tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36947973612751758052024-03-13T22:54:23.476+01:00Writ At Large In The WorldUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-73029430459578690062011-01-19T16:47:00.007+01:002011-03-04T06:23:30.709+01:00Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat.<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The song that the bird sings in the tree</span></span></b></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">has another tree again in the song that</span></span></b></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the bird in the tree sings.</span></span></b></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i></i></span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the tree the song that the bird sings</span></span></b></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">has again another bird in the song that</span></span></b></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">in the tree the bird sings.</span></span></b></i></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica; min-height: 13.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i></i></span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- Purushottam S. Rege (1910 - 1978), Song</span></span></b></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 19 04 53 E 72 50 24</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 11.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i></i></span></span></span></p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 237px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wu8piKWmJaE/TWvD039hoKI/AAAAAAAAAgc/Hh3ud4YgQ2M/s320/Ragas.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5578767876571111586" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Popular music in India is utterly dominated by the soundtracks spilling out of the nations' various movies factories, whether Bollywood (based in Mumbai (Bombay)), Tollywood (either the Telugu-variety based in Hyderabad, or the Bengali-variety based in Kolkota (Calcutta)), or Kollywood (the Tamil-variety in Chennai (Madras)). As a popular music form, the film songs break down into two main categories: the amalgamation of Indian folklore with imported Western trends preferred by the monied, mainly urban elites (often perceiving themselves as tastemakers), and the pure traditional music preferred by the mostly rural masses. It's a climate in which homegrown innovative pop music is particularly hard to come by, never mind create.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But occasionally even a conservative music scene is capable of producing surprises. That it should come from the talented hands of a maverick the likes of Charanjit Singh should be less surprising. Having spent nearly half a century at the Bollywood musical assembly line, diligently plucking away traditional instruments, Singh was allegedly responsible for promulgating new, imported instruments such as the </span></span><a href="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/mar07/articles/clavioline.htm?print=yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Clavioline</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farfisa#Transicord"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Farfisa Transicord</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_guitar"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the bass guitar</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> into the Bollywood mix. Perhaps a childhood spent in his family's Mumbai (Bombay) instrument shop fueled Singh's lifelong curiosity for novel ways of creating sounds.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Whatever the real reason may be, the "throwaway" album he cobbled together over a couple of days in HMV studios toward the end of 1982 — trying to quickly cash in on a trend by performing </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raga"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">traditional ragas</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> to a "disco" beat — is truly remarkable. Particularly because of the electronic instruments with which Sing chose to record it. The three devices he carted into the HMV studios — the </span></span><a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/jup8.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Roland JUPITER-8 synthesiser</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, the </span></span><a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/808.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (or, plainly, drum machine), and the </span></span><a href="http://www.vintagesynth.com/roland/303.php"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Roland TB-303 Bass Line</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> — have since become staples of techno (and in particular </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_house"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Acid House</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) music, varieties of which can nowadays be heard pumping out of clubs around the globe. Rather than displaying an uncanny knack for anticipating future developments, Singh's choices were likely dictated by what was available to him, affordable, and by virtue of being made by the same company, happened to work well together in an era where MIDI and computers were only beginning to appear.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The machines employed are in part what makes Singh's album of electronic ragas so astonishing. On one hand, there's the steady pulsing, at present, "signature" </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-on-the-floor_(dance)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">four-on the-floor beat</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> confirming not only the global appeal of dance music but also it's much deeper connection with more primordial forms of dance music (and perhaps, hence, the reason for its renewed and widespread appeal). On the other hand, there's the untreated, practically "raw" sounds of the devices employed, which to contemporary ears sound both "classic" and — in the case of the 303 and 808 in particular — "timeless", ironically because of their ubiquitousness. Not that Singh simply employs the machines' factory presets; he skillfully synthesises traditional Indian instruments, like </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santoor"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the santoor</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veena"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the veena</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shehnai"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the shehnai</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanpura"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the tambura</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NUqnPYwoiF4?rel=0" frameborder="0"></iframe></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><i></i></span></span></p><i><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; display: inline !important; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The other part that makes Singh's recording extraordinary is the improvisational parts he performs over his preprogrammed backing. An accomplished musician, Singh doesn't merely knock out a series of quick knockoff-ragas; his performance is not only competent, but able to encompass experimentation as well. Particularly in the </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Bhupali</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Meghmalhar</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> ragas, where he brazenly introduces notes not "prescribed" in more traditional renditions of these ragas. Perhaps as a result of the comparative haste the album was recorded in, pretty much all the ten cuts stick to the same tempo, easily giving the impression of a modern techno remix-album, comprising ten variations on a similar theme (which, in essence traditional ragas can crudely be describes as).</span></span></span></p></i></i></span><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><i><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; display: inline !important; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p></i></span></i></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><i><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; display: inline !important; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></span></p></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; "><i><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; display: inline !important; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There have been suggestions that Singh may have been inspired by the performances in Mumbai (Bombay) by Kraftwerk on their 1981 </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Computer World Tour</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, being among the few performances by Western purely electronic pop acts in India at the time. Yet Singh has denied any knowledge of either the German band's performances or any of their music. However, the comparison is a compelling one, as Kraftwerk's music, highly influenced by European classical music and — to lesser extent — folk music, had at this time arrived at a form not dissimilar to Indian ragas: motifs improvised according to specific rules over a set, minimal rhythmical backing. (Incidentally, for their Indian concerts, Kraftwerk were both preceded and succeeded by raga performers, with much of the audience remaining for the entirety of the performances.)</span></span></span></p></i></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Originally released early in 1983 by EMI's Indian subsidiary, the Gramophone Company of India (also responsible for releasing Kraftwerk's principal recordings in India), Singh's "instrumental disco" ragas were met with critical acclaim, but — as is often the case with pioneering electronic pop records — was far from a commercial success. Since being "rediscovered", quite by chance, by the Dutch </span></span><a href="http://www.bombay-connection.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Bombay Connection label</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">'s Edo Bouman, the renewed interest in Singh's pioneering record has sparked a hunt for original issue vinyl LPs, with the odd copy cropping up on internet bidding sites commanding prices in the thousands of dollars. Luckily, the Bombay Connection's reissue is far more affordable, and available in digital as well as analogue (vinyl) formats, though the new sleeve — </span></span><a href="http://www.stefanglerum.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">designed by Stefan Glerum</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> — not only messes up the running order but also some of the titles.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">However, the extensive sleeve notes — which include the original LP "blurb" — compensate somewhat for these errors, and the discs themselves retain the original running order. Whether the belated appreciation among Western audiences will translate to greater recognition for Charanjit Singh's talents remains to be seen. The performer himself meanwhile continues his career, touring with his synthesised </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">One Man Show</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, performing with other bands, and contributing to Bollywood soundtracks. Among his many recordings, Singh personally considers the "disco" ragas the best, representing something original, of his own making, rather than just performances of other composers music.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p></i></span><p></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-40582852337201161512011-01-12T16:15:00.011+01:002011-02-16T14:11:32.145+01:00Juhu Beach.<div style="text-align: left;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Across the harbour the vertical city of the rich</span></span></i></b></div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">keeps rising — grotesque heads on unsteady shoulders.</span></span></i></b><div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span></i></b><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The slum city of asbestos squats at its ankles,</span></span></i></b></div><div><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"></span></span></i></b><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">huddled behind a smokestack.</span></span></i></b></span><p></p> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><i><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> - </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Keki N. Daruwalla, Mandwa</span></span></i></b></span><p></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 19 05 47 E 72 49 34</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AqjOnB5q9tA/TVlUFIDu8xI/AAAAAAAAAf8/1mn5xnXtDFI/s320/Juhu1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573578460886922002" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">One of the most prominent beaches in Mumbai (Bombay) is the six kilometer stretch parallel to Juhu Tara Road, connecting the uptown suburbs of Old Khar West and Juhu. A favourite spot of local filmmakers, no doubt providing an inexpensive backdrop complete with dramatic sunsets, it's long been the cheapest and most viable destination for family outings to many of the city's nearly fourteen million inhabitants. A recent drive to clean the beach up has resulted in some four kilometers suitable for romantic strolls, if passage can be found among the crowds pouring in by cars and buses, though the beach still remains unsuitable for swimming or sunbathing.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To actually reach the beach one has to brave the incessantly bleating traffic </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">— a seemingly mad flock of birds of every feather teeming hither and yon </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">—</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> which with some practice does begin to make sense after a while. Drivers don't hang on their horn so much in anger as attempt to alert others of their presence, or simply try to dispense helpful suggestions. Once seated at a café, sipping the domestic franchise espresso which appears to be the sole alternative to the otherwise predominant instant coffee, observing starched, uniformed children being delivered home from school </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autorickshaw"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">by auto rickshaws</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, it's even possible to forget about the multitudinous peddlers on the beach, the precarious sidewalk, and the various flocks of beasts of burden and bedraggled street-urchins (estimated at </span></span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1996/India4.htm#P189_11540"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">18 million in India</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) accompanying one along the way.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">However, the most direct threat to the beach's integrity is posed by the nearby Juhu Aerodrome, where plans to extend the runway of what is now a parking plot for the helicopters and jets of the rich and famous would claim part of the seafront, jutting out into the Arabian Sea and cutting the beach in half. So far, the extension plans have been denied permission to proceed by the Indian Government's Ministry of Environment and Forests, but in a polity such as India's it can surely only be a question of time before the right palms have been greased up in the required fashion.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 233px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KasvCbFQ93Q/TVlUe99jBAI/AAAAAAAAAgE/NvePMhZIZM4/s320/Juhu2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573578904853218306" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Aviation has been part of the beach's history since 1928, when the Juhu Aerodrome, the closest and oldest of the three airports in the area, first opened. As the flightpath of international travelers takes them across the beach on their way to (or from) the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (known as the Sahar International Airport before Hindu-nationalist fervour overtook the nation), they'll pass over the former main airport of the city, the Santa Cruz Airport (now the main domestic airport), as well as the Juhu strip where the first pilot and two apprentice mechanics of what would one day become Air India were based.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Their original palm-thatched roof hut long since swept away by development, and the desires of the well-heeled and tony, who have flocked to Juhu ever since Jamsetji Tata (1839 - 1904) — the "father of Indian Industry" — bought a plot here back in the 1890s. Perhaps more than any other family, the Tatas have left their indelible mark on Juhu, as it was Jamsetji's first cousin once removed Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata (1904 - 1993) who founded Air India's predecessor Tata Airlines in 1932. Increasingly though, Juhu — as well as the Pali Hill neighbourhood in Old Khar along the beach's southern end — has become the preserve of Bollywood stars, industrialists, and </span></span><a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/walla"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">assorted "business" wallas</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> seeking refuge from the less affluent inhabitants of the world's second most populous city.</span></span></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 206px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qslwjg3VRJs/TVlTgxhN2MI/AAAAAAAAAf0/BdbbtDMyUdQ/s400/Juhu3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573577836361275586" /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Additional photography by Shauna Wilton.</span></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-48373094315315283162011-01-05T20:28:00.010+01:002011-02-03T17:13:44.713+01:00Airports 2.<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TUHH8UmwmTI/AAAAAAAAAfA/a4LqCk_wMdA/s320/Ports1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5566950453543999794" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 57 40 04 E 12 17 41</span></span></div> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Situated southeast of Göteborg (Gothenburg), the Göteborg-Landvetter airport leads a mostly dull, quiet existence since superseding the city's former airport, Torslanda flygfält ("Torslanda airfield"), in 1977. Although the second largest airport in Sweden, Landvetter (as it's colloquially known) languishes in the shadow of the much </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline_hub"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">larger airline hubs</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> of Copenhagen and Stockholm, mostly handling the west coast region's business passengers and assorted freight. Its sole moment of notoriety perhaps being the scene of what likely was only the second "plane hold-up" in history. On March 7, 2006, three men in an SUV smashed an access-gate at the airport, drove up to a plane just arrived form London, threatened staff with semi-automatic weapons, and stole some SEK 7.8 million (≈C$ 1.2 million) in foreign currency.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Additionally, the robbers planted a fake bomb — consisting of a bag of flour, a lamp, and an antenna — near the plane, leading to to the airport's international terminal being closed for nine hours. (They also spread </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caltrops"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">caltrops</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> on a nearby highway to hinder access by emergency vehicles.) A year later, some eight men apprehended for the robbery were tried, with the main trio being sentenced to serve seven years in jail, one man sentenced to serve two months, while the remaining four were exonerated. The money was never recovered. Because it was preceded by a similar event on Curaçao in 1997, even in the annals of "great plane robberies" Landvetter </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">— the eighth largest airport in Scandinavia </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">— </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">merely places second.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TUpSWs_1CQI/AAAAAAAAAfM/9-8a6tz2kWI/s320/Ports2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569354439186516226" /></span></span></span></p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 55 37 38 E 12 38 29</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ever since Københavns Lufthavne A/S (Copenhagen Airports Plc.) assumed operation of the Roskilde airport in 1990, less frequent fliers could be forgiven for thinking the Danish capital region is serviced by not one but two airports — differentiated in a small way by name and somewhat more substantially by size. Yet Københavns Lufthavn, Roskilde (Roskilde Airport) only ranks as the sixth largest airport in Scandinavia, having been established in 1973 as a relief airfield for the main Scandinavian airline hub </span></span><a href="http://www.cph.dk/CPH/UK/MAIN/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Københavns Lufthavn, Kastrup</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (Copenhagen Airport), which in turn has steadily grown to became the region's largest and busiest.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Danish capital's main airport was established in 1925 near the village of Kastrup (a contraction of "Karls torp", "Karl's village"), and has been intrinsically connected with the modernist architect </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilhelm_Lauritzen"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Vilhelm Lauritzen (1894 - 1984)</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> since the late 1930s. Lauritzen's original terminal building, inaugurated in 1939, is considered one of the finest examples of Scandinavian </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism_(architecture)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">functionalism</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and was fully refurbished in 1999 when it was moved nearly four kilometers to accommodate further expansion of the airport. Lauritzen also designed the second terminal (which superseded the first in 1960), while </span></span><a href="http://www.vla.dk/english/index.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the firm he founded in 1922</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> has been responsible for the third terminal (opened in 1998), and continues to be involved in the airport's expansion to this day.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though the Kastrup airfield's history of incidents and accidents has been largely unremarkable for a facility of its import and size, the crash of a KLM </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Douglas DC-3</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in January 1947 stands out — in particular for the neighboring Swedes. Having landed for a brief stop en route from Amsterdam to Stockholm, the flight crew found themselves strapped for time and skipped the usual safety check before resuming their journey. A </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gust_lock"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">gust lock</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> on one of the plane's rudders was overlooked and left engaged, sending the machine straight into the ground soon after take-off, killing all 22 people aboard; among them American opera singer and </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Moore"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">actress Grace Moore</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Gustaf_Adolf,_Duke_of_V%C3%A4sterbotten"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (father of the current Swedish regent Carl XVI Gustaf).</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><br /></span></p></span></span></span><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 215px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TUpSvcG9x0I/AAAAAAAAAfU/KUdDoz16G_Y/s320/Ports3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5569354864149776194" /></span></span></span></p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 47 27 39 E 8 33 24</span></span></div></span></span></span><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Flughafen Zürich-Kloten (Zurich Airport) likely first gained international renown in 1969, the year that saw the greatest amount of aircraft hijackings in a single year (82 in total), when it perhaps first seemed that the days of glamourous air travel may indeed have come to an end. On February 18, 1969, four Palestinian terrorists attacked an Israeli airliner at this airport, killing one of the pilots and injuring another eight people. One terrorist was killed in the ensuing gunfight by an Israeli agent, while the others were apprehended by airport firemen and imprisoned — yet released the following year in the aftermath of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_330"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the destruction of Swissair Flight 330</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson%E2%80%99s_Field_hijackings"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dawson's Field hijackings</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Prior to unwittingly becoming a stage for international militant histrionics, the Zürich airport rose from the ashes of the abandoned Swiss National Airport Utzenstorf project, and grew in carefully planned stages somehow fitting the perception of nation preoccupied with horology. The fifth expansion since 1948, completed in 2004, saw the addition of the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_terminal#Satellite_Terminal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">satellite terminal</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Pier E, which is connected to the rest of the airport solely by an automated people mover (APM), essentially an underground cable car, somewhat ironically named Skymetro.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Since 2006, the subterranean air cushioned cableway compensates for the lack of breathtaking alpine views by entertaining its passengers with a ride past 160 lightboxes, installed every 100 meters, which act as </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a zoetrope</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> when passed in quick succession by the trains. The </span></span><a href="http://www.unique.ch/medien/skymetrofilm/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"topical films"</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (one featuring </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Heidi</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, the other </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the Matterhorn</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) seemingly projected on the tunnel walls are accompanied by a soundtrack of "typical Swiss sounds" (cowbells, yodels) inside the train cars during their brief (2 min, 45 s) transit between terminals.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p></span></span></span><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-29508811296419671962010-12-30T11:37:00.018+01:002011-01-15T18:35:37.119+01:00Two Rooms & a Kitchen.<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Better a humble house than none. A man is a master at home.</span></span></i></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A pair of goats and a patched roof are better than begging.</span></span></i></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; min-height: 15.0pxcolor:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b></b></span></span></i></span><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></i></b></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></i></b></span><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">- Hávamál</span></span></i></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;">N 57 45 29 E 12 02 09</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></span></p><i><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TTB5foEI72I/AAAAAAAAAeQ/I39bi3bnEIU/s320/Korte02.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562079124040249186" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Reminders of Göteborg's (Gothenburg's) purpose-built nature appear both throughout the city and over the course of time, throughout the city's history. Once </span></span><a href="http://writatlargeintheworld.blogspot.com/2010/12/fortification-alimentation.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">its fortified walls</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> came down, Göteborg grew in a distinctly planned rather than organic fashion. It easily impresses visitors as a city consisting of a number of small towns tenaciously held together, rather than large municipality — the second largest in Sweden, fifth largest in Scandinavia — with a natural centre. The principal reason for this is that the city has had town plans drawn up (despite the challenging geography of a barren, rocky, hilly archipelago, interspersed with wetlands) at practically every point in its history, with every major style that dominated Swedish architecture — </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_architecture"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Classicism</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Romantic_style"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">National Romanticism</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functionalism_(architecture)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Functionalism</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_architecture"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Modernism</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> — leaving indelible marks on the cityscape, and very brief periods of unregulated planning and construction.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 236px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TTB53EqklvI/AAAAAAAAAeY/BI86MSPE3js/s320/Korte01.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562079526854629106" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One of the best examples of the practically self-contained "mini-communities" that make up the city of Göteborg is the primarily residential district of Kortedala. Laid out and mainly constructed between 1952-1957 in what until then was a rural area, Kortedala was the second </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_town"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Satellite Town</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> in Sweden (the first being Vällingby northwest of Stockholm) — a smaller metropolitan area established at some distance from and largely independent of a neighbouring larger metropolitan area (similar to Britain's </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_town"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">New Towns</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">). The first such district to be created in the Göteborg area, Kortedala (derived from Korta dalen, the "short valley", as opposed to nearby Djupedalen, the "deep" or "lengthy valley") consisted largely of three to four story low-rise buildings, eight to nine story high-rise buildings, and some 300 single family houses, comprising 8,300 flats in total by the early 1960s. Exceptionally few among these were larger than one bedroom flats.</span></span></span></p><p></p><i><p></p></i><i><p></p></i><p></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TTB6zGCBQYI/AAAAAAAAAeo/7K4CL1IaS0Q/s320/Korte03.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562080558013563266" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Kortedala's buildings were constructed in eight </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighbourhood_unit"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">neighbourhood units</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> around four local squares (one large and three smaller ones), with a streetcar line (opened in 1957) running through the middle of the district, connecting it with central Göteborg. Most of the district's streets received names relating to horological and calendar events, hence the first families moving to the brand new district in November 1953, found themselves living on Kalendervägen ("Calendar Street") and Månadsgatan ('Month Street"). Planned for 21,000 inhabitants, the district peaked at 28,000 in the mid-1960s, and is currently home to some 15,000 people. Built a decade before Sweden implemented its </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Million_Programme"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">infamous Million Programme</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, Kortedala has largely managed to maintain its ambitious character of a welfare state's idealised "good homes", with fully equipped kitchens, bathrooms, and hardwood floors available and affordable to every citizen.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Where international delegations once descended to learn how to construct "good-quality" housing areas from scratch — complete with easy access to education, healthcare, shopping, entertainment, and other essential services — the average visitor can now inspect a two room flat restored to its original, mid-1950s-state at the </span></span><a href="http://user.tninet.se/~fjr572r/kortedalamuseum/sv/index.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Kortedala Museum</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. Housed in a standard 65 m² (≈ 700 Sq Ft) flat, carefully restored with original paints, wallpaper, and period-style furnishings, the museum offers a glimpse of what comfortable, modern living SEK 165/month (roughly C$ 31.85 in 1965, the equivalent of C$ 217 in 2009) could rent in Sweden 55 years ago. It's an opportunity to literally step back half a century to the point in time when the Swedish welfare society — the project which for a brief period provided worldwide renown to this otherwise quite parochial nation on the outskirts of Europe — began taking shape, and the dream of a place of one's own (with indoor plumbing) became a reality for an increasing number of Swedes.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 229px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TTB5GKOd6jI/AAAAAAAAAeI/W2cGbVNvLFU/s320/Korte04.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562078686533773874" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Run by volunteers, who are on hand to share their own memories of growing up and living in the district, the tiny time capsule opens up practically every Sunday of the year to display its exhibits of an optimistic post-war decade, when the future seemed brighter for the typical family of five (two adults and their three children) that would've inhabited a flat such as this one. The majority had moved to Göteborg following the Second World War, primarily seeking employment in industry, and most had been relegated to the city's 30,000 one-room flats (barely 200 of which had indoor plumbing). Yet the Kortedala museum-flat isn't merely an artifact of a time when "common people" began to afford decent housing with essential amenities close by, but also "luxury" goods like record players, televisions, even holidays abroad — evident from some of the kitschy, "exotic" bric-a-brac strewn about the place. It's also a unique testament to a time when Swedish politicians still had the audacity to envision a decent standard of living for all their citizens, to elevate the poorest above the sordid squalor of industrial slums. Kortedala remains a reminder of a time when it still seemed possible to create an ideal society according to a master plan.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(More images of <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/sets/72157625698670555/">the museum-flat here</a>.)</span></p><p color="#666666" style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; line-height: 14.0px; font: 12.0px Verdana; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p></i><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-87903647732525730312010-12-27T15:51:00.015+01:002011-01-11T19:06:17.859+01:00Fortification & alimentation.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When passing a door-post, watch as you walk on, inspect as you enter.</span></i></b></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It's uncertain where enemies lurk or crouch in a dark corner.</span></i></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></i></b></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></i></b></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">- </span></i></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px; "><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:georgia;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hávamál</span></b></span></i></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; "><i><br /></i></span></p></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 57 42 25 E 11 58 01</span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TSM_Jzy8zwI/AAAAAAAAAeA/HtR-c0SQziU/s320/Moat.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558355802860605186" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Göteborg (Gothenburg) is a purpose-built city, its current incarnation developed from the Swedish kingdom's fourth and ultimately successful attempt to establish a presence on the North Sea coast. Having clawed possession of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6ta_%C3%A4lv"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the Göta river estuary</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> at Rivö fjord by the middle of the 13th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> century, the Swedes set about constructing a port to not only make their presence permanent, but also detract trade from the Danish and Norwegian settlements previously dominating the coast. The first Swedish attempts either failed to draw enough visitors, or were so successful the dominant Danes couldn't help but raid and burn them to the ground.</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yet by the time king Gustav II Adolf's Göteborg (as it became known) was completed at the beginning of the 18th </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">century, it was one of the strongest fortified cities in Northern Europe. However, little of its once-impressive fortifications remain, as the winds of war not only shifted away from the city, but also because advances in martial technology and strategy rendered its stationary fortifications obsolete. The majority of the city's defences were torn down at the beginning of the 19th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> century — leaving only </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/5328374882/in/set-72157625631059963/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the armoury, Kronhuset </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(the "Crown's House", one of Göteborg's oldest brick buildings, erected 1643-1655), a single bastion, most of the moat, and </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sconce_(fortification)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">two fortified sconces</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> constructed on hills once overlooking the city.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TSM-06ihqgI/AAAAAAAAAd4/pONfMHUH2hw/s320/Kronan.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558355443893512706" /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The oldest sconce, Kronan ("the Crown"), erected between 1678 and 1689 on Rysåsen ("Ryd's Hill"), was originally connected to the walled city by </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caponier"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a caponier</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and has been topped by a gilded copper crown since 1697. Having lost its military importance by the early 19th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> century, it served first as a prison, later a shelter for the homeless, before being purchased by the city from the state in 1925. For nearly a century, between 1904 and 2004, the sconce housed a military museum (now mothballed) before being turned into a private function hall. As the last Danish attack on Göteborg took place in 1643, before any of the currently remaining defenses were even constructed, neither Kronan or any of the other fortifications were ever tested in battle.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span><img style="text-align: center;float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 298px; " src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TSM-mPobqRI/AAAAAAAAAdw/5lM6YhFDa1M/s320/Lejonet.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558355191857391890" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though the second sconce, Västgöta Lejon (commonly Lejonet, "the Lion"), was begun at the same time as Kronan, it wasn't completed until 1699 — at which point it became apparent that, although built on the strategically important Gullberget ("Gull's Hill"), it could quite easily be bombarded from other nearby hills. Hence, the dud sconce mainly found use as a warehouse for gunpowder made in an adjacent factory. Yet it remained a military installation until 1942, eventually becoming (after restoration work in the early 1970s) the private hall of Götiska Förbundet ("</span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geats"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the Geathic Society</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, a social club of national romantics). The crowned lion brandishing a sword and shield currently crowning the sconce is an 1893 reinterpretation of an earlier original.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TSM-OxSUoMI/AAAAAAAAAdo/0ONXYUIg-rs/s320/Carolus.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558354788574601410" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The sole remaining bastion, officially named Carolus XI Rex (the Latin rendition of "King Karl XI") but commonly known as Carolus Rex, is the last standing reminder of the city's once imposing fortified wall, which gradually replaced earlier earthen fortifications. One of thirteen such polygonal bulwarks projecting out from the wall, Carolus Rex wasn't completed until 1731 — over a century after the city's official founder, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_II_Adolf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gustav II Adolf (1594 </span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; line-height: 19px; "><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_II_Adolf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">–</span></span></a></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_II_Adolf"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> 1632)</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">,</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">had (as the story goes) stood on the hill the bastion now occupies, and pointed toward the site where he desired the new city to be constructed.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TSM9_CSddpI/AAAAAAAAAdg/njZ1UV7TSmk/s320/GIIA.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558354518260676242" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though a statue supposedly depicting the event has stood in what once was Stora Torget ("the Great Square", now Gustaf Adolfs Torg, "Gustaf Adolf's Square") since 1854, the rapacious monarch founded no fewer then fifteen cities throughout his realm. Hence any sense of distinctness Gothenburgers may derive from their city's origin should be tempered by the fact that statues of Gustav II Adolf can be found in numerous other places, (clearly) equally proud of such royal distinction. Never mind that Göteborg, despite receiving city privileges from its founder as early as 1621, was largely constructed during the reigns of his successors. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">However, Gothenburgers are likely unique in continuing to commemorate Gustav II Adolf's demise by stuffing their faces with pastry each November, on the very day the king was killed in the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_years_war"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Thirty Years' War</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">For a while a battle also raged </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">between the city's most prominent confectionary families, the Arnholts and the Bräutigams, as to whom had first devised the infamous pastry, and initiated the tradition. (Having provided Göteborg's inhabitants with </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marzipan"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">marzipan</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and pastries since 1870, the current, fifth generation of Bräutigams appear to have won through sheer longevity.)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TSM9ibkOHTI/AAAAAAAAAdY/CkJDgko2AnE/s320/Bakelse.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5558354026829847858" /></span><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The late 19th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> century origin of the tradition is now as shrouded in fog as the king himself was said to have been the day he got shot. Nevertheless, the novelty caught on, and by the early 1950s the "Gustav Adolf Pastry" could be bought in 43 Swedish cities and towns each November 6th, in sixteen different varieties in Göteborg alone. Currently the most common incarnation is a variant of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_cake"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the classic Swedish Princess cake</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, topped with a relief of the king's head in chocolate. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though vaguely macabre, the notion of Göteborg's pastry chefs striking coin from a king's misfortune is largely consistent with the city's tradition of having been founded for militant trade.</span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-60824781989399057682010-12-19T17:37:00.006+01:002011-01-27T18:33:29.915+01:00Airports.<div style="text-align: center;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TQ41Dzh1bwI/AAAAAAAAAdE/jITqpGo52RU/s320/Air1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552433730082402050" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">50 54 05 N 04 29 04 E</span></span></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It's easy to get the impression that the German air force is responsible for constructing all of Belgium's national airports. The first, at Haren, was opened following the First World War, on the opposite side of the German-built Zeppelin airfield at Evere — using the same field as the military. The second, current national airport, Brussels Airport at Zaventem, dates back to the Second World War, when — once again — German occupiers constructed an airport at Melsbroek, near the Belgian military backup airfield Steenokkerzeel. (Urban legend has it that the locals directed the Germans to Melsbroek, as it was an area often enveloped in fog.)</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By 1948, civilian aviation in Belgium had outgrown Haren aiport, and Melsbroek was designated as the new national airport. However, in 1956 history repeated itself, as the Belgian authorities decided to construct a new airport in preparation for the 1958 World's Fair, utilising the same runways, but with the new terminal buildings located in Zaventem. Unable to shake its martial past, the old civilian airport is now used by the Belgian air force (as Melsbroek Air Base), sharing its runways with the current civilian airport at Zaventem — making this perhaps the only airport in Europe at which one can land and take-off from runways originally constructed by German occupational forces.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TQ41MDfpRNI/AAAAAAAAAdM/W6k5m0P5yU0/s320/Air2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552433871807136978" /></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">59 39 07 N 17 55 07 E</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The most common urban myth surrounding Sweden's largest airport, Stockholm-Arlanda, is that its name is pun on the Swedish verb "landa" ("to land"), and that it was chosen by a naming contest held by Sweden's largest weekly magazine. While a contest was in fact held when construction commenced of new airport in the Swedish capital region, capable of handling intercontinental traffic, the contest jury chose to endorse the name originally suggested by the projects </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toponymy"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">toponymist</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Derived from Arland, the archaic name of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hundreds_of_Sweden"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ärlinghundra hundred</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> where the airport is situated, the new airport's name had an "a" added to be analogous with other Swedish place names ending in "-landa" ("land of"), making Arlanda in fact the "Land of Streams" (with "Ar-" being an ancient Swedish form of "å", the noun for "stream".)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Despite the somewhat droll name, Arlanda merely lands one in one of the dullest airports in Europe, where the myth of the progressive, organised Swedish society is done in by something as rudimentary as lack of clear signage. (Even smaller airports in Sweden mange to make the transition from the international to the domestic terminal smoother.) Hence its main claims to fame remain having once been listed as an emergency landing site for NASA's space shuttle, the </span></span><a href="http://www.jumbostay.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jumbo hostel</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (a decommissioned Boeing 747-212B converted to a 76 bed hostel), its policy to never close due to snowfall, and that Sweden's first Starbucks franchise opened here last February.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-67321805191734835392010-11-30T02:59:00.006+01:002010-12-25T16:43:10.126+01:00The Little Béguinage.<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 51 02 46 E 3 44 09</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"></p><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TQoe3i55neI/AAAAAAAAAck/ej17zow2CIw/s320/Begs4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551283430298852834" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">In the middle of Gent stands a refuge, secluded from the bustling city by the Neerschelde and a high wall and various other structures surrounding it. The main point of entry is a </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoclassical_architecture"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Neoclassical</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> gate, dating back to 1819, its narrow alleys eventually opening up on a courtyard lined with beech and lime trees. The courtyard itself is dominated by a large church, which overlooks some 100 small houses, a small chapel, an </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">administrative building, a hospital, and remnants of a farm — all bearing the name of a saint. This is the béguinage of Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Ter Hooyen ("Our Lady of Hay"), more commonly known as Klein Begijnhof, or "the Little Béguinage", one of the best preserved of its kind.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">It's one of three such complexes in Gent, one of eighteen in Belgium, all of which are listed as </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNESCO_World_Heritage_Sites"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">UNESCO World Heritage Sites</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">. (The other Heritage Site entry in Gent is the city's belfry, which is listed with 55 others in Belgium and France.) Though originally laid out in the 13th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> century on the meadow known as Groene Hooie ("green hay"), from which the béguinage derives its name, most of the current structures date back to the 17th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> and 18th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> centuries. Its main church, named for the same "Lady of Hay" as the surrounding béguinage, was built between 1654 and 1658, with a new façade added in 1716.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 227px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TQofBv9lCuI/AAAAAAAAAcs/dxESo4K3jIM/s320/Begs1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551283605602634466" /><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Most likely named for the priest Lambert le Bègue (Lambert the Stutterer), a self styled Catholic reformer who lambasted the abuses and vices of fellow clergy from his Liège parish, béguinages were semi-monastic religious communities, established across the Low Countries as well as parts of Northwestern Germany at the beginning of the 13th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> century. Unlike regular monasteries or convents, béguinages didn't require those who sought refuge there to take vows or withdraw from the world. Nor did they have to surrender their property (if they held any), or pay the exorbitant admission fees demanded by other "spiritual" institutions, and they were free to "return" to the world at large whenever they wished.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">P</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">erhaps because of this, béguinages tended to attract single women in particular; unmarried or widowed by the various religious wars and crusades that were shattering their communities at the time, or perhaps simply choosing a life of attending to the poor, prayer, and charity after their own fashion. In fact, it's tempting to suggest that béguinages may have provided a viable alternative for women who wanted more out of life than simply becoming some man's chattel. Particularly as the béguines initially supported themselves through manual labour rather than through alms.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TQofT7vBdjI/AAAAAAAAAc0/n-WyUSLYaXE/s320/Begs3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551283918000453170" /></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Many came to teach the children of town folk, the low nobility from which many of the béguines themselves were drawn — the very segment of society that would one day become the middle class. However, as time wore on, the béguines and beghards (their male counterparts) began relying on begging or rich sponsors to sustain their communities. Soon too, their "unregulated" lifestyle (no to forget the profits they were diverting) sparked the ire of Catholic Church, which set about branding them heretic and — as is its wont — persecuting them.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TQofrvKGdYI/AAAAAAAAAc8/w13s_lxhqA8/s320/Begs2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5551284326941226370" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Despite the church's attempts to stamp them out, the béguinages continued to exist and function well into the 20th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"> century, with the last béguine in Belgium, Sister Marcella, the last béguine of Kortrijk, currently living out her nineties in a rest home. In fact, the Little Béguinage by the lower Schelde endured not only the impounding of religious real estate that followed in the wake of the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">French Revolution</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">, but also being pawned off on a duke in 1862, before becoming the property of a private organisation in the mid-1920s — with the last remaining béguines inhabiting their modest domiciles well into the 1990s.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;">Today, the lay sisterhoods little houses have been largely converted into condominiums, offering one story with an attic, sometimes a basement and a small back garden, enclosed by high whitewashed walls. Some of the larger structures, except the church and chapel, have also been utilised as ateliers and galleries. A "gated community" of sorts, the little béguinage is now a semi-cloistered environment for people who wish to retreat from inner city life after 10PM, when it's main gate closes to non-residents.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-71501159557064131092010-11-10T11:52:00.009+01:002010-11-11T11:36:05.872+01:00Rubens House.<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 51 13 01 E 4 24 33</span></span></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TNp-zhmlRjI/AAAAAAAAAb8/6v4zk9jKiKM/s320/Rube2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537878115464070706" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In 1610, after returning from Italy and marrying artist's model Isabella Brandt (1591 </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">— 1626), Flemish diplomat, painter, graphic artist, designer, and collector Peter Paul Rubens (1577 — 1640) purchased a property on what was then Vaartstraat (now the Wapper) in Antwerpen (Anvers). Having specifically received permission from the sovereigns of the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Netherlands%23Spanish_Netherlands"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Spanish Netherlands</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> to establish his studio in his ancestral home town rather than at the court in Brussel (Bruxelles), Rubens set about altering the residence in subsequent years. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Though famous in his own time for his paintings of various religious and mythological subjects, portraits, landscapes, tapestries, and scenes inspired by historical events, he's perhaps now more readily associated with "rubenesque" figures, given his penchant for painting mature, fully-developed women, rather then abnormal, starved wretched wenches of the sort widely idealised today.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p> <img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TNp--Tkh3UI/AAAAAAAAAcE/uHLdGOVEhtY/s320/Rube1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537878300675923266" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In accordance with his artistic ideals, Rubens added a "fully-developed", </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroque"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Baroque</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portico"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">portico</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and studio, a semi-circular 'Pantheon' to house his art collection (one of the largest in Antwerpen at the time), and laid out a garden, all inspired by Greco-Roman antiquity and the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_renaissance"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Italian renaissance</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The new structures gave the otherwise quite traditional 16th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> century residence the resemblance of an </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Italian palazzo</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and were unequalled in Antwerpen at the time. The façade of the studio (where some 2,500 paintings were produced with the help of the artist's colleagues, assistants, and pupils) in particular demonstrates how the Rubens' stay in Italy </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">influenced not only his paintings but also his ideas about architecture.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Notable among the rare paintings on display throughout the house are </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Adam and Eve</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, one of Rubens' earliest known works, finished before his departure for Italy in 1600, and his acquisition of his more familiar expressive style, as well as </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, one of his last — and unfinished — paintings, revealing the technique and collective effort dedicated to its creation. Equally notable is one of only four self-portraits Rubens painted, dated to around 1630, when the artist was in his early fifties. Apart from its rarity, it also differs from, say, the many self-portraits of Rubens' contemporary Rembrandt, in that Rubens chose to present himself in the guise of the distinguished gentleman diplomat he mainly appeared to have thought himself as, rather than the painter — the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_Baroque_painting"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Flemish Baroque</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> master — which became his distinction.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TNp_GuZSbeI/AAAAAAAAAcM/qkp004lZKZY/s320/Rube3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537878445315485154" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After Rubens passed away, his second wife, Hélène Fourment (1614 — 1673) continued to live in the house, even renting it out between 1648 and 1660 to </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Cavendish,_1st_Duke_of_Newcastle-upon-Tyne"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">William</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Cavendish"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Margaret Cavendish</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, refugees of the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_civil_war"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">English Civil War</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, who established a riding school there. Once the Cavendishes moved on, the residence was sold by Rubens' heirs. Largely ignored and subjected to various renovations, it was acquired by the city of Antwerpen in 1937 and, after a thorough restoration, opened as a museum in 1946. </span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The reconstructed Baroque garden, restored in the 1940s, was completely relaid in 1993, leaving the portico and the garden pavilion as the sole authentic parts of the 17th </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">century complex — though all the plants currently grown in the garden were known in Rubens' time, including sunflower, tulips, fritillaries (misionbells), and potato plant specimens imported from "the New World" as decorative plants.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 209px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TNp_WsHi9TI/AAAAAAAAAcU/GqESyMc8Ibc/s320/Rube4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537878719582106930" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A glass pavilion, designed by </span></span><a href="http://www.stephanebeel.com/"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Stéphane Beel</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (with Maur Dessauvage and Laurent Ney), housing visitor facilities — such as reception, cloakroom, and shop — separate form the actual residence itself, was constructed on the Wapper in 1999. This elegant solution to the type of space-related problems similar museums face (most historically important residences not having been designed with streams of visitors in mind) allowed the Rubens' residence to remain largely unaltered. </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The elaborate style of the courtyard, with its myriad of symbolic details, also make it quite clear the the exterior of the residence — facing the Wapper — was of little interest to Rubens. The residence rather gives the impression of being inhabited by someone who enjoyed living surrounded by art and beautiful objects, but had little need or desire for obvious ostentation, and who certainly didn't fit the stereotype of a struggling artist.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(More images of </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/sets/72157625353385348/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Rubens House</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.)</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-31376180588856703752010-11-05T21:27:00.006+01:002011-02-03T08:45:12.935+01:00The Count's Castle.<p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 51 03 25 E 3 43 14</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TNRpWmNMs-I/AAAAAAAAAbk/xf-V1YCCvus/s320/Grave01.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536165678879126498" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Practically at the centre of Gent stands what for all intents and purposes is a medieval castle: the Gravensteen ("Count's Castle"). The original structure was constructed in 1180, on a site by the river Leie (Lys) that fortified structures had occupied since the 9th </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">century. Yet whether the fairytale building that can be seen and visited here today in any way resembles the original is hotly debated, mainly due to the extensive — some claim "imaginative" — restoration undertaken by the city of Gent in the late 1800s.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Having been constructed by the order of the then Count of Flanders, Philip I (1142 — 1191), the original Gravensteen was modelled on the crusader forts the Count had encountered during the fiasco later known as </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_crusade"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the Second Crusade</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. The castle then served as the seat of the Counts of Flanders until formally abandoned in the 14th </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">century, though they rarely spent much time there to begin with, possessing many other castles and houses between which they frequently travelled.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TNRplZTyRkI/AAAAAAAAAbs/jRqtPYUN6KU/s320/Grave02.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536165933115131458" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">n 1353 the castle housed the city Mint, between 1407 and 1778 the Raad van Vlaanderen (the Council of Flanders, the regions highest legal college) and a prison, before finally being turned into a cotton mill in 1807 — likely the first example of industrial repurposing of any building in Gent. New buildings were erected along the former castle's crumbling walls, parts of which were even recycled as building material for new structures. Inescapably, the decaying Gravensteen became a symbol of abusive power, feudal oppression, horrendous incarceration, and torturous inquisition.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TNRpzifn4jI/AAAAAAAAAb0/MuALXbf4mE8/s320/Grave03.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536166176098869810" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Yet despite calls for its removal, it survived and, beginning in 1894, was subjected to a "romanticizing" restoration, considerably altering the castle to suit 19th</span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> century ideas of what the Middle Ages should look like. (Though a decent slice of the real thing can be seen in the torture museum housed in the castle since 2002.) However, as the only remaining medieval castle in Flanders, with a virtually intact defense system, the Gravensteen is among the most visited sites in Gent — if one of the scientifically least examined ones, with no serious archeological research conducted on the structure prior to the 1950s.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The castle is said to have succumbed to invaders only once, in November 1949, when students incensed by the rising price of beer (and the change of policemen's caps from white to blue making them indistinguishable from mailmen and taxi drivers) entered and occupied the Gravensteen. Alas, their siege — now notorious as the </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Slag om het Gravensteen</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> ("The Battle of the Count's Castle") — proved unfruitful, with prices for the coveted beverages continuing to climb even as the defeated (and presumably quite thirsty) scholars filed out of the Count's old keep. Like so many disillusioned crusaders before them.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(More images of </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/sets/72157625193940891/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the castle</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.)</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-72803724265619287482010-10-28T02:58:00.016+02:002010-10-28T22:39:20.622+02:00Belgian Fries Museum.<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 51 12 39 </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">E 3 13 26</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 206px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TMkrdStDV8I/AAAAAAAAAak/sqQp76zfCt4/s320/Friets01.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533001399438366658" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Let's make it clear once and for all: there really is no such a thing as "French" fries. It may seem futile to protest, but the tremendously popular side dish's origin in Belgium is supported by what little evidence there is. Much of it is on display at the </span></span><a href="http://www.frietmuseum.be/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Frietmuseum</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> ("Belgian Fries Museum") in Brugge (Bruges), the first and only of its kind in the world, and in itself indisputable evidence of Belgians' passionate preoccupation with the deep-fried potato strips.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 217px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TMkr4OzhiAI/AAAAAAAAAa0/mdsHnwPhamw/s320/Freits03.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533001862248237058" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">However, it's the Americans — the people responsible for coining the specious misnomer — who have done the most to popularise the dish worldwide. Having themselves become obsessed in the latter half of the 20th century, to a point where only 16 of the 54 kg of potatoes each American consumed in 2006 weren't deep-fried or otherwise processed, they have acquainted the world with fries mainly through their fast food franchises; becoming the world's largest producers as well as consumers of fries in the process.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TMksJcliEYI/AAAAAAAAAbE/NUpQHzN5kw0/s320/Freits02.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533002158005424514" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Unfortuna</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">tely, their frozen, pre-packaged, pre-fried slices — often dusted with natural or artificial flavours — soaked in animal fats for 15 to 20 minutes, and treated with a sugar solution in order to caramelize the cooking fat to provide the "golden" colour Americans have been taught to expect, have very little in common with fries the inhabitants of the Meuse (Maas) river valley, somewhere between Dinant and Liège (Luik), began supplementing their diet with toward the end of the 17th century.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Genuine Belgian fries, as every Frietmuseum visitor is informed, are made from freshly sliced potatoes, cooked in unrefined beef </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tallow"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">tallow</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> for six minutes at 130 - 140˚C, then left to rest for ten minutes, before being cooked a second time at 165 - 170˚C for at most another three minutes. While this procedure still results in high absorption of fat and significant reduction in mineral and ascorbic acid content, it makes for a culinary experience far removed from the mushy sticks of lard dished out in North American slop-shacks.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 242px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TMksm1DsziI/AAAAAAAAAbU/trTGEMpyp4A/s320/Friets04.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533002662790614562" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Established by the Van Belle family, who've also created Choco-story (the Belgian Chocolate Museum) and Lumina Domestica (a domestic lighting museum), the Frietmuseum opened to the public in May 2008. It's housed in the Saaihalle (Serge Hall), the oldest building in Brugge displaying a date (1399) on its façade, and though it was expanded in the 15th century to house the Consul of Genova (Genoa), the structure retained much of its original form, and required very little alteration in order to be converted into a museum space.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The museum's first two levels trace the history of the versatile, </span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Propitious-Esculent-Potato-World-History/dp/0434013188/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1288250950&sr=8-3-spell"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">propitious tuber</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, from its humble South American origin to its current position as the world's fourth-largest food crop (after rice, wheat, and maize), through its metamorphosis into Belgian fries, and the impact the dish has had on Belgian culture, while its third level essentially is a friet shop. So while it seeks to educate a little through its entertaining displays, the Frietmuseum chiefly provides a venue for savouring the world's best fries — satisfying more than a craving for knowledge.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TMks7IyVXgI/AAAAAAAAAbc/AxVi9gcY1YA/s320/Friets05.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5533003011683868162" /><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-45797648679220734182010-10-20T14:18:00.010+02:002010-10-20T15:11:25.458+02:00Book Tower.<div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 51 02 41 E 3 43 33</span></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TL7fN62NNYI/AAAAAAAAAac/xoimQ0wQULo/s320/BoekT2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530102822685455746" /><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Towering atop Gent's Blandijnberg ("The Hill of Blandijn"), the 64 metre tall, 24 story Boekentoren ("Book Tower"</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">), housing the Gent university library, is surely one of the </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">most remarkable library buildings in the world. Devised in 1933 by Henry Van de Velde (1863 - 1957), as part of a new complex including the library and the institutes for Art History, Pharmaceutical, and Veterinary sciences, it was the Antwerpen native's first public commission in Belgium. An established architect, decorator, industrial designer, painter, and — along with Paul Hankar (1859 - 1901) and Victor Horta (1861 - 1947) — one of the leading proponents of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Art Nouveau</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in Belgium, Van de Velde was a professor at the Gent university at the time, having previously mostly worked in Germany.</span></span></div> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The site chosen for the new complex, atop the Blandijnberg, had been settled since Roman times, and would allow the tower to not only dominate the city's skyline, but complement its three "classic" towers — those of the belfry, the St. Bavo Cathedral, and the church of St. Nicholas — which made Gent renowned as the "medieval Manhattan". A fourth tower could've been added in the 16th century, had the megalomaniacal project to make the tower of St. Michael's church the tallest in the land not been aborted by religious wars. Van de Velde saw a chance to not only obscure St. Michael's stump of a tower, but add a structure on the highest ground in the city that would stand not only as a symbol of the university, but also as a beacon of science, wisdom, and knowledge.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">However, the university's librarians and administrators were less than taken with the idea, commissioning </span></span><a href="http://search.ugent.be/meercat/x/images?q=armand+cerulus"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">an alternative, conventional building plan</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> from architect Armand Cerulus (1896 - 1963). Yet Van de Velde managed to get his way, and construction of the tower began in 1936, with structural work and most of the façade finished three years later. To emphasise the building's modern nature, Van de Velde chose to erect a tower of reinforced concrete, relying in particular on the skills of colleague Gustave Magnel (1889 - 1955), the main proponent of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestressed_concrete"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">prestressed concrete</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in Belgium. His Laboratorium Magnel vor Betononderzoek (Labo Magnel), dedicated to researching concrete and concrete structures, had been part of the Gent university since 1930. (Magnel also designed the first prestressed concrete bridge in North America, the Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge in Philadelphia.)</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 223px; " src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TL7e-iWtQHI/AAAAAAAAAaU/1YyEp08wYEQ/s320/BoekT4.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530102558412849266" /></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Then economic crisis and world war prevented completion of the </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">project, forcing some materials to be replaced with cheaper or more readily available alternatives; </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenge"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Congolese Rosewood</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and marble replaced the metals, linoleum, and rubber consumed by the war. And although, at Van de Velde's insistence, 1% of the total building cost was dedicated to decoration, only </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/5090021419/in/set-72157625186619920/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Karel Aubroeck's sculpture </span></span></a><b><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/5090021419/in/set-72157625186619920/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">De Runenleester</span></span></a></b><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/5090021419/in/set-72157625186619920/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> ("The Rune Reader")</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/5090820073/in/set-72157625186619920/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jozef Cantré's relief</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> were delivered, while commissions by leading Flemish </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionism"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">expressionists</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> Gustave de Smet (1877 - 1943), Constant Permeke (1886 - 1952) and Frits Van den Berghe (1883 - 1939) were unfulfilled. Quite unwittingly, Van de Velde's tower, crowned with an impressive </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belvedere_(structure)"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">belvedere</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, also provided German forces with a most excellent surveillance post during their four-year </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">occupation of Gent.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Surviving the war unscathed, the structure remains a splendid example of Van de Velde's </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_architecture"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">modernism</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, as well as one of the primary examples of interbellum modernism in Belgium, the structure's curved lines, rounded corners and edges perhaps being his most obvious signature. But he also had a hand in creating its black iron window frames, floor patterns, doorhandles, furniture, even radiator covers. Modernist principles guided the design, with — for instance — incidence of light determining the position of reading rooms; the main and the periodical reading rooms faced south and received the most exposure, while the manuscript room faced north, remaining shielded from light.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Home to a unique collection some 48 km long (or nearly 3 million volumes, using Library of Congress classification — though in one librarian's words "not systematically"), the Boekentoren is due to undergo long overdue restoration, the urgent need for which has been recognised for at least the past 25 years. Limited space and inadequate climate conditions have rendered it unsuitable as a repository for its vulnerable and irreplaceable collection, dating back beyond the founding of Gent's first university library in 1819. Not to forget that it also fails in providing a healthy work environment for its 72 employees (62% of whom were women, with an average age of 41 in 2008) and numerous patrons.</span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TL7ewtHo2-I/AAAAAAAAAaM/Q4X-VAdiPaA/s320/BoekT3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530102320784268258" /></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In 2005, the university board invested € 30 million (≈ C$ 42.5 million in '05) in the restoration project, though to reach the 2003 estimate of € 41 million (≈ C$ 63 million in '03) individual sponsors were invited to purchase each of the 23 million cm² of the Boekentoren's façade at a rate of € 1 per cm², or one of 352 steps in its staircase for € 250 (≈ C$ 354 in '05) per step. During the restoration, scheduled to take place between 2013 and 2019, the most sensitive parts of the library's collection will be housed in a brand new underground repository, to be constructed beneath the library courtyard between 2011 and 2013. The repository is intended to continue providing a space for storing parts of the collection in optimal conditions even after the main restoration is completed, its three air conditioned floors — the lowest equipped with </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprung_floor"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a sprung floor</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> and doubly high shelves — containing some 40 km of compact book shelves.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <img style="text-align: left;float: right; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 218px; height: 320px; " src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TL7eWYkXTkI/AAAAAAAAAaE/7wdwGyCmP-A/s320/BoekT1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5530101868591009346" /><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">What makes the Gent university library's collection unique is its origin in </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">collections of various local abbeys, churches, and monasteries abolished in the wake of the French Revolution, as </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">well as the rapacious expansion undertaken until the First World War, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">adding private collections and archives, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numismatic"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">numismatic collections</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, posters, prints, engravings, and ephemera. Whether storing the sensitive materials underground, while retaining the lending collection in the tower, will change the level of access remains to be seen. Though currently anyone can register as a patron, only librarians and staff have access to the tower (what in library parlance is referred to as "closed stacks"), with requested materials being delivered in small metal baskets by a </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paternoster"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">paternoster</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">When the original construction ended in 1942, it left Henry Van de Velde dissatisfied; the finished result clashing with his desire for unity in design as well as materials. It was also considerably smaller, lacking not only some of the original plan's structures (such as the archeological and ethnographical museum) but also many of the minor details he was so keen on (like the specially designed steel furniture). One can only wonder what Van de Velde would've made of the considerable facelift in store for the library, which plans to deposit the majority of its collection in a direction directly opposite of the symbol he helped create — to represent the power of science and the book as a universal medium of communication.</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(More images of </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/sets/72157625186619920/with/5090820073/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the Book Tower</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.)</span></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Additional input by Sarah Polkinghorne.</span></span></span></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-1992188432696312002010-10-10T18:20:00.010+02:002010-10-19T02:39:19.610+02:00Botanical Garden.<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 51 02 08 E 3 43 21</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TLHn9MAL3OI/AAAAAAAAAZs/ATXGiK7BA8w/s1600/Ptuin1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TLHn9MAL3OI/AAAAAAAAAZs/ATXGiK7BA8w/s320/Ptuin1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526453256140348642" /></a><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gent's first botanical garden was established in 1797, at the former Baudelooabdij (Baudeloo Abbey), in the wake of Napoleonic conquest and subsequent educational reform, which — among other things — called for the creation of such gardens in cities of Gent's stature. When the University of Gent was founded in 1817, the Baudelootuin (Baudeloo garden) was placed at its disposal, with the professors</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">hip in botany linked to the directorship of the botanical garden. It's an arrangement that persists to this day, with the university's Faculty of Science currently acting steward.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Once the garden outgrew its original location, the Botanisch Instituut (Botanical Institute) as it was then known was relocated to its current site, southeast of the then recently-created Citadelpark (Citadel Park). It's occupied that same location since opening up its gates in 1903 onto a new complex consisting of an open air garden, a greenhouse, a palm house, an orangery, and a number of experimental greenhouses, as well as a new institute building.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">To meet the requirements of its expanding collection, new greenhouses were constructed between 1931-32, which were in turn replaced 40 years later with a new palmarium in 1970, and three large public greenhouses constructed between 1971-72. A rock garden was added in the early 1950s, while the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_revival"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gothic Revival</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> institute building was razed and replaced with a Modernist steel, glass, and concrete </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">high-rise which continues to completely dominate the scenery to this day.</span></span></p><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><img style="text-align: left;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px; " src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TLHo1VtHzjI/AAAAAAAAAZ0/hUAlRfnz_XA/s320/Ptuin2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526454220817419826" /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Plantentuin Universiteit Gent (the Ghent University Botanical Garden), as it's known today, is currently home to more than 10,000 plant species inhabiting the 2.75 hectare (≈ 6.8 acre) site, including 4,000 m² (≈ 43,060 Sq Ft) of heated and unheated greenhouses. Three large greenhouses and a </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Succulent"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">succulent</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> house are open to the public, presenting tropical and sub-tropical plants, while over 20 smaller ones are dedicated to research and specialised collections are open only to staff and students.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TLHpMr0ZHNI/AAAAAAAAAZ8/U_LpE5SYR20/s320/Ptuin3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5526454621890485458" /></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In th</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">e tropical hothouse, banana, baobab, cinnamon, kola nut, mango, and rubber trees can be found, while the sub-tropical hothouse includes specimens of the camphor laurel, citrus, eucalyptus, and pomegranate trees, as well as castor-oil and tea shrubs. The indoor pond of the Victoria greenhouse and its giant water lillies, adjacent to the other two greenhouses, is in turn surrounded by "economic" plant varieties like cacao, coffee, cotton, papaya, rice, and sugarcane.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span></span></span></p><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Hardy plants are grown in the open air garden, dominated by a large pond, arranged into several areas: the rock garden (mountain species </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and alpine plants), the medicinal, mediterranean, and vegetable gardens, and an arboretum divided into European, Asian, and American "zones" — reflecting the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phylogenesis"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">phylogenic</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> relationships between the plant </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxa"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">taxa</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Additionally, the Faculty of Science houses a </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbarium"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">herbarium</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (over 300,000 specimens), and a seed (</span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspores"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">diaspores</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) collection, as well as a small botanical and horticultural library (some 500 volumes).</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The botanical garden, open throughout the year, is not only a major source of study material for students (including primary and secondary school pupils) of biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, geology, geography, and related sciences. It also lends out plants to other university departments, while its palmarium and Victoria greenhouse in particular are a popular venue for exhibitions, receptions, and serve as the venue in which biology masters students defend their theses.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(More images of </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/sets/72157625007864007/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the botanical garden</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.)</span></span></span></p></span><p></p></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-78225620215322593022010-10-05T20:59:00.013+02:002010-10-06T00:07:13.800+02:00Visserij.<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">N 51 02 35 E 3 44 21</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div></div><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TKt2Dq1tmzI/AAAAAAAAAYM/4ai1rEBs0Fs/s320/Viss0.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524639173311306546" /><div style="text-align: left;"><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A nowadays largely gentrified, residential area </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">in the middle of Gent, the Visserij ('Fishery') owes much </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">of its character to the revival of the city's once-dominant textile industry. During the Middle Ages, Gent was the centre of one of the first industrial areas in Europe, but centuries of (mainly) religious wars devastated its once-flourishing textile trade and the manufacturing base that underpinned it.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As mechanisation revolutionised textile manufacturing at the end of the 18th century, Gent's surviving textil</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">e merchants began erecting new factories at such a rapid pace the city soon became known as the "Manchester of Flanders", turning into the a leading centre of the cotton industry, and employing some 12,000 people by 1816. At that time, most of these factories still relied on power generated by either wind or </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_mill"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">horse mills</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; "><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Then, some enterprising chaps struck upon the idea to utilise the change in water level caused by tides upon the rivers flowing through the city — a difference of as much as a metre, twice daily — to generate power with </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_wheel"><span style="text-decoration: underline ; letter-spacing: 0.0px color:#3100b0;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">water wheels</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. The idea found application along a new canal being constructed parallel with the Beneden</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">-Schelde (or, formally, Neerschelde), quite literally the lower arm of the Schelde river.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">By the time the new Visserij canal was dug in 1752, the narrow man-made island it helped create had become a compact industrial zone. Though its name derived from the sea access it prov</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ided ever larger vessels the shallower river arm couldn't accommodate, i</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">t soon became more closely associated with the numerous factories that had filled it.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 133px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TKt7sCns87I/AAAAAAAAAZM/6n8ym1JmLQs/s400/Screen+shot+2010-10-05+at+9.22.04+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524645364447900594" /></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Many of these factories were connected to both the Visserij canal as well as the river (hence known as Achtervisserij, the 'hinter-fishery') by subterranean tunnels. Water wheels installed in these tunnels were po</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">wered by the water flowing into the canal from the river at high tide. At low tide, the water flow would reverse, returning from the canal through the tunnels, over the wheels, back into the river. The result was a regular, reliable power supplement to the wind and horse mills.</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"></span><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The activity and noise arising from the many factories and mills on this narrow strip in the centre of the city soon made the Visserij known locally as the "Rommelwater" — the 'cluttered waters'. No doubt the pervasive practice of relying on waterways to carry away refuse also helped inspire this bric-a-brac evoking nickname — particularly when steam power replaced the much more environmentally friendly mills and wheels by the end of the 19th century.</span></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></p></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 135px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TKt-yFpeSmI/AAAAAAAAAZc/v3NFjdrVwX4/s400/Screen+shot+2010-10-05+at+9.23.23+PM.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524648766874733154" /></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Between 1907 and 1909 quays were constructed along the banks of both the Visserij and the Achtervisserij, and the once-industrial island began acquiring the mostly residential character it's retained </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">to this day.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Among the few remaining reminders of its industrial past are some of the best-preserved beluiks in the city of Gent — unique residential cul-de-sac alley ways.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TKt3a0jlFRI/AAAAAAAAAY8/khhnx4n81U4/s320/Viss3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524640670568224018" /><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Erected by local industrialists, products of the city's rapid industralisation, the beluiks </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">once provided the only affordable shelter for the masses drawn into Gent in search of employment. Though the surrounding waterways no longer act as open sewers, its beluiks no longer home to the working poor, many of the Visserij's structures remain some of Gent's most notable examples of industrial architecture.</span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(More images of </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/sets/72157625103174288/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the Visserij</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.)</span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">With images from the collection of Philippe Bockstael.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Additional input by Nico Smets.</span></span></span></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-27147307710367006802010-09-27T10:39:00.017+02:002011-08-23T06:32:10.635+02:00Abbey of St Bavo.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">51 03 13 N 3 44 10 E</span></span></div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521514512201030354" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TKBcMdHoGtI/AAAAAAAAAXM/GYerFoM7ZfE/s320/Baaf1.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 209px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 320px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The ruins of the former Sint-Baafsabdij (Abbey of </span></span></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">St Bavo) are an oasis. They rest practically in the middle of Gent, mere minutes away from the current Sint-Baafskathedraal (St Bavo Cathedral), and literally next door to the confluence of the river Schelde (Escaut) and its tributary, the Leie (Lys). The fork of these two rivers is believed by many to be not only the first site </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">settled in the area, but also the origin of the city’s older name, Ganda, derived from the Celtic word for confluence. T</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">he site certainly is among the first where Christianity found a foothold in Flanders.</span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sometime around 629, the Frankish missionary Amand (c. 584 – 675) arrived here on his first attempt to baptize the local "pagans", who did what most people accused by a total stranger of not </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">"living right" would do, (allegedly) tossing the proselytizing bishop back into the river th</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">at had brought him hither. Undaunted, Amand performed the "miracle" of resuscitating a hanged criminal, which so impressed the locals to abandon their previous beliefs they not only demanded to be baptized, but immediately set about destroying their former places of worship.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div></div></div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521516626692348130" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TKBeHiNpGOI/AAAAAAAAAXU/zbaEzAVXBx0/s320/Baaf2.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 320px; margin: 0 0 10px 10px; width: 200px;" /></div><div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Amand went on to found not only the Sint-Baafsabdij, but also the Sint-Pietersabdij (Abbey of St Peter), </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">together with his di</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">sciple Bavo (622 – 659) — </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">formerly a nobleman known as Allowin of Hesbaye (Haspengouw). A tearaway slacker in his youth, Bavo "atoned" for his loutish years by becoming a monk and disseminating his wealth. Venerated as a saint upon his death, the abbey where he died was renamed after him in the ninth century. Not long after that, Sint-Baafs was sacked by Norsemen on one of their first murderous </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking%23Etymology"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">vikings</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in the area.</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"></span></span><br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Setting up camp in Sint-Baafs during the winter of 879-880, the Norsemen went on to pillage Sint-Pieters as well. Further fortification of the sites, and fervent shipbuilding in a nearby wharf, didn't discourage additional raids, and by 883 the Norsemen had effectively razed bot</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">h abbeys to the ground: practically wiping the emerging settlement of Gent off the map. However, Sint-Baafs was re-erected in the tenth century under the watchful eye of Arnulf the Great (c. 890 – 965), third Count of Flanders, and continued to flourish throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Sint-Baafs last period of prosperity began at the turn of the fifteenth century, having been renovated and redecorated under abbot R</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">aphaël de Mercatel (1437 – 1508). By that time, the population of Gent had reached some 65,000 inhabitants, supposedly making it the second largest city in Europe after Paris. However, some 900 years after it was founded the abbey's end was nigh: in 1539, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Emperor Charles V</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> decided to personally strike down the revolt brewing in the city — which his sister, Queen Mary of Hungary, had fa</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">iled to quell — over the tax increases being squeezed out of its inhabitants to fund the Emperor's various wars.</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521518310788306162" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TKBfpj9aFPI/AAAAAAAAAXc/q9u7uRvhuIM/s320/Baaf3.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 203px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></span></div><div><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
<div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Taking the revolt as a personal affront, Gent being Charles' city of birth, the Emperor had large parts of the original abbey buildings and its impressive </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanesque_architecture"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Romanesque</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> church — the very place Charles had himself been baptized — demolished, in order to make way for what would become infamously known as the Spanjaardkasteel (Spanish Castle). Constructed for the sole purpose of besieging and maintaining control of the rebellious city, Charles' Italian-style citadel was large enough for a garrison of 2,500 men. Completed in 1545, the citadel was itself demolished between 1827 and 1834, while what r</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">emained of the once prominent abbey was retained as ruins. In 1887, when the Bel</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">gian state hand</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ed the site over to the city of Gent, the city's </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapidarium"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">lapidarium</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> was installed there.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5521521555598048226" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TKBimb0Ve-I/AAAAAAAAAX0/kk6c8j_IJs8/s320/Baaf4.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 214px; margin: 0 10px 10px 0; width: 320px;" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In 2007, a neighbourhoo</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">d organisation — </span></span><a href="http://www.burenvandeabdij.be/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Buren van de abdij</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (Neighbours of the Abbey) — were granted permission by the city to open the closed off ruins to the public once a week, with volunteers guiding tours, exhibitions, and hosting concerts each Sunday between April and November. Today, five metre high </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornbeam"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">hornbeams</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> evoke the pillars of the demolished church, while a concrete podium marks the place where its altar once stood, effectively a multipurpose outdoor stage in a lush park </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">setting. The ruins and remains of the abbey are also home to some 150 different species of wild plants, making the site quite unique among Europe's urban parks.</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></span></span></div><div style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(More images of </span></span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pestpruf/sets/72157627371357905/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the ruined Abbey of St Bavo</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">)</span></span></span></div></div></span></span></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3694797361275175805.post-12594111497545801082010-09-14T19:09:00.012+02:002010-12-19T18:04:02.994+01:00Plane, trains, & automobiles.<img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 277px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TI-zN2DXIlI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/AGPkamtoAHo/s400/EIA..jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516825118981431890" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; font-family:'lucida grande', verdana, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: center; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">53 18 22 N </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">113 34 59 W</span></span></span></span></div></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><a href="http://www.flyeia.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Edmonton International Airport</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> isn't merely "Canada's largest major airport by area", and one of the country's fastest growing airpo</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">rts, it's also a lot closer to the city of Leduc than Edmonton itself. Even its areal claim is somewhat dubious, given that over half of the 7,600 acres (≈30.7 km²) origina</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">lly purchased for the airport's development in 1955, have been leased back to the original owners who still cultivate it. Making the EIA the country's largest farm with attached airstrips. Though opened for passenger service in 1960, the original terminal building wasn't completed until three years later, and despite expansion in the late 1990s, further enlargement is underway to accommodate the 9 million passengers predicted to utilise the airport by 2012. Despite being a major port of entry into Canada, the EIA houses barely a dozen </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">works of art — an indication perhaps of how much import the area's </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Canadians place on art. Among these, a mural by </span></span><a href="http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0007314"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jack Shadbolt</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> — </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Bush Pilot in Northern Sky </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">—</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> stands out as </span></span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the only surviving of four such works commissioned for the original terminal building.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TI-zZM0xRnI/AAAAAAAAAWY/4M18j7CS114/s400/Gatwick+Express..jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516825314072807026" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">51 29 41 N </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">0 08 42 W</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">London's </span></span><a href="http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/947.aspx"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Victoria station</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, the city's second busiest railway </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">terminus, is in fact four stations in one — two above ground and two underground. More so by chance than design, as it was cobbled together over time in a piecemeal fashion, it's two main overgr</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ound railway stations remained physically separated until 1924. It began with — what to most passengers would appear as — two distinct stations, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the London Brighton & South Coast Railway and the London Chatham & Dover Railway stations,</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> opened in 1860 by a consortium of railway companies (The Victoria Station & Pimlico Railway Co.). The Metropolitan District Railway rapid transit station opened in 1868, and has now become the busiest station in the London Underground system, serving cl</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ose to 80 million passengers per year. Despite several expansions over the past century, its often overcrowded platforms frequently operate as an exit-only station — a problem which a major upgrade is meant to solve by 2018. Like many of the other eighteen central London r</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ailway termini, Victoria station has frequently appeared works of popular culture, for instance in David Lloyd's and Alan Moore's 1980s comic-book series </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">V for Vendetta</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, and as the place in which the titular protagonist of Oscar Wilde's 1895 play </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Importance of Being Earnest</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> is discovered.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TI-zhBWg5XI/AAAAAAAAAWg/dZQK179248U/s400/Victoria+station..jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516825448432067954" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">51 29 45 N </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">0 08 40 W</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">London's black Hackney cabs are perhaps the most famous taxis in the world, particularly because of the specially de</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">signed vehicles and the extensive training course — </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxicabs_of_the_United_Kingdom#The_Knowledge"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Knowledge</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> — required of fully licensed dri</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">vers. However, many of the roughly 21,000 cabs in Greater London now are of practically every colour imaginable (especially </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">when wrapped in advertising livery), as there is in fact no requirement for them to be black. Even the Austin FX4 model and </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manganese_Bronze_Holdings#Taxi_production"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">its derivative successors</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> that's dominated the city streets since the late 1950s have begun to be complemented by other models and makes, gradually incorporated into the fleet since 2008. Freque</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ntly </span></span><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6750UA20100806"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">voted the best taxi service in the world</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, the classic Hackney cabs (purportedly named for what once was </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackney_Central"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the village of Hackney</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">) have at</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">tained iconic status — undoubtedly aided by numerous incorporations into popular culture, lately as </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Cab_Sessions"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">a venue for recording music</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TI-zrHY7wwI/AAAAAAAAAWo/ORMfgv8DY6g/s400/St.+Pancras+International+Rail+Station..jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516825621851521794" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">51 31 51 N </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">0 07 31 W</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At the time of its opening in 1868 as the Midland Railway's </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_Main_Line"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Main Line</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">'s southern terminus, the St Pancras station was regarded as a pinnacle of </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_revival"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Gothic Revival architecture</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. Its train shed — now named for its designer, </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Barlow"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">William Barlow</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> — with its characteristic </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dent_(clocks_and_watches)"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Dent clock</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> ranked as the world's largest single span roof, while its frontage — once the Midland Grand Hotel — earned it the moniker "Cathedral of Railway Stations". None of which saved the s</span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">tation from redundancy by the 1960s and the threat of demolition, the latter successfully opposed by in particular poet </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Betjeman"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">John Betjeman</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">. After massive redevelopment — to the tune of some £800 million (≈C$1.3 billion) — it was re-opened as the </span></span><a href="http://www.stpancras.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">London St Pancras International Railway Station</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in 2007. The lower levels of the original hotel (opened in 1873) are currently being refurbished to be operated by 2011 as a five-star hotel (including a brand new wing), while the upper levels are being converted into apartment lofts. The station's surroundings formed the backdrop of Alexander Mackendrick's 1955 black comedy </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Ladykillers</span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> (far superior to the Coen brother's unnecessa</span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ry 2004 remake), while the hotel (closed in 1935) was an integral part of Douglas Adams' 1988 novel about gods behaving badly in London, </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul </span></span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">(rather </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gods_Behaving_Badly#Gods_Behaving_Badly"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">blatantly ripped off by Marie Phillips</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> in 2007).</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></div><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_b4t8iHXNNC0/TI-zv4a0QrI/AAAAAAAAAWw/K8sBQT9cELs/s400/E40..jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516825703732232882" /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#333333;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">50 57 10 N </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">3 53 06 E</span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">At over 8000 km (≈4971 miles), the European Route 40 (E40) is the longest in the </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_route"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">International E-road Network</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, running from Calais in France to Ridder in Kazakhstan. Though only a small section — some 49 km (≈30.4 miles) — connects Bruxelles with Gent, the amount of time it takes to travel can vary widely. Depending on the amount of traffic, weather conditions, and whether any of its six lanes is undergoing the seemingly perpetual maintenance, a trip by car between the two cities can take anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours. The assigned maximum speed limit on this stretch is set at 120 km/h (≈65 miles/h), but local drivers frequently indulge much higher speeds, not only compromising safety but directly contributing to congestion as well. Although given the importance this short stretch of road plays in the network as a whole, it's not difficult to believe the local claim that the reason for frequent congestion is the fact that in order to arrive anywhere in Europe one has to drive through Belgium.</span></span></div></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:verdana;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1