the heart of the old town, the palace is easy recognizable because it is the only blue building.

Cantiere delle Navi di Pisa - The Pisa's Ancient Ships Archaeological Area: A museum of 10,650 square meters – 3,500 archaeological excavation, 1,700 laboratories and one restoration center – that visitors can visit with a guided tour.[19] The Museum opened in June 2019 and has been located inside to the 16th-century Medicean Arsenals in Lungarno Ranieri Simonelli, restored under the supervision of the Tuscany Soprintendenza. It hosts a remarkable collection of ceramics and amphoras dated back from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century BC, and also 32 ships dated back from the second century BCE and the seventh century BC. Four of them are integrally preserved and the best one is the so-called Barca C, also named Alkedo (written in the ancient Greek characters). The first boat was accidentally discovered in 1998 near the Pisa San Rossore railway station and the archeological excavations were completed 20 years later.

 

Churches

St. Francis' Church

San Francesco

San Frediano

San Giorgio ai Tedeschi

San Michele in Borgo

San Nicola

San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno

San Paolo all'Orto

San Piero a Grado

San Pietro in Vinculis

San Sisto

San Tommaso delle Convertite

San Zeno

Santa Caterina

Santa Cristina

Santa Maria della Spina

Santo Sepolcro

 

Palaces, towers and villas

Palazzo della Carovana or dei Cavalieri.

Pisa by Oldypak lp photo

Pisa

Palazzo del Collegio Puteano

Palazzo della Carovana

Palazzo delle Vedove

Torre dei Gualandi

Villa di Corliano

Leaning Tower of Pisa

 

Sports

Football is the main sport in Pisa; the local team, A.C. Pisa, currently plays in the Serie B (the second highest football division in Italy), and has had a top flight history throughout the 1980s and the 1990s, featuring several world-class players such as Diego Simeone, Christian Vieri and Dunga during this time. The club play at the Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo Anconetani, opened in 1919 and with a capacity of 25,000.

 

Notable people

For people born in Pisa, see People from the Province of Pisa; among notable non-natives long resident in the city:

 

Giuliano Amato (born 1938), politician, former Premier and Minister of Interior Affairs

Alessandro d'Ancona (1835–1914), critic and writer.

Silvano Arieti (1914–1981), psychiatrist

Gaetano Bardini (1926–2017), tenor

Andrea Bocelli (born 1958), tenor and multi-instrumentalist.

Giosuè Carducci (1835–1907), poet and 1906 Nobel Prize in Literature winner.

Massimo Carmassi (born 1943), architect

Carlo Azeglio Ciampi (1920–2016), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Maria Luisa Cicci (1760–1794), poet

Giovanni Carlo Maria Clari (1677–1754), a musical composer and maestro di cappella at Pistoia.

Alessio Corti (born 1965), mathematician

Rustichello da Pisa (born 13th century), writer

Giovanni Battista Donati (1826–1873), an Italian astronomer.

Leonardo Fibonacci (1170–1250), mathematician.

Galileo Galilei (1564–1642), physicist.

Giovanni Gentile (1875–1944), philosopher and politician

Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639), painter.

Count Ugolino della Gherardesca (1214–1289), noble (see also Dante Alighieri).

Giovanni Gronchi (1887–1978), politician, former President of the Republic of Italy

Giacomo Leopardi [1798–1837), poet and philosopher.

Enrico Letta (born 1966), politician, former Prime Minister of Italy

Marco Malvaldi (born 1974), mystery novelist

Leonardo Ortolani (born 1967), comic writer

Antonio Pacinotti (1841–1912), physicist, inventor of the dynamo

Andrea Pisano (1290–1348), a sculptor and architect.

Afro Poli (1902–1988), an operatic baritone

Bruno Pontecorvo (1913–1993), nuclear physicist

Gillo Pontecorvo (1919–2006), filmmaker

Ippolito Rosellini (1800–1843), an Egyptologist.

Paolo Savi (1798–1871), geologist and ornithologist.

Antonio Tabucchi (1943–2012), writer and academic

Sport

Jason Acuña (born 1973), Stunt performer

Sergio Bertoni (1915–1995), footballer

Giorgio Chiellini (born 1984), footballer

Camila Giorgi (born 1991), tennis player

My submission for the Tangible Project www.flickr.com/groups/thetangibleproject/

 

It was supposed to be for October, so i guess i'm quite late.

 

This is a polaroid 107, expired in 1974. Travelled in time in the hardest but only way possible, hiding in a drawer. Then i saw Clare in front of the mirror, and i thought this could be the reason why it had waited there for almost 40 years, maybe.

   

---- Matera (Italy), beginning of October, 2019 -----

    

---- Matera (Italia), inizio d’ottobre, 2019 -----

  

..........................................................................

    

-----------------------------------------------------------------

 

click to activate the icon of slideshow: the small triangle inscribed in the small rectangle, at the top right, in the photostream;

 

clicca sulla piccola icona per attivare lo slideshow: sulla facciata principale del photostream, in alto a destra c'è un piccolo rettangolo (rappresenta il monitor) con dentro un piccolo triangolo nero;

 

Qi Bo's photos on Fluidr

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickriver

  

Qi Bo's photos on Flickr Hive Mind

  

www.fotografidigitali.it/gallery/2726/opere-italiane-segn...

  

-------------------------------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------

A trip to…Matera: it is an Italian city of Basilicata, its origins are very ancient, remote; Matera is characterized by the so-called "Sassi", they are a complex of districts consisting of Houses-Caves dug into the rock; in the past these houses-caves were evacuated (in 1952) by order of the then government, to prevent the Sassi from being a tangible manifestation of a poor and backward southern Italy, with the simultaneous construction of districts made up of new houses. Currently things have changed, the Sassi have been rediscovered and enhanced, they host B & Bs, restaurants, museums, exhibition halls in which to find exhibitions of modern art, and, thanks to their rediscovery, the Sassi have been recognized by UNESCO, heritage of humanity, and moreover, Matera has also been elected Capital of Culture of 2019.

The Sassi of Matera are therefore districts that constitute the oldest part of the city, there is the Sasso Barisano, there is the Sasso Caveoso, which are separated from each other by a Big Rock on which there is the "Civita", which is the central part of the old city, on top of which is the cathedral and noble palaces. In ancient times the inhabitants of the Sassi, exploiting the friability of the calcareous rock, created a complex system for conveying water into canals, which led to a network of cisterns, thus water, a precious element for those lands, immediately became available.

The Patron Saint of Matera is the Our Lady of Bruna, whose denomination has uncertain origins (there are various theories), I have photographed Her icon, visible in the Mother Church, and the Her statue with the Little Jesus in Her arms, which is carried in procession. The Sassi, due to their landscape features, were very often chosen to set a large number of films, just to mention a few, "the roaring years" by Luigi Zampa, "the Gospel according to Matthew" by Pier Paolo Pasolini, "Christ stopped at Eboli" by Francesco Rosi," the Passion of Christ" by Mel Gibson.

In my wanderings among the Sassi, I met many Street Artists, among them the artist Benedict Popescu, I also met a very nice Capuchin friar with a passion for photography, some sweet girls, Koreans, Beneventans and of Matera.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Una gita a…..Matera: essa è una città italiana della Basilicata, le sue origini sono antichissime, remote; Matera è caratterizzata dai cosiddetti “Sassi”, sono un complesso di rioni costituiti da Case-Grotte scavate nella roccia; queste Case-Grotte in passato furono evacuate (nel 1952) per ordine dell’allora governo, per impedire che i Sassi potessero essere una manifestazione tangibile di una Italia meridionale povera ed arretrata, con la contemporanea realizzazione di rioni costituiti da case nuove. Attualmente le cose sono cambiate, i Sassi sono stati riscoperti e valorizzati, essi ospitano B&B, ristoranti, musei, sale espositive nelle quali trovare anche mostre di arte moderna, e, grazie alla loro riscoperta, i Sassi sono stati riconosciuti dall’UNESCO, patrimonio dell’umanità, ed inoltre, Matera è stata anche eletta Capitale della cultura del 2019.

I Sassi di Matera sono quindi rioni che costituiscono la parte più antica della città, c’è il Sasso Barisano, c’è il Sasso Caveoso, i quali sono separati tra di loro da una rocca sulla quale c’è la Civita, che è la parte centrale della città vecchia, sulla cui sommità si trova la cattedrale ed i palazzi nobiliari. In epoche remote gli abitanti dei Sassi, sfruttando la friabilità della roccia calcarea, si ingegnarono nel realizzare un complesso sistema di convogliamento delle acque in canali, che conducevano in una rete di cisterne, in tal modo l’acqua, elemnto preziosissimo per quelle terre, diveniva immediatamente disponibile.

La Santa Patrona di Matera è la Madonna della Bruna, la cui denominazione ha origini incerte (vi sono varie teorie), io ho fotografato sia la sua icona, visibile nella chiesa Madre, sia la statua con in braccio il Bambinello, che viene portata in processione. I Sassi, per le loro caratteristiche paesaggistiche, sono stati molto spesso scelti per ambientare numerosissimi film, solo per ricordarne alcuni, “gli anni ruggenti” di Luigi Zampa, “il Vangelo secondo Matteo” di Pier Paolo Pasolini, “Cristo si è fermato ad Eboli” di Francesco Rosi, “la Passione di Cristo” di Mel Gibson.

Nel mio peregrinare tra i Sassi, ho incontrato molti Artisti di Strada, tra essi l’artista Benedict Popescu, credo unico nel suo genere, ho incontrato inoltre, un gentilissimo frate cappuccino con la passione della fotografia, delle dolcissime ragazze, Coreane, Beneventane e di Matera.

 

"Gypsy Madonna", around 1510

Despite the closed triangle of the group of figures, the "Gypsy Madonna" (probably so called due to her dark complexion) gives the impression of relaxed naturalness. Unlike his teacher Giovanni Bellini, Titian moulds the body not by means of wrapped robes and veils but rather by use of sparing white high-lights and subdued shadows. The painter thereby shows himself to be of a younger generation for whom the world has become more sensual and tangible. This devotional picture is one of the oldest works of the painter still preserved.

 

Tizian (um 1488-1576), tätig in Venedig

"Zigeunermadonna", um 1510

Trotz der geschlossenen Dreiecksform der Figurengruppen gibt die (wohl nach ihrem dunklen Teint benannte) "Zigeunermadonn" den Eindruck entspannter Natürlichkeit. Anders als sein Lehrer Giovanni Bellini modelliert Tizian die Körper nicht durch rundgeführte Gewänder und Schleier sondern durch sparsame Weisserhöhungen und dezente Schattenpartien, darin erweist er sich als Maler einer jüngeren Generation, deren Welt sinnlicher, konkreter geworden ist. Das Andachtsbild gehört zu den ältesten erhaltenen Werken des Malers.

 

Austria Kunsthistorisches Museum

Federal Museum

Logo KHM

Regulatory authority (ies)/organs to the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture

Founded 17 October 1891

Headquartered Castle Ring (Burgring), Vienna 1, Austria

Management Sabine Haag

www.khm.at website

Main building of the Kunsthistorisches Museum at Maria-Theresa-Square

The Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM abbreviated) is an art museum in Vienna. It is one of the largest and most important museums in the world. It was opened in 1891 and 2012 visited of 1.351.940 million people.

The museum

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is with its opposite sister building, the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum), the most important historicist large buildings of the Ringstrasse time. Together they stand around the Maria Theresa square, on which also the Maria Theresa monument stands. This course spans the former glacis between today's ring road and 2-line, and is forming a historical landmark that also belongs to World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Vienna.

History

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery

The Museum came from the collections of the Habsburgs, especially from the portrait and armor collections of Ferdinand of Tyrol, the collection of Emperor Rudolf II (most of which, however scattered) and the art collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm into existence. Already In 1833 asked Joseph Arneth, curator (and later director) of the Imperial Coins and Antiquities Cabinet, bringing together all the imperial collections in a single building .

Architectural History

The contract to build the museum in the city had been given in 1858 by Emperor Franz Joseph. Subsequently, many designs were submitted for the ring road zone. Plans by August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Null planned to build two museum buildings in the immediate aftermath of the Imperial Palace on the left and right of the Heroes' Square (Heldenplatz). The architect Ludwig Förster planned museum buildings between the Schwarzenberg Square and the City Park, Martin Ritter von Kink favored buildings at the corner Währingerstraße/ Scots ring (Schottenring), Peter Joseph, the area Bellariastraße, Moritz von Loehr the south side of the opera ring, and Ludwig Zettl the southeast side of the grain market (Getreidemarkt).

From 1867, a competition was announced for the museums, and thereby set their current position - at the request of the Emperor, the museum should not be too close to the Imperial Palace, but arise beyond the ring road. The architect Carl von Hasenauer participated in this competition and was able the at that time in Zürich operating Gottfried Semper to encourage to work together. The two museum buildings should be built here in the sense of the style of the Italian Renaissance. The plans got the benevolence of the imperial family. In April 1869, there was an audience with of Joseph Semper at the Emperor Franz Joseph and an oral contract was concluded, in July 1870 was issued the written order to Semper and Hasenauer.

Crucial for the success of Semper and Hasenauer against the projects of other architects were among others Semper's vision of a large building complex called "Imperial Forum", in which the museums would have been a part of. Not least by the death of Semper in 1879 came the Imperial Forum not as planned for execution, the two museums were built, however.

Construction of the two museums began without ceremony on 27 November 1871 instead. Semper moved to Vienna in the sequence. From the beginning, there were considerable personal differences between him and Hasenauer, who finally in 1877 took over sole construction management. 1874, the scaffolds were placed up to the attic and the first floor completed, built in 1878, the first windows installed in 1879, the Attica and the balustrade from 1880 to 1881 and built the dome and the Tabernacle. The dome is topped with a bronze statue of Pallas Athena by Johannes Benk.

The lighting and air conditioning concept with double glazing of the ceilings made ​​the renunciation of artificial light (especially at that time, as gas light) possible, but this resulted due to seasonal variations depending on daylight to different opening times .

Kuppelhalle

Entrance (by clicking the link at the end of the side you can see all the pictures here indicated!)

Grand staircase

Hall

Empire

The Kunsthistorisches Museum was on 17 October 1891 officially opened by Emperor Franz Joseph I. Since 22 October 1891 , the museum is accessible to the public. Two years earlier, on 3 November 1889, the collection of arms, Arms and Armour today, had their doors open. On 1 January 1890 the library service resumed its operations. The merger and listing of other collections of the Highest Imperial Family from the Upper and Lower Belvedere, the Hofburg Palace and Ambras in Tyrol will need another two years.

189, the farm museum was organized in seven collections with three directorates:

Directorate of coins, medals and antiquities collection

The Egyptian Collection

The Antique Collection

The coins and medals collection

Management of the collection of weapons, art and industrial objects

Weapons collection

Collection of industrial art objects

Directorate of Art Gallery and Restaurieranstalt (Restoration Office)

Collection of watercolors, drawings, sketches, etc.

Restoration Office

Library

Very soon the room the Court Museum (Hofmuseum) for the imperial collections was offering became too narrow. To provide temporary help, an exhibition of ancient artifacts from Ephesus in the Theseus Temple was designed. However, additional space had to be rented in the Lower Belvedere.

1914, after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne, his " Estonian Forensic Collection " passed to the administration of the Court Museum. This collection, which emerged from the art collection of the house of d' Este and world travel collection of Franz Ferdinand, was placed in the New Imperial Palace since 1908. For these stocks, the present collection of old musical instruments and the Museum of Ethnology emerged.

The First World War went by, apart from the oppressive economic situation without loss. The farm museum remained during the five years of war regularly open to the public.

Until 1919 the K.K. Art Historical Court Museum was under the authority of the Oberstkämmereramt (head chamberlain office) and belonged to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The officials and employees were part of the royal household.

First Republic

The transition from monarchy to republic, in the museum took place in complete tranquility. On 19 November 1918 the two imperial museums on Maria Theresa Square were placed under the state protection of the young Republic of German Austria. Threatening to the stocks of the museum were the claims raised in the following weeks and months of the "successor states" of the monarchy as well as Italy and Belgium on Austrian art collection. In fact, it came on 12th February 1919 to the violent removal of 62 paintings by armed Italian units. This "art theft" left a long time trauma among curators and art historians.

It was not until the Treaty of Saint-Germain of 10 September 1919, providing in Article 195 and 196 the settlement of rights in the cultural field by negotiations. The claims of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, and Italy again could mostly being averted in this way. Only Hungary, which presented the greatest demands by far, was met by more than ten years of negotiation in 147 cases.

On 3 April 1919 was the expropriation of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine by law and the acquisition of its property, including the "Collections of the Imperial House" , by the Republic. Of 18 June 1920 the then provisional administration of the former imperial museums and collections of Este and the secular and clergy treasury passed to the State Office of Internal Affairs and Education, since 10 November 1920, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Education. A few days later it was renamed the Art History Court Museum in the "Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna State", 1921 "Kunsthistorisches Museum" . Of 1st January 1921 the employees of the museum staff passed to the state of the Republic.

Through the acquisition of the former imperial collections owned by the state, the museum found itself in a complete new situation. In order to meet the changed circumstances in the museum area, designed Hans Tietze in 1919 the "Vienna Museum program". It provided a close cooperation between the individual museums to focus at different houses on main collections. So dominated exchange, sales and equalizing the acquisition policy in the interwar period. Thus resulting until today still valid collection trends. Also pointing the way was the relocation of the weapons collection from 1934 in its present premises in the New Castle, where since 1916 the collection of ancient musical instruments was placed.

With the change of the imperial collections in the ownership of the Republic the reorganization of the internal organization went hand in hand, too. Thus the museum was divided in 1919 into the Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection (with the Oriental coins)

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Collection of ancient coins

Collection of modern coins and medals

Weapons collection

Collection of sculptures and crafts with the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Picture Gallery

The Museum 1938-1945

Count Philipp Ludwig Wenzel Sinzendorf according to Rigaud. Clarisse 1948 by Baroness de Rothschildt "dedicated" to the memory of Baron Alphonse de Rothschildt; restituted to the Rothschilds in 1999, and in 1999 donated by Bettina Looram Rothschild, the last Austrian heiress.

With the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich all Jewish art collections such as the Rothschilds were forcibly "Aryanised". Collections were either "paid" or simply distributed by the Gestapo at the museums. This resulted in a significant increase in stocks. But the KHM was not the only museum that benefited from the linearization. Systematically looted Jewish property was sold to museums, collections or in pawnshops throughout the empire.

After the war, the museum struggled to reimburse the "Aryanised" art to the owners or their heirs. They forced the Rothschild family to leave the most important part of their own collection to the museum and called this "dedications", or "donations". As a reason, was the export law stated, which does not allow owners to perform certain works of art out of the country. Similar methods were used with other former owners. Only on the basis of international diplomatic and media pressure, to a large extent from the United States, the Austrian government decided to make a change in the law (Art Restitution Act of 1998, the so-called Lex Rothschild). The art objects were the Rothschild family refunded only in the 1990s.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum operates on the basis of the federal law on the restitution of art objects from the 4th December 1998 (Federal Law Gazette I, 181 /1998) extensive provenance research. Even before this decree was carried out in-house provenance research at the initiative of the then archive director Herbert Haupt. This was submitted in 1998 by him in collaboration with Lydia Grobl a comprehensive presentation of the facts about the changes in the inventory levels of the Kunsthistorisches Museum during the Nazi era and in the years leading up to the State Treaty of 1955, an important basis for further research provenance.

The two historians Susanne Hehenberger and Monika Löscher are since 1st April 2009 as provenance researchers at the Kunsthistorisches Museum on behalf of the Commission for Provenance Research operating and they deal with the investigation period from 1933 to the recent past.

The museum today

Today the museum is as a federal museum, with 1st January 1999 released to the full legal capacity - it was thus the first of the state museums of Austria, implementing the far-reaching self-financing. It is by far the most visited museum in Austria with 1.3 million visitors (2007).

The Kunsthistorisches Museum is under the name Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum with company number 182081t since 11 June 1999 as a research institution under public law of the Federal virtue of the Federal Museums Act, Federal Law Gazette I/115/1998 and the Museum of Procedure of the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Museum of Ethnology and the Austrian Theatre Museum, 3 January 2001, BGBl II 2/ 2001, in force since 1 January 2001, registered.

In fiscal 2008, the turnover was 37.185 million EUR and total assets amounted to EUR 22.204 million. In 2008 an average of 410 workers were employed.

Management

1919-1923: Gustav Glück as the first chairman of the College of science officials

1924-1933: Hermann Julius Hermann 1924-1925 as the first chairman of the College of the scientific officers in 1925 as first director

1933: Arpad Weixlgärtner first director

1934-1938: Alfred Stix first director

1938-1945: Fritz Dworschak 1938 as acting head, from 1938 as a chief in 1941 as first director

1945-1949: August von Loehr 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections in 1949 as general director of the historical collections of the Federation

1945-1949: Alfred Stix 1945-1948 as executive director of the State Art Collections in 1949 as general director of art historical collections of the Federation

1949-1950: Hans Demel as administrative director

1950: Karl Wisoko-Meytsky as general director of art and historical collections of the Federation

1951-1952: Fritz Eichler as administrative director

1953-1954: Ernst H. Buschbeck as administrative director

1955-1966: Vincent Oberhammer 1955-1959 as administrative director, from 1959 as first director

1967: Edward Holzmair as managing director

1968-1972: Erwin Auer first director

1973-1981: Friderike Klauner first director

1982-1990: Hermann Fillitz first director

1990: George Kugler as interim first director

1990-2008: Wilfried Seipel as general director

2009-2019: Sabine Haag as general director

2019– : Eike Schmidt (art historian, designated)

Collections

To the Kunsthistorisches Museum are also belonging the collections of the New Castle, the Austrian Theatre Museum in Palais Lobkowitz, the Museum of Ethnology and the Wagenburg (wagon fortress) in an outbuilding of Schönbrunn Palace. A branch office is also Ambras in Innsbruck.

Kunsthistorisches Museum (main building)

Picture Gallery

Egyptian and Near Eastern Collection

Collection of Classical Antiquities

Vienna Chamber of Art

Numismatic Collection

Library

New Castle

Ephesus Museum

Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments

Arms and Armour

Archive

Hofburg

The imperial crown in the Treasury

Imperial Treasury of Vienna

Insignia of the Austrian Hereditary Homage

Insignia of imperial Austria

Insignia of the Holy Roman Empire

Burgundian Inheritance and the Order of the Golden Fleece

Habsburg-Lorraine Household Treasure

Ecclesiastical Treasury

Schönbrunn Palace

Imperial Carriage Museum Vienna

Armory in Ambras Castle

Ambras Castle

Collections of Ambras Castle

Major exhibits

Among the most important exhibits of the Art Gallery rank inter alia:

Jan van Eyck: Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, 1438

Martin Schongauer: Holy Family, 1475-80

Albrecht Dürer : Trinity Altar, 1509-16

Portrait Johann Kleeberger, 1526

Parmigianino: Self Portrait in Convex Mirror, 1523/24

Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Summer 1563

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary 1606/ 07

Caravaggio: Madonna of the Rosary (1606-1607)

Titian: Nymph and Shepherd to 1570-75

Portrait of Jacopo de Strada, 1567/68

Raffaello Santi: Madonna of the Meadow, 1505 /06

Lorenzo Lotto: Portrait of a young man against white curtain, 1508

Peter Paul Rubens: The altar of St. Ildefonso, 1630-32

The Little Fur, about 1638

Jan Vermeer: The Art of Painting, 1665/66

Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Fight between Carnival and Lent, 1559

Kids, 1560

Tower of Babel, 1563

Christ Carrying the Cross, 1564

Gloomy Day (Early Spring), 1565

Return of the Herd (Autumn), 1565

Hunters in the Snow (Winter) 1565

Bauer and bird thief, 1568

Peasant Wedding, 1568/69

Peasant Dance, 1568/69

Paul's conversion (Conversion of St Paul), 1567

Cabinet of Curiosities:

Saliera from Benvenuto Cellini 1539-1543

Egyptian-Oriental Collection:

Mastaba of Ka Ni Nisut

Collection of Classical Antiquities:

Gemma Augustea

Treasure of Nagyszentmiklós

Gallery: Major exhibits

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunsthistorisches_Museum

Pablo Picasso

I INTRODUCTION

 

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish painter, who is widely acknowledged to be the most important artist of the 20th century. A long-lived and highly prolific artist, he experimented with a wide range of styles and themes throughout his career. Among Picasso’s many contributions to the history of art, his most important include pioneering the modern art movement called cubism, inventing collage as an artistic technique, and developing assemblage (constructions of various materials) in sculpture.

 

Picasso was born Pablo Ruiz in Málaga, Spain. He later adopted his mother’s more distinguished maiden name—Picasso—as his own. Though Spanish by birth, Picasso lived most of his life in France.

 

II FORMATIVE WORK (1893-1900)

 

Picasso’s father, who was an art teacher, quickly recognized that his child Pablo was a prodigy. Picasso studied art first privately with his father and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in La Coruña, Spain, where his father taught. Picasso’s early drawings, such as Study of a Torso, After a Plaster Cast (1894-1895, Musée Picasso, Paris, France), demonstrate the high level of technical proficiency he had achieved by 14 years of age. In 1895 his family moved to Barcelona, Spain, after his father obtained a teaching post at that city’s Academy of Fine Arts. Picasso was admitted to advanced classes at the academy after he completed in a single day the entrance examination that applicants traditionally were given a month to finish. In 1897 Picasso left Barcelona to study at the Madrid Academy in the Spanish capital. Dissatisfied with the training, he quit and returned to Barcelona.

 

After Picasso visited Paris in October 1900, he moved back and forth between France and Spain until 1904, when he settled in the French capital. In Paris he encountered, and experimented with, a number of modern artistic styles. Picasso’s painting Le Moulin de la Galette (1900, Guggenheim Museum, New York City) revealed his interest in the subject matter of Parisian nightlife and in the style of French painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a style that verged on caricature. In addition to café scenes, Picasso painted landscapes, still lifes, and portraits of friends and performers.

 

III BLUE PERIOD (1901-1903)

 

From 1901 to 1903 Picasso initiated his first truly original style, which is known as the blue period. Restricting his color scheme to blue, Picasso depicted emaciated and forlorn figures whose body language and clothing bespeak the lowliness of their social status. In The Old Guitarist (1903, Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois), Picasso emphasized the guitarist’s poverty and position as a social outcast, which he reinforced by surrounding the figure with a black outline, as if to cut him off from his environment. The guitarist is compressed within the canvas (no room is left in the painting for the guitarist to raise his lowered head), suggesting his helplessness: The guitarist is trapped within the frame just as he is trapped by his poverty. Although Picasso underscored the squalor of his figures during this period, neither their clothing nor their environment conveys a specific time or place. This lack of specificity suggests that Picasso intended to make a general statement about human alienation rather than a particular statement about the lower class in Paris.

 

Why blue dominated Picasso’s paintings during this period remains unexplained. Possible influences include photographs with a bluish tinge popular at the time, poetry that stressed the color blue in its imagery, or the paintings of French artists such as Eugène Carrière or Claude Monet, who based many of their works around this time on variations on a single color. Another explanation is that Picasso found blue particularly appropriate for his subject matter because it is a color associated with melancholy.

 

IV ROSE PERIOD (1904-1905)

 

In 1904 Picasso’s style shifted, inaugurating the rose period, sometimes referred to as the circus period. Although Picasso still focused on social outcasts—especially circus performers—his color scheme lightened, featuring warmer, reddish hues, and the thick outlines of the blue period disappeared. Picasso maintained his interest in the theme of alienation, however. In Two Acrobats and a Dog (1905, Museum of Modern Art, New York City), he represented two young acrobats before an undefined, barren landscape. Although the acrobats are physically close, they gaze in different directions and do not interact, and the reason for their presence is not made clear. Differences in the acrobats’ height also exaggerate their disconnection from each other and from the empty landscape. The dog was a frequent presence in Picasso’s work and may have been a reference to death as dogs appear at the feet of figures in many Spanish funerary monuments.

 

Picasso may have felt an especially deep sympathy for circus performers. Like artists, they were paid to entertain society, but their itinerant lifestyle and status as outsiders prevented them from becoming an integral part of the social fabric. It was this situation that made the sad clown an important figure in the popular imagination: Paid to make people laugh, he must keep hidden his real existence and true feelings. Living a life of financial insecurity himself, Picasso no doubt empathized with these performers. During this period Picasso met Fernande Olivier, the first of several women who shared his life and provided inspiration for his art. Olivier’s features appear in many of the female figures in his paintings over the next several years.

 

V CLASSICAL PERIOD (1905) AND IBERIAN PERIOD (1906)

 

Experimentation and rapid style changes mark the years from late 1905 on. Picasso’s paintings from late 1905 are more emotionally detached than those of the blue or rose periods. The color scheme lightens—beiges and light browns predominate—and melancholy and alienation give way to a more reasoned approach. Picasso’s increasing interest in form is apparent in his references to classical sculpture. The figure of a seated boy in Two Youths (1905, National Gallery, Washington, D.C.), for example, recalls an ancient Greek sculpture of a boy removing a thorn from his foot.

 

By 1906 Picasso had become interested in sculptures from the Iberian peninsula dating from about the 6th to the 3rd century bc. Picasso must have found them of particular interest both because they are native to Spain and because they display remarkable simplification of form. The Iberian influence is immediately visible in Self-Portrait (1906, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania), in which Picasso reduced the image of his head to an oval and his eyes to almond shapes, thus revealing his increasing fascination with geometric simplification of form.

 

VI AFRICAN PERIOD (1907)

 

Picasso’s predilection for experimentation and for drawing inspiration from outside the accepted artistic sources led to his most radical and revolutionary painting yet in 1907: Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907, Museum of Modern Art). The painting’s theme—the female nude—could not be more traditional, but Picasso’s treatment of it is revolutionary. Picasso took even greater liberties here with human anatomy than in his 1906 Self-Portrait . The figures on the left in the painting look flat, as if they have no skeletal or muscular structure. Faces seen from the front have noses in profile. The eyes are asymmetrical and radically simplified. Contour lines are incomplete. Color juxtapositions—between blue and orange, for instance—are intentionally strident and unharmonious. The representation of space is fragmented and discontinuous.

 

While the left side of the canvas is largely Iberian-influenced, the right side is inspired by African masks, especially in its striped patterns and oval forms. Such borrowings, which led to great simplification, distortion, and visual incongruities, were considered extremely daring in 1907. The head of the figure at the bottom right, for example, turns in an anatomically impossible way. These discrepancies proved so shocking that even Picasso’s fellow painters reacted negatively to Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. French painter Henri Matisse allegedly told Picasso that he was trying to ridicule the modern movement.

 

VII CUBISM (1908-1917)

 

For many scholars, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon—with its fragmented planes, flattened figures, and borrowings from African masks—marks the beginning of the new visual language, known as cubism. Other scholars believe that French painter Paul Cézanne provided the primary catalyst for this change in style. Cézanne’s work of the 1890s and early 1900s was noted both for its simplification and flattening of form and for the introduction of what art historians call passage, the interpenetration of one physical object by another. For example, in Mont Sainte-Victoire (1902-1906, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City), Cézanne left the outer edge of the mountain open, allowing the blue area of the sky and the gray area of the mountain to merge. This innovation—air and rock interpenetrating—was a crucial precedent for Picasso’s invention of cubism. First, it defied the laws of our physical experience, and second, it indicated that artists were viewing paintings as having a logic of their own that functioned independently of, or even contrary to, the logic of everyday experience.

 

Scholars generally divide the cubist innovations of Picasso and French painter Georges Braque into two stages. In the first stage, analytical cubism, the artists fragmented three-dimensional shapes into multiple geometric planes. In the second stage, synthetic cubism, they reversed the process, putting abstract planes together to represent human figures, still lifes, and other recognizable shapes.

 

A Analytical Cubism (1908-1912)

 

Profoundly influenced by Cézanne's later work, Picasso and Braque initiated a series of landscape paintings in 1908. These paintings approximated Cézanne’s both in their color scheme (dark greens and light browns) and in their drastic simplification of nature to geometric shapes. Upon seeing these paintings, French critic Louis Vauxelles coined the term cubism. In Picasso’s Houses on the Hill, Horta de Ebro (1909, Museum of Modern Art), he gave architectural structures a three-dimensional, cubic quality, but he abandoned conventional three-dimensional perspective: Instead of being depicted one behind the other, buildings appear one on top of the other. Moreover, he simplified every aspect of the painting according to a vocabulary of cubic shapes—not just the houses but the sky as well. By neutralizing differences between earth and sky, Picasso made the canvas appear more unified, but he also introduced ambiguity by not differentiating solid from void. In addition, Picasso often used inconsistent light sources. In some parts of a painting, light appears to come from the left; in other parts, it comes from the right, the top, or even the bottom. Spatial planes intersect in ways that leave the spectator guessing whether angles are concave or convex. Delight in confusing the viewer is a regular feature of cubism.

 

By 1910, it had become evident that cubism no longer had any cubes and that the illusion of three-dimensional space, or volume, was gone. Picasso seemed to have dismantled the very idea of solid form, not only by fragmenting the human figure and other shapes, but also by using Cézanne’s concept of passage to merge figure and environment, solid and void, background and foreground. In this way he created a visually consistent painting, yet the consistency does not conform to the physical consistency of the natural world as we experience it. Picasso’s decision to limit his color scheme to dark browns and grays also suggests that his paintings have initiated a radical departure from nature, rather than attempted to copy it.

 

The year 1912 marks another major development in the cubist language: the invention of collage. In Still Life with Chair Caning (1912, Musée Picasso), Picasso attached a piece of oilcloth (that depicts woven caning) to his work. With this action Picasso not only violated the integrity of the medium—oil painting on canvas—but also included a material that had no previous connection with high art. Art could now be created, Picasso seems to imply, with scissors and glue as well as with paint and canvas. By including pieces of cloth, newspaper, wallpaper, advertising, and other materials in his work, Picasso opened the door for any object or material, however ordinary, to be included in (or even replace) a work of art. This innovation had important consequences for later 20th-century art. Another innovation was including the letters JOU in the painting, possibly referring to the beginning of the word journal (French for “newspaper”) or to the French word jouer, meaning “to play,” as Picasso is playing with forms. These combinations reveal that cubism includes both visual and verbal references, and merges high art with popular culture.

 

B Synthetic Cubism (1912-1917)

 

By inventing collage and by introducing elements from the real world in his canvases, Picasso avoided taking cubism to the level of complete abstraction and remained in the domain of tangible objects. Collage also initiated the synthetic phase of cubism. Whereas analytical cubism fragmented figures into geometric planes, synthetic cubism synthesized (combined) near-abstract shapes to create representational forms, such as a human figure or still life. Synthetic cubism also tended toward multiplicity. In Guitar, Sheet Music, and Wine Glass (1912, McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas), for instance, Picasso combined a drawing of a glass, several spots of color, sheet music, newspaper, a wallpaper pattern, and a cloth that has a wood–grain pattern. Synthetic cubism may also combine different textures, such as wood grain, sand, and printed matter. Sometimes Picasso applied these textures as collage, by gluing textured papers on the canvas. In other cases the artist painted an area to look like wood or wallpaper, fooling the spectator by means of visual puns.

 

VIII CONSTRUCTION AND AFTER (1912-1920)

 

In 1912 Picasso instigated another important innovation: construction, or assemblage, in sculpture. Before this innovation, sculpture, at least in the West, was primarily created in one of two ways: by carving a block of stone or wood or by modeling—shaping a form in clay and casting that form in a more durable material, such as bronze. In Guitar (1912, Museum of Modern Art), Picasso used a new additive process. He cut various shapes out of sheet metal and wire, and then reassembled those materials into a cubist construction. In other constructions, Picasso used wood, cardboard, string, and other everyday objects, not only inventing a new technique for sculpture but also expanding the definition of art by blurring the distinction between artistic and nonartistic materials.

 

From World War I (1914-1918) onward, Picasso moved from style to style. In 1915, for instance, Picasso painted the highly abstract Harlequin (Museum of Modern Art) and drew the highly realistic portrait of Ambroise Vollard (Metropolitan Museum of Art). During and after the war he also worked on stage design and costume design for the Ballets Russes, a modern Russian ballet company launched by the impresario Sergey Diaghilev. Inspired by his direct experience of the theater, Picasso also produced representations of performers, such as French clowns called Pierrot and Harlequin, and scenes of ballerinas.

 

Picasso separated from Olivier in 1912, after meeting Eva Gouel. Gouel died in 1915, and in 1918 Picasso married Olga Koklova, one of the dancers in Diaghilev’s company. Picasso created a number of portraits of her, and their son, Paulo, appears in works such as Paulo as Harlequin (1924, Musée Picasso).

 

IX CLASSICAL PERIOD (1920-1925)

 

After World War I, a strain of conservatism spread through a number of art forms. A motto popular among traditionalists was “the return to order.” For Picasso the years 1920 to 1925 were marked by close attention to three-dimensional form and to classical themes: bathers, centaurs (mythical creatures half-man and half horse), and women in classical drapery. He depicted many of these figures as massive, dense, and weighty, an effect intensified by strong contrasts of light and dark. But even as he moved toward greater realism, Picasso continued to play games with the viewer. In the classical and carefully composed The Pipes of Pan (1923, Musée Picasso), for example, he painted an area of the architectural framework in the foreground (which should be grayish) with the same color as the sea in the background, revealing again his pleasure in ambiguity.

 

X CUBISM AND SURREALISM (1925-1936)

 

From 1925 to 1936 Picasso again worked in a number of styles. He composed some paintings of tightly structured geometric shapes, limiting his color scheme to primary colors (red, blue, yellow), as in The Studio (1928, Museum of Modern Art). In other paintings, such as Nude in an Armchair (1929, Musée Picasso), he depicted contorted female figures whose open mouths and menacing teeth reveal a more emotional, less reasoned attitude. Picasso’s marriage broke up during this time, and some of the menacing female figures in his art of this period may represent Koklova.

 

The same diversity is visible in Picasso’s sculpture during this period. Bather (Metamorphosis II) (1928, Musée Picasso) represents the human body as a massive spherical shape with protruding limbs, whereas Wire Construction (1928, Musée Picasso) depicts it as a rigid, geometric configuration of thin wires. Picasso also experimented with welding in sculpture of this period and explored a variety of themes, including the female head, the sleeping woman, and the Crucifixion. The model for many of his sleeping women was Marie Thérèse Walter, a new love who had entered his life. Their daughter, Maia, was born in 1935.

 

In the early 1930s Picasso had increasing contact with the members of the surrealist movement (see Surrealism) and became fascinated with the classical myth of the Minotaur. This creature, which has the head of a man and the body of a bull, appears in a study by Picasso for the cover of the surrealist journal Minotaure (1933, Museum of Modern Art). Here Picasso affixed a classical drawing of a Minotaur to a collage of abstracted forms and debris. The Minotaur has numerous incarnations in Picasso’s work, both as an aggressor and a victim, as a violent character and a friendly one. It may represent the artist himself and frequently appears in the context of a bullfight, a typically Spanish scene close to Picasso’s heart.

 

XI GUERNICA (1937)

 

In 1937 the Spanish government commissioned Picasso to create a mural for Spain’s pavilion at an international exposition in Paris. Unsure about the subject, Picasso procrastinated. But he set to work almost immediately after hearing that the Spanish town of Guernica had been bombed by Nazi warplanes in support of Spanish general Francisco Franco’s plot to overthrow the Spanish republic. Guernica (1937, Prado, Madrid) was Picasso's response to, and condemnation of, that event. He executed the painting in black and white—in keeping with the seriousness of the subject—and transfigured the event according to his fascination with the bullfight theme.

 

At the extreme left is a bull, which symbolizes brutality and darkness, according to Picasso. At the center, a horse wounded by a spear most likely represents the Spanish people. At the center on top, an exploding light bulb possibly refers to air warfare or to evil coming from above (and putting out the light of reason). Corpses and dying figures fill the foreground: a woman with a dead child at the left, a dead warrior with a broken sword (from which a flower sprouts) at the center, a weeping woman and a figure falling through a burning building at the right. The distortion of these figures expresses the inhumanity of the event. To suggest the screaming of the horse and of the mother with the dead child, Picasso transformed their tongues into daggers. In the upper center, a tormented female figure holds an oil lamp that sheds light upon the scene, possibly symbolizing the light of truth revealing the brutality of the event to the outside world. In 1936 Picasso met Dora Maar, an artist who photographed Guernica as he painted it. She soon became his companion and the subject of his paintings, although he remained involved with Walter.

 

XII WORLD WAR II (1939-1945)

 

Picasso, unlike many artists, stayed in Paris during the German occupation of World War II. Some of his paintings from this time reveal the anxiety of the war years, as does the menacing Still Life with Steer's Skull (1942, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany). Other works, such as his sculpture Head of a Bull (1943, Musée Picasso), are more playful and whimsical. In this sculpture Picasso combined a bicycle seat and handlebars to represent the bull’s head. Upon receiving news of the Nazi death camps, Picasso also painted, although he did not finish, an homage to the victims of the Holocaust (mass murder of European Jews during the war). In this painting, called The Charnel House (1945, Museum of Modern Art), he restricted the color scheme to black and white (as in Guernica) and depicted an accumulation of distorted, mangled bodies. During the war Picasso joined the Communist Party, and after the war he attended several peace conferences.

 

XIII LATE WORK (1945-1973)

 

Picasso remained a prolific artist until late in his life, although this later period has not received universal acclaim from historians or critics. He made variations on motifs that had fascinated him throughout his career, such as the bullfight and the painter and his model, the latter a theme that celebrated creativity. And he continued to paint portraits and landscapes. Picasso also experimented with ceramics, creating figurines, plates, and jugs, and he thereby blurred an existing distinction between fine art and craft.

 

Picasso’s emotional life became more complicated after he met French painter Françoise Gilot in the 1940s, while he was still involved with Maar. He and Gilot had a son, Claude, and a daughter, Paloma, and both appear in many of his late works. Picasso and Gilot parted in 1953. Jacqueline Roque, whom Picasso married in 1961, became his next companion. They spent most of their time in the south of France.

 

Another new direction in Picasso’s work came from variations on well-known works by older artists that he recast in his own style. Among these works are Women on the Banks of the Seine, after Courbet (1950, Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland) and Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe after Manet (1960, Musée Picasso). What makes these works particularly significant is that they run counter to a basic premise of modern art, Picasso’s included: namely, originality. Although many modern painters were influenced by earlier artists, they rarely made such direct and obvious references to each other’s work because they deemed such references unoriginal. In the postmodern period, which began in the 1970s, artists and critics began to question the modernist directive to be original. In acts of deliberate defiance, many postmodern artists have appropriated (taken for their own use) well-known images from their predecessors or contemporaries. Seen against this context, Picasso’s later variations on paintings by earlier masters hardly seem out of place; on the contrary, they anticipate a key aspect of art in the 1980s.

 

One of Picasso’s late works, Head of a Woman (1967), was a gift to the city of Chicago. This sculpture of welded steel, 15 m (50 ft) tall, stands in front of Chicago’s Civic Center. Although its semiabstract form proved controversial at first, the sculpture soon became a city landmark.

 

Because of his many innovations, Picasso is widely considered to be the most influential artist of the 20th century. The cubist movement, which he and Braque inspired, had a number of followers. Its innovations gave rise to a host of other 20th-century art movements, including futurism in Italy, suprematism and constructivism in Russia, de Stijl in the Netherlands, and vorticism in England. Cubism also influenced German expressionism, dada, and other movements as well as early work of the surrealists (see Surrealism) and abstract expressionists (see Abstract Expressionism). In addition, collage and construction became key aspects of 20th-century art.

  

Contributed By:

Claude Cernuschi

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2006. © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

AKA take your pick...

 

Flann O'Brien

Myles na gCopaleen

Myles na Gopaleen

Brother Barnabas

George Knowall

 

By any name, he remains most definitely, one of the great 'scientific' minds of his, or any, generation. He was, relentlessly and imaginatively (doggedly, even), the source of some great 'Irish Solutions' to troubling ideas in the field of Physics and Human Psychology.

 

“The gross and net result of it is that people who spent most of their natural lives riding iron bicycles over the rocky roadsteads of this parish get their personalities mixed up with the personalities of their bicycle as a result of the interchanging of the atoms of each of them and you would be surprised at the number of people in these parts who are nearly half people and half bicycles...when a man lets things go so far that he is more than half a bicycle, you will not see him so much because he spends a lot of his time leaning with one elbow on walls or standing propped by one foot at kerbstones.”

 

― Flann O'Brien, The Third Policeman

 

I think of this in terms of cross-infection, or cross-contamination, even.

 

It is impossible not to cross-contaminate, and I suspect this is true of science too. I am sure it must be a most important area of that particular field. It is like cat's hair, it just gets everywhere, this is just an irritating fact. Abuse is the same, it is a universal. The strange thing is that it is so fertile, or could be at the roots of fertility. I would call it 'charged', like a charged particle. There we are with that irritant again, that grain of sand, that pearl-former. Sand gets everywhere too. It 'abuses' the oyster. I guess the question is about harnessing after all. How do we harness abuse? It demands that we treat it with respect, like domesticating a wild animal. There is a certain perversity in doing this, especially when this 'animal' has mauled you. But then too, it was that very mauling that made you respect it in the first place. In other words, you know what you are dealing with, you know its power. The fact that it is integral to the weave, that it is all pervasive, makes it almost impossible to tell it apart from the 'rest'.

 

Flann O' Brien wrote wonderfully about this cross-infection in "The Third Policeman", where the cyclist becomes part bicycle, and the bicycle part human due to constant rubbing of man atoms and the ensuant co-mingling with bike atoms during cycling. I just exchanged atoms (and hair) with a rubbing purring cat. I am now more cat-like. I might add that I really do not like cats.

 

"while The Third Policeman has a fantastic plot of a murderous protagonist let loose on a strange world peopled by fat policemen, played against a satire of academic debate on an eccentric philosopher, and finds time to introduce the atomic theory of the bicycle."

 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flann_O'Brien

 

My interest is in universal equality, not species equality, or not even the equality of what we call the sentient, but absolute equality of everything. I think we might have to come up with a neologism that is the reverse/obverse of anthropomorphism, a word that describes projecting the infinite onto the human as opposed to the human onto the infinite. What if we tried to make the measure of what we are infinite, instead of trying to make infinity fit our measure. When we do the latter all we seem to generate is the hero and god. Why not approach it all from the opposite direction, possibly the direction of boundless imagining?

 

The main difference with infinity is that it is virtually inconceivable. It even encourages us to create god to describe it.

 

I feel a personal need to generate and communicate more wonder.

 

This takes us close to a philosophy of art for art's sake, beauty for the sake of beauty itself. There is always the possibility of falling 'slack' or fetishizing so that it becomes an end in itself rather than a possible route to encourage more expansion. This would be the decline stage, the mortification of the idea (before it becomes something else).

 

I am not suggesting that nature and infinity are separate, I am trying to suggest the exact opposite. I am also with Michael Frayn and the notion that we create it. Not that we imaginatively create it, but it is as if infinity or the universe is the debris of us reaching outwards and changing form (and when I say 'us', I am not talking about the 'Human Animal' alone, I am talking of all that has ever 'lived', the sentient and what we have the efftontery to call the non-sentient), that all that, the known and unknown universe, is us, dissolved infinitely. As for the pruning, you also have to consider that there is no such thing as waste. It is a step at a time. When I get to this circular point, this tail-chasing, I know I have to find an image to open this up. This is one of my favourite tricks, this adding more stimulation. This can happen in other ways too: meetings, alcohol, drugs, sex, relationships, friendships, family, children, pets, whatever. The making of an image, the creation of literature, a book, the growing of a tomato plant, or whatever, just makes it all so much more tangible. I think this might be part and parcel of why other people stimulate us.

 

Mr Shakespeare, the one who didn't die recently of the Corona Virus, described equality in this fashion:

 

Hamlet: Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but to one table: that's the end.

KING: Alas, alas!

Hamlet: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.

King: What dost thou mean by this?

Hamlet: Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar.

A few weeks ago, Smokey came by to take me to lunch for my birthday and to take a few pictures and say goodbye. He's been a part of my life since I was 7 or 8 and I feel I owe much of who I am, to him. When I was growing up, he was the boyfriend who, in the words of my mother, "came over and never left". But he was more than that. For 6 or 7 formative years, Smokey was the father I never had. And, when I grew to a point where I didn't need that, he gracefully transitioned into being my friend. To this day, we talk, laugh and enjoy each other's company with an ease that I've too long taken for granted.

 

Smokey lives by his own rules and always has. On one hand, this has meant never having to compromise his values for a paycheck. On the other hand, he lives beneath the poverty line and can barely make ends meet. As I write this, I hear a memory of Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof saying "I realize, of course, it is no shame to be poor. But it is no great honor, either!" I think that quote says it all because Smokey is one of the most proud people I have ever met. Poverty is something he endures but it doesn't define his sense of worth or self esteem. Articulate, anachronistic, compassionate and intelligent, Smokey taught me early on that money is not the same thing as virtue. People with money are not "good people" any more than people without are "bad people".

 

But Smokey, anachronistic and poor as he is, lives, as we all do, in a "punish the victim" society. Marin County, like most places in the world, isn't run by people who are looking out for the "little guy", it's run by the rich, for the rich. And now, because Marin has finally become too expensive to live in, Smokey is leaving for a part of the world where he can live on his meager retirement with more than a hole in a wall to call his own.

 

I'm proud of him for finding a way to survive and take care of himself in his later years. But it saddens me to see him leave. In many ways, Smokey embodies the Marin County that I grew up in. Before the rock stars, movie stars, LucasFilm and all the developers, Marin was a funky little oasis. It was a little untamed and quite a bit slower than the big city to the south, across that big red bridge. Now, it's a place where you're either a millionaire or you work for one. And those of us who are not millionaires are having a harder and harder time staying here.

 

While it was my mother who bought me my first 35mm SLR, it was Smokey who taught me how to use the light meter and really brought photography into our lives in a tangible way. Some of my most fond memories are of getting to work with him and with my mother in our bathroom as converted into darkroom, with the amber light over the bath tub and the makeshift shelf he built for the developer, stop bath, fixer and wash trays. It felt high tech and cool and was, in a sense, like a guest pass into the adult world of my "parents". And while Smokey was teaching me the craft of photography, my mother's writing assignments for collector car trade magazines got me into situations where no other child would have been allowed. I shot my first published photo as a child and started building my confidence, such as it is, because of that. To this day, I get a wave of nostalgia and warmth whenever I smell fixer, which is fairly often now that I'm back to processing my own black and white film.

 

To me, Smokey represents not only a time that had, perhaps a little more grace, but grace itself as a way of life. He doesn't rush around or get caught up in the latest crazes and, to the best of his ability, he takes what's good from the mainstream and leaves what is not. He spends time in cafes and gives of his time to the people he encounters. He is a harmonious element woven into the fabric of his community in a way I that I envy. I've had the same mail delivery person for the last 12 years and have never bothered to learn her name but Smokey knows everyone in town and everyone in town, seems a bit happier when they see him. When Smokey goes, he will be missed. When I go, no one will notice. Why? Grace. It's something he has, is and does and probably something I should be working toward.

 

So it's with a slight taste of bitterness that I see who and what Smokey is and represents to me, become less welcome in the world we're living in. This isn't a place that takes care of the little guy. It's not a world that has time for a roll of film to be developed, dried and printed... we want it now and we don't care if it's unsatisfying. This is a time and place where competition rules the day. We rush, we push and we're driven by fear and ambition but we don't seem to be enjoying it. I'm seeing counter revolutions: the "slow food" movement and the resurgence of film in photography and it gives me a little hope but I wonder if it will be enough.

 

Wasn't it Nietzsche who said this "world is the will to power -- and nothing besides!"? I'm thinking Nietzsche knew what he was talking about. I wonder what will happen when all of us "little guys" are gone? Who will make the espresso drinks? Who do the dirty work? Who will do the heavy lifting?

 

Ordered randomness

Vivid passage constant

Relatively tangible esoterica

 

Villa is finally after approx. 150h of building time finished.

 

Like us on Facebook!

_____________________________________________

 

A LEGO® model of the Roman Villa in Heitersheim

 

A cooperation between Public BRICKstory and the Museum “Villa urbana” in Heitersheim

 

April 2017 to October 2018

 

Model of the Villa

 

A model of the villa will be built using LEGO® with the intent of depicting the villa’s main building along with the pavilion and bath house. The interior of the villa shall also be decorated and visible. The model will be accessible to visitors and designed in a way as to be playable for children. The model will cover a total area of 1.60 by 1.60m.

 

Exhibition and workshops

 

The model will be exhibited in the preserved cellar of the Museum of the “Villa urbana” in Heitersheim, starting in April 2017. The model will be accompanied by an exhibition documenting our work process, explaining the individual parts of the model and presenting the functions of a Roman villa by means of a childfriendly text.

In addition, we shall offer workshops to various themes surrounding the Villa Heitersheim, the dates of which are yet to be determined.

 

Who are we?

 

We are Public BRICKstory.

 

We, Kevin Walter and Oliver Isensee, are Masters students of History at the University of Freiburg. We have dedicated ourselves to the question how history is conveyed to the public and why toys play such a minor role in this regard. With this in mind we founded the project Public BRICKstory.

 

What is the aim of Public BRICKstory?

 

To render history tangible – in both a literal as

well as metaphorical sense.

 

To most people, history is never more than a theoretical object learnt in school. By the use of LEGO® for the design of historic settings and environments we intend to make this object lifelike and tangible.

 

Why LEGO®?

 

Everybody knows LEGO®.

 

LEGO® connects generations. Children play with it, and parents and grandparents play with their children and grandchildren. LEGO®’s great variety of building blocks allows for a very flexible implementation and realisation of ideas. LEGO® also enhances as well as demands finesse and creativity amongst all who build with it.

 

What do we offer?

 

Interactive History.

 

We build models in historical settings. Furthermore, we offer an interpretation of the model in its historic representation by means of an accompanying exhibition as well as workshops for anyone between 5 and 99 years of age.

The history of Pakistan and India seems like a fairy tale. Parting as friends in August 1947, they passed into downright enmity very soon thereafter. In 1948 the tribal lashkars sent to get Kashmir could not get to Srinagar because they stopped to plunder a cathedral near Baramulla. In 1965, the Indian General boasted he would have whiskey in Lahore Gymkhana that evening. He had to settle for rotten beer in Delhi because his troops stopped for breakfast and couldn’t take Lahore. Here was Pakistan fighting with an adversary ten times its size – it is still six times despite Bangladesh breaking away - with virtually no really superior technology on their side. As a country with sworn enmity towards the communists – despite good relations with China - and a formidable neighbor to contend with, Pakistan needed some major resource to fall back upon when its sovereignty was threatened.

In end-1971 we lost half our country and 56% of our population. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who clandestinely held the portfolio of atomic energy in Ayub Khan’s cabinet but could not get the necessary resources to match his ambitions, was now heading the country with absolute powers as of 20 December 1971. He immediately convened a meeting of the top scientists of the country exactly a month later in Multan and made it clear he wanted a nuclear bomb at all costs. He was convinced that as long as Dr I. H. Usmani, an Indian Civil Service officer of the 1942 batch, remained as Chairman Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission nothing tangible would come about, he tucked him away as a Secretary of a ministry and retired him under Section 13 (1) of the Civil Servants Act in August 1973 along with a host of his peer ICS officers as these retirements were considered ‘in the public interest’ by the Competent Authority (read Bhutto). As the public interest was never adequately defined, the section was struck down by two superior courts during the early 1980s, although Gen. Zia also made use of this clause.

Anyway, to revert to the original discussion, Munir Ahmed Khan was appointed to the post of Chairman PAEC on the same day of the Multan meeting on 20 January 1972. He was the first non-PhD to hold the post and his credentials at the IAEA were not so impressive, yet he got the job and Bhutto found out much later that he was duping him. His main technical support was derived from his scientific adviser Prof. A. Salam, however, when the latter’s sect was declared non-Muslim in 1974, he lost interest and preferred to settle abroad and went on to secure the Nobel Prize in 1979. It is said that it is extremely hard, almost impossible, for a Muslim to get the prize so unwittingly Bhutto may have done his old friend a favor. However, neither Bhutto nor Salam could have imagined what lay in store for them in 1974. While Bhutto would be hanged after a 2-year long farcical trial five years later in 1979, Salam’s tombstone would be desecrated. The first lost his life due to his nuclear ambitions, the second suffered in life and out of it due to his faith. Nevertheless, even from his death cell Bhutto never uttered a word about Kahuta, lamenting that by abandoning the French plant, the people of Pakistan had been ‘left defenseless under the threatening cloud of a nuclear sky’.

Munir Ahmed Khan continued to convince Bhutto he was developing a nuclear bomb. Both Salam and Munir had suggested Pakistan acquiring a French nuclear reprocessing plant, however, it would not have got the country anywhere close to having a bomb even in 20 years, and Bhutto may have known this but kept it as a smokescreen. To complicate things further, Bhutto had supported Syria and Egypt militarily during the 1973 War and talking in terms of an integrated defense of the Islamic World and asking why the Muslim civilization should be deprived of the nuclear capability when all other religions possessed it. Ironically when Kissinger was harsh with Bhutto in 1976, he apparently knew nothing about Kahuta and was concerned only with the French deal and threatened the latter of being made ‘a horrible example’ after the Democrats came to power. His prediction was on the mark. Governor Carter had had a sharp verbal duel with Ambassador Iqbal Akhund and would make sure Bhutto was eliminated after he came to power. For the sake of the record though, he sent not one, but two clemency appeals to Ziaul Haq to spare Bhutto’s life. However, both Carter and Zia knew what the logical outcome of the thwarted judicial process was leading to.

Going back in time, regardless of how history passes judgment on Bhutto he was intensely patriotic, and he took India’s nuclear blast of 18 May 1974 as a personal affront. He had returned from Simla as a proud leader of a proud nation and conducted the negotiations on an equal footing despite the traumatic events of end-1971. Now as the prisoners of war were returning, he could not digest this show of might from Nehru’s daughter.

Now it is quite well known, how an equally patriotic scientist/ metallurgist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan wrote to Bhutto about his capabilities in the aftermath of the blast. Bhutto had him checked out and placed him in the PAEC two rungs below Munir Ahmed Khan. While Bhutto thought everything was hunky-dory, actually it was not. AQK was in fact getting frustrated by his dubious bosses who kept telling ZAB they were making a nuclear bomb but were actually doing nothing concrete in that direction. However, things were coming to a head as on 25th July 1976 Dr. Khan in a 2-page letter to the Prime Minister that I posted the other day informing him that he was constrained to leave the country and gave an exact description of the situation prevailing at that time.

On reading the letter Bhutto was devastated, and immediately summoned Dr Khan to Lahore. When he reached there, ZAB was closeted with Foreign Secretary Agha Shahi and his military secretary Brig (later Major General) Imtiaz. He told the good doctor not to worry as he would fix everything in a few days.

Maulana Kausar Niazi notes in his memoirs “Last Day of Premier Bhutto”: The same evening he summoned me to the P.M.’s House. Explaining the entire situation he said, “Maulana, I don’t want to miss such a golden chance. This man (Dr. Qadeer) is far too valuable; find some way out.” I suggested that he take the Secretary General Finance, A.G.N. Kazi, Foreign Secretary, Agha Shahi, Aziz Ahmed and Ghulam Ishaq Khan into confidence and introduce Dr. Qadeer to them. And so this was done. Mr. Bhutto was extremely annoyed for he felt that he had been made to cut a sorry figure before the entire nation.

According to Dr Khan himself, the very next day he was asked to meet the Foreign Secretary Agha Shahi in his office. When he arrived there, AGN Kazi, Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Agha Shahi were all there. After introductions, Mr. Kazi asked him whether he would like to head the PAEC, to which Dr Khan replied in the negative. He felt the PAEC was too much in the public eye and foreign powers would soon come to know of his project. He wanted a standalone project and full powers on how to run the same. All the three gentlemen concurred with him. He also requested the services of an army officer to help with the civil works as he wanted a state-of-the-art facility and not something built by PWD.

The very next day all those present that day at Shahi’s office met with the Prime Minister, where the Chief of Army Staff Gen. Ziaul Haq was also called to participate. Bhutto’s orders were quite clear: Give him whatever he asks for! Dr. Khan requested for the services of an army officer. While emerging out of the meeting Gen. Zia asked Dr Khan which rank of officer would he need. He asked for a brigadier. The next morning Brig (later Lt. Gen.) Zahid Ali Akbar Khan reported to him for duty but told him he knew nothing about what he was supposed to do. When Dr. Khan told him he was overjoyed and said that was an assignment after his heart.

Writing an obituary in The News with the caption ‘The indomitable AGN Kazi’ in October 2016, Dr Khan recalled: The next day we had a meeting in Bhutto Sahib’s office. He formed a coordination board with A G N Kazi as chairman and Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Agha Shahi as members. The board was given the powers of a PM. Gen Zia was also there as COAS and he agreed to give me a team of civil engineers. This team was headed by a brigadier, a dashing, handsome go-getter. They never let me down. Next the problem of determining the powers I needed to rush through the programme was tackled by the brigadier and me. I made four copies of the suggestions and presented it to the board at Kazi Sahib’s office. After glancing at the very first page, G I Khan remarked that I was asking for powers only the PM had. At that Kazi Sahib said: “Ishaq, if you want another PWD, discuss it, otherwise give the powers Dr Khan is asking for. We are there to oversee everything.” With that the matter was closed. It was this approval that enabled our programme to succeed. Kazi Sahib was a thorough gentleman – soft spoken and very competent. He could instantly grasp the gist of a problem. I was allowed to see him without any prior appointment. I was ably supported by Agha Shahi, who asked his DG Administration – a very competent officer – to issue me a diplomatic passport and to take care of our foreign travel.

After the military takeover in July 1977, Gen. Ziaul Haq gave personal supervision to the project. Mr. Kazi who remained Advisor and Secretary General Finance offered Ghulam Ishaq Khan now Secretary General in Chief and Advisor Coordination to chair the board, who asked him to continue on. However, Mr. Kazi urged him to be chair as was commensurate with his status and he finally agreed. It goes to the credit of both successive presidents General Zia and Ghulam Ishaq Khan who sustained the project under great stress and enormous pressure. Although the General was aided by the attention been drawn away to the Afghan war, Ishaq Khan who was President from 1988-1993, with Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, was under greater pressure to roll back the project.

However, during Zia’s tenure by 1984 it was whispered that we had the nuclear capability, and this position was later confirmed by Dr A Q Khan. He had finally rid the nation of most of its insecurities relating to ties with its adversaries. It is also clear now that during his ‘cricket diplomacy’ in India, this message was conveyed by Gen Zia to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi bringing about a swift change in the latter’s demeanor towards the former. Pakistan’s worst apprehensions had been set at rest! The real demonstration of our might came much later in 1998, leaving no further room for doubt.

All of us know that Dr. Khan had to go through substantial embarrassment and hardships during the last 16-17 years of his life. I have neither the knowledge nor the inclination to comment on that phase of his life following 2004, when a prime minister remarked he had saved the country by his 'confession'. Ever since Dr. A Q Khan embarked on the project he knew the perils to which he was subjecting himself and must have been grateful he didn’t suffer the fate of either Mr. Bhutto or Gen. Zia. Suffice it to say that he received a state funeral with the state missing. The grieved people came out in thousands braving the torrential rains to bid him adieu.

Everything said and done, we salute you Sir and pray that the Creator may exalt your status in the Hereafter!

Attached are pictures of the main architects of the original program from Dr A Q Khan’s personal archives.

 

Copyright: Dr Ghulam Nabi Kazi

  

dream

  

(it was a foggy morning. No PP except cropping and slight contrast adjustment)