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Polymer clay diamond shaped container. Size of this piece is 6" wide by 6" tall. Constructed entirely of solid polymer in values of translucent clay to black clay. It is seated in a metal holder. To read about this piece and to see more photos, please visit my blog at: createmyworlddesigns.blogspot.com/2014/03/diamond-in-roug...
Oh god, I put everything I want to say in the Transparent photo. Sooo this is just for the description to not look empty lol
Bee xoxo
This thinly cut marble was a window decoration at a new hospital I was visiting.
NOTE: Personal use of my images requires attribution to my stock agency (credit ''Stock Solution Photo Agency'') and a link to my Web site: ''The Stock Solution''. If you'd like to use one of my images, just send an email to "royce.bairATgmail" (replace "AT" with "@"). I also have higher resolutions (2048 x 1536 pixels) for commercial uses.
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Re-posted from my FotoWrite blog
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Keywords: marble, stone, metamorphic rock, abstract, art,
(for further information please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link you will get them!)
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Motto tradition and innovation
Founded in 1817
State sponsorship
Location Vienna, Austria
Rector Werner Hasitschka
About 3,000 students
Employees about 850 of which about 140 professors
www.mdw.ac.at site
The University of Music and Performing Arts 2007
Columned hall to staircase, Kaiserstein
Pillar staircase around open shaft, Kaiserstein
Institute building and former main building, including the Academy Theater, Lothringerstraße 18
The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) is an Austrian university located in third District of Vienna highway (Landstraße), Anton-von-Webern-Platz 1. It claims to be the greatest art university in Austria and greatest university of music worldwide. Approximately 3,000 students are supported by more than 850 teachers. It is since 2002 structured into 24 institutions offering the artistic, artistic-scientific and purely scientific doctrine. Since 2002 Werner Hasitschka is rector.
History
Already 1808 was discussed on the establishment of a conservatory of Music according to Parisian model (Conservatoire de Paris). The 1812 founded Society of Friends of Music in Vienna this venture had set as it main task, so that already in 1817 a singing school could be launched, which laid the headstone for such an institution. Thus the year 1817 is considered the official founding year of the mdw. In 1819 with the Engagierung (engagement) of violin professor Joseph Böhm instrumental lessons have been started.
With short interruptions during the 19th Century the curriculum was expanded massively, so that in the 1890s more than 1,000 students could be counted. In 1909, this private institution was nationalized on resolution of the emperor and was now kk Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
With the nationalization it also received an own house: in collaboration with the Vienna Konzerthaus Society from 1912 in Liszstraße a building together with a sample stage (today Academy Theater) was built, into which already in January 1914 could be moved. After World War I, the institution was called State Academy (1919). In 1928, the Academy has been extended to a drama seminar (Reinhardt-Seminar) and a music educational seminar. Between 1938 and 1945 it was continued as a Reichshochschule (Academy of the German Reich) by exclusion of Jewish teachers and students.
After the war, in 1946 the institution again became an art school, from 1970 to 1998 it was called University of Music and Performing Arts, since 1998 it is a university.
In 1952 Walter Kolm-Veltée established special training for film design. In 1960, a film class, led by Hans Winge, was added. In 1963, the two courses were combined into the newly founded "Film and Television Department". There were other additional courses, and since 1998, the department is also known as the Vienna Film Academy.
Building
In addition to its headquarters, the mdw-campus at Anton-von-Webern-Platz in the third district, are other branches in 3rd District in Ungargasse 14, am Rennweg 8, in the Metternichgasse 8 and 12 as well as in the Lothringerstraße 18. In the first district of Vienna teaching locations are situated at Karlsplatz 1 and 2, at the Schubertring 14, at the corner of John Street/Seilerstätte and in the Singerstraße 26. Furthermore, in the 4th District in Rienößlgasse 12, in 13th district in the Schoenbrunn Palace Theater as well as at the Palais Cumberland in the Penzingerstrasse.
Campus
The monumental functional purpose building in the sober, classicist forms of Hofbauamtes located at the former Wiener Neustadt channel (rapid rail line), is located at the Anton-von-Webern-Platz 1. 1776 there on the suggestion of Emperor Joseph II. an animal hospital was built in the former Jesuit dairy farm. 1821-1823 followed a new building by Johann Nepomuk Amann, being planned a sprawling complex. The main building with a long façade extends to the left Bahngasse, there are numerous additions. A major contract received the Kaisersteinbrucher master stonemasons, the spacious entrance hall with Tuscan columns, pilasters and mullioned pillars, the spacios pillar staircase around open shaft, all made of light Kaiserstein with typical blue translucent embeddings - a special room for friends of the emperor stone (Kaiserstein). By 1996, the building was the seat of the University of Veterinary Medicine and its predecessor institutions.
In 1996 the building was chosen as the new seat of the University, and completely renovated by architect Reinhardt Gallister. The historic structure was preserved, elements such as glass, wood and stone are the defining stylistic devices and modern technology and equipment was connected with good room acoustics. Studios, classrooms and halls can be rented externally, too.
Disciplines of study
Composition and Music Theory
Conducting
Sound engineer
Instrumental study
Church Music
Educational Studies
Singing and opera directing
Performing Arts
Film and Television
Doctoral Studies
Summer Campus
The isa - International Summer Academy is the musical summer campus of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. More than 200 students from over 40 nations are taking part in two weeks of master classes of the highest calibre in the Semmering region and in Vienna. The summer campus was founded in 1991 as an initiative of Michael Frischenschlager. The isa arose from the euphoria over the fall of the Iron Curtain with the aim, exceptionally talented young students, mainly from the Central and Eastern European countries (CEE countries), allow musical encounters and build international relationships. Since 2005 Johannes Meissl is artistic director of the isa.
Institutions
Institute for Composition and Electro-Acoustics
Institute for Music Conducting
Institute for Analysis, Theory and History of Music
Institute for Keyboard Instruments (podium/concert)
Institute for Bowed and other String Instruments (podium/concert)
Leonard Bernstein Institute for Wind and Percussion instruments
Joseph Haydn Institute for Chamber Music and Special Ensembles
Institute for Organ, Organ Research and Church Music
Institute for Singing and Music Theater
Institute for Drama and Acting Direction (Max Reinhardt Seminar)
Institute for Film and Television (Film Academy Vienna)
Institute for Music Education
Institute for Music and Movement Education and Music Therapy
Institute of Musical Style Research
Institute of Popular Music
Institute Ludwig van Beethoven (keyboard instruments in music pedagogy)
Hellmesberger - Institute (string & other bowed instruments in Music Education)
Institute Franz Schubert (wind and percussion instruments in Music Pedagogy)
Institute Antonio Salieri (singing in Music Pedagogy)
Institute Anton Bruckner (music theory, ear training, ensemble direction)
Institute for Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology
Institute for Viennese Sound Style (Musical Acoustics)
Institute for Music Sociology
Institute of Culture Management and Cultural Studies (IKM)
Science
Apart from artistic training form the scientific institutions (or full professors and university lecturers with great teaching qualification - venia docendi) a significant part of the university's work. A special feature of the MDW is the high interconnectedness of science and art. The right to award doctorates is the foundation of a university, and is realized at the MDW in the PhD graduate program. Departments of scientific work in this connection are:
Dramaturgy
Film Studies
Gender Studies
History and Theory of Popular Music
Gregorian chant and liturgy
Historical Musicology (including analysis, music theory and harmonic research)
Stylistics and performance practice
Cultural Business Operations
Musical Acoustics
Music Education
Sociology of Music
Music Theory
Music Therapy
Systematic musicology within interdisciplinary approaches
Folk Music Research, Ethnomusicology
Known graduates
Claudio Abbado
Barbara Albert
Peter Alexander
Christian Altenburger
Maria Andergast
Walter Samuel Bartussek
Johanna Beisteiner
Erwin Belakowitsch
Achim Benning
Zsófia Boros
Thomas Brezinka
Florian Brüning
Rudolf Buchbinder
Friedrich Cerha
Gabriel Chmura
Mimi Coertse
Luke David
Yoram David
Jacques Delacôte, French conductor
Jörg Demus
Helmut German
Johanna Doderer
Iván Eröd
Karlheinz Essl
Matthias Fletzberger
Sabrina Frey
Beat Furrer
Rudolf Gamsjäger
Raoul Gehringer
Nicolas Geremus
Wolfgang Glück
Wolfgang Glüxam
Eugen Gmeiner
Walter Goldschmidt
Stefan Gottfried
Friedrich Gulda
Robert Gulya
Ingomar Auer
Christoph Haas (born 1949), Swiss conductor
Georg Friedrich Haas
Hans Hammerschmid
Gottfried Hemetsberger
John Hiemetsberger
Robert Holl
Mariss Jansons
Leo Jaritz
Mariama Djiwa Jenie, concert pianist and dancer
Thomas Jöbstl
Thomas Kakuska
Bijan Khadem-Missagh, violin
Angelika Kirschschlager
Hermann Killmeyer
Patricia Kopatchinskaya
Leon Koudelak
Bojidara Kouzmanova
Tina Kordić
Klaus Kuchling
Rainer Küchl
Gabriele Lechner
Wolf Lotter
Gustav Mahler
Edith Mathis
Zubin Mehta
Tobias Moretti
Tomislav Mužek
Helmut Neumann
Josef Niederhammer
Ernst Ottensamer
Erwin Ortner
Rudolf Pacik
Harry Pepl
Günter Pichler
Josephine Pilars de Pilar
Peter Planyavsky
Stefanie Alexandra Prenn
Armando Puklavec
Carole Dawn Reinhart
Gerald Reischl
Wolfgang Reisinger
Erhard Riedlsperger
Jhibaro Rodriguez
Hilde Rössel-Maidan
Michael Radanovics
Sophie Rois
Gerhard Ruhm
Kurt Rydl
Clemens Salesny
Heinz Sandauer
Klaus-Peter Sattler
Wolfgang Sauseng
Nicholas Schapfl
Agnes Scheibelreiter
Heinrich Schiff
Michael Schnitzler
Peter Schuhmayer
Christian W. Schulz
Wolfgang Schulz
Ulrich Seidl
Fritz Schreiber
Kurt Schwertsik
Ulf-Diether Soyka
Christian Spatzek
Arben Spahiu
Götz Spielmann
Othmar Steinbauer
Hermann Sulzberger (b. 1957), Austrian composer
Roman Summereder
Hans Swarovsky
Jenő Takács
Wolfgang Tomböck
Karolos Trikolidis, Greek-Austrian conductor
Mitsuko Uchida
Timothy Vernon (b. 1948), Canadian conductor
Eva Vicens harpsichordist from Uruguay, lives in Spain
Annette Volkamer
Johanna Wokalek
Adolf Wallnöfer
Gregor Widholm
Bruno Weil
Hermann Wlach
Paul Zauner
Herbert Zipper
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universit%C3%A4t_f%C3%BCr_Musik_und...
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background
The history of Focke Wulf's Fw 190 in Japan started with a rejection: in 1943 a single FW 190 A-5 had been supplied to Japan for evaluation, but at first, the type was not put into production by the Japanese. Anyway, the results of the study by Japanese engineers were incorporated in the design of the Ki-61 fighter. This evaluation did not go unnoticed, since the type received the Allied code-name 'Fred'.
By that time, the teething development problems of Mitubishi's J2M ‘Raiden’ (Thunderbolt) 'Jack' led to a slowdown in production. Biggest issues were the Kasei engine, an unreliable propeller pitch change mechanism and the main undercarriage members. Another drawback of the type was that its design put emphasis on performance and pilot protection rather than maneuverability. By the time the Fw 190 was tested, only fourteen J2M had been completed.
To make matters even worse, the Mitsubishi A7M 'Reppu' fighter was also behind schedule, so that replacements for the A6M 'Zero', backbone of the IJN’s air force, were overdue.
This situation left the Imperial Japanese Navy without a land-based interceptor. The first few produced J2M2 were delivered to the development units in December 1942 but further trials and improvements took almost a year, and it took until June 1944 that the ‘Raiden’ could make its combat debut, during the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
While the Raiden was to be developed further for the high-altitude interceptor role, the IJN decided in January 1944 to adopt the highly effective Fw 190 as a supplementary interceptor for medium heights - only as a stop-gap at first, but the type quickly evolved into various sub-variants, much like in Germany.
License production of the adopted Fw 190 started at Hitachi in May 1944. The original airframe was modified to cater to Japanese needs and customs, and the most obvious difference of the J10F1, how the plane was officially called, was the use of the Mitsubishi MK4R Kasei 23c radial engine instead of the original BMW 801. It was a modified version of the engine in the J2M, but simplified and made more reliable. The engine produced 1.820hp and drove a four-bladed propeller. Another distinctive feature was a small fin fillet, which compensated directional instability due to the longer forward fuselage.
By its pilots, the J10F quickly became called “hueruge” (フエルゲル), a transcription of the Fw 190's German nickname "Würger" (=Shrike).
Variants:
J10F1
The original main variant with the MK4R Kasei 23e and armed with 2× 13.2 mm Type 3 machine guns and 4× 20 mm two Type 99 Model 2 cannons, 354 aircraft produced.
While no official sub-variant was developed or designated, single machines differed considerably in equipment. This included field-modifications like reduced armament for better performance or ground-attack equipment, e .g. racks for a total of four unguided 60kg air-to-air missiles under the outer wings.
J10F1-G
In late 1945 a few J10F1 were modified for the anti-ship role and night attacks, and they received the "-G" suffix for their new land-based bomber role. These planes had a reduced gun armament, flame dampers and an IR sight, similar to the German “Spanner” device.
Most of these planes were to carry special weapons, like a single indigenous Ke-Go 110 heat-seeking guided bomb under the belly, or, alternatively, a copy of the German Bv 246 "Hagelkorn" gliding bomb, which had been delivered to Japan in 1944 for tests and adopted for production. To allow more space under the fuselage while carrying these bombs on the ground, some of these aircraft had a longer tail wheel strut fitted. Additionally, tests were made with a torpedo on the centerline hardpoint. It is uncertain if these weapons were actually used in combat, though.
J10F2
The only variant that was developed so far that it entered service, incorporating many detail modifications and improvements. These included thicker armored glass in the cabin's windshield (from 5.5 cm/2.2” to 7.6cm/3”) and extra armor plating behind the pilot's seat. The wing skinning was thickened in localized areas to allow for a further increase in dive speed. A water-methanol engine boost was added, which allowed an engine output of 2.050 hp for short periods, which boosted the top speed to 695 km/h. 52 were produced.
J10F3
High altitude project with a pressurized cabin, a larger wing span of 11.96 m (39 ft 2 in) and a turbo-supercharged MK4R-C Kasei 23c engine, with the turbo-supercharger mounted behind the cockpit (itself made wider). This doubled the altitude at which the engine could produce its rated power, from 15,750ft up to 30,185ft. The J10F3 only carried two 20mm cannons in the wing roots, but had two extra oblique-firing 20mm cannon installed aft of the cockpit for use against high flying American B-29 bombers (much like the German "Schräge Musik" installments). Two prototypes were completed in June 1945, but the turbo-supercharger proved troublesome, and no further aircraft of this type were produced.
From late 1944 on, the J10F1 was quickly thrown into service and became a nasty surprise for Allied aircraft. The modified Focke Wulf design proved to be agile, fast and much tougher than earlier Japanese fighters, coupled with a relatively heavy armament. Beyond interception duties, the J10F1 was frequently employed in close support and anti-shipping tasks, since its low level handling and ordnance load was excellent.
Its only drawback was - as with the original Fw 190 - that performance dropped at heights above 6.000m. This should not have posed a problem with the J2M, but that type's delay left the Allied high-altitude bomber attacks relatively unharmed, so that the J10F3 version was hastily developed, but failed to realize. In Germany, the similar situation resulted in the Fw 190 D-9 variant and finally in the superb Ta-152.
J10F1General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 9.29 m (30 ft 6¾ in)
Wingspan:10.51 m (34 ft 5 in)
Height: 3.95 m (12 ft 12 in)
Wing area:18.30 m² (196.99 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,490 kg (7,694 lb)
Max. take-off weight: 4,840 kg (10,670 lb)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 656 km/h (408 mph) at 19,420 ft (5,920 m)
Rate of climb:17 m/s (3,300 ft/min)
Range: 800 km (500 mi)
Service ceiling: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)
Engine: 1 Mitsubishi MK4R Kasei 23e radial engine with 1.820hp
Armament:
2 × 13.2 mm Type 3 machine guns, 300 rpg, in the nose
4 × 20 mm two Type 99 Model 2 cannons, 200 rpg, two in the wing roots, two outside of the landing gear.
Three hardpoints, one under the fuselage (max. 500 kg/1.102 lb) and one under each wing for 250 kg/550 lb each for bombs or fuel tanks. Total external ordnance load of 1.000kg (2.205 lb).
The kit and its assembly
The 'Japanese Fw 190' is a popular what-if topic, so I wanted to add my interpretation to the plethora of whifs and replicas of the real test machine. Actually, a clean Fw 190 looks pretty Japanese with its radial engine and sleek lines. When I recently came across a similar build at britmodelers.com, I thought that painting a Fw 190 green/grey and putting some Hinomarus on is logical and simple, but there's more in the subject than just cosmetics. I wanted a bit more... And while the concept remained simple, I had enough ideas and spare parts for a twin combo! In the end, the J10F was built as a pure interceptor and as a 'special purpose' night strike aircraft.
Basically, my limiting design idea for the J10F's design was the idea that Japan would not have received the Fw 190’s original BMW 801 radial engine, so that an alternative powerplant had to be fitted. I had hoped that this would have set the 'new' plane outwardly a bit apart from its German ancestor, and also make you look twice because the result would not be a 1:1 "Japanized" Fw 190 A/F. I tried, but I suppose that the effect is not as 'powerful' as intended – but judge for yourself?
The basic kits for both conversions come from Hobby Boss. It is a simple and clean kit, but with very good fit and engraved details. In an attempt to change the plane's look a little, I tried to transplant other engines - radials, too. Donation parts for both kits come from an Italeri Ju 188, which features two pairs of engines. The radials I used are actually BMW 801’s, too, but they lack the typical cooling fan and the cowlings are 3-4mm longer because they'd carry the engine mountings on the Ju 188's wings. Actually, the fuselage is minimal longer now, maybe 4-5mm, but the shape is still very close to the original Fw 190, so I think that this mod hardly is recognizable at all?
The change was a bit tricky, due to the massive fuselage of the Hobby Boss kit, but it worked. The new cowlings received new cooling louvres and exhaust pipes. New, four-bladed propellers were added, scratch-built from leftover Mosquito NF.30 propellers from the Airfix kit and drop tank front halves.
Otherwise, though, not much was changed, the two kits just differ in equipment details and received Matchbox pilot figures in order to cover up the bleak and very deep cockpit.
The interceptor:
As an interceptor I left the plane clean, without external ordnance. I wanted to emphasize its elegant look, which makes it look like a Ki-43 on casual glance, or even an A6M. The plane carries the normal gun armament (from a Fw 190 A-8), this is supposed to be the original/standard J10F mentioned above.
The night attacker:
The J10F1-G variant saw more modifications, including a new exhaust system with flame dampers built from scratch. Other special equipment comprises an IR sight in front of the canopy, flare protectors, the fuselage hardpoint and the scratch-built Ke-Go 110 bomb. In order to cover the deleted gun access panels under the wings, I added streamlined bomb shackles for two Japanese 60kg bombs each, donated from a Matchbox Ju 87 kit.
About the Ke-Go bomb
This bomb, which looks like a penguin, is a fantasy derivate of a real Japanese development series until summer 1945. In a nutshell, the Ke-Go bomb actually was one of the first “fire and forget” weapons I have heard of. With the guidance of a bolometer seeker and a self-correcting steering mechanism, the bomb would (only) be useable against strong and clear heat sources – a ship’s kettle at night, when surrounding heat level was low, would qualify, and the bomb would be guided by deviation and correction from that heat source - if it locked on correctly, though! My Ke-Go 110 is a smaller version of the original Ke-Go bombs, suitable for lighter planes.
Painting
Being an IJN plane, paint scheme choices for the J10F were rather limited - and since it is a whif plane I stuck to my policy that I rather use a simple/subtle paint scheme.
The interceptor:
For the clean and rather conservative interceptor I settled for a simple IJN Green/Gray livery (N. 2 ‘Aomidori-iro’, a bluish, very dark green and N.10 ‘Hairyokushoku’, respectively), with Testors 2116 and 2117 as basic tones. Yellow wing leading edges were added, cut from an aftermarket decal sheet. As a design twist I painted the engine cowling black, A6M-style. The propeller spinner was painted in red brown (typical Japanese WWII primer color), with an orange tip, matching the arrow symbol decal on the tail fin. The propeller blades were painted with Testor’s ‘Rubber’, #1183.
A slightly worn look was achieved through a light wash with black ink and some dry painting with paler shades of Green (Humbrol 91 and 185) and Aluminum, plus light exhaust marks and gun smoke residues with flat black. Some bare metal spots were added, which also highlight some details and add to the worn look.
All decals for the green fighter come from a Hobby Boss A6M, only the arrows come from the Hobby Boss He 162. Finally, everything was sealed under a semi-matte varnish, for a light shine to the surface – typical IJN machines appear to be rather shiny?
The night attacker:
This variant received a more fantastic and stealthy paint scheme - I wanted to set the plane apart from the clean and shiny interceptor: a grunty, desperate strike aircraft against overwhelming sea forces.
AFAIK, there had not been specific nocturnal cammo schemes at the IJNAS, except for all-green aircraft? A bit boring, I thought, esp. with a typical green/gray sister plane.
So I made up a personal variant: In a first step, upper surfaces were painted in a brownish-grey basic tone, AFAIK called ‘Ameiro’ – it is the color which was used on early Zeroes which were based on carriers, and the tone faded quickly to a light gray. This color is very similar to RAL 7014 ‘Fenstergrau’ and reminds of B.S. ‘Hemp’. I improvised it with a mix of Humbrol 141 (60%), 83 (35%) and a bit of 155 (5%). On top of that a dense array of dark green blotches (Humbrol 185, Chrome Green, at first, and later also with Humbrol 116 for more contrast) was applied, breaking up the plane’s lines and covering the light gray tone almost completely.
Undersides originally sported ‘Ameiro’, too, but they were painted as if they had been covered with a very dark gray tone in the field (Humbrol 67), even leaving out the hinomarus and flaking off everywhere. The black engine cowling was retained.
Hinomaru and squadron emblems come from the same Mitsubishi A6M from Hobby Boss as mentioned above, featuring even less markings. As a side note: I have never seen Hinomaru with a black(!) rim before? I am not certain if this is correct or an authentic modification - it matches the night fighter role perfectly, though. This time I chose a matte varnish, except for the cowling which received some streaks with more shiny semi-matte varnish.
In both cases, cockpit interior surfaces and landing gear wells were painted in ‘Aodake Iro’, simulated with a base of Aluminium (Humbrol 56) and a coat of translucent blue lacquer on top.
All in all, these pair of rather simple model kit was built in a couple of days, taking the pictures and waiting for good light took almost the same time! I am not 100% happy, because the engine mod is not as obvious as I expected, even though the four-bladed prop and the slightly elongated fuselage give the J10F a menacing and fast look, like a “Baby Tempest”.
Part II.
www.flickr.com/photos/dewfah/14251681947/
This recent weddig shot was taken at the most beautiful place of Budapest - Fisherman's Bastion.
Only natty light was used! ;-) 110 cm translucent refelector to diffuse light
Canon 5D mk III + 70-200f2.8
NEDERLAND, NETHERLANDS, HOLLAND, PAYS-BAS, HOLANDA, PAISES BAJOS, Barendrecht, Un pueblo llamado Barendrecht, A town called Barendrecht, Une ville appelée Barendrecht, LAGARTIJAS, LEZARDS , LIZARDS, HAGEDISSEN, ECHSEN, LAGARTO,
AXOLOTIS.-
There was a time when I thought a great deal about the axolotls. I went to see them in the aquarium at the Jardin des Plantes and stayed for hours watching them, observing their immobility, their faint movements. Now I am an axolotl.
I got to them by chance one spring morning when Paris was spreading its peacock tail after a slow wintertime. I was heading down tbe boulevard Port-Royal, then I took Saint-Marcel and L'Hôpital and saw green among all that grey and remembered the lions. I was friend of the lions and panthers, but had never gone into the dark, humid building that was the aquarium. I left my bike against tbe gratings and went to look at the tulips. The lions were sad and ugly and my panther was asleep. I decided on the aquarium, looked obliquely at banal fish until, unexpectedly, I hit it off with the axolotls. I stayed watching them for an hour and left, unable to think of anything else.
In the library at Sainte-Geneviève, I consulted a dictionary and learned that axolotls are the larval stage (provided with gills) of a species of salamander of the genus Ambystoma. That they were Mexican I knew already by looking at them and their little pink Aztec faces and the placard at the top of the tank. I read that specimens of them had been found in Africa capable of living on dry land during the periods of drought, and continuing their life under water when the rainy season came. I found their Spanish name, ajolote, and the mention that they were edible, and that their oil was used (no longer used, it said ) like cod-liver oil.
I didn't care to look up any of the specialized works, but the next day I went back to the Jardin des Plantes. I began to go every morning, morning and aftemoon some days. The aquarium guard smiled perplexedly taking my ticket. I would lean up against the iron bar in front of the tanks and set to watching them. There's nothing strange in this, because after the first minute I knew that we were linked, that something infinitely lost and distant kept pulling us together. It had been enough to detain me that first morning in front of the sheet of glass where some bubbles rose through the water. The axolotls huddled on the wretched narrow (only I can know how narrow and wretched) floor of moss and stone in the tank. There were nine specimens, and the majority pressed their heads against the glass, looking with their eyes of gold at whoever came near them. Disconcerted, almost ashamed, I felt it a lewdness to be peering at these silent and immobile figures heaped at the bottom of the tank. Mentally I isolated one, situated on the right and somewhat apart from the others, to study it better. I saw a rosy little body, translucent (I thought of those Chinese figurines of milky glass), looking like a small lizard about six inches long, ending in a fish's tail of extraordinary delicacy, the most sensitive part of our body. Along the back ran a transparent fin which joined with the tail, but what obsessed me was the feet, of the slenderest nicety, ending in tiny fingers with minutely human nails. And then I discovered its eyes, its face. Inexpressive features, with no other trait save the eyes, two orifices, like brooches, wholly of transparent gold, lacking any life but looking, letting themselves be penetrated by my look, which seemed to travel past the golden level and lose itself in a diaphanous interior mystery. A very slender black halo ringed the eye and etched it onto the pink flesh, onto the rosy stone of the head, vaguely triangular, but with curved and triangular sides which gave it a total likeness to a statuette corroded by time. The mouth was masked by the triangular plane of the face, its considerable size would be guessed only in profile; in front a delicate crevice barely slit the lifeless stone. On both sides of the head where the ears should have been, there grew three tiny sprigs, red as coral, a vegetal outgrowth, the gills, I suppose. And they were the only thing quick about it; every ten or fifteen seconds the sprigs pricked up stiffly and again subsided. Once in a while a foot would barely move, I saw the diminutive toes poise mildly on the moss. It's that we don't enjoy moving a lot, and the tank is so cramped—we barely move in any direction and we're hitting one of the others with our tail or our head—difficulties arise, fights, tiredness. The time feels like it's less if we stay quietly.
It was their quietness that made me lean toward them fascinated the first time I saw the axolotls. Obscurely I seemed to understand their secret will, to abolish space and time with an indifferent immobility. I knew better later; the gill contraction, the tentative reckoning of the delicate feet on the stones, the abrupt swimming (some of them swim with a simple undulation of the body) proved to me that they were capable of escaping that mineral lethargy in which they spent whole hours. Above all else, their eyes obsessed me. In the standing tanks on either side of them, different fishes showed me the simple stupidity of their handsome eyes so similar to our own. The eyes of the axolotls spoke to me of the presence of a different life, of another way of seeing. Glueing my face to the glass (the guard would cough fussily once in a while), I tried to see better those diminutive golden points, that entrance to the infinitely slow and remote world of these rosy creatures. It was useless to tap with one finger on the glass directly in front of their faces; they never gave the least reaction. The golden eyes continued burning with their soft, terrible light; they continued looking at me from an unfathomable depth which made me dizzy.
And nevertheless they were close. I knew it before this, before being an axolotl. I learned it the day I came near them for the first time. The anthropomorphic features of a monkey reveal the reverse of what most people believe, the distance that is traveled from them to us. The absolute lack of similarity between axolotls and human beings proved to me that my recognition was valid, that I was not propping myself up with easy analogies. Only the little hands . . . But an eft, the common newt, has such hands also, and we are not at all alike. I think it was the axolotls' heads, that triangular pink shape with the tiny eyes of gold. That looked and knew. That laid the claim. They were not animals.
It would seem easy, almost obvious, to fall into mythology. I began seeing in the axolotls a metamorphosis which did not succeed in revoking a mysterious humanity. I imagined them aware, slaves of their bodies, condemned infinitely to the silence of the abyss, to a hopeless meditation. Their blind gaze, the diminutive gold disc without expression and nonetheless terribly shining, went through me like a message: "Save us, save us." I caught myself mumbling words of advice, conveying childish hopes. They continued to look at me, immobile; from time to time the rosy branches of the gills stiffened. In that instant I felt a muted pain; perhaps they were seeing me, attracting my strength to penetrate into the impenetrable thing of their lives. They were not human beings, but I had found in no animal such a profound relation with myself. The axolotls were like witnesses of something, and at times like horrible judges. I felt ignoble in front of them; there was such a terrifying purity in those transparent eyes. They were larvas, but larva means disguise and also phantom. Behind those Aztec faces, without expression but of an implacable cruelty, what semblance was awaiting its hour?
I was afraid of them. I think that had it not been for feeling the proximity of other visitors and the guard, I would not have been bold enough to remain alone with them. "You eat them alive with your eyes, hey," the guard said, laughing; he likely thought I was a little cracked. What he didn't notice was that it was they devouring me slowly with their eyes, in a cannibalism of gold. At any distance from the aquarium, I had only to think of them, it was as though I were being affected from a distance. It got to the point that I was going every day, and at night I thought of them immobile in the darkness, slowly putting a hand out which immediately encountered another. Perhaps their eyes could see in the dead of night, and for them the day continued indefinitely. The eyes of axolotls have no lids.
I know now that there was nothing strange, that that had to occur. Leaning over in front of the tank each morning, the recognition was greater. They were suffering, every fiber of my body reached toward that stifled pain, that stiff torment at the bottom of the tank. They were lying in wait for something, a remote dominion destroyed, an age of liberty when the world had been that of the axolotls. Not possible that such a terrible expression which was attaining the overthrow of that forced blankness on their stone faces should carry any message other than one of pain, proof of that eternal sentence, of that liquid hell they were undergoing. Hopelessly, I wanted to prove to myself that my own sensibility was projecting a nonexistent consciousness upon the axolotls. They and I knew. So there was nothing strange in what happened. My face was pressed against the glass of the aquarium, my eyes were attempting once more to penetrate the mystery of those eyes of gold without iris, without pupil. I saw from very close up the face of an axolotl immobile next to the glass. No transition and no surprise, I saw my face against the glass, I saw it on the outside of the tank, I saw it on the other side of the glass. Then my face drew back and I understood.
Only one thing was strange: to go on thinking as usual, to know. To realize that was, for the first moment, like the horror of a man buried alive awaking to his fate. Outside, my face came close to the glass again, I saw my mouth, the lips compressed with the effort of understanding the axolotls. I was an axolotl and now I knew instantly that no understanding was possible. He was outside the aquarium, his thinking was a thinking outside the tank. Recognizlng him, being him himself, I was an axolotl and in my world. The horror began—I learned in the same moment —of believing myself prisoner in the body of an axolotl, metamorphosed into him with my human mind intact, buried alive in an axolotl, condemned to move lucidly among unconscious creatures. But that stopped when a foot just grazed my face, when I moved just a little to one side and saw an axolotl next to me who was looking at me, and understood that he knew also, no communication possible, but very clearly. Or I was also in him, or all of us were thinking humanlike, incapable of expression, limited to the golden splendor of our eyes looking at the face of the man pressed against the aquarium.
He returned many times, but he comes less often now. Weeks pass without his showing up. I saw him yesterday, he looked at me for a long time and left briskly. It seemed to me that he was not so much interested in us any more, that he was coming out of habit. Since the only thing I do is think, I could think about him a lot. It occurs to me that at the beginning we continued to communicate, that he felt more than ever one with the mystery which was claiming him. But the bridges were broken between him and me, because what was his obsession is now an axolotl, alien to his human life. I think that at the beginning I was capable of returning to him in a certain way—ah, only in a certain way—and of keeping awake his desire to know us better. I am an axolotl for good now, and if I think like a man it's only because every axolotl thinks like a man inside his rosy stone semblance. I believe that all this succeeded in communicating something to him in those first days, when I was still he. And in this final solitude to which he no longer comes, I console myself by thinking that perhaps he is going to write a story about us, that, believing he's making up a story, he's going to write all this about axolotls.
Il fut une époque où je pensais beaucoup aux axolotls. J’allais les voir à l’aquarium du Jardin des Plantes et je passais des heures à les regarder, à observer leur immobilité, leurs mouvements obscurs. Et maintenant je suis un axolotl. Le hasard me conduisit vers eux un matin de printemps où Paris déployait sa queue de paon après le lent hiver. Je descendis le boulevard Saint-Marcel, celui de l’hôpital, je vis les premiers verts parmi tout le gris et je me souvins des lions. J’étais très amis des lions et des panthères, mais je n’étais jamais entré dans l’enceinte humide et sombre des aquariums. Je laissai ma bicyclette contre les grilles et j’allais voir les tulipes. Les lions étaient laids et tristes et ma panthère dormait. Je me décidai pour les aquariums et, après avoir regardé avec indifférence des poissons ordinaires, je tombai par hasard sur les axolotls. Je passai une heure à les regarder, puis je partis, incapable de penser à autre chose.
À la bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève je consultai un dictionnaire et j’appris que les axolotls étaient les formes larvaires, pourvues de branchies, de batraciens du genre amblystone. Qu’ils étaient originaires du Mexique, je le savais déjà, rien qu’à voir leur petit visage aztèque. Je lus qu’on en avait trouvé des spécimens en Afrique capables de vivre hors de l’eau pendant les périodes de sécheresse et qui reprenaient leur vie normale à la saison des pluies. On donnait leur nom espagnol, ajolote, on signalait qu’ils étaient comestibles et qu’on utilisait leur huile (on ne l’utilise plus) comme l’huile de foie de morue.
Je ne voulus pas consulter d’ouvrages spécialisés mais je revins le jour suivant au jardin des Plantes. Je pris l’habitude d’y aller tous les matins, et parfois même matin et soir. Le gardien des aquariums souriait d’un air perplexe en prenant mon ticket. Je m’appuyais contre la barre de fer qui borde les aquariums et je regardais les axolotls. Il n’y avait rien d’étrange à cela ; dès le premier instant j’avais senti que quelque chose me liait à eux, quelque chose d’infiniment lointain et oublié qui cependant nous unissait encore. Il m’avait suffit de m’arrêter un matin devant cet aquarium où des bulles couraient dans l’eau. Les axolotls s’entassaient sur l’étroit et misérable (personne mieux que moi ne sait à quel point il est étroit et misérable) fond de pierre et de mousse. Il y en avait neuf, la plupart d’entre eux appuyaient leur tête contre la vitre et regardaient de leurs yeux d’or ceux qui s’approchaient. Troublé, presque honteux, je trouvais qu’il y avait de l’impudeur à se pencher sur ces formes silencieuses et immobiles entassées au fond de l’aquarium. Mentalement, j’en isolai un, un peu à l’écart sur la droite, pour mieux l’étudier. Je vis un petit corps rose, translucide (je pensai aux statuettes chinoises en verre laiteux), semblable à un petit lézard de quinze centimètres, terminé par une queue de poisson d’une extraordinaire délicatesse - c’est la partie la plus sensible de notre corps. Sur son dos, une nageoire transparente se rattachait à la queue ; mais ce furent les pattes qui me fascinèrent, des pattes d’une incroyable finesse, terminés par de tout petits doigts avec des ongles - absolument humains, sans pourtant avoir la forme de la main humaine - mais comment aurais-je pu ignorer qu’ils étaient humains ? c’est alors que je découvris leurs yeux, leur visage. Un visage inexpressif sans autre trait que les yeux, deux orifices comme des têtes d’épingles entièrement d’or transparent, sans aucune vie, mais qui regardaient et qui se laissaient pénétrer par mon regard qui passait à travers le point doré et se perdait dans un mystère diaphane. Un très mince halo noir entourait l’oeil et l’inscrivait dans la chair rose, dans la pierre rose de la tête vaguement triangulaire, au contours courbes et irréguliers, qui la faisaient ressembler à une statue rongée par le temps. La bouche était dissimulée par le plan triangulaire de la tête et ce n’est que de profil que l’on s’apercevait qu’elle était très grande. Vue de face, c’était une fine rainure, comme une fissure dans de l’albâtre. De chaque côté de la tête, à la place des oreilles, se dressaient de très petites branches rouges comme du corail, une excroissance végétale, les branchies, je suppose. C’était la seule chose qui eût l’air vivante dans ce corps. Chaque vingt secondes elles se dressaient, toutes raides, puis s’abaissaient de nouveau. Parfois une patte bougeait, à peine, et je voyais les doigts minuscules se poser doucement sur la mousse. C’est que nous n’aimons pas beaucoup bouger, l’aquarium est si étroit ; si peu que nous remuions nous heurtons la tête ou la queue d’un autre ; il s’ensuit des difficultés, des disputes, de la fatigue. Le temps se sent moins si l’on reste immobile.
Ce fut leur immobilité qui me fit me pencher vers eux, fasciné, la première fois que je les vis. Il me sembla comprendre obscurément leur volonté secrète : abolir l’espace et le temps par une immobilité pleine d’indifférence. Par la suite, j’appris à mieux les comprendre, les branchies qui se contractent, les petites pattes fines qui tâtonnent sur les pierres, leurs fuites brusques (ils nagent par une simple ondulation du corps) me prouvèrent qu’ils étaient capables de s’évader de cette torpeur minérale où ils passaient des heures entières. Leurs yeux surtout m’obsédaient. A côté d’eux, dans les autres aquariums, des poissons me montraient la stupide simplicité de leurs beaux yeux semblables aux nôtres. Les yeux des axolotls me parlaient de la présence d’une vie différente, d’une autre façon de regarder. Je collais mon visage à la vitre (le gardien, inquiet, toussait de temps en temps) pour mieux voir les tout petits points dorés, cette ouverture sur le monde infiniment lent et éloigné des bêtes roses. Inutile de frapper du doigt contre la vitre, sous leur nez, jamais la moindre réaction. Les yeux d’or continuaient à brûler de leur douce et terrible lumière, continuaient à me regarder du fond d’un abîme insondable qui me donnait le vertige.
Et cependant les axolotls étaient proches de nous. Je le savais avant même de devenir un axolotl. Je le sus dès le jour où je m’approchai d’eux pour la première fois. Les traits anthropomorphiques d’un singe accusent la différence qu’il y a entre lui et nous, contrairement à ce que pensent la plupart des gens. L’absence totale de ressemblance entre un axolotl et un être humain me prouva que ma reconnaissance
était valable, que je ne m’appuyais pas sur des analogies faciles. Il y avait bien les petites mains. Mais un lézard a les mêmes mains et ne ressemble en rien à l’homme. Je crois que tout venait de la tête des axolotls, de sa forme triangulaire rose et de ses petits yeux d’or. Cela regardait et savait. Cela réclamait. Les axolotls n’étaient pas des animaux.
De là à tomber dans la mythologie, il n’y avait qu’un pas, facile à franchir, presque inévitable. Je finis par voir dans les axolotls une métamorphose qui n’arrivait pas à renoncer tout à fait à une mystérieuse humanité. Je les imaginais conscients, esclaves de leur corps, condamnés indéfiniment à un silence abyssal, à une méditation désespérée. Leur regard aveugle, le petit disque d’or inexpressif - et cependant terriblement lucide - me pénétrait comme un message : "Sauve-nous, sauve-nous." Je me surprenais en train de murmurer des paroles de consolation, de transmettre des espoirs puérils. Ils continuaient à me regarder, immobiles. Soudain les petites branches roses se dressaient sur leur tête, et je sentais à ce moment-là comme une douleur sourde. Ils me voyaient peut-être, ils captaient mes efforts pour pénétrer dans l’impénétrable de leur vie. Ce n’étaient pas des êtres humains mais jamais je ne m’étais senti un rapport aussi étroit entre des animaux et moi. Les axolotls étaient comme témoins de quelque chose et parfois ils devenaient de terribles juges. Je me trouvais ignoble devant eux, il y avait dans ces yeux transparents une si effrayante pureté. C’était des larves, mais larve veut dire masque et aussi fantôme. Derrière ces visages aztèques, inexpressifs, et cependant d’une cruauté implacable, quelle image attendait
son heure ?
Ils me faisaient peur. Je crois que sans la présence du gardien et des autres visiteurs je n’aurais jamais osé rester devant eux. " Vous les mangez des yeux ", me disait le gardien en riant, et il devait penser que je n’étais pas tout à fait normal. Il ne se rendait pas compte que c’était eux qui me dévoraient lentement des yeux, en un cannibalisme d’or. Loin d’eux je ne pouvais penser à autre chose, comme s’ils m’influençaient à distance. Je finis par y aller tous les jours et la nuit je les imaginais immobiles dans l’obscurité, avançant lentement une petite patte qui rencontrait soudain celle d’un autre. Leurs yeux voyaient peut-être la nuit et le jour pour eux n’avait pas de fin. Les yeux des axolotls n’ont pas de paupières.
Maintenant je sais qu’il n’y a rien eu d’étrange dans tout cela, que cela devait arriver. Ils me reconnaissaient un peu plus chaque matin quand je me penchais vers l’aquarium. Ils souffraient. Chaque fibre de mon corps enregistrait cette souffrance bâillonnée, cette torture rigide au fond de l’eau. Ils épiaient quelque chose, un lointain royaume aboli, un temps de liberté où le monde avait appartenu aux axolotls. Une expression aussi terrible qui arrivait à vaincre l’impassibilité forcée de ces visages de pierre contenait sûrement un message de douleur, la preuve de cette condamnation éternelle, de cet enfer liquide qu’ils enduraient. En vain essayai-je de me persuader que c’était ma propre sensibilité qui projetait sur les axolotls une conscience qu’ils n’avaient pas. Eux et moi nous savions. C’est pour cela que ce qui arriva n’est pas étrange. Je collais mon visage à la vitre de l’aquarium, mes yeux essayèrent une fois de plus de percer le mystère de ces yeux d’or sans iris et sans pupille. Je voyais de très près la tête d’un axolotl immobile contre la vitre. Puis mon visage s’éloigna et je compris. Une seule chose était étrange : continuer à penser comme avant, savoir. Quand j’en pris conscience, je ressentis l’horreur de celui qui s’éveille enterré vivant. Au-dehors, mon visage s’approchait à nouveau de la vitre, je voyais ma bouche aux lèvres serrées par l’effort que je faisais pour comprendre les axolotls. J’étais un axolotl et je venais de savoir en un éclair qu’aucune communication n’était possible. Il était hors de l’aquarium, sa pensée était une pensée hors de l’aquarium. Tout en le connaissant, tout en étant lui-même, j’étais un axolotl et j’étais dans mon monde. L’horreur venait de ce que - je le sus instantanément - je me croyais prisonnier dans le corps d’un axolotl, transféré en lui avec ma pensée d’homme, enterré vivant dans un axolotl, condamné à me mouvoir en toute lucidité parmi des créatures insensibles. Mais cette impression ne dura pas, une patte vint effleurer mon visage et en me tournant un peu je vis un axolotl à côté de moi qui me regardait et je compris que lui aussi savait, sans communication possible mais si clairement. Ou bien j’étais encore en l’homme, ou bien nous pensions comme des êtres humains, incapables de nous exprimer, limités à l’éclat doré de nos yeux qui regardaient ce visage d’homme collé à la vitre.
Il revint encore plusieurs fois mais il vient moins souvent à présent. Des semaines se passent sans qu’on le voie. Il est venu hier, il m’a regardé longuement et puis il est parti brusquement. Il me semble que ce n’est plus à nous qu’il s’intéresse, qu’il obéit plutôt à une habitude. Comme penser est la seule chose que je puisse faire, je pense beaucoup à lui. Pendant un certain temps nous avons continué d’être en communication lui et moi, et il se sentait plus que jamais lié au mystère qui l’obsédait. Mais les ponts sont coupés à présent, car ce qui était son obsession est devenu un axolotl, étranger à sa vie d’homme. Je crois qu’au début je pouvais encore revenir en lui, dans une certaine mesure - ah ! seulement dans une certaine
mesure - et maintenir éveillé son désir de mieux nous connaître. Maintenant je suis définitivement un axolotl et si je pense comme un être humain c’est tout simplement parce que les axolotls pensent comme les humains sous leur masque de pierre rose. Il me semble que j’étais arrivé à lui communiquer cette vérité, les premiers jours, lorsque j’étais encore en lui. Et dans cette solitude finale vers laquelle il ne revient déjà plus, cela me console de penser qu’il va peut-être écrire quelque chose sur nous ; il croira qu’il invente un conte et il écrira tout cela sur les axolotls.
Julio Cortázar (1914-1984)
(for further information and pictures please go to the end of page and by clicking on the link they are availabe!)
The Church of St. Othmar
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550-year anniversary | History on construction time | Wikipedia
Construction of the Othmar church
560 years ago
On 13th May 1454, the Monday after the feast of St. Pancras, the building of the late Gothic St. Othmar church was begun. Thereon reports the following inscription above the main entrance of the church.
Laying the foundation stone of St. Othmar
The 550-year anniversary was on 13th May 2004 celebrated in a festive vespers followed by a festive academy.
View of the main altar
You can approach a church as historically interested person, as art-historically committed tourist or as a believer. One will see different things.
The historically interested will impress on the Othmar Church in Mödling that since more than 1000 years at this point on the slope of the Calendar mountain (Kalenderberg) (= bare hithe - kahle Lände) are standing churches and that the current construction the seventh church in an unbroken sequence on this place is. He will think of the destruction of the Roman church in 1252 by the Hungarians and the horrors of the Turkish wars in 1529 and 1683.
Tourists who are interested in art and art history, see the in 1454-1523 built late Gothic hall church, the Baroque interior, the neo-Gothic windows and Stations of the Cross and the testimonies of contemporary art in the sanctuary.
For the believer the Othmarkiche makes the impression of a ship that has gone halfway between level and height at anchor to accommodate the people. Twelve pillars - the Twelve Apostles - wear its vaults. The base has a level.
This church is not a castle - defiant, dark and unwelcoming. Its bow goes into the distance. As Noah's Ark it gives refuge and security. It stands on this earth. Yet it has walls. But their higher regions are translucent, are light. The glory of heaven is guessable.
Two of the windows are of particular importance: the window in the east as the window of the creation and resurrection, and the window in the West as the window of the sunset, the Last Judgment. The world stands between Jesus' resurrection and his second coming. Every visit to the church, every church service to the community becomes an invocation to deal with God's creation and creatures that way that you don't need to fear his judgment.
The previous buildings
Mödling is ancient settlement with hilltop settlements of the Neolithic on the Jennyberg and the Hallstatt period on the Frauenberg as well as on the Calendar mountain (Calendar mountain culture).
Archaeological excavations in 1982 have shown that at the site of the present Othmar church since the 9th Century at least six predecessor buildings have been located.
More information about the predecessors ...
The present building
Start of construction 1454
As an inscription above the main entrance says, was on 13 May 1454, one year after completion of the hospital church, the construction of the present Othmar church started. It was the Monday after the feast of St. Pancras, whose feast on 12th May is observed. Pancras was the patron of the castle chapels of the castle Mödling and the castle Liechtenstein.
The 550-year anniversary of this laying of the cornerstone on 13th May 2004 was celebrated.
The dimensions of the church are for a market town that had at the time of the laying of the cornerstone 250 (mainly built of wood) Houses, huge: 54 m long, 23 m wide and 18 m high, the ridge height is 37 m. As a building material was, as for the St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Sarmatsandstein (Cerithiensandstein) used, a rough, deficient in fossils sandstone, which was born as a deposit of Neogene Sea at the edge of the Vienna Basin.
Pastor Hinderbach and Pius II
1449-1465 was Johannes Hinderbach pastor of St. Othmar (in some sources he is called Johann Hinderbach). He planned and thus began the construction of Othmar church. He was a diplomat, ambassador and secretary of Emperor Frederick III. at the court in Wiener Neustadt, together with Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (Enea Silvio de' Piccolomini), who was good friends with Hinderbach. It is likely that Aeneas Silvius a few times was in Mödling on visit and was well informed about the plans of the new church.
In the tenure of Hinderbach also falls the presentation of the Mödlinger coat of arms by Frederick III.
Aeneas Silvius was for some years pastor in Laa an der Thaya (Lower Austria), 1458 he was elected Pope and took the name Pius II. He built from 1459 the cathedral of Pienza in the form of a hall church, which at that time was unusual for Italy. Models were hall churches in Austria, possibly the Othmar church under construction, however, this is historically not proven. Due to time constraints Aeneas Silvius may have seen from the Othmar church not more than the blueprints and the foundation walls.
Hinderbach and Aeneas Silvius were followers of the for the Gothic spirit characteristic attitude of mind of the light mysticism. A hall church is a suitable design to implement this principle: light-irradiated, large stained glass windows instead of walls painted with images that are prevalent in the Romanesque style.
In Him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.
(Jn 1, 4 to 5.9)
1465-1486 was Hinderbach Bishop of Trent. Perhaps the Othmar church was originally planned as a bishop's church, but this is historically not proven. Hinderbach created one of the most important collections of music of the 15th Century, the so-called Trent codices.
For more information, in a speech by Dr. Gebhard König here ....
Completion 1523-1525
The year date 1499 on a buttress in the parish garden likely shows the toping-off ceremony, the year date 1509 on the north-eastern crossing pier, the completion of the vault.
After 69-year construction period (corresponding to the age of the saint Othmar), the church was completed in 1523. The above-mentioned Cathedral of Pienza, however, was already completed in 1462.
The progress has been hampered by numerous wars and confusions. In that time, the civil war between the Habsburg Emperor Friedrich III . and his brother, Archduke Albrecht VI. (until his death in 1463) and the conquest of Lower Austria by the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus I., who resided in Vienna from 1485, falls.
1525 the church was consecrated (year date above the organ).
Destruction 1529
In fall of 1529, six years after the end of construction, the church was destroyed by the hordes of Kassim Beg during the first Turkish siege. The collapsing roof penetrated the vault and the vault of the lower church. Likewise, the Burg (castle) Mödling was destroyed, which was not rebuilt since then.
According to the report of a parish visitation in 1544 was the kürchen (church) and pfarrhof (vicarage) sambt (along with) the gantzen Marckt Mödling (whole market) as well as the umbliegenden (adjoining) fleckhen (hamlets) of the 29th year verwüst (devastated) by the türkhen (Turks) in Grundt (to the ground) and burned.
The grooves and the rectangular holes in the central pillars on which they wanted attach figure niches with pinnacle baldachins and Kapitellsockeln (capital bases) as with the pilasters, therefore, remained to this day empty. At the times when the Othmar church was not usable, the hospital church served as a parish church.
From the interior decoration of the church from the time before the destruction of 1529 today only three items are present: the tabernacle, the head of the crucified and an embroidered image of Mary, which is today at the votive altar.
To 1540 begins on the eastern slope of the Anninger (small mountain) a pine to grow that later became famous under the name width pine (Breite Föhre).
Reconstruction to 1690
Rötelinschriften (red chalk epigraphs) next to the entrance, the south transept and north aisle next to the organ parapet indicate that work has been done on the church in 1556 again.
After 1555 the Peace of Augsburg had approved the principle that the ruler could determine the religious denomination of the subjects, reinforced Emperor Ferdinand I the Counter-Reformation to the recatholicization of the country. 1556 Ferdinand issued the so-called gift letter (Gabebrief). With this document he gave the community all possessions owned by the parish (church buildings, forests, vineyards, fields). He imposed the condition that instead of an Evangelical preacher a Catholic priest was responsible for the pastoral care again and that Mödling became Catholic. Still today the municipality bears the building cost for the ecclesiastical buildings (Othmar church, hospital church, Karner, rectory, sacristan apartment) and has a say in the appointment of a new pastor.
A son of Ferdinand I, Emperor Maximilian II, the famous castle Neugebäude had built.
One reason for the lengthy reconstruction of the church might have been the Reformation (1517 were the 95 theses of Martin Luther published) and the decline in the number of Catholics. Pastor Georg Müller from 1527 is first Protestant minister in Mödling, sometimes up to three Evangelical pastors in Mödling are active .
Mödling in 1560 among the 18 richest cities and markets in the country is in sixth place. 1576 there is again a Catholic priest. Of him it is said that he had not a good life in the market. The population flows to the Protestant clergies of the surrounding residences, and again and again come Protestant preachers to Mödling.
1582 the church possesses a shallow makeshift roof over a cross barrel vault, the vault is still preserved today. (However, the church in the plan of the Burgfrieden (civil peace) and the District Court market Mödling is represented by 1610 without a roof and called Old deserted churche. Alongside the Karner is shown with pointed conical roof.)
Still in 1605 is reported on the parish that most part is not Catholic and does run after foreign cure of souls.
In the course of the Counter-Reformation cardinal Melchior Khlesl in a decree calls for donations for the reconstruction of the church:
The with big heavy expenses respectable built God house of Mödling under Gebürg (mountain), then as such anno 1523 with all belonging to the city even built up, it is at once it in 6 years afterwards by the erbfeundt (hereditary friend) as he with all of his power invaded the land and besieged the city of Vienna, put on fire and and along with all churches ornat burned down.
Khlesl was originally Protestant, then converted, influential politician, since 1598 bishop of Vienna, 1615 the first Cardinal in Vienna, he died in 1630, tomb in saint Stephen's cathedral.
However, 1618 is also the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, whereby the construction progress was further delayed.
One hundred years after the destruction of the church, it is still worked on the restoration. 1629 a citizen of Salzburg donates the Märbelsteinpflaster (Salzburg marble) for the sanctuary. The top step in front of the high altar is still made of old stones, the difference with the 1982 renewed stones is clearly visible. A commemorative plaque to the donator from Salzburg is located on the right column at the high altar:
Almighty God in praise, of St. Mary Mother of God in honor, has Florianus Ursprunger, citizen and Gastgeb (host) of Salzburg of present choir the Märbelpflastersteine handed on anno 1629.
A lightning strike shattered the windows and the tracery in 1643: here the weather has beaten in the main church, and both the windows and outmost grids anything shattered. 20 years later is reported a Corpus Christi Brotherhood, to which belongs one third of the population of Mödling.
In a report in 1664 six altars in the Othmar church (and one in the Pantaleon chapel) are enumerated by name. The church may have been thus completed for the most part.
1679 the pleague in Mödling breaks out.
1683 destruction and reconstruction
On 12th and 13th July 1683 suffers Mödling the conquest by the troops of Kara Mustafa. The church is partly destroyed and the vault is damaged.
The population is almost entirely eradicated. Many had sought in the crypt and the Karner (charnel house) refuge and were killed as a plate in front of the church reports. It is believed that, of the approximately 2000 inhabitants, only about 10% have survived, who had hidden in the woods.
After 1683 follows the rapid reconstruction of the church under Marktrichter (equivalent to mayor) Wolfgang Ignaz Viechtl, his home with a commemorative plaque stands on Liberty Square. As can be seen on the board, was Viechtl a miller (on the Fischermühle), so he on the outside of the west wall at high altitude had attached two millstones (see external view).
On 1st September 1688 is the vault restored, the executive master mason Brand for it receives according to Council minutes 1/4 bucket of wine (equivalent to approximately 14 liters). In 1690 the church was inclusively roof and truss restored (year date above the organ).
Baroquisation 18th century
The victory over the Turks initiates the second phase of the history of Othmar church. It is made in Baroque style (1690-1760). The windows are bricked up, the light mysticism of the Gothic becomes less important. The pulpit and seven baroque altars are built (see the high altar, Nepomuk altar, Anne altar, weekday chapel, votive altar). 1727 an organ is built. The hall of the Children of God turns into the throne room of the Heavenly Majesty.
Neo-Gothic restoration from 1875 to 1897.
The elevation of Mödling in 1875 as a city under Mayor Joseph Schöffel induces to a major renovation (1875 - 1897). They want the church according to the zeitgeist (spirit of the times) rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style. To do this, on 6th February 1875 at the request of Mayor Joseph Schöffel a church restoration club is founded.
The in the Baroque period bricked-up windows are laid open. This can be seen clearly on the frescoes on the Anne altar in the south transept. The grave stones lying in the soil are placed on the wall.
The figure niches and canopies on the pillars were replaced (except right behind the high altar). At Anne altar there are for unknown reasons no figure niches.
1904, a second gate is broken. The main entrance is getting a new stem, the in 1773 built Cross chapel is removed.
Renovation 1982 to May 1983
The renovation of 1982 restores the hall church (year date above the organ). The by the transept indicated cross in the ground plan of the church is satisfied that the Baroque interior in this cross takes the place of the stigmata. The liturgical ideas of Second Vatican Council are realized in works of contemporary art (folk altar and ambo).
Supplements
In 2008, the heating system was renewed.
Karner and church
Karner and church of the rest of St. John
Inscription on the laying of foundation stone 1454
Glass window
The glass window bears the inscription
Church restoration Club = 1895
Inscription 1499 (topping-off ceremony)
Buttresses in the garden
Inscription 1509 (vault completion)
Red chalk inscription 1558
Plan in 1610, Karner and Old deserted church
Commemorating plaque 1629
Commemorating plaque to the donor of the Märbelsteinpflaster 1629
Märbelsteinstufe (stone step) 1629 at the High Altar
Engraving after Merian 1649
St. Othmar and Karner
Engraving after Matthäus Merian 1649
Saints in figure niches
Lonely St. Anna - all other figure niches (they stem from the construction period 1454-1523) are empty or do not exist.
Choir stalls detail and consecration cross
Ceiling painting Holy Ghost Hole (1700 - 1750)
Consecration Cross: Twelve Apostle or consecration crosses are in the Othmar church, at those in 1525 at the fair were done prayers
Column
Twelve octagonal central pillars carry the vault
St. Anthony at a column
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© Dorota Miklaszewska
but, brian, bioluminescence isn't the same as electrogenesis!
also, gotta apologize for the ridiculous amount of noise in this one, and the overall quality or lack thereof. but they're just too cool.
(national zoo, washington, dc)
Finally got around to taking some new pictures of my Translucent Colour Chart, including the glow in the dark trans green element.
The fresh leaves of 楓 (Kaede: Japanese maple)
SD1 with 28/1.8 ISO100 f/1.8 1/1600sec NR: C0.00/L0.00
Trying out a new technique where I "sandwich" the wire between two ultra thin sheets of translucent clay. Thin enough to see the wire pattern (design) through the clay.
This is the cherry called "Jugatsu-zakura" in Japanese, which literally means "October cherry blossom." This breed of cherry tree has an interesting feature. One third of all the buds bloom in autumn and the other 2 thirds will open in spring. So we can enjoy this kind of beauty twice in a year. Amazing, isn't it（^ワ^）？
Big leaf (2 3/4") is Pardo, little one is Premo.
These are made from 2 part molds of Alder leaves.
I had a request for leaf molds. I tried, they are almost impossible to get right. I won't be making these for sale :-(
Victoria James Art Real Textures
Taken from inside a gas station on the road to Monument Valley. Captured image was through a translucent billboard. Black masking tape was used to hold up notices. freind is sitting in the car, wondering whats taking me so long. I see because I see.
New exclusive translucent paper tinyurl.com/px8v5zy / Size from 24x24 cm to extra large 70x70 cm - Skull tinyurl.com/2esfmfx by Tominaga Kazuhiro folded by Eyal tinyurl.com/2esfmfx