(further pictures and enormous amounts of information you can get by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

St. Stephen's Cathedral

Seat of the Archbishop (Cardinal) of Vienna, one of the most important buildings of the Central European High and Late Gothic, monumental example of the South-German-Austrian multi-naved church, landmark of Vienna. Characteristic is the independent lateral position of the towers, the inclusion of the romanesque western facade, the high Gothic hall choir and the mighty steep roof with colorful brick patterning.

History

1147

The first Romanesque church - from Passau founded (hence patron saint: saint Stephen Protomartyr) - is consecrated. It is located in a quarter of new settlements of merchants, which in the second half of the 12th Century was included in the city's fortifications (which is the part between Singerstraße and wool line (Wollzeile), the road to Hungary). It is located outside, to the southeast, of the oldest city area of the Roman fort, Vindobona. This building was in its dimensions already a large basilical complex, at its completion already including the floor plan of the Heath towers in the West.

1263

Re-consecration after the fire. The impacts on the Romanesque church are not precisely known. The huge gate was already previously rebuilt, when Vienna was for a short time residence of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In succession, the reconstruction of the west gallery and the expansion of the western towers (Heath towers) took place. From this period stem also most of the sculptures of the giant gate, the vaults, capitals and rose windows at the west gallery.

Stephansdom64.jpg (35605 bytes)

1304 -1340

Construction of the Gothic hall choir, Albertinian choir, named after the Habsburg Albert II (1330-1358).

The citizenship of Vienna initially purchased the required properties and "as the owner of the Gothic choir in the Zwettler (city in Lower Austria) documents of 1303 and 1304 Viennese citizens are testified".

This civic foundation was then converted by a princely.

The following indulgence certificate - in the original written on parchment and provided with a hanging seal - is in a sense the main historical document of the choir consecration and thus also to the architectural history of St. Stephen of great importance.

1340

Bishop Peter of Marchapolis gives, at the request of the parishioners, all who attend at the anniversary of the consecration of the choir of St. Stephen's Church, which was accomplished on the above day in his presence by Bishop Albert of Passau, or at the feasts of the altar patrons of the church, an indulgence of 40 days.

1359

Laying of the foundation stone for further Gothic reconstruction of the nave (south and north wall), the Singertor and the Bischofstor (gate) and the two double chapels laterally to the Romanesque western building. Furthermore, the construction of overall four towers was planned. In fact, only the southern transept tower (the "saint Stephen's Tower") was first started.

1365

Those conversion measures are associated with the efforts of Duke Rudolf IV to raise Vienna to the status of a diocese, and with the founding of the University of Vienna.

1395

Consecration of the chapel of Saint Catherine ("baptistery") on the east side of the south tower.

1404

Peter of Prachatitz is Dombaumeister (cathedral builder). The citizenship by providing financial support pushes ahead the expansion of the tower.

1417 - 1430

Establishment of the lower sacristy

1433

Completion of the south tower under Hans von Prachatitz

1440 - 1459

Completion of the High Gothic nave

1450

Planning and construction of the North Tower by Hans Puchsbaum

1459

At Hüttentag of Regensburg the mason's lodge of St. Stephen's in Vienna is designated the leading main lodge in Central Europe.

1466

Extension of the upper sacristy

1469

Under Frederick III. the Diocese of Vienna is built.

1474

The Chapel of St. Barbara in the north tower is completed according to the plans of Puchsbaum. Formerly this building extension in the North Tower was called: Urbanuskapelle (chapel).

1511

Suspension of the building at the north tower. It is higher than the nave walls, but lower than the ridge height of the choir roof. As a crowning feature of the tower stump an octagonal structure was set up, which was closed with a so-called "Welsh hood" of Kaspar and Hans Saphoy 1578. The Welsh hood is a into the Gothic transmitted dome shape".

The back of the St. Stephen's Cathedral with the North Tower

1514/1519

1514/1519 at the top of saint Stephen's tower an eight-rayed sun ("Star") was fitted with a crescent moon as a symbol of spiritual and temporal power. When the Viennese in the Turkish siege (1529) throughout in the camp of their enemies saw similar symbols, they raised first objections against the "haidnisch Zaichen (heathen signs)", yet remained the "Moonlight" on the tower. Only on the occasion of the second siege (1683 ) vowed Leopold I to replace the "ungodly and unworthy Turks coat of arms" by the sign of the cross, when the city was liberated by God's assistance.

The from saint Stephen removed moon. Book illustration, 18th century

The new, of copper wrought double cross ("Spanish Cross") was made by coppersmith Hans Adam Bosch. It was one and a half meters high and had a weight of 45.5 kg. On September 14th, the Kreuzerhöhungstag (day of the elevation of the Cross) (in the same time the anniversary of the moving in of Leopold into the liberated city), it was placed under great spectacle. However, it was not flexible enough and already on 14th December it fell down due to a violent storm. On 31st October 1687 followed the setting up of a new crowning. To the Spanish Cross now the imperial double-headed eagle and the initials of Leopold I had been added. Cross and eagle had a height of 2.45 m and a weight of 67 kg.

St. Stephen's Cathedral around 1530

1640

Bishop Friedrich Count Breuner the Baroquisation of the equipment of the St. Stephen's Cathedral as a manifestation of the Counter-Reformation had started. He commissioned the brothers Jacob and Tobias Pock from Konstanz with the construction of a new high altar.

1683

Damages caused by numerous cannonballs at the second Turkish siege.

1700

Second wave of Baroquisation: Gothic winged altars and also their early Baroque successors are replaced by baroque marble altars.

1711

July 21st, 1711. In front of a large audience the k.k. Stückgießer (specialized iron caster) Johann Achamer carries out the casting of the great bell of saint Stephen. The for this purpose required metal comes from stocks of the Imperial arsenal of captured Turkish cannons. After Pölzung (supporting) of the underground vaults under the streets that touches the train, the bell weighing more than 17 tons on a special car or a loop of 100 people is brought from the Leopoldstadt on 29th October to the cathedral. On December 15th, Bishop Rummel undertakes the consecration of the bell, then it is pulled up to the south tower. There it rests on two oak beams, which for ringing can be screwed off. When Charles VI. solemnly moved into Vienna after his imperial coronation on 26th January 1712, the Pummerin was rung for the first time, in the process only the 813 kg in weight clapper was moved.

1720

The so-called catacombs are set up as a burial site.

1735

The cemetery around the church is closed down and in 1783 completely removed

Stock-im-Eisen-Platz and St. Stephen's Square before the demolition of the houses

Coloured engraving of V.C. Schütz. 1779

1803

The Steffl gets air: Demolition of houses on Stephansplatz

October. The strong increase in population leads to an increased volume of traffic. As part of "traffic-appropriate" measures streets are widened, squares enlarged, arcades created and traffic regulations introduced such as, e.g., the first one-way at the Carinthian gates (1802). With the demolition of the last still in front of the cathedral facade standing houses yet another basic expansion and redesign of the Stephansplatz can be completed.

1809

Also in the French wars the Cathedral is damaged by artillery fire.

1810

Repair work on the South Tower

1831

Renovation of the roof at the Albertinian choir

1842

On the occasion of the two renewals of the tower helmet in the 19th century respectively in 1842 and 1864, again a new double-headed eagle with a double cross was set on the spire. This last crowning of 1864 still today adorns the top of saint Stephen's tower.

1853 - 1854

Expansion of the remaining Wimperge (gables) in the roof area of which Puchsbaum under Frederick III. only one had realized.

1863 - 1864

Cathedral architect Friedrich Schmidt heads the restoration of the tower helmet.

1945

St. Stephen's Cathedral, April 1945 © Press Agency Votava St. Stephen's Cathedral, April 1945

The roof of St Stephen's Cathedral

is on fire 8th April 1945

Friday 13 April: Dombrand (cathedral's fire) in the last days of World War II. The roof burns down, the vaults of the middle choir and the southern side choir collapse. The Pummerin plunges down and breaks. The cathedral is badly damaged.

1945 - 1952

Reconstruction of the roof and choir

Triumphant entry of the new Pummerin in Vienna. The in St. Florian/Oberösterreich (Upper Austria) cast bell to Vienna had a true triumphal procession behind herself.

From the ruins of the Pummerin 1952 in St. Florian, Upper Austria, a new bell was cast and consecrated on 26th April 1952 in Vienna. The other bells of St. Stephen's Cathedral also consistently bore names as Halbpummerin, Viertelpummerin, Councillor Bell, Mentioned bell (Genanntenglocke), Zwölferin, beer bell (Bierglocke) etc. Very few of them survived the year 1945.

1953

Construction of the Bishop tomb in the catacombs under the Apostle Choir

1954 - 1965

Restoration of the South Tower

1956

Renovation of the Ducal Crypt, construction of the lower church and the lapidary (collection of stone monuments)

Completion of the tower helmet at the north tower (Saphoy'sche hood) with housing of the Pummerin

1961

In 1961 the cathedral received a new peal of eleven bells.

1973

Consecration of the People's altar (makeshift solution)

1977 - 1998

Restoration of the North Tower

1989

Remodeling of the sanctuary and the consecration of the new People's altar (September 14)

1991

Consecration of the new cathedral organ (Servants - Madonna gets here her new stand)

Overall length: 107.2 m outside inside 91.8 m

Width of the nave: 38.9 m

Height of the South tower: (High Tower) 136.7 m

Height of the North tower: 60.6 m

Height of the Heathen towers 65.6 m

Gugelhupf cakes at display in the shop window of a boulangerie café, Strasbourg, Grand Est, France

 

Some background information:

 

The Gugelhupf (also known as Kugelhupf, Guglhupf, Gugelhopf, and, in France, as kouglof, kougelhof, or kougelhopf) is a yeast based cake (often with raisins), traditionally baked in a distinctive circular Bundt mold. It is popular in wide regions of Central Europe, including southern Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and the French Alsace area.

 

In late Medieval Austria, a Gugelhupf was served at major community events such as weddings, and was decorated with flowers, leaves, candles, and seasonal fruits. The name persisted through the Austro-Hungarian Empire, eventually becoming standardized in Viennese cookbooks as a refined, rich cake, flavored with rosewater and almond. Many regional variations exist, testifying to the widespread popularity of the Gugelhupf tradition.

 

The old South German name combines the Middle High German words Gugel (see also gugel, a long-pointed hood) derived from Latin cucullus, meaning hood or bonnet, and "Hupf", which literally means "to hop" or "to jump". The Brothers Grimm wrote that the "Hupf" may be a reference to the "jumping" of the dough caused by the yeast, but no firm etymological evidence exists for this. The earliest known Gugelhupf recipe, in Marx Rupolt's 1581 cookbook, describes a "Hat Cake" with the distinctive shape and ornamentation recommendation, suggesting a similarity or intentional imitation of the shape of a medieval hat.

 

According to a legend, the biblical Magi (resp. the Three Kings) were travelling through the Alsace region on their way back from Bethlehem. Because such a warm welcome was given to them by some locals, the Three Kings baked a cake in the shape of a turban for them. This was the birth of the Gugelhupf. According to another legend, the Gugelhupf derives its origin from Austria. It is said, that the archduchess from Austria, Marie Antoinette, brought the recipe along from her Alpine country, when she came to Versailles to merry Louis-Auguste, heir apparent to the French throne, who later became King Louis XVI.

 

Howsoever, many French people are firm believers in the Gugelhupf arising from the Alsatian town of Ribeauvillé, where a Gugelhupf festival , the so-called "Fête du Kougelhopf", is celebrated every second Sunday in June.

 

The classic Gugelhupf is made from a pastry consisting of flour, eggs, milk, butter, almonds, raisins and yeast. After being baked in its special cake mould, it is sometimes covered with icing sugar or a coating. In some regions half of the pastry is coloured with cacao, as is customary with the marble cake.

 

Strasbourg is the capital and largest city of the Grand Est region of France and also the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. Furthermore it is the official seat of the European Parliament. Today the inner city of Strasbourg has about 276,170 inhabitants, while its metropolitan area has about 780,000 residents, making it the ninth largest metropolitan area in France. Strasbourg is located very close to the border with Germany in the historic region of Alsace. This strategically important position as a borderland was responsible for both region and city being an apple of discord between France and Germany for many centuries.

 

But although Strasbourg was violently disputed throughout history, it has also always been a cultural bridge between France and Germany, especially through the University of Strasbourg, currently the second largest in France, and the coexistence of Catholic and Protestant culture.

 

The historic city centre of Strasbourg, the Grande Île (in English: "Grand Island") and thereby also the old quarter La Petite France with the Ponts Couverts as well as the famous Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg, was classified a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO as early as 1988. It was the first time such an honour was placed on an entire city centre. By the way, the cathedral is widely considered to be among the finest examples of high Gothic architecture.

 

Strasbourg is situated on the eastern border of France with Germany. This border is formed by the Rhine, which also forms the eastern border of the modern city, facing across the river to the German town Kehl. The historic core of Strasbourg however lies on the Grande Île in the river Ill, which here flows parallel to the Rhine. The natural courses of the two rivers eventually join some distance downstream of Strasbourg, although several artificial waterways now connect them within the city.

 

Strasbourg is one of the de facto capitals of the European Union (alongside Brussels and Luxembourg), as it is the seat of several European institutions, such as the Council of Europe (with its European Court of Human Rights, its European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and its European Audiovisual Observatory) and the Eurocorps, as well as the European Parliament and the European Ombudsman of the European Union. The city is also the seat of the Central Commission for Navigation on the Rhine and the International Institute of Human Rights.

 

The Roman camp of Argentoratum, from which the city of Strasbourg grew, was first mentioned in 12 BC. Between 362 and 1262, Strasbourg was governed by the bishops of Strasbourg. In 1262, the citizens violently rebelled against the bishop's rule and Strasbourg became a free imperial city within the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation. In 1349, Strasbourg was the site of one of the worst pogroms of the Middle Ages, when over a thousand Jews were publicly burned to death. In the early 16th century the town was one of the first German cities to embrace the protestant, Lutheran faith. Because of this, it became a centre of humanistic learning and book printing. The first newspaper in Europe was printed in Strasbourg.

 

In 1681, the city was annexed by the French king Louis XIV, who took profit from the chaos following the Thirty Years' War in Germany. But France still kept treating the Alsace region as a de facto foreign province until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. The customs barrier alongside the Vosges mountains continued to exist while there still wasn’t any customs barrier between Germany and the Alsace region. Furthermore the town kept striking German coins until 1708. From 1770 to 1771, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe studied in Strasbourg. At this time the town was an important hub of the so-called "Sturm und Drang" movement in German literature.

 

In 1792, Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle composed the Marseillaise in Strasbourg, the French national anthem, right after the French declaration of war against Austria. In the years 1805, 1806 and 1809, Napoleon Bonaparte sojourned in Strasbourg, together with his first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais. They used Palais Rohan as their domicile and Joséphine re-decorated several rooms according to her own taste and the fashion of the time.

 

After the Franco-Prussian War that lasted from 1870 to 1871, the city became German again, until 1918, when it reverted to France after the end of World War I. When France was defeated by Germany in 1940 in the course of World War II, the city and its still predominantly German-speaking population came under German control again. However, since the end of 1944, when Strasbourg was taken by Allied forces, it is again a French town. As a concession to the German-speaking section of the city’s residents, the street signs in Strasbourg are all bilingual.

 

Besides being one of the de facto capitals of the European Union, Strasbourg is an important economic centre of manufacturing and engineering, as well as a hub of road, rail and river transportation. However, tourism also plays a major role in the town’s economy of today. Many tourists from all Europe, the US and Asia crowd Strasbourg’s streets at all seasons of the year, going sightseeing through this beautiful romantic historic city with its many old half-timbered houses.

When Marie Yovanovitch, former ambassador to Ukraine was testifying before the House impeachment inquiry, President Trump tweeted:

 

"Everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad. She started off in Somalia, how did that go? Then fast forward to Ukraine, where the new Ukrainian President spoke unfavorably about her in my second phone call with him. It is a U.S. President’s absolute right to appoint ambassadors.

 

"They call it 'serving at the pleasure of the President.' The U.S. now has a very strong and powerful foreign policy, much different than proceeding administrations. It is called, quite simply, America First! With all of that, however, I have done FAR more for Ukraine than O.

 

What Donald Trump should remember is that he serves at the pleasure of the American people. And, as the testimony of numerous witnesses in this hearing has provided, Donald Trump put his personal interests ahead of the country he is supposed to be serving.

 

Even if impeached and not convicted by the Senate, voters will remember this.

 

See the rest of the posters from the Chamomile Tea Party! Digital high res downloads are free here (click the down arrow on the lower right side of the image). Other options are available. And join our Facebook group.

 

Follow the history of our country's political intransigence from 2010-2018 through a six-part exhibit of these posters on Google Arts & Culture.

Dutch postcard. Photo: 20th Century Fox. John Garfield in Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947).

 

American actor John Garfield (1913-1952) played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. Called to testify before the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), he denied communist affiliation and refused to 'name names', which effectively ended his film career. The stress led to his premature death at 39 from a heart attack. Garfield is seen as a predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.

 

John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on the Lower East Side of New York City, to Hannah Basia (Margolis) and David Garfinkle, who were Jewish immigrants from Zhytomyr (now in Ukraine). Jules was raised by his father, a clothes presser and part-time cantor, after his mother's death in 1920, when he was 7. He grew up in the heart of the Yiddish Theatre District. Jacob was sent to a special school for problem children, where he was introduced to boxing and drama. As a boy, he won a state-wide oratory contest sponsored by the New York Times with Benjamin Franklin as his subject. Garfield later won a scholarship to Maria Ouspenskaya's drama school. In 1932, he landed a non-paying job at Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory, where he was recommended to by his acting teachers Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslawski. He changed his name to Jules Garfield and according to IMDb, he made his Broadway debut in that company's Counsellor-at-Law, written by Elmer Rice and starring Paul Muni. (Wikipedia writes that this was actually his second Broadway appearance and that Garfield made his Broadway debut in 1932 in a play called Lost Boy, which ran for only two weeks). Later, he joined the Group Theatre company, winning acclaim for his role as Ralph, the sensitive young son who pleads for "a chance to get to the first base" in Awake and Sing. The play opened in February 1935, and Garfield was singled out by critic Brooks Atkinson for having a "splendid sense of character development." However, Garfield was passed over for the lead in Golden Boy, which had especially been written for him by author Clifford Odets. When the play was first produced by the Group Theatre in 1938, the powers that be decided Garfield wasn't 'ready' to play the role of the young violinist turned boxer. Luther Adler subsequently created the role.

 

Embittered, Garfield signed a contract with Warner Brothers, who changed his name to John Garfield. Because both Garfield and his wife did not want to 'go Hollywood,' he had a clause in his Warner contract that allowed him to perform in a legitimate play every year at his option. The couple also refused to own a home in Tinseltown. Garfield won enormous praise for his role as the cynical and tragic composer Mickey Borden in Four Daughters (Michael Curtiz, 1938), starring Claude Rains. For his part, he was nominated for the Oscar as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. After the breakout success of Four Daughters, Warner Bros created a name-above-the-title vehicle for him, the crime film They Made Me a Criminal (Busby Berkeley, 1939). Garfield had already made a B movie called Blackwell's Island (William C. McGann, 1939). Not wanting their new star to appear in a low-budget film, Warner ordered an A movie upgrade by adding $100,000 to its budget and recalling director Michael Curtiz to shoot newly scripted scenes.

 

At the onset of World War II, John Garfield immediately attempted to enlist in the armed forces but was turned down because of his heart condition. Frustrated, he turned his energies to supporting the war effort. He and actress Bette Davis were the driving forces behind the opening of the Hollywood Canteen, a club offering food and entertainment for American servicemen. He traveled overseas to help entertain the troops, made several bond selling tours and starred in a string of popular, patriotic films like Air Force (Howard Hawks, 1943), Destination Tokyo (Delmer Daves, 1943) with Cary Grant, and Pride of the Marines (Delmer Faves, 1945) with Eleanor Parker. All were box office successes. Throughout his film career, John Garfield, again and again, brooding played rebellious roles despite his efforts to play varied parts. Garfield became one of Warner Bros' most suspended stars. He was suspended 11 times during his nine years at the studio. After the war, Garfield starred in a series of successful films such as the Film Noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946) with Lana Turner, and the showbiz melodrama Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946) with Joan Crawford. When his Warner Bros. contract expired in 1946, he did not re-sign with the studio, opting to start his own independent production company instead. Garfield was one of the first Hollywood actors to do so. In the Best Picture Oscar-winning Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947), Garfield took a featured but supporting, part because he believed deeply in the film's exposé of antisemitism in America. In 1948, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947) with Lilli Palmer. That same year, Garfield returned to Broadway in the play Skipper Next to God.

 

Active in liberal political and social causes, John Garfield found himself embroiled in the Communist scare of the late 1940s. Blacklisted during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s for his left-wing political beliefs, he adamantly refused to "name names" in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in April 1951. In his only TV appearance, Garfield played Joe Bonaparte and Kim Stanley played Lorna Moon in a scene from Clifford Odets' 'Golden Boy' on Cavalcade of Stars: John Garfield, Kim Stanley, Paul Winchell & Jerry Mahoney (1950). With film work scarce because of the blacklist, Garfield returned to Broadway and starred in a 1951 or 1952 revival (the sources differ) of Golden Boy. Garfield finally played the role which Odets had written for him and which was denied him years before at the Group Theater. His final film was the Film Noir He Ran All the Way (John Berry, 1951), with Shelley Winters. On 21 May 1952, John Garfield was found dead of a heart attack in the apartment of a friend, former showgirl Iris Whitney. A week before he had separated from his wife, and hours before his death he completed a statement modifying his 1951 testimony about his Communist affiliations. A day earlier Clifford Odets had testified before HUAC and reaffirmed that Garfield had never been a member of the Communist Party. Garfield was the fourth actor to die after being subjected to HUAC investigation. The others were Mady Christians (at 59), J. Edward Bromberg (at 47) and Canada Lee (at 45). The official cause of his death was coronary thrombosis due to a blood clot blocking an artery in his heart. His funeral was mobbed by thousands of fans, in the largest funeral attendance for an actor since Rudolph Valentino. Garfield had been married to his childhood sweetheart Roberta Seidman, from 1935 till his death. They had three children, Katherine (1938-1945), actor David Garfield (1942-1995) and actress Julie Garfield (1946-). His six-year-old daughter Katharine died of an allergic reaction in 1945. He never got over the loss. John Garfield is buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

 

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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

Agrigento,Sicily (Italy)

 

Stretched out along a ridge, inappropriately referred to as “valley”, and nestling in the area to the south of it, are a series of temples which were all erected in the course of a century (5C BC), as if to testify to the prosperity of the city at that time. Having been set ablaze by the Carthaginians in 406 BC, the buildings were restored by the Romans (1C BC) respecting their original Doric style. Their subsequent state of disrepair has been put down either to seismic activity or the destructive fury of the Christians backed by an edict of the Emperor of the Eastern Empire, Theodosius (4C). The only one to survive intact is the Temple of Concord which, in the 6C, was converted into a Christian church. During the Middle Ages, masonry was removed to help construct other buildings, in particular, the Temple of Zeus, known locally as the Giant’s Quarry, provided material for the church of San Nicola and the 18C part of the jetty at Porto Empedocle.

 

All the buildings face east, respecting the Classical criterion (both Greek and Roman) that the entrance to the cella (Holy of Holies) where the statue of the god was housed could be illuminated by the rays of the rising sun, the source and blood of life.

 

On the whole, the temples are Doric and conform to the hexastyle format (that is with six columns at the front), the exception being the Temple of Zeus, which had seven engaged columns articulating the wall that encloses the building. Built of limestone tufa, the temples provide a particularly impressive sight at dawn, and even more so at sunset when they are turned a warm shade of gold.

 

(The Greek form of the names of the divinities has been used to describe the temples, with the Latin equivalents given in brackets). It is advisable to start a visit with the archeological site around the Temple of Zeus, as this is open at restricted times.

 

Sacrificial altar – Just beyond the entrance, on the right, slightly set back, are the remains of an enormous altar, used for large-scale sacrifices. As many as 100 oxen could be sacrificed at one time.

 

Tempio di Zeus Olimpico (Giove) – Having been razed to the ground, the Temple of Zeus (Jupiter) was re-erected following the victory of the people of Agrigentum (allied with the Syracusans) over the Carthaginians at Himera (in about 480 BC) as a gesture of thanks to Zeus, it was one of the largest temples built in ancient times, being 113m long by 36m wide, and is thought never to have been completed. The entablature was supported by half-columns 20m high, which probably alternated with giant male caryatids (atlantes or telamons), one of which can be seen in the local archeological museum (see below). A reproduction of an atlantes is displayed in the middle of the temple, giving some idea of scale proportional to the vast building. Instead of the more usual open colonnade, this temple is surrounded by a continuous screen wall sealing off the spaces between the columns which, inside, become square pilasters. Some blocks still bear the marks made for lifting them into place: these are deep U-shaped incisions through which a rape was threaded and then, attached to a kind of crane, could be used to lift or haul the blocks one upon another.

 

Tempio di Castore e Polluce o dei Dioscuri – The Temple of Castor and Pollux or of the Dioscuri is the veritable symbol of Agrigento. Built during the last decades of the 5C BC, it is dedicated to the twins born from the union of Leda and Zeus while transformed into a swan. Four columns and part of the entablature are all that remain of the temple, which was reconstructed in the 19C. Under one edge of the cornice is a rosette, one of the typical decorative motifs used. On the right are the remains of what was probably a sanctuary dedicated to the Chthonic Deities (the gods of the underworld): Persephone (Proserpina), queen of the underworld, and her mother, Demeter (Ceres), the goddess of corn and fertility and patroness of agriculture. On the site are a square altar, probably used for sacrificing piglets, and another round one with a sacred well in the centre. This is probably where the rite of the Thesmophoria, a festival held in honour of Demeter, was celebrated by married women.

 

In the distance, last on the imaginary line linking all the temples of the valley, is the Temple of Hephaistus (Vulcan), of which little remains. According to legend, the god of fire and the arts had a forge under Etna where he fashioned thunderbolts for Zeus, assisted by the Cyclops.

 

Retrace your steps, leave the fenced area and follow Via dei Templi, on the other side of the road, on the right.

 

Tempio di Eracle (Ercole) – Conforming to the Archaic Doric style, the Temple of Heracles (Hercules) is the earliest of the group. The remains enable us to imagine how elegant this temple must have been. Today, a line of eight tapering columns stands erect, re-erected during the first half of this century. From the temple, looking south, can be seen what is erroneously called the Tomb of

 

Theron (see end of this section).

 

Continuing along the path, deep ruts in the paving can be made out on the left: these are generally interpreted as having been caused by cartwheels. The reason for them being so deep has been put down to water erosion.

 

On the right is Villa Aurea, formerly the residence of Sir Alexander Hardcastle, a passionate patron of archeology, who financed the reerection of the columns of the Temple of Heracles.

 

Necropoli paleocristiana – The Paleochristian necropolis is situated beneath the road, dug into the base rock, not far from the ancient walls of the city. There are various types of ancient tomb: loculi (cells or chamber for corpse or urn) and arcosolia (arched cavities like a niche), as often found in catacombs. Before the Temple of Concord there is another group of tombs on the right.

 

Tempio della Concordia – The Temple of Concord is one of the best-preserved temples surviving from Antiquity, thereby providing an insight into the elegance and majestic symmetry of other such buildings. The reason it has survived intact is due to its transformation into a church in the 6C AD. Inside the colonnade, the original arches through the cella walls of the Classical temple can still be made out. It is thought to have been built in about 430 BC, but it is not known to which god it was dedicated. The name Concord comes from a Latin inscription found in the vicinity. The temple is a typical example of the architectural refinement in temple building known as “optical correction”: the columns are tapered (becoming narrower at the top so as to appear taller) and have an entasis (a very slight convex curve at about two-thirds of the height of the column which counteracts the illusion of concavity); they are also slightly inclined towards the central axis of the temple façade. This allows the observer standing at a certain distance from the temple to see a perfectly straight image. The frieze consists of standard Classical features: alternating triglyphs and metopes, without further low-relief ornamentation. The pediment is also devoid of decoration.

 

Antiquarium di Agrigento Paleocristiana (Casa Pace) – Turn back through a section of the town, stopping perhaps to consult the various informotian boards set among the ruins that may be of interest: one in particular explains how the Temple of Concord was transformed into a basilica.

 

Antiquarium Iconografico della Collina del Templi (Casa Barbadoro) – In a modern but sympathetically designed building, are collected together a series of drawings, engravings and prints of the Valley of the Temples as seen in the past by travellers undertaking the Grand Tour.

 

Tempio di Hera Lacinia (Giunone) – The Temple of Hera Lacinia (Juno) is situated at the top of the hill and is traditionally dedicated to the protector of matrimony and childbirth. The name Lacinia derives from an erroneous association with the sanctuary of the same name situated on the Lacinian promontory near Crotone. The temple preserves its colonnade (albeit not in perfect condition), which was partially re-erected in the early 1900s. Inside, the columns of the pronaos and opisthodomos and the wall of the cella can still be seen. Built in about the mid-5C BC, it was set ablaze by the Carthaginians in 406 BC (evidence of burning is still visible on the walls of the cella).

 

To the east is the altar of the temple, while, at the back of the building (beside the steps), there is a cistern.

 

On the outskirts of the town are the so-called Tomb of Theron and the Temple of Asklepios (Aesculapius).

 

Tomba di Terone – Also visible from the Caltagirorne road. The monument, erroneously believed to have been the tomb of the tyrant Theron, in fact dates from Roman times and was erected in honour of soldiers killed during the Second Punic War. Made of tufa, it is slighly pyramidal in shape and probably once had a pointed roof. The high base supports a second order with false doors and Ionic columns at the corners.

 

Tempio di Asclepio (Esculapio) – Just beyond the Tomb of Theron, on the road to Caltanissetta. Look out for a sign (although obscured) on the right. The ruins of this 5C BC temple are to be found in the middle of the countryside. It was dedicated to Aesculapius (Asklepios), the Greek god of medicine, son of Apollo – who it was believed had the power to heal the sick through dreams. The interior, it is thought, harboured a beautiful statue of the god by the Greek sculptor Myron.

 

Telamons and Atlantes (or Atlas figures) – These imposing giants from Agrigento, more often referred to as atlantes, are sometimes called Telomons (Telamone in Italian) after the Latin word derived by the Romans from the Greek, Telamo(n) which indicated their function, that is to carry or bear, in this case the structure. Their supporting mole is accentuated by their position, with arms bent back to balance the weight upon their shoulders. The more common term alludes to the mythological figure Atlas, the giant and leader of the Titans who struggled against the gods of Olympus and was condemned by Zeus to support the weight of the sky on his head. When the earth was discovered to be spherical, he was often shown bearing the terrestrial globe on bis shoulders

 

Grazing is still allowed in certain areas of the Mojave National Preserve. This surprises some that grazing is allowed in a unit of the National Park Service. At last count, livestock grazing is currently permitted in 32 units of the park system. In these cases, grazing occurred at the time of designation and in most cases has historical significance. In the case of Mojave, it is a Preserve not a National Park and preserves allow for limited activities like grazing , mining , etc. This is a comfort to the residents, most who lived here long before the Preserve was designated by an act of Congress. The majority of those residents want things to stay as they always have at least in their life times. However grazing in the Preserve remains a disappointment to those preservation advocates, which includes a few residents, who have long wanted a Mojave National Park. Neither side likes all of the compromises that were needed to reach agreement at the federal level to set the lands aside. Many on both sides of the issues consider compromise to be a "dirty word". However without it, we wouldn't have the protections that have been given to this beautiful and lonely landscape.

 

From a visitors perspective, Mojave Preserve is a bit different from a typical large unit in the National Park System. No gas stations except at the edges in the preserve, no hotels, few places to eat;, and as I can testify, Bathrooms are few and far between.Visiting it takes planning (and a full tank of gas). But such has always been the case for desert adventures. With all this said, the eastern Mojave is a wonderful place to visit even with a few cows.

The Samuel Smith Farmstead represents an outstanding example of a simple Connecticut colonial-era homestead located at, 82 Plants Dam Road, East Lyme, CT. The house and barn currently sit on 17 acres of rural land which was part of the original homestead. The house is unique, since it is being restored and equally important maintained with accuracy to its beginning in c1685 with additional construction, additions to the house in c1735 and c1812.

 

The Samuel Smith Farmstead is a remarkably intact colonial house, barn and farm. The farmstead, previously known as the Hurlburt House.

  

The Hurlbut House, located one mile north of Connecticut Route 156 just west of Bride Brook Road in East Lyme, is a simple 1-and-a 1/2 story, gambrel- roofed structure dating from the late lyth-or early 18th-century. Set in a rural, lightly wooded section of Plants Dam Road, quite close by the road, the low house, with unpainted clapboards and split cedar shingles, faces south. A tiny, early 18th-century, shed, with an added 20th-century lean-to, stands nearby. To the rear is a small 1-story ell, c. 1810, while just out- side the back door sits the original 16' well, with a modern well-sweep,

and back from that, an outhouse, c. l8lO. Further removed from the house to the west is a larger, more recent barn. A portion of the acreage is used to pen the owners' animals, while much of the remainder,.once farmland, is now thickly overgrown. Several houses and a dairy farm nearby are not visible and do not affect the setting or scale of this quaint and primitive grouping.

In its original plan, the Hurlbut House was half its present size, with an end chimney and pitched roof. C.1730, the house was enlarged along the west wall when a nearby house, or portion thereof, was moved onto the site. At the same time the roofline was re-framed to a gambrel. Hence, the facade is asymmetrical with two pairs of windows spaced unevenly across it; the brick chimney, too, rises off-center. The windows are reproduction 6-over-6 sash, using some old glass, while the door is a simple batten type repro- duction.

The main room of the original house, east of the present central entrance, is the hall with its rough fieldstone chimney and low beamed ceiling. The fireplacehasbeenmadesmallerandapparentlyneverhadabakeoven. The

unchamfered summer beam, 18" wide, was cased perhaps 5 to 10 years after the house's construction, as, beneath its beaded casing, it is only slightly

blackened by soot. The joists also are beaded, indicating they were fin- ished to .tye.,exposed. . Featheredge panelling on all four walls survives.

Originally, the entry to the house was directly into the hall, so that what is now the porch of the Hurlbut House was once a second, small bedroom

off the hall. A small square fireplace there indicates that the area was heated. Its odd, straight sides and back suggest that the builders had not yet realized that angled sides and a sloping back cast heat more efficiently, orcouldnotconstructsuchafireplace. Asnostaircasewaseverbuilt into it, the porch is also unusually large. The date "1762" is scratched into the featheredge panelling there; the posts are widely flared and un- cased.

i

Beneath the hall, the cellar is excavated to sufficient depth for a man to stand upright. A rare cellar fireplace exists in the chimney, indicating that the cellar once served as a summer kitchen for the house. A door in the east wall gives outside access to the cellar, also once accessible

 

from the hall. A well-worn crescent in the panelling there testifies to numerous hands steadying the way downstairs. The area across the rear

(north) of the house, unheated, was used for storage, with a buttery partitioned off. Above the hall, the attic was open sleeping space, reached at first by a ladder, evidence of which remains in worn spots in an attic beam. (Later, a staircase was added.) This area was heated by a small fireplace. Thus, the hall, porch and storage room, with the cellar below and open loft above comprise the Hurlbut House as it origin- allystood. (SeeFloorPlan.)

When the house was enlarged, this configuration changed. With the addi- tion, the floor plan became that of a central-chimney structure, with a porch, flanking parlor and hall, and a long kitchen, with borning room and buttery, across the rear. A large fireplace was added to the chimney andthestorageroombecamethekitchen. Intheparlor,theplate, flared posts and summer beam, which measures 15", are all cased. The north wall is featheredge panelled. The small borning room behind the parlor is panelled all around. In the kitchen, a casement window, long since removed and boarded over, is clearly outlined.

The roof was re-framed during the enlargement though beams sandwiched be- tween the rafters and the roof indicate that the pitch of the gambrel

was insufficient and was later inclined more steeply. The northeast section of the attic is open and several figures pertaining to the sale of flax and wool are chalked onto the plank boarding between the rafters.

Still more alterations took place, c. l8l , as part of a major "modern- ization" effort. Three dormers were set in the gambrel across the front and a fourth added at the northwest rear corner making possible the en- closure of the attic into 4 small rooms. The original door was replaced

with a more stylish side-lit model and the 1-story ell was added at the rear, but the floor plan itself changed little. The alterations were primarily cosmetic; fortunately, the owners were not wealthy enough to have the interior "gutted" and most of the original fabric was simply re-located or covered over. The present owners have found pieces of molding from a corner cupboard which once stood in the parlor used as lath in the ceiling above the parlor, while the doors of the cupboard

were in a wall in the attic and shelves in the rafters. The fireplace in the porch was plastered over and a closet placed before it. Carved

wooden mantels were added in both the parlor and the hall and upstairs, inthehallchamber. Someoftheoriginalfeatheredgepanellingwasre- moved, much of it going to the construction of the dormers. More feather edge was plastered over as were the ceilings in the hall and parlor. Shelving from the buttery and even worn clapboards, showing traces of red paint, can be seen in the ceiling in various places throughout the house.

The house altered little after the renovations and, until recently, the c.lSlO outhouse (a 5-holer for which, in the 1930s, the previous owner is said to have been offered $300.00 by the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan) was in regular use. The present owners are restoring the house and have uncovered and re-installed much of the panelling and wood-work. In addition to removing the dormers and side-lit door, they have replaced large 19th-century windows with smaller reproduction sash set with early glasspanes. Theroofhasbeenre-coveredwithcedarshinglesandthe house is being re-clapboarded. Despite modern sheathing, virtually all of the chestnut framing members are original and extant and most of the interior woodwork survives. Though flooring in portions of the attic

is original, most of the flooring, which is oak, dates from the 18th- century. Unfortunately, most of the hardware was removed by a previous owner.

In addition to the pine outhouse mentioned previously, there is a small 18th-centuryshedontheproperty. It,likethehouse,ischestnut- framed. The beams are carefully chamfered with lamb's-tongue stops.

The original wide door is gone, and, in the 1930s, a wood-frame lean-to was added along the south wall, but otherwise, the framing survives in- tact. On one wall in the shed, the intricate drawing of a square-rigged

ship has been etched. Etchings of several other sailing ships exist on the walls in the house, but none are as carefully detailed as the square- rigger. Presumably,theyweredrawnbythechildrenofCaptainJohn Johnson, a sea-captain who owned the house late in the 18th-century. An Indian gravesite is said to be located on the property and several Indian grinding stones have been found near Bride Brook, where it flows through the property. The Hurlbut House is significant primarily for its great age and excellent state of preservation. The majority of its original fabric, in particular, its interior woodwork, survives. It is also significant as an.illustra- tJL,onoftheevolutionofthefloorplanfromendtocenter-chimney. More- over, the Hurlbut House is a rare surviving example of the type of simple, primitive structure which would have been common for the average early 18th- century family. ,

Though the original owner is unknown, Samuel Smith is believed to be an early resident. Nehemiah Smith, an early settler of New London, was granted land in 1652 at Poquonock (Groton); it was there, in 1676, that his son, Samuel, was born. Samuel later in 1698, received title to a large tract of land at Niantic (East Lyme) though the Smith genealogist states, 1doubtless he was married and located there previous to that date since his father had made the purchase several years previous and was not living there him- self."1 Samuel and his wife Elizabeth had 8 or 9 children, his second son, also named Samuel, born in 1696. Despite confusion over which generation

built the house, it would seem likely that it was the father, Samuel, and not the son as the property passed from four otl^er sons, Simon, Joseph, Paul and Daniel, to John Johnson, Junior, the''next owner in 1746. It is possible that the enlargement of the house was made when the property changed hands. Similarly, 69 years later, in 1815, the house left the Johnson family when William Eldridge purchased it. He quickly sold it,

one year later, to Winthrpp Hurlbut suggesting perhaps that the later al- terations were completed during that time. The alterations made illustrate the development of the house from an end- to a central-chimney floor plan.

In addition to evidence suggested by the land records, several architect- ural features about the house indicate its great age. The boarded-up casement window, and an odd, straight-sided porch fireplace are two such evidentiary pieces. There are several other noteworthy features about the house, including the cellar fireplace, beaded joists, and .nautical wall- etchings. The abundance of featheredge panelling extant is also signifi- cant.

1. Smith, H. Alien, A Genealogical History of the Descendants of the Reverend Nehemiah Smith of New London County, Connecticut, Albany, Joel Munsell's Sons, 1889. Page 72.

JMAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Lyme Land and Probate Records, also Interview, Owners, Nov. 1978

Keith, Elmer D.,"Write-ups", accounts of buildings of historical or ar- chitectural interest, on file, Connecticut State Library Archives 1937, p. 119,120.

Kelly, J. Frederick, EARLY DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF CONNECTICUT,

___NewYork . Dnv<=>T PnhJ Ir«a-t-ione Tn^

^GEOGRAPHICAL DATA /

ACREAGEOFNOMINATEDPROPERTY. 30

QUADRANGLENAMENJantJC and Old Lyme Quadrangles QUADRANGLESCALE 1;

  

npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/79002668_text

Governor Charlie Baker testifies at the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission’s 10th annual Health Care Cost Trends Hearing at Suffolk University Law School in Boston on Nov. 2, 2022. [Joshua Qualls/Governor's Press Office]

Testifying the past: Memorial of the GDR time (1949 - 1990)

 

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, no. W 769. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

 

American actor John Garfield (1913-1952) played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. Called to testify before the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), he denied communist affiliation and refused to 'name names', which effectively ended his film career. The stress led to his premature death at 39 from a heart attack. Garfield is seen as a predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.

 

John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on the Lower East Side of New York City, to Hannah Basia (Margolis) and David Garfinkle, who were Jewish immigrants from Zhytomyr (now in Ukraine). Jules was raised by his father, a clothes presser and part-time cantor, after his mother's death in 1920, when he was 7. He grew up in the heart of the Yiddish Theatre District. Jacob was sent to a special school for problem children, where he was introduced to boxing and drama.

As a boy, he won a state-wide oratory contest sponsored by the New York Times with Benjamin Franklin as his subject. Garfield later won a scholarship to Maria Ouspenskaya's drama school. In 1932, he landed a nonpaying job at Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory, where he was recommended to by his acting teachers Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslawski. He changed his name to Jules Garfield and according to IMDb, he made his Broadway debut in that company's Counsellor-at-Law, written by Elmer Rice and starring Paul Muni. (Wikipedia writes that this was actually his second Broadway appearance and that Garfield made his Broadway debut in 1932 in a play called Lost Boy, which ran for only two weeks). Later, he joined the Group Theatre company, winning acclaim for his role as Ralph, the sensitive young son who pleads for "a chance to get to first base" in Awake and Sing. The play opened in February 1935, and Garfield was singled out by critic Brooks Atkinson for having a "splendid sense of character development." However, Garfield was passed over for the lead in Golden Boy, which had especially been written for him by author Clifford Odets. When the play was first produced by the Group Theatre in 1938, the powers that be decided Garfield wasn't 'ready' to play the role of the young violinist turned boxer. Luther Adler subsequently created the role. Embittered, Garfield signed a contract with Warner Brothers, who changed his name to John Garfield. Because both Garfield and his wife did not want to 'go Hollywood,' he had a clause in his Warner contract that allowed him to perform in a legitimate play every year at his option. The couple also refused to own a home in Tinseltown. Garfield won enormous praise for his role of the cynical and tragic composer Mickey Borden in Four Daughters (Michael Curtiz, 1938), starring Claude Rains. For his part he was nominated for the Oscar as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. After the breakout success of Four Daughters, Warner Bros created a name-above-the-title vehicle for him, the crime film They Made Me a Criminal (Busby Berkeley, 1939). Garfield had already made a B movie called Blackwell's Island (William C. McGann, 1939). Not wanting their new star to appear in a low-budget film, Warners ordered an A movie upgrade by adding $100,000 to its budget and recalling director Michael Curtiz to shoot newly scripted scenes.

 

At the onset of World War II, John Garfield immediately attempted to enlist in the armed forces, but was turned down because of his heart condition. Frustrated, he turned his energies to supporting the war effort. He and actress Bette Davis were the driving forces behind the opening of the Hollywood Canteen, a club offering food and entertainment for American servicemen. He traveled overseas to help entertain the troops, made several bond selling tours and starred in a string of popular, patriotic films like Air Force (Howard Hawks, 1943), Destination Tokyo (Delmer Daves, 1943) with Cary Grant, and Pride of the Marines (Delmer Faves, 1945) with Eleanor Parker. All were box office successes. Throughout his film career, John Garfield again and again brooding played rebellious roles despite his efforts to play varied parts. Garfield became one of Warner Bros' most suspended stars. He was suspended 11 times during his nine years at the studio. After the war, Garfield starred in a series of successful films such as the Film Noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946) with Lana Turner, and the showbizz melodrama Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946) with Joan Crawford. When his Warner Bros. contract expired in 1946, he did not re-sign with the studio, opting to start his own independent production company instead. Garfield was one of the first Hollywood actors to do so. In the Best Picture Oscar-winning Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947), Garfield took a featured, but supporting, part because he believed deeply in the film's exposé of antisemitism in America. In 1948, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947) with Lilli Palmer. That same year, Garfield returned to Broadway in the play Skipper Next to God.

 

Active in liberal political and social causes, John Garfield found himself embroiled in Communist scare of the late 1940s. Blacklisted during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s for his left-wing political beliefs, he adamantly refused to "name names" in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in April 1951. In his only TV appearance, Garfield played Joe Bonaparte and Kim Stanley played Lorna Moon in a scene from Clifford Odets' 'Golden Boy' on Cavalcade of Stars: John Garfield, Kim Stanley, Paul Winchell & Jerry Mahoney (1950). With film work scarce because of the blacklist, Garfield returned to Broadway and starred in a 1951 or 1952 revival (the sources fiffer) of Golden Boy. Garfield finally played the role which Odets had written for him and which was denied him years before at the Group Theater. His final film was the Film Noir He Ran All the Way (John Berry, 1951), with Shelley Winters. On 21 May 1952, John Garfield was found dead of a heart attack in the apartment of a friend, former showgirl Iris Whitney. A week before he had separated from his wife, and hours before his death he completed a statement modifying his 1951 testimony about his Communist affiliations. A day earlier Clifford Odets had testified before HUAC and reaffirmed that Garfield had never been a member of the Communist Party. Garfield was the fourth actor to die after being subjected to HUAC investigation. The others were Mady Christians (at 59), J. Edward Bromberg (at 47) and Canada Lee (at 45). The official cause of his death was coronary thrombosis due to a blood clot blocking an artery in his heart. His funeral was mobbed by thousands of fans, in the largest funeral attendance for an actor since Rudolph Valentino. Garfield had been married to his childhood sweetheart Roberta Seidman, from 1935 till his death. They had three children, Katherine (1938-1945), actor David Garfield (1942-1995) and actress Julie Garfield (1946-). His six-year-old daughter Katharine died of an allergic reaction in 1945. He never got over the loss. John Garfield is buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

 

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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

Oscar Pistorius has claimed he is too depressed to testify in the sentencing hearing for murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, a court was told today. The shamed athlete is back at the High Court in Pretoria for the case, where state and defence lawyers are arguing for and against Pistorius serving a lengthy sentence of up to 15 years for the fatal shooting of Reeva three years ago.However, the double amputee, 29, will not return to the witness box in a desperate bid to convince the court that he is a 'changed man', as his psychologist says he cannot testify due to his fragile mental state.Scroll down for video Oscar Pistorius sits in the dock at the High Court in Pretoria for the opening of his murder sentencing hearing After coming face-to-face with Reeva Steenkamp's family, Pistorius could be seen weeping and holding his head in his hands While listening to the evidence given during his sentencing hearing, tears could be seen streaming down Pistorius' face The shamed athlete's eyes were red from sobbing while sitting in the dock during his sentencing hearing in Pretoria He also revealed details of the runner's time in jail and told the court Pistorius felt like he was 'paraded like an animal' while in prison. It came as Professor Jonathan Scholtz told the hearing in Pretoria that Pistorius was a 'broken man', who needs to be hospitalised and not jailed.The doctor also revealed that while the runner was locked up, he was held in ‘virtual isolation for his own protection’ and even saw a prisoner who had been raped hanging dead in his cell.Other details emerged as Dr Scholtz added that the runner's stumps became infected while inside and he had trouble getting medicine, while prison warders brought visitors to catch sight of the famous prisoner, the court heard, all hours of the day or night.It was like ‘being on show as if he was an animal in a cage,’ Dr Scholtz said.The doctor also revealed how a recent outing to a local shop ended up with Pistorius forced to flee after another customer protested about shopping with a murderer. Details of the runner's time in jail also emerged as a psychologist told the court Pistorius felt like he was 'paraded like an animal' while in prison and also saw an inmate dead in his cell after he was found hanging The runner's sister Aimee, pictured next to their father Henke, was also seen weeping during the hearing todayThe doctor who has interviewed and observed Pistorius at length before he was jailed and again last month added he found the sprinter’s mental health had deteriorated dramatically.Dr Scholtz told the court that the killer had a fear of going out, anxiety about being ridiculed, suffered from paranoia, post traumatic stress disorder, depression, insomnia and suffered flashbacks and panic attacks if exposed to loud noises.His fragile mental state meant he would be unable to give evidence to the court on his own behalf, the doctor said.Calling on the court to hospitalise the athlete, rather than jail him, the doctor emphasised that the killer did not test positively as a psychopath or any anti-social disorder, and posed a low risk of committing future acts of violence.He revealed Pistorius had received a ‘firm job offer’ running an Early Childhood Development programme for vulnerable children. The company making the offer is Twin City Developments, owned by his wealthy uncle, Arnold. At one point, Pistorius became so upset before the start of the hearing he had to be comforted and given tissues Details also emerged about his time in prison, where he complained he felt like he was paraded like a caged animal Professor Dr Jonathan Scholtz explained that while Pistorius was in jail, he was held in ‘virtual isolation for his own protection’He also said the sprinter’s distress levels had been exacerbated by the absence of his sister, Aimee, who left South Africa to live in the UK.’Mr Pistorius is very close to her, much more so than his brother,’ Dr Scholtz told the court, watched by Carl and Aimee Pistorius.The doctor reminded the judge of the sprinter’s early childhood when he had to have both his legs amputated below the knee as a toddler, and then lived through his parents bitter divorce and the absence of his father, Henke, who was listening two rows behind the dock.Dr Scholtz said the athlete was still suffering from the loss of Reeva and had been unable to mourn her death properly due to his arrest and trial.During his interviews, Pistorius told the doctor he hoped to devote his life to charitable work through the church and had found comfort in his faith.'He said he has found some solace from the fact that the deceased is now ‘with God’,’ Dr Scholtz told the court, prompting family and friends of Reeva to shift in their seats.Once an avid gun collector and a regular visitor to the shooting range, Pistorius told the doctor that he 'never wants to touch or handle a firearm again and has sold all of his guns.’ Oscar Pistorius was flanked by police officers as he made his way to Pretoria High Court for the sentencing hearing Pistorius arrived looking thin and tense, wearing the familiar court dress of pin-striped suit, white shirt and tie and kept his head down The shamed athlete, 29, will not return to the witness box in a desperate bid to convince the court that he is a 'changed man' since the Valentine's Day slaughter of model Reeva, three years ago as his psychologist says he is too depressed However, prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned Dr Scholtz's assertion that Pistorius was not fit to testify, saying the athlete had managed to give a TV interview. The hour-long interview with Britain's ITV is due to air this month, local media have reported. Mr Nel also revealed to the court that illegal medicine was found in Pistorius’s cell during a routine search. He added that a stash of anti-depressants and sleeping pills were seized by warders that had not been prescribed by prison doctors and Pistorius was not entitled to keep. Mr Nel also said ‘it didn’t happen’ in response to Pistorius’s claim that he had seen a fell inmate hanging in a doorway, following a sex attack.The sprinter also told the doctor he had been assaulted in his cell, but Mr Nel said the incident had never been reported to prison authorities.And Mr Nel told the court that Pistorius did not attempt to get in touch with the family of his victim following his release from prison last October and only attempted to make contact with them via his lawyers just weeks ago 'in preparation for this hearing.'The court was also told June Steenkamp had been 'ummoved' by Pistorius’ public apology, which came at the start of his evidence at his murder trial, and did not want further contact with her daughter’s murderer. Reeva Steenkamp's parents Barry and June Steenkamp held hands as the entered the court for the sentencing hearing today Mr Steenkamp, left, a race horse trainer, suffered a stroke in the wake of his daughter's murder in 2013 and was too frail to attend much of her killer's trial. Mrs Steenkamp attended much of the trial Mrs Steenkamp arrives for the sentencing hearing of her daughter's killer at the High Court in Pretoria During cross examination of the defence’s first witness, Mr Nel was in typically combative mood as he challenged Dr Scholtz’s conclusion that Pistorius was too depressed and broken to give evidence at the hearing.‘So he would rather given an interview to the TV than to court?' Mr Nel asked the doctor, referring to news that the sprinter had given a lengthy exclusive interview to a television reporter.He asked the doctor if he was aware of a string of ‘temper tantrums’ Pistorius had displayed during his incarceration.Mr Nel told the court: ‘He got so upset with Sister Mashubane that on one occasion he approached her office and was shaking and banged the table.'The nurse, who is seated in the court, was deliberately ignored by Pistorius when he greeted all other prison staff flanking her, Mr Nel added.Mr Nel, whose nickname is ‘the Rottweiler’ in legal circles, also asked Dr Scholtz whether he was aware that Pistorius had consulted with his ‘personal doctor’ while in jail, who was also a family member.Earlier Pistorius arrived at the Pretoria High Court looking thin and tense, wearing the familiar court dress of pin-striped suit, white shirt and tie. He greeted family members and spent some time hugging and whispering with his personal counsellor, who comforted him throughout his 2013 trial.He passed the row where members of the Steenkamps were sitting, but did not make eye contact or greet them, instead shaking hands with the prison guards as he made his way into the dock. He had been marched into court with 18 police officers who then lined both sides of the wooden panelled court. Airport-style security had been set up outside the largest court in the High Court building.Within minutes of taking his seat in the dock, Pistorius’ face reddened and he clutched his head in his hands. He stood up, called out to his personal psychologist Dr Lore Hartzenberg, sitting just a few feet in front of him, who came to the dock to hand him some pills which he swallowed with some bottled water. The father of Pistorius, Henke Pistorius was also in court for his son's sentencing hearing in Pretoria Pistorius sister, Aimee and brother Carl also were in court. The hearing was told Aimee has moved from South Africa to the UK due to the stress of her brother's trial Also arriving at the court were Pistorius' uncle Arnold and aunt Lois, at whose luxury home he has been staying while under house arrestHis relatives could also be seen handing over tissues to him as he wept.Also sitting in court today for the first time behind Pistorius, was his former girlfriend Jenna Edkins, who reportedly chatted on the phone with the runner shortly before he murdered Reeva. Sitting next to his sister Aimee, she appeared on close terms with the athlete’s family. During his evidence, Dr Scholtz referred briefly to the sprinter’s five-year on-off liaison with Ms Edkins as he told the court about the killer’s limited success with relationships.According to a book about the case, Pistorius spent nine minutes on a call to Ms Edkins, but it was not raised as evidence in his trial as the phone’s records had been wiped in the weeks after his arrest.The number used by the 27-year-old had been registered in her father’s name and saved in the sprinter’s contacts list as ‘Babyshoes’.The Investec employee took to twitter just hours after Reeva’s murder to defend her former lover. At the time she wrote: 'I would just like to say, I have dated Oscar on off for 5 YEARS, NOT ONCE has he EVER lifted a finger to me, made me fear for my life.'Meanwhile the victim's ailing father, Barry Steenkamp, is a possible witness at the hearing, where the state will demand at least the minimum sentence of 15 years in jail for the disgraced Paralympian.Mr Steenkamp, a race horse trainer, suffered a stroke in the wake of his daughter's murder in 2013 and was too frail to attend much of her killer's trial.Pistorius, who served a year in prison after originally being found guilty of manslaughter, had his conviction upgraded to murder in December following a successful appeal by prosecutors.Judge Thokozile Masipa who was found to have made a mistake in her application of law at the original trial, in 2014, now has the task of deciding Pistorius' punishment. Pistorius' lawyer Barry Roux, left, arrives at the court in Pretoria. Gerrie Nel, right, the state prosecutor will be arguing the disgraced athlete is given a 15 year sentence His social worker, psychiatric experts, prison officials and a possibly a member of his own family are on the list of possible witnesses who will be called to speak in support of him.Judge Masipa is under enormous pressure to redeem herself following the high profile challenge her judgement received by South Africa's most senior judges.The hospital wing at Kgosi Mampuru II jail, which accommodated Pistorius, for his 12 month incarceration, has a single cell ready to accommodate him, prison officials confirmed.Pistorius has been living under comfortable house arrest behind high walls at his uncle Arnold's sprawling villa since he was released from jail in October last year. He has not been seen in public since his last brief court appearance in April.Last month, a new book presented fresh evidence in the case after an analysis of crime scene photographs and post mortem results which had not been put before the original trial.Investigator Thomas Mollett highlighted a bullet wound on Reeva's body which was compatible with a bullet fired by Pistorius' air gun. A similar projectile was found in the door of the bedroom where neighbours claimed they had heard a violent row between the pair.A cricket bat, which the sprinter claimed had only been used to break down the locked door behind which Reeva was dying from four gun shot wounds, had also been used to attack the reality TV star. As family members from both sides of the tragedy took their seats inside, fans for the double amputee gathered outside the Pretoria High Court and sang noisily in support of their fallen hero Pistorius supporters outside Pretoria High Court demonstrate prior to the arrival of the athlete for his sentencing hearing Marks on the bat were compatible with wounds on Reeva's back, the investigators concluded in their book 'Oscar vs The Truth', suggesting she had been struck in the minutes leading up to her death. The bat, which was a collector's item, betrayed signs of a struggle with the rubber handle, several stretched and damaged.As family members from both sides of the tragedy took their seats inside, fans for the double amputee gathered outside the Pretoria High Court and sang noisily in support of their fallen hero.Reeva, a law graduate turned model, was killed when her lover pumped four bullets through a locked toilet door at his home in the early hours of Valentine's Day, 2013.Pistorius told his seven month murder trial that the fatal shooting had been a terrible accident and he had shot in fear that an intruder was lying in wait.The state maintain that the murder followed a ferocious argument between the couple.The hearing is expected to last several days.If he is sentenced to more than five years this time around, he will have to serve at least two thirds of the term before he qualifies for parole.Analysts estimate that he could be sentenced to between eight and 12 years, but the prosecution is pushing for at least 15. Reeva, a law graduate turned model, was killed when her lover pumped four bullets through a locked toilet door at his home in the early hours of Valentine's Day, 2013'When it is not premeditated and when a person is a first offender, (murder) carries a minimum of 15 years... and we have the responsibility to ensure that the provisions of the law are applied,' said the National Prosecution Authority's Luvuyo Mfaku.Pistorius has shunned the media during years of intense coverage since Steenkamp's killing, but his family have revealed that he has given his first interview, due to air on British broadcaster ITV on Friday.The year before he killed Steenkamp, Pistorius became the first double-amputee to race at Olympic level when he appeared at the London 2012 games.He has since lost his glittering sports career, lucrative contracts and status as a global role model for the disabled.

 

Source link cheersbin.com/blog/oscar-pistorius-returns-to-court-over-...

Belgian postcard. by Kores 'Carboplan'. Photo: Warner Bros.

 

American actor John Garfield (1913-1952) played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. Called to testify before the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), he denied communist affiliation and refused to 'name names', which effectively ended his film career. The stress led to his premature death at 39 from a heart attack. Garfield is seen as a predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.

 

John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on the Lower East Side of New York City, to Hannah Basia (Margolis) and David Garfinkle, who were Jewish immigrants from Zhytomyr (now in Ukraine). Jules was raised by his father, a clothes presser and part-time cantor, after his mother's death in 1920, when he was 7. He grew up in the heart of the Yiddish Theatre District. Jacob was sent to a special school for problem children, where he was introduced to boxing and drama.

As a boy, he won a state-wide oratory contest sponsored by the New York Times with Benjamin Franklin as his subject. Garfield later won a scholarship to Maria Ouspenskaya's drama school. In 1932, he landed a non-paying job at Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory, where he was recommended to by his acting teachers Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslawski. He changed his name to Jules Garfield and according to IMDb, he made his Broadway debut in that company's Counsellor-at-Law, written by Elmer Rice and starring Paul Muni. (Wikipedia writes that this was actually his second Broadway appearance and that Garfield made his Broadway debut in 1932 in a play called Lost Boy, which ran for only two weeks). Later, he joined the Group Theatre company, winning acclaim for his role as Ralph, the sensitive young son who pleads for "a chance to get to the first base" in Awake and Sing. The play opened in February 1935, and Garfield was singled out by critic Brooks Atkinson for having a "splendid sense of character development." However, Garfield was passed over for the lead in Golden Boy, which had especially been written for him by author Clifford Odets. When the play was first produced by the Group Theatre in 1938, the powers that be decided Garfield wasn't 'ready' to play the role of the young violinist turned boxer. Luther Adler subsequently created the role. Embittered, Garfield signed a contract with Warner Brothers, who changed his name to John Garfield. Because both Garfield and his wife did not want to 'go Hollywood,' he had a clause in his Warner contract that allowed him to perform in a legitimate play every year at his option. The couple also refused to own a home in Tinseltown. Garfield won enormous praise for his role as the cynical and tragic composer Mickey Borden in Four Daughters (Michael Curtiz, 1938), starring Claude Rains. For his part, he was nominated for the Oscar as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. After the breakout success of Four Daughters, Warner Bros created a name-above-the-title vehicle for him, the crime film They Made Me a Criminal (Busby Berkeley, 1939). Garfield had already made a B movie called Blackwell's Island (William C. McGann, 1939). Not wanting their new star to appear in a low-budget film, Warners ordered an A movie upgrade by adding $100,000 to its budget and recalling director Michael Curtiz to shoot newly scripted scenes.

 

At the onset of World War II, John Garfield immediately attempted to enlist in the armed forces but was turned down because of his heart condition. Frustrated, he turned his energies to supporting the war effort. He and actress Bette Davis were the driving forces behind the opening of the Hollywood Canteen, a club offering food and entertainment for American servicemen. He traveled overseas to help entertain the troops, made several bond selling tours and starred in a string of popular, patriotic films like Air Force (Howard Hawks, 1943), Destination Tokyo (Delmer Daves, 1943) with Cary Grant, and Pride of the Marines (Delmer Faves, 1945) with Eleanor Parker. All were box office successes. Throughout his film career, John Garfield, again and again, brooding played rebellious roles despite his efforts to play varied parts. Garfield became one of Warner Bros' most suspended stars. He was suspended 11 times during his nine years at the studio. After the war, Garfield starred in a series of successful films such as the Film Noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946) with Lana Turner, and the showbiz melodrama Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946) with Joan Crawford. When his Warner Bros. contract expired in 1946, he did not re-sign with the studio, opting to start his own independent production company instead. Garfield was one of the first Hollywood actors to do so. In the Best Picture Oscar-winning Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947), Garfield took a featured but supporting, part because he believed deeply in the film's exposé of antisemitism in America. In 1948, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947) with Lilli Palmer. That same year, Garfield returned to Broadway in the play Skipper Next to God.

 

Active in liberal political and social causes, John Garfield found himself embroiled in the Communist scare of the late 1940s. Blacklisted during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s for his left-wing political beliefs, he adamantly refused to "name names" in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in April 1951. In his only TV appearance, Garfield played Joe Bonaparte and Kim Stanley played Lorna Moon in a scene from Clifford Odets' 'Golden Boy' on Cavalcade of Stars: John Garfield, Kim Stanley, Paul Winchell & Jerry Mahoney (1950). With film work scarce because of the blacklist, Garfield returned to Broadway and starred in a 1951 or 1952 revival (the sources differ) of Golden Boy. Garfield finally played the role which Odets had written for him and which was denied him years before at the Group Theater. His final film was the Film Noir He Ran All the Way (John Berry, 1951), with Shelley Winters. On 21 May 1952, John Garfield was found dead of a heart attack in the apartment of a friend, former showgirl Iris Whitney. A week before he had separated from his wife, and hours before his death he completed a statement modifying his 1951 testimony about his Communist affiliations. A day earlier Clifford Odets had testified before HUAC and reaffirmed that Garfield had never been a member of the Communist Party. Garfield was the fourth actor to die after being subjected to HUAC investigation. The others were Mady Christians (at 59), J. Edward Bromberg (at 47) and Canada Lee (at 45). The official cause of his death was coronary thrombosis due to a blood clot blocking an artery in his heart. His funeral was mobbed by thousands of fans, in the largest funeral attendance for an actor since Rudolph Valentino. Garfield had been married to his childhood sweetheart Roberta Seidman, from 1935 till his death. They had three children, Katherine (1938-1945), actor David Garfield (1942-1995) and actress Julie Garfield (1946-). His six-year-old daughter Katharine died of an allergic reaction in 1945. He never got over the loss. John Garfield is buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

 

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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

The same week that two bullies beat up on another bully serendipity and coincidence brought this temporary installation of shocking images protesting the despotic regime that has ended the lives of hundreds of thousands of its own citizens. This was a sobering field of nightmares to walk among.

Justice for Colten Boushie!!

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"Fitch testified at the inquiry that the officers failed in their duty to exercise reasonable care with Paul, and that charges of manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and failure to provide the necessities of life against the officers were considered, but he concluded there was not a substantial likelihood of conviction."

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2011/06/22/...

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The man in charge of the Vancouver jail the night Frank Paul was left in the alley where he died nine years ago said he didn't believe Paul was intoxicated enough to be kept in the drunk tank.

 

Paul, a former resident of the Big Cove First Nation in New Brunswick, died of hypothermia because of exposure due to alcohol intoxication.

 

Video played earlier to the inquiry shows officers dragging Paul's limp body into the jail's elevator. His soaking body left a long wet streak along the floor.

 

www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/01/07/bc-fr...

 

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As pieced together from the police video by the 2004 Ryneveld report, a "motionless" Paul was dragged into the jail elevator at 8:25 p.m. on December 5, 1998. His condition was seen by a number of individuals, including the sergeant on duty, who determined that Paul wasn't intoxicated. Five minutes later, at 8:30 p.m., a police wagon driver and a provincial jail guard dragged "a still rain-soaked, motionless Frank Paul from the elevator to the police wagon along the floor of the wagon bay area". The wagon driver delivered another intoxicated person in the wagon to a detoxification centre before placing Paul in a nearby alley. His lifeless body was found at 2:41 a.m. on December 6, 1998, at that same location.

www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/event.php?eid=108547075846328

 

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson testifies before the Senate Appropriations’ Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies subcommittee during a budget hearing, Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Finally, after six months, a Congressional investigation into the attack on the Capital has started with the testimony of 4 rank-and-file police officers, who were part of the team of officers defending the Capital building that day. (2 Capital Police officers and 2 Washington DC Metro Police officers who were rush to the Capital when the assault began to overwhelm the Capital Police there. They represented the hundreds of rank-and-file officers from multiple agencies who rushed to defend the Capital.)

 

The testimony of these officers was riveting and quite troubling about what it says about parts of my country. We have a long way to go to find all the answers and I think much of the GOP has been doing everything they can to keep them from being answered. But this necessary investigation has finally started.

 

It is the beginning of a likely months long set of hearings that look to find answers to what happen leading up to to, during and after the attack on the Capital. So much remains unknown and while I don’t know what will be found, it is so important to know and eventually hold these people responsible accountable.

 

Requiring people to testify under oath and on the record and getting access to communications and documents will also be critical. It will take time, but in the end, we will be better prepared to defend against future attacks on our government and it will hopefully lead to the accountability of those responsible.

 

We don’t know where this will all lead, but like any journey it starts with the first steps. And I again thank those who have stood up to defend our democracy that day (and every other day too.)

 

The United States of America is an experiment in democracy it is not a given. We all must stand up to support these efforts and against those who are working to undermine it.

 

Thank you. Be well and get vaccinated if you still haven’t done so.

 

Sometimes while I'm on a job and I have some down-time, I let my imagination go free.

 

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NASA Administrator Bill Nelson testifies before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology during a hearing on the fiscal year 2022 budget proposal, Wednesday, June 23, 2021 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

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the opening may appear small, but the arch was about 15 feet in the air.

 

New Smyrna Sugar Mill Ruins (also known as the Cruger and DePeyster Sugar Mill)

 

Under the century old oaks, among pines and a palmetto thicket lie old cast iron vats, a sugar press and iron lever that was once part of the steam-powered machinery.

 

Moss and ferns now cover much of the foundations and walls of Sugar Mill Ruins, 600 Mission Drive, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and its age is silently testified to by the size of the large live oak tree that grows in the sugar drying room. Beautiful arched doorways, the curing room, the cane crushing machinery room, where the "walking beam" of the steam engine was located, wells that supplied the engine with water, three of the five cooking kettles, the storage room, and a cane press that was mule driven can still be seen.

 

One of sixteen sugar plantations built between New Smyrna and St. Augustine, in the 1830s, Sugar Mill supplied molasses needed to make rum and refined sugar. The sugar cane was planted in January or February, with the harvest taking place in October, if drought, fires, hurricanes and Indians didn't intervene.

 

Sugar cane was mashed between large rotating iron cylinders and the juice was used, along with wood, as fuel to fire the furnaces. The juice from the crushed cane was piped into the cooking kettles, starting with the largest one, which was furthest from the fire, and was hand dipped from one kettle to the next until it ended up as syrup in the last one.

 

If sugar was desired the syrup was transferred to large vats where sugar crystals formed as it cooled. After cooling and hardening this wet sugar was carried to the curing room and packed in wooden barrels and stored for 20 - 30 days to allow the molasses to drain into vats dug into the floor.

 

The Seminole Indians also lived in the area and resented the intrusion of settlers. The mill was a lucrative business until the entire plantation was destroyed during the Seminole War of 1835.

 

At 1 a.m. on December 28, 1835, the Indians plundered and burned plantations, destroyed the Sugar Mill and set fire to all the buildings in New Smyrna. Residents fled and made their way across the river to Colonel Dummett's house, Mt. Pleasant, and then to Bulow plantation in Ormond Beach. The sugar industry in the area was never revived. In 1893 New York stock broker Washington E. Connor purchased 10 acres, including the Sugar Mill site for $400, as a birthday gift for his wife, historian Jeannette Thurber Connor. The ruins were conveyed by the Connors to the Florida State Park Service in 1929.

 

Once thought to be the remains of an old Spanish Mission, the mill was actually constructed in 1830 by William Kemble for William DePeyster and Eliza and Henry Cruger of New York. The land was purchased from the estate of Ambrose Hull and several thousand acres were planted in sugar cane. The mill was operated by Thomas Stamps, a South Carolina sugar planter.

 

Today it is a State Historic Site, open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is a short nature trail that wanders through a palmetto hammock, providing a view of what Florida looked like to settlers in the 1880s. Grill and picnic tables are available for those who would like to enjoy a picnic lunch while exploring this piece of New Smyrna's past. Admission is free.

 

Information provided by the Southeast Volusia Chamber of Commerce

John 1

John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”

 

16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken testified before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs on the FY24 Department of State budget request on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 22, 2023. [State Department photo by Chuck Kennedy/ Public Domain]

What a city on the mountain - Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur is like no other, guarding the 'Blue City' with its crowded but friendly markets below

 

Mehrangarh Fort, located in Jodhpur city in Rajasthan state is one of the largest forts in India. The fort is situated on a lofty height, 400 feet (122 metres) above the city, and is enclosed by imposing thick walls. Inside its territorial boundaries, there are several palaces, which are known for their intricate carvings and sprawling courtyards.

In 1458, Rao Jodha (1438-1488), one of Ranmal's 24 sons became the fifteenth Rathore ruler. One year after his accession to the throne, Jodha decided to move his capital to the safer location of Jodhpur as the one thousand years old Mandore fort was no longer considered to provide sufficient security.

 

The foundation of the fort was laid on May 12, 1459[1] by Jodha on a rocky hill 9 kilometres to the south of Mandore. This hill was known as Bhaurcheeria, the mountain of birds. According to legend to build the fort he had to displace the hill's sole human occupant, a hermit called Cheeria Nathji, the lord of birds. Upset at being forced to move Cheeria Nathji cursed Rao Jodha with "Jodha! May your citadel ever suffer a scarcity of water!". Rao Jodha managed to appease the hermit by building a house and a temple in the fort very near the cave the hermit had used for meditation, though only to the extent that even today the area is plagued by a drought every 3 to 4 years.[2][3]

 

Jodha then took the extreme step to ensure the new site proved propitious; he buried a man called Rajiya Bhambi (Meghwal) alive in the foundations. Rajiya meghwal was promised that in return his family would be looked after by the Rathores. To this day his descendants still live in Raj Bagh, Rajiya's Garden, an estate bequeathed them by Jodha.[4]

 

Mehrangarh (etymology: 'Mihir' (Sanskrit)-sun or Sun-deity; 'garh' (Sanskrit)-fort; i.e.'Sun-fort'; according to Rajasthani language pronunciation conventions,'Mihirgarh' has changed to 'Mehrangarh'; the Sun-deity has been the chief deity of the Rathore dynasty.[5] Though the fortress was originally started in 1459 by Rao Jodha, founder of Jodhpur, most of the fort which stands today dates from the period of Jaswant Singh (1638–78). The fort is located at the centre of the city spreading over 5 kilometres atop a 125-metre high hill. Its walls, which are up to 36 metres high and 21 metres wide, protect some of the most beautiful and historic palaces in Rajasthan.

 

Entry to the fort is gained though a series of 7 gates. The most famous of the gates are: - Jai Pol ("Gate of Victory"), built by Maharaja Man Singh in 1806 to celebrate his victory in a war with Jaipur and Bikaner;[6] - Fateh Pol, built to celebrate a victory over the Mughals in 1707; - Dedh Kamgra Pol, which still bears the scars of bombardment by cannonballs; - Loha Pol, which is the final gate into the main part of the fort complex. Immediately to the left are the handprints (sati marks) of the ranis who in 1843 immolated themselves on the funeral pyre of their husband, Maharaja Man Singh. [7]

 

Within the fort, several brilliantly crafted and decorated palaces are found. Of these, Moti Mahal (Pearl Palace), Phool Mahal (Flower Palace), Sheesha Mahal (Mirror Palace), Sileh Khana, and Daulat Khana are notable. One also finds the fort museum comprising several palaces. This museum houses an exquisite collection of palanquins, howdahs, royal cradles, miniatures, musical instruments, costumes and furniture. The ramparts of the fort are home to not only several excellently preserved old cannon (including the famous Kilkila) but also offer a breath-taking view of the city.

Period rooms

 

[edit] Moti Mahal - The Pearl Palace

Built by Raja Sur Singh (1595-1619), the Moti Mahal is the largest of the Mehrangarh Museum's period rooms. Sur Singh's Moti Mahal has five alcoves leading onto hidden balconies; it is believed they were built for his five queens to listen in on court proceeding.

  

[edit] Sheesha Mahal - The Hall Of Mirrors

It is a fine example of a typical Rajput Sheesh Mahal. The mirror-work includes large, regular pieces, rather than an intricate mosaic of tiny fragments; another thing is the superimposition over the mirror-work of brightly painted religious figures made in plaster.]

  

[edit] Phool Mahal - The Palace Of Flowers

The Phool Mahal was created by Maharaja Abhaya Singh (1724-1749). The grandest of Mehrangarh's period rooms the Phool Mahal was in all likelihood a private and exclusive chamber of pleasure; dancing girls once swooned in exhaustion here under a ceiling rich in gold filigree.

  

[edit] Takhat Vilas - Maharaja Takhat Singh's Chamber

Built and lived in by Maharaja Takhat Singh (1843-1873), Jodhpur's last ruler to reside in the Mehrangarh Fort, Takhat Vilas is an interesting blend of styles, most traditional, but some, like the glass balls on the ceiling, testifying to the modern age which arrived with the British.

  

[edit] Galleries in Mehrangarh Museum

 

[edit] Elephant's Howdahs

The howdahs were a kind of two-compartment wooden seat (mostly covered with gold and silver embossed sheets), which was fastened on to the elephant back. The front compartment with more leg space and raised protective metal sheet was meant for kings or royalty and rear smaller ones for a reliable bodyguard disguised as a fly-whisk attendant.

  

[edit] Palanquins

Palanquins were a popular means of travel and circumambulation for the ladies of the nobility up to the second quarter of the 20th century. They were also used by male nobility and royals on special occasions.

  

[edit] Daulat Khana - Treasures of Mehrangarh Museum

This gallery displays one of the most important and best preserved collection of fine and applied arts of the Mughal period of Indian history, during which the Rathore rulers of Jodhpur maintained close links with the Mughal emperors.

  

[edit] Armoury

This Gallery displays a rare collection of Armour from every period in Jodhpur. On display are sword hilts in jade, silver, rhino horn, ivory, shields studded with rubies, emeralds and pearls, guns with gold and silver work on barrels. The gallery also has on display personal swords of many an emperor, among them are outstanding historical piece like the Khanda of Rao Jodha, weighing over 7 pounds, the sword of Akbar the Great and The sword of Timur the Lame.

  

[edit] Paintings

This Gallery displays colours of Marwar-Jodhpur, the finest example of Marwar paintings.

  

[edit] The Turban Gallery

The Turban Gallery in the Mehrangarh Museum seeks to preserve, document and display the many, many different types of turbans once prevalent in Rajasthan ; every community, region and, indeed, festival has its own head-gear and this diversity, the colors of the desert, is wonderfully brought out in this welcome addition to the museum.

  

Source: ~Wikipedia

 

Plas yn Rhiw is an early 17th-century manor house in Y Rhiw, Gwynedd in northwestern Wales. The estate consists of a small house of Tudor/Georgian style, a garden of just under one acre in size, and many wooded acres. Located at the base of Mynydd Rhiw, the estate overlooks the beach of Porth Neigwl (Hells Mouth), Cardigan Bay, and the Llŷn Peninsula.

 

The history of the manor's estate predates construction of the house to some 4000 years of the neolithic period. After the house's construction in the early 17th century (an inscription of I.L. on a window lintel is dated 1634), the manor house witnessed many historical family saga, which finally ended in the 1940s when the three sisters donated it to the National Trust in memory of their parents, Constance and William Keating. Before that, they had refurbished the garden and restored the manor house to its old glory. The three sisters, who lived in the house until each of their deaths, are buried in a churchyard near Porth Ysgo, about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from their Plas yn Rhiw. Plas yn Rhiw is the only organic National Trust garden in Wales. The original garden was expanded by the trust to include 150 acres (61 ha) of surrounding woodland. The garden and park are listed at Grade II on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

 

The family history of the owners of the Plas yn Rhiw is traced to tribes of some 4000 years old neolithic period who lived in its close vicinity. Celtic forts within 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) of the manor house, of Middle Europe vintage, also testify to settlements to some 2000 years ago. Roman legionaries were stationed at Segontium (an outpost of the XXth Legion) near Caernarfon and their defence structures are corroborated by evidences near the 6th-century church of St Hywyn at Aberdaron. The location also witnessed intermarriage and family squabbles among the descendants of the Neolithic people, immigrants from Ireland and the Iberian Peninsula who had made their living here. The offspring of this generation of people are stated to be the modern Welsh families living in this area.

 

The Gwynedd Royal Dynasty had been established here around the 5th century after defeating the Irish settlers. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Irish settlers faced many invasions by the Vikings and many churches were destroyed. However, the Gwynedd kings vanquished many of the Viking invaders and also the Saxons (the English people). Rhodri the Great, the first king of all Wales, ruled in the 9th century, and his great grandson, Meirion Goch, is reported to have built a house close to the present manor house of Plas yn Rhiw.

 

A conceptual version of the Plas yn Rhiw manor house has been interpreted as a 15th-century house having been built with 1 metre (3 ft 3 in) thick stone walls and mud floors, covered with meadowsweet, found locally. Small, unglazed, sliced windows were covered with waxed cloth. There was a heavy main front door. Also conjectured were a main room with a circular staircase leading to a watch tower. A fireplace with chimney lead to the thatched roof . The house was surrounded by the common setting of a farmhouse with pigsties, barns stables and houses for farm labourers.

 

A 16th-century "The Caernarfon Quarter Sessions Calendar" makes mention of the manor house as "Plas yn Rhiw" in the village of Rhiw. The residents of the manor house lived as respected gentry of the town, also participating in jury duty in the judicial system of the town. However, at that time, they did not have a traditional surname but were known by their father's name. They eventually adopted the surname as Lewis, either suffixed or prefixed to their maiden name, for another 250 years and they were prosperous in the Welsh land.

 

The house originally built by Meirion Goch in the 10th century to prevent incursions by Vikings into Porth Neigwl was rebuilt. A French window in the present house, which was remodelled in 1820, has an inscription dated 1634 and attributed to John Lewis, presumed to be the owner of the house at that time. His son, Richard Lewis, was married to Rector Richard Glynn's daughter. The hierarchy that followed consisted of two sons of Richard Lewis, the second son inheriting the property after his father's death, who lived with his wife Jane in the house. They had a daughter, also named Jane, who married William William and they had a son who was also named William William who was married to Mary Jones, the daughter of the Rector of Llaniestyn. They had only a daughter named Jane Ann who became the sole heiress of the property, in 1816. She married an army gentleman by the name of Lewis Moore Bennet. It was during this time that the house underwent further expansion.

 

The Bennet's only child was also a daughter who became an heiress and married a very ambitious attorney, Cyril Williams, who was the son of the Rector of Llanbedrog. They had a son but the mother died soon after child birth. In 1846, Cyril Williams became the Mayor of Pwllheli but his ambitious plans to develop the place and to build a railway line from Worcester to Porth Dinllaen via Ludlow, Tremadog and Pwllheli, and then linking it to a ferry service to Ireland, did not come to fruition as he could not muster enough support for his plans in the House of Commons. Cyril Williams remarried and had many children. His daughter, Anne Elizabeth Williams, had in fact inscribed her name on a diamond ring and placed it on glass in one of the rooms on the first floor of the house, which is closed now. After Cyril William's death in 1859, his son William Lewis Williams, an army officer, inherited the property but he died a bachelor, and the house, along with the estate, was sold for £8000.

 

The property was purchased by Thomas Edward Roberts of Hendre, Abererch, who lived in the manor house with his wife and children. But his son did not have interest to live in the house as he was residing in Harlech. He, therefore, released the house and the land to Lady Strickland of Sizergh Castle and Garden, Cumbria, who lived in the manor house for two summers. She was instrumental in fixing a modern bathtub in the house; it is now a water display item in the garden. After her, one of the daughters of Williams lived in the house for some time and then moved to Abergele in 1922. Then the house was deserted and remained untended till the Keating sisters bought it who, as children, had moved with their mother to Rhiw in 1904 and taken residence in a rented house.

 

In 1939, the Keating sisters, Eileen, Lorna and Honora, along with their mother, Constance, who traced their ancestry to the original owners of the manor, purchased the manor house. They embarked on a serious refurbishing process in which they improved the garden setting, acquiring more land to enhance the environmental setting of the house and brought back the old glory of the manor.

 

The walls, measuring a depth of 6.5 feet (2.0 m) in places, were constructed of large stones. A third storey was built as an extension to the old manor house built in the 17th century. A stair-wing was added to the rear. It was extended laterally, also. The front elevation, as well as the doors and windows were redesigned with a Georgian façade. Sixteen pane, sash windows, and an above ground floor verandah were added. There is a stone, spiral staircase. The house was restored by the Keating sisters in 1939, with advice from Clough Williams-Ellis (who designed and built Portmeirion village), which included removal of the ca. 1816 Regency style stucco to reveal the original grey stone walls.

 

Located on the grounds, and adjoining the manor home, a two-storey former gardener's cottage is available for rent. It has its own kitchen, sitting/dining room, fireplace, bedrooms, and a bathroom.

 

There are several Grade II listed buildings on the estate, such as the cartshed which was listed in 1971, including the manor house and the detached cottage. There is also a summerhouse and a tool shed. An old mill next to a stream was granted Royal permission to grind its own corn.

 

Set away from prevailing winds and benefiting from the microclimate, the garden lies below the house and is terraced into the slope, divided by hedges into several small compartments. There are native and cultivated plants in the garden. In spring and summer, there are displays of snowdrops and bluebells. Rhododendrons, azaleas, and magnolias are also part of the garden setting. The garden is accessible via grass paths and cobbled paths. Stone gateposts and seats, as well as old, unused buildings, and parterres are included in the landscaping. The parterre is referred to as Lady Strickland's Garden. A slate plaque is situated outside the entrance to the garden and contains an epitaph.

 

The earliest known planting plan was developed in 1966 by Mildred Eldridge, an artist and the wife of poet R. S. Thomas. This was followed in 1994 when an improved plan was drawn by the garden designed John Hubbard.

 

Tim Walker, head gardener of the manor garden, boasts: "It's the only organic National Trust garden in Wales, and one of only three throughout England and Wales – although the other two, Trengwainton, near Penzance, and Snowshill Manor, in Gloucestershire, haven't got the same pedigree as Plas".

 

After the manor house, gardens and over 400 acres of countryside were given to the National Trust, the Trust added 150 acres (61 ha) of surrounding woodland that includes a Snowdrop Wood (Oxalis magellanica).

 

Y Rhiw is a small village on the south west tip of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales. The village forms part of the community of Aberdaron.

 

From the village there are views towards Snowdonia. Nearby is the National Trust owned Plas yn Rhiw.

 

The area has been inhabited at least since the Stone Age. On the slopes of Mynydd Rhiw is a late Stone Age burial chamber and neolithic quarries. Nearby on Mynydd y Graig are three hillforts, several hut circles and terraced fields that are thought to date from the late Iron Age; a Bronze Age cinerary urn was uncovered in 1955.

 

Common land at Mynydd Rhiw and Mynydd y Graig was enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1811, and barley and oats were grown. Manganese was discovered in 1827; donkeys carried the ore to Porth Cadlan and Porth Neigwl, and in the late 19th century houses were built for industrial workers. By 1914 an aerial ropeway had been constructed, passing over the growing village to a jetty on the shore at Porth Neigwl. In World War I there was a great demand for manganese as a strengthening agent for steel, and the industry became a substantial employer in the village; over 150,000 long tons (150,000 t) of ore were extracted during the lifetime of the mines, and in 1906 the industry employed 200 people. During World War II, coal miners, Cornish tin miners and a contingent of the Royal Canadian Engineers were drafted in to work the mines.

 

Plas yn Rhiw is a Grade II* listed early 17th-century manor house, which contains a stone spiral staircase. The house is believed to be on or near the site of an earlier defended house, built by Meirion Goch in the 10th century to prevent incursions by Vikings into Porth Neigwl. It was remodelled in 1820 and restored by the Keating sisters in 1939. It is now owned by the National Trust. The garden lies below the house and is terraced into the slope, divided by hedges into several small compartments; there are views over Porth Neigwl and Cardigan Bay, and in spring and summer there are displays of snowdrops and bluebells. It is the only organic National Trust garden in Wales.

 

Places of worship include:

St Aelrhiw's Church, built in 1860 on the footings of an earlier church. The churchyard contains the graves of some of the many bodies that were washed up at Porth Neigwl during World War I.

Capel Nebo, built in 1813 by the Congregationalists;

Capel Pisgah, built in 1832 by the Wesleyan Methodists

Capel Tan y Foel, a Calvinistic Methodist chapel.

 

Other notable buildings include:

Hen Felin, an ancient mill which stood close to the shoreline at Porth Neigwl, and was referred to in a Crown survey of 1352. A second mill stood above Plas yn Rhiw, fed by the holy well at Ffynnon Aelrhiw.

Bwlch y Garreg Wen, built in 1731, is a typical agricultural worker's house of the period. This type of dwelling, known as a 'croglofft cottage', was found throughout the Llŷn Peninsula.

Tyn y Graig, built at the beginning of the 18th century and constructed of uncoursed boulders. It was originally thatched, but a slate roof was later substituted. It has two tall square capped chimneys, and contains a dairy with a loft above.

Meillionydd Fawr, which dates from 1616 and is to the west of Mynydd Rhiw. It is a three-storey building with boulder-built walls and a modern slate roof, which was much altered in the 19th century.

Bryn Gwynt and Pen yr Ogof, examples of 'Moonlight Cottages'. In the 17th and 18th centuries it was common for young couples to squat on land; if they were able to build a cottage over night and have smoke coming from the chimney by dawn, they could keep both the house and surrounding land.

 

Gwynedd is a county in the north-west of Wales. It borders Anglesey across the Menai Strait to the north, Conwy, Denbighshire, and Powys to the east, Ceredigion over the Dyfi estuary to the south, and the Irish Sea to the west. The city of Bangor is the largest settlement, and the administrative centre is Caernarfon. The preserved county of Gwynedd, which is used for ceremonial purposes, includes the Isle of Anglesey.

 

Gwynedd is the second largest county in Wales but sparsely populated, with an area of 979 square miles (2,540 km2) and a population of 117,400. After Bangor (18,322), the largest settlements are Caernarfon (9,852), Bethesda (4,735), and Pwllheli (4,076). The county has the highest percentage of Welsh speakers in Wales, at 64.4%, and is considered a heartland of the language.

 

The geography of Gwynedd is mountainous, with a long coastline to the west. Much of the county is covered by Snowdonia National Park (Eryri), which contains Wales's highest mountain, Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa; 3,560 feet, 1,090 m). To the west, the Llŷn Peninsula is flatter and renowned for its scenic coastline, part of which is protected by the Llŷn AONB. Gwynedd also contains several of Wales's largest lakes and reservoirs, including the largest, Bala Lake (Llyn Tegid).

 

The area which is now the county has played a prominent part in the history of Wales. It formed part of the core of the Kingdom of Gwynedd and the native Principality of Wales, which under the House of Aberffraw remained independent from the Kingdom of England until Edward I's conquest between 1277 and 1283. Edward built the castles at Caernarfon and Harlech, which form part of the Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gwynedd World Heritage Site. During the Industrial Revolution the slate industry rapidly developed; in the late nineteenth century the neighbouring Penrhyn and Dinorwic quarries were the largest in the world, and the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales is now a World Heritage Site. Gwynedd covers the majority of the historic counties of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire.

 

In the past, historians such as J. E. Lloyd assumed that the Celtic source of the word Gwynedd meant 'collection of tribes' – the same root as the Irish fine, meaning 'tribe'. Further, a connection is recognised between the name and the Irish Féni, an early ethnonym for the Irish themselves, related to fían, 'company of hunting and fighting men, company of warriors under a leader'. Perhaps *u̯en-, u̯enə ('strive, hope, wish') is the Indo-European stem. The Irish settled in NW Wales, and in Dyfed, at the end of the Roman era. Venedotia was the Latin form, and in Penmachno there is a memorial stone from c. AD 500 which reads: Cantiori Hic Iacit Venedotis ('Here lies Cantiorix, citizen of Gwynedd'). The name was retained by the Brythons when the kingdom of Gwynedd was formed in the 5th century, and it remained until the invasion of Edward I. This historical name was revived when the new county was formed in 1974.

 

Gwynedd was an independent kingdom from the end of the Roman period until the 13th century, when it was conquered by England. The modern Gwynedd was one of eight Welsh counties created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It covered the entirety of the historic counties of Anglesey and Caernarfonshire, and all of Merionethshire apart from Edeirnion Rural District (which went to Clwyd); and also a few parishes of Denbighshire: Llanrwst, Llansanffraid Glan Conwy, Eglwysbach, Llanddoged, Llanrwst and Tir Ifan.

 

The county was divided into five districts: Aberconwy, Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd and Anglesey.

 

The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 abolished the 1974 county (and the five districts) on 1 April 1996, and its area was divided: the Isle of Anglesey became an independent unitary authority, and Aberconwy (which included the former Denbighshire parishes) passed to the new Conwy County Borough. The remainder of the county was constituted as a principal area, with the name Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire, as it covers most of the areas of those two historic counties. As one of its first actions, the Council renamed itself Gwynedd on 2 April 1996. The present Gwynedd local government area is governed by Gwynedd Council. As a unitary authority, the modern entity no longer has any districts, but Arfon, Dwyfor and Meirionnydd remain as area committees.

 

The pre-1996 boundaries were retained as a preserved county for a few purposes such as the Lieutenancy. In 2003, the boundary with Clwyd was adjusted to match the modern local government boundary, so that the preserved county now covers the two local government areas of Gwynedd and Anglesey. Conwy county borough is now entirely within Clwyd.

 

A Gwynedd Constabulary was formed in 1950 by the merger of the Anglesey, Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire forces. A further amalgamation took place in the 1960s when Gwynedd Constabulary was merged with the Flintshire and Denbighshire county forces, retaining the name Gwynedd. In one proposal for local government reform in Wales, Gwynedd had been proposed as a name for a local authority covering all of north Wales, but the scheme as enacted divided this area between Gwynedd and Clwyd. To prevent confusion, the Gwynedd Constabulary was therefore renamed the North Wales Police.

 

The Snowdonia National Park was formed in 1951. After the 1974 local authority reorganisation, the park fell entirely within the boundaries of Gwynedd, and was run as a department of Gwynedd County Council. After the 1996 local government reorganisation, part of the park fell under Conwy County Borough, and the park's administration separated from the Gwynedd council. Gwynedd Council still appoints nine of the eighteen members of the Snowdonia National Park Authority; Conwy County Borough Council appoints three; and the Welsh Government appoints the remaining six.

 

There has been considerable inwards migration to Gwynedd, particularly from England. According to the 2021 census, 66.6% of residents had been born in Wales whilst 27.1% were born in England.

 

The county has a mixed economy. An important part of the economy is based on tourism: many visitors are attracted by the many beaches and the mountains. A significant part of the county lies within the Snowdonia National Park, which extends from the north coast down to the district of Meirionnydd in the south. But tourism provides seasonal employment and thus there is a shortage of jobs in the winter.

 

Agriculture is less important than in the past, especially in terms of the number of people who earn their living on the land, but it remains an important element of the economy.

 

The most important of the traditional industries is the slate industry, but these days only a small percentage of workers earn their living in the slate quarries.

 

Industries which have developed more recently include TV and sound studios: the record company Sain has its HQ in the county.

 

The education sector is also very important for the local economy, including Bangor University and Further Education colleges, Coleg Meirion-Dwyfor and Coleg Menai, both now part of Grŵp Llandrillo Menai.

 

The proportion of respondents in the 2011 census who said they could speak Welsh.

Gwynedd has the highest proportion of people in Wales who can speak Welsh. According to the 2021 census, 64.4% of the population aged three and over stated that they could speak Welsh,[7] while 64.4% noted that they could speak Welsh in the 2011 census.

 

It is estimated that 83% of the county's Welsh-speakers are fluent, the highest percentage of all counties in Wales.[9] The age group with the highest proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd were those between ages 5–15, of whom 92.3% stated that they could speak Welsh in 2011.

 

The proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd declined between 1991 and 2001,[10] from 72.1% to 68.7%, even though the proportion of Welsh speakers in Wales as a whole increased during that decade to 20.5%.

 

The Annual Population Survey estimated that as of March 2023, 77.0% of those in Gwynedd aged three years and above could speak Welsh.

 

Notable people

Leslie Bonnet (1902–1985), RAF officer, writer; originated the Welsh Harlequin duck in Criccieth

Sir Dave Brailsford (born 1964), cycling coach; grew up in Deiniolen, near Caernarfon

Duffy (born 1984), singer, songwriter and actress; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Edward II of England (1284–1327), born in Caernarfon Castle

Elin Fflur (born 1984), singer-songwriter, TV and radio presenter; went to Bangor University

Bryn Fôn (born 1954), actor and singer-songwriter; born in Llanllyfni, Caernarfonshire.

Wayne Hennessey (born 1987), football goalkeeper with 108 caps for Wales; born in Bangor, Gwynedd

John Jones (c. 1530 – 1598), a Franciscan friar, Roman Catholic priest and martyr; born at Clynnog

Sir Love Jones-Parry, 1st Baronet (1832–1891), landowner and politician, co-founder of the Y Wladfa settlement in Patagonia

T. E. Lawrence (1888–1935), archaeologist, army officer and inspiration for Lawrence of Arabia, born in Tremadog

David Lloyd George (1863–1945), statesman and Prime Minister; lived in Llanystumdwy from infancy

Sasha (born 1969), disc jockey, born in Bangor, Gwynedd

Sir Bryn Terfel (born 1965), bass-baritone opera and concert singer from Pant Glas

Sir Clough Williams-Ellis (1883–1978), architect of Portmeirion

Owain Fôn Williams, (born 1987), footballer with 443 club caps; born and raised in Penygroes, Gwynedd.

Hedd Wyn (1887–1917), poet from the village of Trawsfynydd; killed in WWI

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken testified before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs on the FY24 Department of State budget request on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 22, 2023. [State Department photo by Chuck Kennedy/ Public Domain]

Falsify.

 

Objectify.

 

Brutify.

 

Idemnify.

 

Vilify.

 

Damnify.

 

Justify.

 

Testify.

 

Jersey Noir.

 

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British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 1262. Photo: Warner.

 

American actor John Garfield (1913-1952) played brooding, rebellious, working-class characters. Called to testify before the U.S. Congressional House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), he denied communist affiliation and refused to 'name names', which effectively ended his film career. The stress led to his premature death at 39 from a heart attack. Garfield is seen as a predecessor of such Method actors as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, and James Dean.

 

John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on the Lower East Side of New York City, to Hannah Basia (Margolis) and David Garfinkle, who were Jewish immigrants from Zhytomyr (now in Ukraine). Jules was raised by his father, a clothes presser and part-time cantor, after his mother's death in 1920, when he was 7. He grew up in the heart of the Yiddish Theatre District. Jacob was sent to a special school for problem children, where he was introduced to boxing and drama.

As a boy, he won a state-wide oratory contest sponsored by the New York Times with Benjamin Franklin as his subject. Garfield later won a scholarship to Maria Ouspenskaya's drama school. In 1932, he landed a non-paying job at Eva Le Gallienne's Civic Repertory, where he was recommended to by his acting teachers Maria Ouspenskaya and Richard Boleslawski. He changed his name to Jules Garfield and according to IMDb, he made his Broadway debut in that company's Counsellor-at-Law, written by Elmer Rice and starring Paul Muni. (Wikipedia writes that this was actually his second Broadway appearance and that Garfield made his Broadway debut in 1932 in a play called Lost Boy, which ran for only two weeks). Later, he joined the Group Theatre company, winning acclaim for his role as Ralph, the sensitive young son who pleads for "a chance to get to the first base" in Awake and Sing. The play opened in February 1935, and Garfield was singled out by critic Brooks Atkinson for having a "splendid sense of character development." However, Garfield was passed over for the lead in Golden Boy, which had especially been written for him by author Clifford Odets. When the play was first produced by the Group Theatre in 1938, the powers that be decided Garfield wasn't 'ready' to play the role of the young violinist turned boxer. Luther Adler subsequently created the role. Embittered, Garfield signed a contract with Warner Brothers, who changed his name to John Garfield. Because both Garfield and his wife did not want to 'go Hollywood,' he had a clause in his Warner contract that allowed him to perform in a legitimate play every year at his option. The couple also refused to own a home in Tinseltown. Garfield won enormous praise for his role as the cynical and tragic composer Mickey Borden in Four Daughters (Michael Curtiz, 1938), starring Claude Rains. For his part, he was nominated for the Oscar as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. After the breakout success of Four Daughters, Warner Bros created a name-above-the-title vehicle for him, the crime film They Made Me a Criminal (Busby Berkeley, 1939). Garfield had already made a B movie called Blackwell's Island (William C. McGann, 1939). Not wanting their new star to appear in a low-budget film, Warners ordered an A movie upgrade by adding $100,000 to its budget and recalling director Michael Curtiz to shoot newly scripted scenes.

 

At the onset of World War II, John Garfield immediately attempted to enlist in the armed forces but was turned down because of his heart condition. Frustrated, he turned his energies to supporting the war effort. He and actress Bette Davis were the driving forces behind the opening of the Hollywood Canteen, a club offering food and entertainment for American servicemen. He traveled overseas to help entertain the troops, made several bond selling tours and starred in a string of popular, patriotic films like Air Force (Howard Hawks, 1943), Destination Tokyo (Delmer Daves, 1943) with Cary Grant, and Pride of the Marines (Delmer Faves, 1945) with Eleanor Parker. All were box office successes. Throughout his film career, John Garfield, again and again, brooding played rebellious roles despite his efforts to play varied parts. Garfield became one of Warner Bros' most suspended stars. He was suspended 11 times during his nine years at the studio. After the war, Garfield starred in a series of successful films such as the Film Noir The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946) with Lana Turner, and the showbiz melodrama Humoresque (Jean Negulesco, 1946) with Joan Crawford. When his Warner Bros. contract expired in 1946, he did not re-sign with the studio, opting to start his own independent production company instead. Garfield was one of the first Hollywood actors to do so. In the Best Picture Oscar-winning Gentleman's Agreement (Elia Kazan, 1947), Garfield took a featured but supporting, part because he believed deeply in the film's exposé of antisemitism in America. In 1948, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in Body and Soul (Robert Rossen, 1947) with Lilli Palmer. That same year, Garfield returned to Broadway in the play Skipper Next to God.

 

Active in liberal political and social causes, John Garfield found himself embroiled in the Communist scare of the late 1940s. Blacklisted during the McCarthy era in the early 1950s for his left-wing political beliefs, he adamantly refused to "name names" in testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in April 1951. In his only TV appearance, Garfield played Joe Bonaparte and Kim Stanley played Lorna Moon in a scene from Clifford Odets' 'Golden Boy' on Cavalcade of Stars: John Garfield, Kim Stanley, Paul Winchell & Jerry Mahoney (1950). With film work scarce because of the blacklist, Garfield returned to Broadway and starred in a 1951 or 1952 revival (the sources differ) of Golden Boy. Garfield finally played the role which Odets had written for him and which was denied him years before at the Group Theater. His final film was the Film Noir He Ran All the Way (John Berry, 1951), with Shelley Winters. On 21 May 1952, John Garfield was found dead of a heart attack in the apartment of a friend, former showgirl Iris Whitney. A week before he had separated from his wife, and hours before his death he completed a statement modifying his 1951 testimony about his Communist affiliations. A day earlier Clifford Odets had testified before HUAC and reaffirmed that Garfield had never been a member of the Communist Party. Garfield was the fourth actor to die after being subjected to HUAC investigation. The others were Mady Christians (at 59), J. Edward Bromberg (at 47) and Canada Lee (at 45). The official cause of his death was coronary thrombosis due to a blood clot blocking an artery in his heart. His funeral was mobbed by thousands of fans, in the largest funeral attendance for an actor since Rudolph Valentino. Garfield had been married to his childhood sweetheart Roberta Seidman, from 1935 till his death. They had three children, Katherine (1938-1945), actor David Garfield (1942-1995) and actress Julie Garfield (1946-). His six-year-old daughter Katharine died of an allergic reaction in 1945. He never got over the loss. John Garfield is buried at Westchester Hills Cemetery, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

 

Sources: Jim Beaver (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

 

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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden testifies before the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Subcommittee on Space during a hearing to review the Fiscal Year 2017 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Thursday, March 17, 2016, at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

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The crystal-clear spring water of these beautiful, small pools

testifies to the aquifer-effect of impermeable Gault Clay

forcing water to the surface, having soaked through the permeable Chalk, above.

The blues, greens and aquamarines of this yew-bound enclave

gives a silent mystique to this amazing place.

A legend suggests that the infamous, medieval, King John,

was once riding by whilst a Maiden was bathing.

Her “modesty” drove her to plunge deeper into the pool.

Alas, in those days very few people could swim and the poor girl drowned.

The legend adds that sometimes her terrified screams can still be heard.

Fortunately for me, the pools have always been, as their name suggests, perfectly silent and exquisitely beautiful!

 

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ سَبَّحَ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ (1) Whatever is in the heavens and on earth,- let it declare the Praises and Glory of Allah: for He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.

لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ ۖ وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (2) To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: It is He Who gives Life and Death; and He has Power over all things.

هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِنُ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ (3) He is the First and the Last, the Evident and the Immanent: and He has full knowledge of all things.

هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ اسْتَوَىٰ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا ۖ وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ ۚ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ (4) He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in Six Days, and is moreover firmly established on the Throne (of Authority). He knows what enters within the earth and what comes forth out of it, what comes down from heaven and what mounts up to it. And He is with you wheresoever ye may be. And Allah sees well all that ye do.

لَّهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ وَإِلَى اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ الْأُمُورُ (5) To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth: and all affairs are referred back to Allah.

يُولِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي النَّهَارِ وَيُولِجُ النَّهَارَ فِي اللَّيْلِ ۚ وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ الصُّدُورِ (6) He merges Night into Day, and He merges Day into Night; and He has full knowledge of the secrets of (all) hearts.

آمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَأَنفِقُوا مِمَّا جَعَلَكُم مُّسْتَخْلَفِينَ فِيهِ ۖ فَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَأَنفَقُوا لَهُمْ أَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ (7) Believe in Allah and His messenger, and spend (in charity) out of the (substance) whereof He has made you heirs. For, those of you who believe and spend (in charity),- for them is a great Reward.

وَمَا لَكُمْ لَا تُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ ۙ وَالرَّسُولُ يَدْعُوكُمْ لِتُؤْمِنُوا بِرَبِّكُمْ وَقَدْ أَخَذَ مِيثَاقَكُمْ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ (8) What cause have ye why ye should not believe in Allah?- and the Messenger invites you to believe in your Lord, and has indeed taken your Covenant, if ye are men of Faith.

هُوَ الَّذِي يُنَزِّلُ عَلَىٰ عَبْدِهِ آيَاتٍ بَيِّنَاتٍ لِّيُخْرِجَكُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُمْ لَرَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ (9) He is the One Who sends to His Servant Manifest Signs, that He may lead you from the depths of Darkness into the Light and verily Allah is to you most kind and Merciful.

وَمَا لَكُمْ أَلَّا تُنفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلِلَّهِ مِيرَاثُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ لَا يَسْتَوِي مِنكُم مَّنْ أَنفَقَ مِن قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلَ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أَنفَقُوا مِن بَعْدُ وَقَاتَلُوا ۚ وَكُلًّا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْحُسْنَىٰ ۚ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ (10) And what cause have ye why ye should not spend in the cause of Allah?- For to Allah belongs the heritage of the heavens and the earth. Not equal among you are those who spent (freely) and fought, before the Victory, (with those who did so later). Those are higher in rank than those who spent (freely) and fought afterwards. But to all has Allah promised a goodly (reward). And Allah is well acquainted with all that ye do.

مَّن ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَاعِفَهُ لَهُ وَلَهُ أَجْرٌ كَرِيمٌ (11) Who is he that will Loan to Allah a beautiful loan? for (Allah) will increase it manifold to his credit, and he will have (besides) a liberal Reward.

يَوْمَ تَرَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ يَسْعَىٰ نُورُهُم بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَبِأَيْمَانِهِم بُشْرَاكُمُ الْيَوْمَ جَنَّاتٌ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ (12) One Day shalt thou see the believing men and the believing women- how their Light runs forward before them and by their right hands: (their greeting will be): "Good News for you this Day! Gardens beneath which flow rivers! to dwell therein for aye! This is indeed the highest Achievement!"

يَوْمَ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتُ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا انظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِن نُّورِكُمْ قِيلَ ارْجِعُوا وَرَاءَكُمْ فَالْتَمِسُوا نُورًا فَضُرِبَ بَيْنَهُم بِسُورٍ لَّهُ بَابٌ بَاطِنُهُ فِيهِ الرَّحْمَةُ وَظَاهِرُهُ مِن قِبَلِهِ الْعَذَابُ (13) One Day will the Hypocrites- men and women - say to the Believers: "Wait for us! Let us borrow (a Light) from your Light!" It will be said: "Turn ye back to your rear! then seek a Light (where ye can)!" So a wall will be put up betwixt them, with a gate therein. Within it will be Mercy throughout, and without it, all alongside, will be (Wrath and) Punishment!

يُنَادُونَهُمْ أَلَمْ نَكُن مَّعَكُمْ ۖ قَالُوا بَلَىٰ وَلَٰكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ وَارْتَبْتُمْ وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ حَتَّىٰ جَاءَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ وَغَرَّكُم بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ (14) (Those without) will call out, "Were we not with you?" (The others) will reply, "True! but ye led yourselves into temptation; ye looked forward (to our ruin); ye doubted (Allah´s Promise); and (your false) desires deceived you; until there issued the Command of Allah. And the Deceiver deceived you in respect of Allah.

فَالْيَوْمَ لَا يُؤْخَذُ مِنكُمْ فِدْيَةٌ وَلَا مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا ۚ مَأْوَاكُمُ النَّارُ ۖ هِيَ مَوْلَاكُمْ ۖ وَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ (15) "This Day shall no ransom be accepted of you, nor of those who rejected Allah." Your abode is the Fire: that is the proper place to claim you: and an evil refuge it is!"

۞ أَلَمْ يَأْنِ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَن تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ وَلَا يَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلُ فَطَالَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْأَمَدُ فَقَسَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ (16) Has not the Time arrived for the Believers that their hearts in all humility should engage in the remembrance of Allah and of the Truth which has been revealed (to them), and that they should not become like those to whom was given Revelation aforetime, but long ages passed over them and their hearts grew hard? For many among them are rebellious transgressors.

اعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يُحْيِي الْأَرْضَ بَعْدَ مَوْتِهَا ۚ قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمُ الْآيَاتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ (17) Know ye (all) that Allah giveth life to the earth after its death! already have We shown the Signs plainly to you, that ye may learn wisdom.

إِنَّ الْمُصَّدِّقِينَ وَالْمُصَّدِّقَاتِ وَأَقْرَضُوا اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا يُضَاعَفُ لَهُمْ وَلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ كَرِيمٌ (18) For those who give in Charity, men and women, and loan to Allah a Beautiful Loan, it shall be increased manifold (to their credit), and they shall have (besides) a liberal reward.

وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الصِّدِّيقُونَ ۖ وَالشُّهَدَاءُ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ وَنُورُهُمْ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْجَحِيمِ (19) And those who believe in Allah and His messengers- they are the Sincere (lovers of Truth), and the witnesses (who testify), in the eyes of their Lord: They shall have their Reward and their Light. But those who reject Allah and deny Our Signs,- they are the Companions of Hell-Fire.

اعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهْوٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاثُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ ۖ كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَكُونُ حُطَامًا ۖ وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٌ ۚ وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ (20) Know ye (all), that the life of this world is but play and amusement, pomp and mutual boasting and multiplying, (in rivalry) among yourselves, riches and children. Here is a similitude: How rain and the growth which it brings forth, delight (the hearts of) the tillers; soon it withers; thou wilt see it grow yellow; then it becomes dry and crumbles away. But in the Hereafter is a Penalty severe (for the devotees of wrong). And Forgiveness from Allah and (His) Good Pleasure (for the devotees of Allah). And what is the life of this world, but goods and chattels of deception?

سَابِقُوا إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَجَنَّةٍ عَرْضُهَا كَعَرْضِ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ أُعِدَّتْ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ (21) Be ye foremost (in seeking) Forgiveness from your Lord, and a Garden (of Bliss), the width whereof is as the width of heaven and earth, prepared for those who believe in Allah and His messengers: that is the Grace of Allah, which He bestows on whom he pleases: and Allah is the Lord of Grace abounding.

مَا أَصَابَ مِن مُّصِيبَةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي أَنفُسِكُمْ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّبْرَأَهَا ۚ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ (22) No misfortune can happen on earth or in your souls but is recorded in a decree before We bring it into existence: That is truly easy for Allah:

لِّكَيْلَا تَأْسَوْا عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا بِمَا آتَاكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ (23) In order that ye may not despair over matters that pass you by, nor exult over favours bestowed upon you. For Allah loveth not any vainglorious boaster,-

الَّذِينَ يَبْخَلُونَ وَيَأْمُرُونَ النَّاسَ بِالْبُخْلِ ۗ وَمَن يَتَوَلَّ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ الْحَمِيدُ (24) Such persons as are covetous and commend covetousness to men. And if any turn back (from Allah´s Way), verily Allah is Free of all Needs, Worthy of all Praise.

لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا رُسُلَنَا بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأَنزَلْنَا مَعَهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْمِيزَانَ لِيَقُومَ النَّاسُ بِالْقِسْطِ ۖ وَأَنزَلْنَا الْحَدِيدَ فِيهِ بَأْسٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَنَافِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلِيَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ وَرُسُلَهُ بِالْغَيْبِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَوِيٌّ عَزِيزٌ (25) We sent aforetime our messengers with Clear Signs and sent down with them the Book and the Balance (of Right and Wrong), that men may stand forth in justice; and We sent down Iron, in which is (material for) mighty war, as well as many benefits for mankind, that Allah may test who it is that will help, Unseen, Him and His messengers: For Allah is Full of Strength, Exalted in Might (and able to enforce His Will).

وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا وَإِبْرَاهِيمَ وَجَعَلْنَا فِي ذُرِّيَّتِهِمَا النُّبُوَّةَ وَالْكِتَابَ ۖ فَمِنْهُم مُّهْتَدٍ ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ (26) And We sent Noah and Abraham, and established in their line Prophethood and Revelation: and some of them were on right guidance. But many of them became rebellious transgressors.

ثُمَّ قَفَّيْنَا عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِم بِرُسُلِنَا وَقَفَّيْنَا بِعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ وَآتَيْنَاهُ الْإِنجِيلَ وَجَعَلْنَا فِي قُلُوبِ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ رَأْفَةً وَرَحْمَةً وَرَهْبَانِيَّةً ابْتَدَعُوهَا مَا كَتَبْنَاهَا عَلَيْهِمْ إِلَّا ابْتِغَاءَ رِضْوَانِ اللَّهِ فَمَا رَعَوْهَا حَقَّ رِعَايَتِهَا ۖ فَآتَيْنَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ (27) Then, in their wake, We followed them up with (others of) Our messengers: We sent after them Jesus the son of Mary, and bestowed on him the Gospel; and We ordained in the hearts of those who followed him Compassion and Mercy. But the Monasticism which they invented for themselves, We did not prescribe for them: (We commanded) only the seeking for the Good Pleasure of Allah; but that they did not foster as they should have done. Yet We bestowed, on those among them who believed, their (due) reward, but many of them are rebellious transgressors.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَآمِنُوا بِرَسُولِهِ يُؤْتِكُمْ كِفْلَيْنِ مِن رَّحْمَتِهِ وَيَجْعَل لَّكُمْ نُورًا تَمْشُونَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ (28) O ye that believe! Fear Allah, and believe in His Messenger, and He will bestow on you a double portion of His Mercy: He will provide for you a Light by which ye shall walk (straight in your path), and He will forgive you (your past): for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

لِّئَلَّا يَعْلَمَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ أَلَّا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ مِّن فَضْلِ اللَّهِ ۙ وَأَنَّ الْفَضْلَ بِيَدِ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ (29) That the People of the Book may know that they have no power whatever over the Grace of Allah, that (His) Grace is (entirely) in His Hand, to bestow it on whomsoever He wills. For Allah is the Lord of Grace abounding.

 

Al-Hadid

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

← Sura 57 of the Qur'an →

سورة الحديد

Sūrat al-Ḥadīd

The Iron

 

Surat Al-Ḥadīd (Arabic: سورة الحديد‎ ) (Iron) is the 57th sura of the Qur'an, with 29 ayat.

Iron in the Qur'an

 

Surat Al-Hadid is the 57th Surah of the Qur'an prefixed by the Basmala (the 9th. sura is not - see also Sunnan Abu Dawood a hadith 785-787). This sura is the only one named for a chemical element. (And We also sent down iron in which there lies great force and which has many uses for mankind)… (Qur'an, 57:25) The reference to iron is in verse 25 of this Surah, which states: "...We sent down Iron, in which is (material for) mighty power, as well as many benefits for mankind...".

Other chemical elements mentioned in the Qur'an include gold and silver as valuables (e.g. Sura 3, 14 & Sura 9, 34), copper (Sura 55, 35) and copper in the context of molten brass or bronze (e.g. Sura 34, 12).

Classification of Believers

57:10 وَمَا لَكُمْ أَلَّا تُنفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلِلَّهِ مِيرَاثُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَا يَسْتَوِي مِنكُم مَّنْ أَنفَقَ مِن قَبْلِ الْفَتْحِ وَقَاتَلَ أُوْلَئِكَ أَعْظَمُ دَرَجَةً مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أَنفَقُوا مِن بَعْدُ وَقَاتَلُوا وَكُلًّا وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْحُسْنَى وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ

Moreover, what could be the matter-rationale for you people that you might not spend in the Path of Allah the Exalted? While the reality is that the domain of the Skies and the Earth is eternally the belonging for Allah the Exalted.

Those, who had spent before the event of the Conquest of Mecca and confronted war, do not and will never equal-equate with any one from amongst you, the living people.

They are the people who are comparatively great. Their greatness is in elevated rank-position and status in contrast to all the people who did the same act of spending and confronting war in time and space in time-line after the Conquest.

However/though Allah the Exalted has promised, for all an appropriate/proportionate reward. Remain mindful that Allah the Exalted is perpetually informed/aware of all those acts which you people keep doing. [57:10]

Allah, the Exalted has classified the Believers of Mohammad Sal'lallaa'hoalaih'wa'salam and the Grand Qur'an in two groups. The classification is with reference to the Event of the Conquest of the Sanctified City of Mecca. The Believers, men and women, of the period immediately before this Event are the First Group and are declared as the great over all others, the other Group, who became or become believers after that Event. This greatness is with reference to their elevated Rank and position over all other believers of Mohammad Sal'lallaa'hoalaih'wa'salam and the Grand Qur'an, in time and space. [For detailed study please see (1) Surat Fateha-"Word by Word Analysis"]

Making his last trip for the "Tin Cup Brigade," where mayors across the state ask for more state aid in the budget.

Testifying

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden testifies before the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee during a hearing to review the Fiscal Year 2017 budget request and funding justification for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Thursday, March 10, 2016, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Rector's Restaurant, at 149 Independence Avenue (B Street) SE, was a denizen of the block of restaurants opposite the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill that was nicknamed "Ptomaine Row" in the 1940s. A big fight ensued when Rectors' applied for a liquor license in 1944, with neighboring restaurant owners opposed and lunch-going congressmen in favor. "Rector's is the highest class restaurant and the cleanest in the block, " House Rules Committee clerk Humphrey S. Shaw testified. Rector's got its license.

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, flanked by U.S. Energy Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz and U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, testifies on July 23, 2015, about the Iranian nuclear deal before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, D.C. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry holds a one-on-one chat with Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in Washington, D.C., on February 24, 2015, after testifying before the panel and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Foreign Operations. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

[Odd b-side/outtake from another roll of randomly-composed multi exposures, shot with a single-use cam and the Supersampler almighty -- & some taped on plastic color gels, of course =].

 

"When the world is a monster

Bad to swallow you whole

Kick the clay that holds the teeth in

Throw your trolls out the door

 

If you're needing inspiration

Philomath is where I go, I go

Lawyer Jeff he knows the low-down

He's mighty bad to visit home

 

(chorus)

(I've been there I know the way)

Can't get there from here

(I've been there I know the way)

Can't get there from here

(I've been there I know the way)

Can't get there from here

(I've been there I know the way)

 

When your hands are feeling empty

Stickheads jumping off the ground

Tris is sure to shirr the deers out

Brother Ray can sing my song

 

(I've been there I know the way)

Can't get there from here

(I've been there I know the way)

Can't get there from here

(I've been there I know the way)

Can't get there from here, here, here

(I've been there I know the way)

 

Hands down, Calechee bound

Land locked, kiss the ground

The dirt of seven continents going

Round and round

Go on ahead Mr. Citywide

Hypnotized, suit and tied

Gentlemen testify

 

If your world is a monster

Bad to swallow you whole

Philomath they know the low-down

Throw your trolls out the door

 

(repeat chorus 2x)

 

Can't get there from here

(I've been there I know the way)

 

(Thank you, Ray)"

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson testifies before the House Subcommittee on Commerce Justice Science and Related Agencies during a hearing on the fiscal year 2024 budget request, Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, watched by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, answers a question on July 29, 2015, as they joined Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and U.S. Energy Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz in testifying about the Iranian nuclear deal before the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington, D.C. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson testifies during the House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing on “An Overview of the Fiscal Year 2024 Proposed Budget Request for NASA,” Thursday, April 27, 2023 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Secretary of State CONDOLEZZA RICE testifies before the House Appropriations committee on the White House's proposed budget for international affairs.

Tart Gallery is very pleased to present...

SPOOKY

Art by Bob Scott and Emily Thomas

  

Bob Scott is a self taught artist known for his Halloween Folk Art and innovative Painted Cork Carvings, raw mixed media carvings made from recycled cork and found objects.

I will be showing work from his current show Halloween Tyme 2013.

www.bobscottartwork.ca

 

Emily Thomas "Mummys little Monster" is a Lowbrow and pinup artist currently residing in Toronto. She specializes in tattooed pinups and monster themed cuties. When she's not slappin' paint and ink around you can find her hunting for vintage monster toys and cruzing around town on her bike like a mad bat outta hell. She will testify to the fact the she must have been a teenager from mars in her previous life.

mummyslittlemonster.deviantart.com/

 

Art Opening

Saturday October 5 1-3pm slt

with terrifying tuneage from DJ diZzy Kit

TART Gallery

(for more information please contact the link at the end of page!)

Study and Gold Cabinet

In the writing room, the Habsburg Staterooms present themselves in its entire splendor. Elegant décor and exquisite materials are reflecting authentically the magnificent appearance of the chambers after the transformations by Archduke Charles in the years from 1822 to 1825.

Writing room © AnnA BlaU; Furniture: On permanent loan from the MAK-Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art

Writing room

The neighboring "Gold Cabinet" testifies the high quality and the extraordinary richness of the equipment under Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen. The special alloy (23 K(arat) Gold, 1/2 K Silver and 1/2 K copper) still bears the registered brand name "Albertina Gold".

www.albertina.at/das_palais/prunkraeume/schreibzimmer_und...

 

The Albertina

The architectural history of the Palais

(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Image: The oldest photographic view of the newly designed Palais Archduke Albrecht, 1869

"It is my will that ​​the expansion of the inner city of Vienna with regard to a suitable connection of the same with the suburbs as soon as possible is tackled and at this on Regulirung (regulation) and beautifying of my Residence and Imperial Capital is taken into account. To this end I grant the withdrawal of the ramparts and fortifications of the inner city and the trenches around the same".

This decree of Emperor Franz Joseph I, published on 25 December 1857 in the Wiener Zeitung, formed the basis for the largest the surface concerning and architecturally most significant transformation of the Viennese cityscape. Involving several renowned domestic and foreign architects a "master plan" took form, which included the construction of a boulevard instead of the ramparts between the inner city and its radially upstream suburbs. In the 50-years during implementation phase, an impressive architectural ensemble developed, consisting of imperial and private representational buildings, public administration and cultural buildings, churches and barracks, marking the era under the term "ring-street style". Already in the first year tithe decided a senior member of the Austrian imperial family to decorate the facades of his palace according to the new design principles, and thus certified the aristocratic claim that this also "historicism" said style on the part of the imperial house was attributed.

Image: The Old Albertina after 1920

It was the palace of Archduke Albrecht (1817-1895), the Senior of the Habsburg Family Council, who as Field Marshal held the overall command over the Austro-Hungarian army. The building was incorporated into the imperial residence of the Hofburg complex, forming the south-west corner and extending eleven meters above street level on the so-called Augustinerbastei.

The close proximity of the palace to the imperial residence corresponded not only with Emperor Franz Joseph I and Archduke Albert with a close familial relationship between the owner of the palace and the monarch. Even the former inhabitants were always in close relationship to the imperial family, whether by birth or marriage. An exception here again proves the rule: Don Emanuel Teles da Silva Conde Tarouca (1696-1771), for which Maria Theresa in 1744 the palace had built, was just a close friend and advisor of the monarch. Silva Tarouca underpins the rule with a second exception, because he belonged to the administrative services as Generalhofbaudirektor (general court architect) and President of the Austrian-Dutch administration, while all other him subsequent owners were highest ranking military.

In the annals of Austrian history, especially those of military history, they either went into as commander of the Imperial Army, or the Austrian, later kk Army. In chronological order, this applies to Duke Carl Alexander of Lorraine, the brother-of-law of Maria Theresa, as Imperial Marshal, her son-in-law Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, also field marshal, whos adopted son, Archduke Charles of Austria, the last imperial field marshal and only Generalissimo of Austria, his son Archduke Albrecht of Austria as Feldmarschalil and army Supreme commander, and most recently his nephew Archduke Friedrich of Austria, who held as field marshal from 1914 to 1916 the command of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Despite their military profession, all five generals conceived themselves as patrons of the arts and promoted large sums of money to build large collections, the construction of magnificent buildings and cultural life. Charles Alexander of Lorraine promoted as governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1741 to 1780 the Academy of Fine Arts, the Théâtre de Ja Monnaie and the companies Bourgeois Concert and Concert Noble, he founded the Academie royale et imperial des Sciences et des Lettres, opened the Bibliotheque Royal for the population and supported artistic talents with high scholarships. World fame got his porcelain collection, which however had to be sold by Emperor Joseph II to pay off his debts. Duke Albert began in 1776 according to the concept of conte Durazzo to set up an encyclopedic collection of prints, which forms the core of the world-famous "Albertina" today.

Image : Duke Albert and Archduchess Marie Christine show in family cercle the from Italy brought along art, 1776. Frederick Henry Füger.

1816 declared to Fideikommiss and thus in future indivisible, inalienable and inseparable, the collection 1822 passed into the possession of Archduke Carl, who, like his descendants, it broadened. Under him, the collection was introduced together with the sumptuously equipped palace on the Augustinerbastei in the so-called "Carl Ludwig'schen fideicommissum in 1826, by which the building and the in it kept collection fused into an indissoluble unity. At this time had from the Palais Tarouca by structural expansion or acquisition a veritable Residenz palace evolved. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen was first in 1800 the third floor of the adjacent Augustinian convent wing adapted to house his collection and he had after 1802 by his Belgian architect Louis de Montoyer at the suburban side built a magnificent extension, called the wing of staterooms, it was equipped in the style of Louis XVI. Only two decades later, Archduke Carl the entire palace newly set up. According to scetches of the architect Joseph Kornhäusel the 1822-1825 retreaded premises presented themselves in the Empire style. The interior of the palace testified from now in an impressive way the high rank and the prominent position of its owner. Under Archduke Albrecht the outer appearance also should meet the requirements. He had the facade of the palace in the style of historicism orchestrated and added to the Palais front against the suburbs an offshore covered access. Inside, he limited himself, apart from the redesign of the Rococo room in the manner of the second Blondel style, to the retention of the paternal stock. Archduke Friedrich's plans for an expansion of the palace were omitted, however, because of the outbreak of the First World War so that his contribution to the state rooms, especially, consists in the layout of the Spanish apartment, which he in 1895 for his sister, the Queen of Spain Maria Christina, had set up as a permanent residence.

Picture: The "audience room" after the restoration: Picture: The "balcony room" around 1990

The era of stately representation with handing down their cultural values ​​found its most obvious visualization inside the palace through the design and features of the staterooms. On one hand, by the use of the finest materials and the purchase of masterfully manufactured pieces of equipment, such as on the other hand by the permanent reuse of older equipment parts. This period lasted until 1919, when Archduke Friedrich was expropriated by the newly founded Republic of Austria. With the republicanization of the collection and the building first of all finished the tradition that the owner's name was synonymous with the building name:

After Palais Tarouca or tarokkisches house it was called Lorraine House, afterwards Duke Albert Palais and Palais Archduke Carl. Due to the new construction of an adjacently located administration building it received in 1865 the prefix "Upper" and was referred to as Upper Palais Archduke Albrecht and Upper Palais Archduke Frederick. For the state a special reference to the Habsburg past was certainly politically no longer opportune, which is why was decided to name the building according to the in it kept collection "Albertina".

Picture: The "Wedgwood Cabinet" after the restoration: Picture: the "Wedgwood Cabinet" in the Palais Archduke Friedrich, 1905

This name derives from the term "La Collection Albertina" which had been used by the gallery Inspector Maurice von Thausing in 1870 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts for the former graphics collection of Duke Albert. For this reason, it was the first time since the foundation of the palace that the name of the collection had become synonymous with the room shell. Room shell, hence, because the Republic of Austria Archduke Friedrich had allowed to take along all the movable goods from the palace in his Hungarian exile: crystal chandeliers, curtains and carpets as well as sculptures, vases and clocks. Particularly stressed should be the exquisite furniture, which stems of three facilities phases: the Louis XVI furnitures of Duke Albert, which had been manufactured on the basis of fraternal relations between his wife Archduchess Marie Christine and the French Queen Marie Antoinette after 1780 in the French Hofmanufakturen, also the on behalf of Archduke Charles 1822-1825 in the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory by Joseph Danhauser produced Empire furnitures and thirdly additions of the same style of Archduke Friedrich, which this about 1900 at Portois & Ffix as well as at Friedrich Otto Schmidt had commissioned.

The "swept clean" building got due to the strained financial situation after the First World War initially only a makeshift facility. However, since until 1999 no revision of the emergency equipment took place, but differently designed, primarily the utilitarianism committed office furnitures complementarily had been added, the equipment of the former state rooms presented itself at the end of the 20th century as an inhomogeneous administrative mingle-mangle of insignificant parts, where, however, dwelt a certain quaint charm. From the magnificent state rooms had evolved depots, storage rooms, a library, a study hall and several officed.

Image: The Albertina Graphic Arts Collection and the Philipphof after the American bombing of 12 März 1945.

Image: The palace after the demolition of the entrance facade, 1948-52

Worse it hit the outer appearance of the palace, because in times of continued anti-Habsburg sentiment after the Second World War and inspired by an intolerant destruction will, it came by pickaxe to a ministerial erasure of history. In contrast to the graphic collection possessed the richly decorated facades with the conspicuous insignia of the former owner an object-immanent reference to the Habsburg past and thus exhibited the monarchial traditions and values ​​of the era of Francis Joseph significantly. As part of the remedial measures after a bomb damage, in 1948 the aristocratic, by Archduke Albert initiated, historicist facade structuring along with all decorations was cut off, many facade figures demolished and the Hapsburg crest emblems plunged to the ground. Since in addition the old ramp also had been cancelled and the main entrance of the bastion level had been moved down to the second basement storey at street level, ended the presence of the old Archduke's palace after more than 200 years. At the reopening of the "Albertina Graphic Collection" in 1952, the former Hapsburg Palais of splendour presented itself as one of his identity robbed, formally trivial, soulless room shell, whose successful republicanization an oversized and also unproportional eagle above the new main entrance to the Augustinian road symbolized. The emocratic throw of monuments had wiped out the Hapsburg palace from the urban appeareance, whereby in the perception only existed a nondescript, nameless and ahistorical building that henceforth served the lodging and presentation of world-famous graphic collection of the Albertina. The condition was not changed by the decision to the refurbishment because there were only planned collection specific extensions, but no restoration of the palace.

Image: The palace after the Second World War with simplified facades, the rudiment of the Danubiusbrunnens (well) and the new staircase up to the Augustinerbastei

This paradigm shift corresponded to a blatant reversal of the historical circumstances, as the travel guides and travel books for kk Residence and imperial capital of Vienna dedicated itself primarily with the magnificent, aristocratic palace on the Augustinerbastei with the sumptuously fitted out reception rooms and mentioned the collection kept there - if at all - only in passing. Only with the repositioning of the Albertina in 2000 under the direction of Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the palace was within the meaning and in fulfillment of the Fideikommiss of Archduke Charles in 1826 again met with the high regard, from which could result a further inseparable bond between the magnificent mansions and the world-famous collection. In view of the knowing about politically motivated errors and omissions of the past, the facades should get back their noble, historicist designing, the staterooms regain their glamorous, prestigious appearance and culturally unique equippment be repurchased. From this presumption, eventually grew the full commitment to revise the history of redemption and the return of the stately palace in the public consciousness.

Image: The restored suburb facade of the Palais Albertina suburb

The smoothed palace facades were returned to their original condition and present themselves today - with the exception of the not anymore reconstructed Attica figures - again with the historicist decoration and layout elements that Archduke Albrecht had given after the razing of the Augustinerbastei in 1865 in order. The neoclassical interiors, today called after the former inhabitants "Habsburg Staterooms", receiving a meticulous and detailed restoration taking place at the premises of originality and authenticity, got back their venerable and sumptuous appearance. From the world wide scattered historical pieces of equipment have been bought back 70 properties or could be returned through permanent loan to its original location, by which to the visitors is made experiencable again that atmosphere in 1919 the state rooms of the last Habsburg owner Archduke Frederick had owned. The for the first time in 80 years public accessible "Habsburg State Rooms" at the Palais Albertina enable now again as eloquent testimony to our Habsburg past and as a unique cultural heritage fundamental and essential insights into the Austrian cultural history. With the relocation of the main entrance to the level of the Augustinerbastei the recollection to this so valuable Austrian Cultural Heritage formally and functionally came to completion. The vision of the restoration and recovery of the grand palace was a pillar on which the new Albertina should arise again, the other embody the four large newly built exhibition halls, which allow for the first time in the history of the Albertina, to exhibit the collection throughout its encyclopedic breadh under optimal conservation conditions.

Image: The new entrance area of the Albertina

64 meter long shed roof. Hans Hollein.

The palace presents itself now in its appearance in the historicist style of the Ringstrassenära, almost as if nothing had happened in the meantime. But will the wheel of time should not, cannot and must not be turned back, so that the double standards of the "Albertina Palace" said museum - on the one hand Habsburg grandeur palaces and other modern museum for the arts of graphics - should be symbolized by a modern character: The in 2003 by Hans Hollein designed far into the Albertina square cantilevering, elegant floating flying roof. 64 meters long, it symbolizes in the form of a dynamic wedge the accelerated urban spatial connectivity and public access to the palace. It advertises the major changes in the interior as well as the huge underground extensions of the repositioned "Albertina".

 

Christian Benedictine

Art historian with research interests History of Architecture, building industry of the Hapsburgs, Hofburg and Zeremonialwissenschaft (ceremonial sciences). Since 1990 he works in the architecture collection of the Albertina. Since 2000 he supervises as director of the newly founded department "Staterooms" the restoration and furnishing of the state rooms and the restoration of the facades and explores the history of the palace and its inhabitants.

 

www.wien-vienna.at/albertinabaugeschichte.php

 

The Albertina

The architectural history of the Palais

(Pictures you can see by clicking on the link at the end of page!)

Image: The oldest photographic view of the newly designed Palais Archduke Albrecht, 1869

"It is my will that ​​the expansion of the inner city of Vienna with regard to a suitable connection of the same with the suburbs as soon as possible is tackled and at this on Regulirung (regulation) and beautifying of my Residence and Imperial Capital is taken into account. To this end I grant the withdrawal of the ramparts and fortifications of the inner city and the trenches around the same".

This decree of Emperor Franz Joseph I, published on 25 December 1857 in the Wiener Zeitung, formed the basis for the largest the surface concerning and architecturally most significant transformation of the Viennese cityscape. Involving several renowned domestic and foreign architects a "master plan" took form, which included the construction of a boulevard instead of the ramparts between the inner city and its radially upstream suburbs. In the 50-years during implementation phase, an impressive architectural ensemble developed, consisting of imperial and private representational buildings, public administration and cultural buildings, churches and barracks, marking the era under the term "ring-street style". Already in the first year tithe decided a senior member of the Austrian imperial family to decorate the facades of his palace according to the new design principles, and thus certified the aristocratic claim that this also "historicism" said style on the part of the imperial house was attributed.

Image: The Old Albertina after 1920

It was the palace of Archduke Albrecht (1817-1895), the Senior of the Habsburg Family Council, who as Field Marshal held the overall command over the Austro-Hungarian army. The building was incorporated into the imperial residence of the Hofburg complex, forming the south-west corner and extending eleven meters above street level on the so-called Augustinerbastei.

The close proximity of the palace to the imperial residence corresponded not only with Emperor Franz Joseph I and Archduke Albert with a close familial relationship between the owner of the palace and the monarch. Even the former inhabitants were always in close relationship to the imperial family, whether by birth or marriage. An exception here again proves the rule: Don Emanuel Teles da Silva Conde Tarouca (1696-1771), for which Maria Theresa in 1744 the palace had built, was just a close friend and advisor of the monarch. Silva Tarouca underpins the rule with a second exception, because he belonged to the administrative services as Generalhofbaudirektor (general court architect) and President of the Austrian-Dutch administration, while all other him subsequent owners were highest ranking military.

In the annals of Austrian history, especially those of military history, they either went into as commander of the Imperial Army, or the Austrian, later kk Army. In chronological order, this applies to Duke Carl Alexander of Lorraine, the brother-of-law of Maria Theresa, as Imperial Marshal, her son-in-law Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen, also field marshal, whos adopted son, Archduke Charles of Austria, the last imperial field marshal and only Generalissimo of Austria, his son Archduke Albrecht of Austria as Feldmarschalil and army Supreme commander, and most recently his nephew Archduke Friedrich of Austria, who held as field marshal from 1914 to 1916 the command of the Austro-Hungarian troops. Despite their military profession, all five generals conceived themselves as patrons of the arts and promoted large sums of money to build large collections, the construction of magnificent buildings and cultural life. Charles Alexander of Lorraine promoted as governor of the Austrian Netherlands from 1741 to 1780 the Academy of Fine Arts, the Théâtre de Ja Monnaie and the companies Bourgeois Concert and Concert Noble, he founded the Academie royale et imperial des Sciences et des Lettres, opened the Bibliotheque Royal for the population and supported artistic talents with high scholarships. World fame got his porcelain collection, which however had to be sold by Emperor Joseph II to pay off his debts. Duke Albert began in 1776 according to the concept of conte Durazzo to set up an encyclopedic collection of prints, which forms the core of the world-famous "Albertina" today.

Image : Duke Albert and Archduchess Marie Christine show in family cercle the from Italy brought along art, 1776. Frederick Henry Füger.

1816 declared to Fideikommiss and thus in future indivisible, inalienable and inseparable, the collection 1822 passed into the possession of Archduke Carl, who, like his descendants, it broadened. Under him, the collection was introduced together with the sumptuously equipped palace on the Augustinerbastei in the so-called "Carl Ludwig'schen fideicommissum in 1826, by which the building and the in it kept collection fused into an indissoluble unity. At this time had from the Palais Tarouca by structural expansion or acquisition a veritable Residenz palace evolved. Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen was first in 1800 the third floor of the adjacent Augustinian convent wing adapted to house his collection and he had after 1802 by his Belgian architect Louis de Montoyer at the suburban side built a magnificent extension, called the wing of staterooms, it was equipped in the style of Louis XVI. Only two decades later, Archduke Carl the entire palace newly set up. According to scetches of the architect Joseph Kornhäusel the 1822-1825 retreaded premises presented themselves in the Empire style. The interior of the palace testified from now in an impressive way the high rank and the prominent position of its owner. Under Archduke Albrecht the outer appearance also should meet the requirements. He had the facade of the palace in the style of historicism orchestrated and added to the Palais front against the suburbs an offshore covered access. Inside, he limited himself, apart from the redesign of the Rococo room in the manner of the second Blondel style, to the retention of the paternal stock. Archduke Friedrich's plans for an expansion of the palace were omitted, however, because of the outbreak of the First World War so that his contribution to the state rooms, especially, consists in the layout of the Spanish apartment, which he in 1895 for his sister, the Queen of Spain Maria Christina, had set up as a permanent residence.

Picture: The "audience room" after the restoration: Picture: The "balcony room" around 1990

The era of stately representation with handing down their cultural values ​​found its most obvious visualization inside the palace through the design and features of the staterooms. On one hand, by the use of the finest materials and the purchase of masterfully manufactured pieces of equipment, such as on the other hand by the permanent reuse of older equipment parts. This period lasted until 1919, when Archduke Friedrich was expropriated by the newly founded Republic of Austria. With the republicanization of the collection and the building first of all finished the tradition that the owner's name was synonymous with the building name:

After Palais Tarouca or tarokkisches house it was called Lorraine House, afterwards Duke Albert Palais and Palais Archduke Carl. Due to the new construction of an adjacently located administration building it received in 1865 the prefix "Upper" and was referred to as Upper Palais Archduke Albrecht and Upper Palais Archduke Frederick. For the state a special reference to the Habsburg past was certainly politically no longer opportune, which is why was decided to name the building according to the in it kept collection "Albertina".

Picture: The "Wedgwood Cabinet" after the restoration: Picture: the "Wedgwood Cabinet" in the Palais Archduke Friedrich, 1905

This name derives from the term "La Collection Albertina" which had been used by the gallery Inspector Maurice von Thausing in 1870 in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts for the former graphics collection of Duke Albert. For this reason, it was the first time since the foundation of the palace that the name of the collection had become synonymous with the room shell. Room shell, hence, because the Republic of Austria Archduke Friedrich had allowed to take along all the movable goods from the palace in his Hungarian exile: crystal chandeliers, curtains and carpets as well as sculptures, vases and clocks. Particularly stressed should be the exquisite furniture, which stems of three facilities phases: the Louis XVI furnitures of Duke Albert, which had been manufactured on the basis of fraternal relations between his wife Archduchess Marie Christine and the French Queen Marie Antoinette after 1780 in the French Hofmanufakturen, also the on behalf of Archduke Charles 1822-1825 in the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory by Joseph Danhauser produced Empire furnitures and thirdly additions of the same style of Archduke Friedrich, which this about 1900 at Portois & Ffix as well as at Friedrich Otto Schmidt had commissioned.

The "swept clean" building got due to the strained financial situation after the First World War initially only a makeshift facility. However, since until 1999 no revision of the emergency equipment took place, but differently designed, primarily the utilitarianism committed office furnitures complementarily had been added, the equipment of the former state rooms presented itself at the end of the 20th century as an inhomogeneous administrative mingle-mangle of insignificant parts, where, however, dwelt a certain quaint charm. From the magnificent state rooms had evolved depots, storage rooms, a library, a study hall and several officed.

Image: The Albertina Graphic Arts Collection and the Philipphof after the American bombing of 12 März 1945.

Image: The palace after the demolition of the entrance facade, 1948-52

Worse it hit the outer appearance of the palace, because in times of continued anti-Habsburg sentiment after the Second World War and inspired by an intolerant destruction will, it came by pickaxe to a ministerial erasure of history. In contrast to the graphic collection possessed the richly decorated facades with the conspicuous insignia of the former owner an object-immanent reference to the Habsburg past and thus exhibited the monarchial traditions and values ​​of the era of Francis Joseph significantly. As part of the remedial measures after a bomb damage, in 1948 the aristocratic, by Archduke Albert initiated, historicist facade structuring along with all decorations was cut off, many facade figures demolished and the Hapsburg crest emblems plunged to the ground. Since in addition the old ramp also had been cancelled and the main entrance of the bastion level had been moved down to the second basement storey at street level, ended the presence of the old Archduke's palace after more than 200 years. At the reopening of the "Albertina Graphic Collection" in 1952, the former Hapsburg Palais of splendour presented itself as one of his identity robbed, formally trivial, soulless room shell, whose successful republicanization an oversized and also unproportional eagle above the new main entrance to the Augustinian road symbolized. The emocratic throw of monuments had wiped out the Hapsburg palace from the urban appeareance, whereby in the perception only existed a nondescript, nameless and ahistorical building that henceforth served the lodging and presentation of world-famous graphic collection of the Albertina. The condition was not changed by the decision to the refurbishment because there were only planned collection specific extensions, but no restoration of the palace.

Image: The palace after the Second World War with simplified facades, the rudiment of the Danubiusbrunnens (well) and the new staircase up to the Augustinerbastei

This paradigm shift corresponded to a blatant reversal of the historical circumstances, as the travel guides and travel books for kk Residence and imperial capital of Vienna dedicated itself primarily with the magnificent, aristocratic palace on the Augustinerbastei with the sumptuously fitted out reception rooms and mentioned the collection kept there - if at all - only in passing. Only with the repositioning of the Albertina in 2000 under the direction of Klaus Albrecht Schröder, the palace was within the meaning and in fulfillment of the Fideikommiss of Archduke Charles in 1826 again met with the high regard, from which could result a further inseparable bond between the magnificent mansions and the world-famous collection. In view of the knowing about politically motivated errors and omissions of the past, the facades should get back their noble, historicist designing, the staterooms regain their glamorous, prestigious appearance and culturally unique equippment be repurchased. From this presumption, eventually grew the full commitment to revise the history of redemption and the return of the stately palace in the public consciousness.

Image: The restored suburb facade of the Palais Albertina suburb

The smoothed palace facades were returned to their original condition and present themselves today - with the exception of the not anymore reconstructed Attica figures - again with the historicist decoration and layout elements that Archduke Albrecht had given after the razing of the Augustinerbastei in 1865 in order. The neoclassical interiors, today called after the former inhabitants "Habsburg Staterooms", receiving a meticulous and detailed restoration taking place at the premises of originality and authenticity, got back their venerable and sumptuous appearance. From the world wide scattered historical pieces of equipment have been bought back 70 properties or could be returned through permanent loan to its original location, by which to the visitors is made experiencable again that atmosphere in 1919 the state rooms of the last Habsburg owner Archduke Frederick had owned. The for the first time in 80 years public accessible "Habsburg State Rooms" at the Palais Albertina enable now again as eloquent testimony to our Habsburg past and as a unique cultural heritage fundamental and essential insights into the Austrian cultural history. With the relocation of the main entrance to the level of the Augustinerbastei the recollection to this so valuable Austrian Cultural Heritage formally and functionally came to completion. The vision of the restoration and recovery of the grand palace was a pillar on which the new Albertina should arise again, the other embody the four large newly built exhibition halls, which allow for the first time in the history of the Albertina, to exhibit the collection throughout its encyclopedic breadh under optimal conservation conditions.

Image: The new entrance area of the Albertina

64 meter long shed roof. Hans Hollein.

The palace presents itself now in its appearance in the historicist style of the Ringstrassenära, almost as if nothing had happened in the meantime. But will the wheel of time should not, cannot and must not be turned back, so that the double standards of the "Albertina Palace" said museum - on the one hand Habsburg grandeur palaces and other modern museum for the arts of graphics - should be symbolized by a modern character: The in 2003 by Hans Hollein designed far into the Albertina square cantilevering, elegant floating flying roof. 64 meters long, it symbolizes in the form of a dynamic wedge the accelerated urban spatial connectivity and public access to the palace. It advertises the major changes in the interior as well as the huge underground extensions of the repositioned "Albertina".

 

Christian Benedictine

Art historian with research interests History of Architecture, building industry of the Hapsburgs, Hofburg and Zeremonialwissenschaft (ceremonial sciences). Since 1990 he works in the architecture collection of the Albertina. Since 2000 he supervises as director of the newly founded department "Staterooms" the restoration and furnishing of the state rooms and the restoration of the facades and explores the history of the palace and its inhabitants.

 

www.wien-vienna.at/albertinabaugeschichte.php

The southern regions of the Moon are covered by a maze of overlapping craters. This region testifies to the intense battering the planets (including Earth) received in the first billion years following their formation. The migration of the gas giant planets disrupted the asteroid cloud and sent multitudes of these bodies inward toward the rocky inner planets. The Earth and our Moon received their share of impacts by these objects.

 

This image catches one of the larger impact craters on the side of the moon facing us, just as daylight breaks across it's floor. Crater Clavius occupies the center of this image. Its rim on the west catches first light, whereas the eastern part of the crater floor is still deeply shadowed. Notice the long dark shadows cast by peaks on the crater's eastern rim. On the northeast rim of Clavius the crater Porter can be seen, while crater Rutherford is embedded in the southeastern rim. an arc of craters spreads across the floor of Clavius.

 

Above and to the right of Clavius is the old crater Maginus. Its rim is deeply battered by many smaller craters, particularly around the western side. Here the crater rim is nearly lost in the jumble of craters left by more-recent impacts.

 

Above Maginus near the image center is the young crater Tycho. Tycho resembles a black-and-white cookie in the morning light, as the shadow cast by its high eastern rim nearly bisects the crater. Tycho's tall central peak is brightly illuminated, and it casts a long shadow of its own westward across the crater floor. The terracing of the western rim makes Tycho resemble a vast amphitheater, like Rome's Colosseum.

 

Below Clavius crater, and slightly to the right can be found the crater Moretus. Moretus, like Tycho, has a terraced rim and a tall central peak. It is a much older crater, than Tycho, despite its similar appearance in this image.

 

Finally, take note of crater Newton in the lower left. There is not much to see yet of Newton, as the daylight has just touched it's eastern rim. The crater itself is mostly evident by the brooding shadow that still engulfs its interior. A lone peak on the western rim stands tall enough to catch the sunlight, showing as an isolated dot in the darkness.

 

Do take some time to scan the image, and take in the enormous number of craters and craterlets you can see. The first quarter of the Moon's life must have been Hellish!

 

Explore Scientific ED 80 480mm focal length f/6 APO refractor telescope, Celestron Advanced VX Equatorial mount.

 

Photographed using eyepiece projection through an Orion Sirius Plossl 20mm lens and an Explore Scientific 3X barlow lens. Canon T3i camera.

 

Stack of 16 images taken at ISO 1800, 1/3 sec exposure.

 

Stacking using Registax 6. Pre-and post-processing with Photoshop CC 2015.

 

Images taken 08/11/2016.

Villasimìus is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Cagliari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about 35 km east of Cagliari.Dur to its strategically important site, Villasimius' territory was inhabited since prehistoric times, as testified by nuraghe (19th-6th centuries BC), Phoenician-Carthaginian (7th-2nd centuries BC) and Roman (3rd century BC-6th century AD) remains.During the giudicati (Sardinian kingdoms), Aragonese and Spanish dominations, the territory suffered numerous pirate raids, and became increasingly depopulated. The village name was, at least from the 13th century, Carbonara; this was repopulated from the early 19th century, when it was under the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, becoming a comune in 1838. Villasimius' economy was traditionally based on agriculture and shepherding and, from 1875, to the extraction of granite. Tourism began to grow of importance from the 1960s, and is now Villasimius main economical activity.

In 1998 the Protected Sea Area of Capo Carbonara was created on the coast.

Most important beaches of the area are Porto Sa Ruxi, Piscadeddus, Campus, Cala caterina, Cala Burroni, Porto Giunco, Timi Ama, Simius, Punta Molentis, Spiaggia del Riso.Villasimius is situated in the south-western coast of Sardinia, and is considered as one of the most famous and valued places in the Mediterranean sea, thanks to an enviable natural position, characterised by long sand beaches and nice hidden creeks ; cliffs, gulfs, inlets and unpolluted isles.

In fact, a world full of surprise and natural attractions will appear to your mind; an area protected by the institution “Area Marina Protetta” (Protected Sea Area) since a few years. Belonging to Sardinia represents another essential aspect because her history and tradition have left habits, jobs, usages and custums, religious and folk festivals in our culture; as well as very interesting archaeological finds in our territory.

In the coasts it is still possible to see some warning towers once built to defend the sea. They were destroyed, reworked, restored, rediscovered. Nowadays they are characteristic points of reference as well as the object of historical and archaeological studies.

 

Villasimius (in sardo Crabonaxa o Biddasimius) è un comune costiero di 3.575 abitanti della provincia di Cagliari. Per la sua posizione strategica il territorio fu abitato fin da tempi remotissimi, come testimoniato da resti di nuraghi (XIX - VI secolo a.C.), da rovine fenicio - puniche (VII - II sec. a.C.) e romane (III sec. a.C. - VI sec. d.C.). Durante il periodo giudicale, aragonese e spagnolo il territorio fu oggetto di continue incursioni barbaresche, e pertanto si andò progressivamente spopolando. Sono vestigia del periodo spagnolo alcune torri di avvistamento e una fortezza costiera (Fortezza Vecchia) (sec. XVI - XVII). Il villaggio, che poi si evolse fino all'assetto attuale, si chiamava originariamente Carbonara (il nome compare fin da documenti del XIII secolo), fu ripopolato a partire dai primi dell' '800 e fu eretto a Comune nel 1838. Il 17 agosto 1862 il consiglio comunale scelse di cambiare nome in Villasimius. Non si conoscono le ragioni di tale decisione. Originariamente le risorse economiche di Carbonara - Villasimius erano essenzialmente legate all'agricoltura e alla pastorizia (non alla pesca, nonostante il mare), e dal 1875 agli anni '50 anche all'estrazione di granito. Il turismo per villeggiatura estiva inizia dagli anni '50, ma solo dopo gli anni '60 si sviluppa come attività principale, facendo del luogo uno dei più frequentati della Sardegna e del Mediterraneo. Nel 1998 nel territorio di Villasimius è stata istituita l'Area Marina protetta di Capo Carbonara.

Fino all'inizio degli anni 60, Villasimius si presentava come un piccolo borgo di pastori e pescatori. Il boom turistico degli anni 70 e 80 lo hanno trasformato radicalmente ed oggi è una delle località più importanti della Sardegna.

Spiagge bellissime, come quelle di Capo Boi, Campu Longu, Spiaggia del Riso, Cala Caterina, Notteri, Cala Giunco, Timi Ama, Simius e Punta Molentis ed un entroterra davvero spettacolare