<p>The Ohio State Reformatory , also known as the Mansfield Reformatory, is a historic prison located in Mansfield, Ohio in the United States. It was built between 1886 and 1910 and remained in operation until 1990, when a United States Federal Court ruling  ordered the facility to be closed. While this facility was used in a number of films , TV shows and music videos, it was made famous by the film The Shawshank Redemption  when it was used for the majority of the movie.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The history of the Ohio State Reformatory began in 1861, the field where the reformatory would be built was used as a training camp for Civil War soldiers. The camp&#39;s name had significant meaning to Ohio as it was named Camp Mordecai Bartley in honor of the Mansfield man who served as Ohio governor in the 1840s.</p><br>
<p>In 1867, Mansfield was promoted as a candidate for the placement of the new Intermediate Penitentiary (the original name before it was changed to Ohio State Reformatory). The city raised $10,000 to purchase 30 acres of land for the prison, and the state acquired 150 acres of adjoining land for $20,000; the cost of the facility was $1,326,769. The Intermediate (Ohio State Reformatory) was intended as just that, a halfway point between the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster and the State Penitentiary in Columbus which was intended to house young first-time offenders. who used three architectural styles; Victorian Gothic, Richardsonian Romanesque and Queen Anne. Scofield designed the reformatory with these unique styles to help encourage inmates to become reborn back into their spiritual lives. The creation and construction of the entire building was entrusted to well-known architect F.F. Schnitzer, whose name also appears on the cornerstone, and is recorded as Superintendent and Supervising Architect on documents found there. In 1891 the name was changed from Intermediate Penitentiary to Ohio State Reformatory.</p><br>
<p>On September 15, 1896 the reformatory opened its doors to its first 150 offenders. These prisoners were brought by train from Columbus and put immediately to work on the prison sewer system and the 25-foot stone wall surrounding the complex. Schnitzer was presented with a silver double inkwell by the governor of the state in a lavish ceremony to thank him for his services. The exterior of the building, which is built from brick and concrete, is designed in the Romanesque style giving the frontage a castle-like appearance.</p><br>
<p>Most of the grounds and support buildings, including the outer wall, have been demolished since the closing. In 1995, the Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society was formed. They have turned the prison into a museum and conduct tours to help fund grounds rehabilitation projects and currently work to stabilize the buildings against further deterioration.</p><br>
<p>The East Cell Block remains the largest free standing steel cell block in the world at six tiers high. From 1935 until 1959 Arthur Lewis Glattke was the Superintendent. Initially a political appointment following Glattkes work on the Martin Davey campaign, by all accounts Glattke was respected by professionals and inmates alike. He implemented many reforms such as piped in radio music in the cell blocks. Glattkes wife, Helen Bauer Glattke, died of pneumonia three days following an accident in November 1950 where a handgun discharged when she was reaching into a jewelry box in the family&#39;s quarters. Glattke died following a heart attack suffered in his office on February 10, 1959. Over 200 people died at the OSR, including two guards who were killed during escape attempts.</p><br>
<h2>Restoration and tours</h2><br>
<p>The Mansfield Reformatory Preservation Society is currently working to restore the facility to its original state. Restorations to date include the removal of debris, replacement of roofing, complete restoration of the Warden&#39;s quarters, as well as the complete restoration of the central guard room between the East and West Cell Blocks. The restorations are being funded through donations and tour fees. The windows of the south side east cell block have been replaced, as well as all of the original stained glass windows that were in the building and are currently being re-installed in the building.</p><br>
<h2>Films and television</h2><br>
<p>The facility has been used in many productions (even while it still held inmates), and perhaps became best-known when it was portrayed as Shawshank State Prison in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption.</p><br>
<p>Harry and Walter Go to New York (1975) – Harry and Walter spend some time behind bars at the penitentiary, when the prison was still in operation.</p><br>
<p>Tango & Cash (1989) – The facility was used for various prison scenes.</p><br>
<p>The Shawshank Redemption (1994) – The prison was used for a large panning scene and the wardens office; an officers quarters were used to shoot a sequence set in a civilian apartment.</p><br>
<p>Air Force One (1997) – The prison was used for scenes of a Russian prison for General Ivan Radek.</p><br>
<p>Godsmack "Awake" music video 2000.</p><br>
<p>Marilyn Manson promotional photography, 1996 – Frontman, Brian Hugh Warner, grew up in Canton, Ohio.</p><br>
<p>Ohio State Reformatory has been the subject of numerous paranormal investigation shows, including the Fox Family Channel&#39;s Scariest Stories on Earth, and Scariest Places On Earth.</p><br>
<p>The Travel Channel did a tourism documentary on the OSR.</p><br>
<p>In 2005, The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS) investigated the facility for the SciFi Channel&#39;s TV series Ghost Hunters.</p><br>
<p>In 2004 Lil Wayne featured this prison in his video for the song "Go DJ".</p><br>
<p>In April 2006 the horror/thriller motion picture Fallen Angels (2007) was filmed almost entirely at OSR.</p><br>
<p>WWE shot a promotional poster featuring Triple H for their 2008 Judgment Day event in the facility.</p><br>
<p>In 2009 the facility was featured on Ghost Adventures in Season 3 Episode 4.</p><br>
<p>The front entrance was used in multiple episodes during Season 6 of House.</p><br>
<p>In 2010, the facility was used for an episode of Ghost Hunters Academy.</p><br>
<p>It is the filming place for the music video of the song "Relentless Chaos" by Miss May I.</p><br>
<p>The Purple Smoke Project (Hip hop group) filmed a video for the song "Calm Down" in 2011</p><br>
<p>Attack Attack! shot a portion of their video "Smokahontas" in 2011</p><br>
<p>Anti-Flag shot the majority of their video for "The New Sound" in the prison</p><br>
<p>The National Geographic Channel featured the prison on the show Inside: Secret America S1/Ep 05 for the episode "Ghosts" in 2013</p><br>
<p>Ghost Asylum on Destination America in 2015</p><br>
<p>In 2016 the reformatory was investigated and featured on The Hambone Show</p><br>
<p>David Allen Coe and The Moonshine Bandits (2017) Recorded a music video for "Take This Job and Shove It"</p><br>
<p>In 2017, nu-metal act, Motograter filmed a video for the song "Dorian"</p><br>
<p>Bullocks Wilshire, located at 3050 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, California, is a 230,000 ft&sup2; Art Deco building. The building was completed in 1929 as a luxury department store for owner John G. Bullock .</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Design</h3><br>
<p>The building was designed by Los Angeles architects John and Donald Parkinson; the interior design was by Eleanor Lemaire and Jock Peters of the Feil & Paradise Company; the ceiling mural of the porte-cochère was painted by Herman Sachs.</p><br>
<h4>Exterior</h4><br>
<p>The exterior is notable for its 241 ft tower whose top is sheathed in copper, tarnished green. At one time, the tower peak had a light that could be seen for miles around. Bullocks Wilshires innovation was that it was one of the first department stores in Los Angeles to cater to the burgeoning automobile culture. It was located in a then-mostly residential district, its objective to attract shoppers who wanted a closer place to shop than Downtown Los Angeles. Traditional display windows faced the sidewalk, but they were decorated to catch the eyes of motorists. Since most customers would arrive by vehicle, the most appealing entrance was placed in the rear. Under the citys first department store porte cochere, valets in livery welcomed patrons and parked their cars.</p><br>
<h4>Interior</h4><br>
<p>Shoppers entered the foyer which had travertine floors and elevators finished in nickel, brass, and gunmetal. On the first floor was the vaulted Perfume Hall, awash in natural light muted by walls of St. Genevieve marble. The womens shoe salon was paneled with the wood from a single Central American tree. Cork in exotic shades lined the walls in the furs atelier. The Saddle Shop featured vermillion floor tiles, wall cases of deep red oak, and a life-size plaster likeness of a horse, Bullocks Barney.</p><br>
<p>For refreshment, there was a top-floor desert-themed tearoom and the adjoining lounge where society women gathered for luncheon fashion shows. Truly elite service was reserved for the selected men invited to shop in the privacy of J.G. Bullocks wood-paneled private suite on the fifth floor. Titans of business and politics relaxed over cocktails and hors doeuvres as sales associates modeled potential gifts.</p><br>
<h3>Clientele and notable employees</h3><br>
<p>The department store served the upper crust of Los Angeles society. In its heyday, Bullocks Wilshire patrons included Mae West, John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, Alfred Hitchcock, Greta Garbo, ZaSu Pitts, Walt Disney and Clark Gable. While struggling to become an actress, a teen-aged Angela Lansbury worked as a sales clerk. Future First Lady Patricia Nixon also served a stint on the floor. From his studio, next to the Chanel department, Neil Gittings photographed many celebrities who frequented Bullocks Wilshire.</p><br>
<h3>Decline</h3><br>
<p>In the early 70s, this sub-division of Bullocks dropped its apostrophe and began opening separate branch locations so as to separate its decidedly luxury identity from its larger yet more upper-moderate/better parent. Branches were located in Palm Springs (1947), Woodland Hills (The Promenade) (1973; 80,000 square feet), Newport Beach (Fashion Island) (1977; 80,000 square feet), La Jolla (1979), Palos Verdes (1981), and Palm Desert (formerly Bonwit Teller; 1987; 50,000 square feet). The branches of Woodland Hills and Newport Beach were designed by the Los Angeles firm of Welton Becket and Associates. Over the years, a shift by other luxury stores and boutiques to the west side of the city/county resulted in the primary Bullocks Wilshire trading areas fall, yet the main store held on as a destination until 1988, when it began its own precipitous decline, hastened under operation by its final owners, Macys, who had acquired the chain from the Campeau Corporation. The Wilshire Boulevard store suffered severe damage during the Los Angeles riots of 1992; looters broke in and shattered every display case on the first floor. The upper floors were not damaged because fleeing staffers shut off the elevators; the original decision to build the store without escalators may have actually saved the landmark from ruin. At least three fires were set by arsonists, but they did not spread. Bullocks Wilshire finally closed in 1993 with legal battles ensuing as Macys stripped the store of its historic artifacts, furnishings and fixtures for other locations (bowing to pressure, almost all the 1929 fixtures were returned). Its locations had been converted around 1990 to I. Magnin, a San Francisco-based luxury chain which in turn was shuttered by Federated Department Stores in January 1995 upon its acquisition of Macy&#39;s.</p><br>
<h3>Current use of building</h3><br>
<p>In 1994, the building was acquired by Southwestern Law School, its long-time neighbor. The school restored the building to its original 1929 state, adapting the building for use as an integral part of the school. The building is a historic-cultural monument of the City of Los Angeles, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places May 25, 1978.</p><br>
<p>The Southwestern Law School Office of Administrative Services is responsible for all arrangements pertaining to commercial photography and filming on Southwestern&#39;s campus, and works with. Scenes filmed at the building include:</p><br>
<p>A scene in the 2004 film The Aviator was filmed near the entrance</p><br>
<p>Featured in the 1996 film Dunston Checks In</p><br>
<p>The final scene in the 1984 film Ghostbusters was filmed on top of the building</p><br>
<p>The mall scenes from 1984&#39;s Night of the Comet were filmed after hours</p><br>
<p>A scene in the season premiere of the second season (episode "Brother, Can You Spare a Blonde?") of Moonlighting</p><br>
<p>Featured setting in Topper, a 1937 film starring Cary Grant</p><br>
<p>Featured in Aerosmith&#39;s 1989 "Love in an Elevator" video</p><br>
<p>Public Enemy&#39;s video for "By the Time I Get to Arizona" was filmed in front of the school</p><br>
<p>Part of the background on the set of The Tonight Show with Conan O&#39;Brien</p><br>
<p>Charlottenburg Palace  is the largest palace in Berlin, Germany. It is in the Charlottenburg district of the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf borough.</p><br>
<p>The palace was built at the end of the 17th century and was greatly expanded during the 18th century. It includes much lavish internal decoration in baroque and rococo styles. A large formal garden surrounded by woodland was added behind the palace, including a belvedere, a mausoleum, a theatre and a pavilion. During the Second World War, the palace was badly damaged but has since been reconstructed. The palace with its gardens are a major tourist attraction.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Palace</h3><br>
<p>The original palace was commissioned by Sophie Charlotte, the wife of Friedrich III, Elector of Brandenburg in what was then the village of Lietzow. Named Lietzenburg, the palace was designed by Johann Arnold Nering in baroque style. It consisted of one wing and was built in storeys with a central cupola. The façade was decorated with Corinthian pilasters. On the top was a cornice on which were statues. At the rear in the centre of the palace were two oval halls, the upper one being a ceremonial hall and the lower giving access to the gardens. Nering died during the construction of the palace and the work was completed by Martin Grünberg and Andreas Schlüter. The inauguration of the palace was celebrated on 11 July 1699, Frederick&#39;s 42nd birthday.</p><br>
<p>Friedrich crowned himself as King Friedrich I in Prussia in 1701 (Friedrich II, known as Frederick the Great, would later achieve the title King of Prussia). Two years previously, he had appointed Johann Friedrich von Eosander (also known as Eosander von Göthe) as the royal architect and sent him to study architectural developments in Italy and France, particularly the Palace of Versailles. On his return in 1702, Eosander began to extend the palace, starting with two side wings to enclose a large courtyard, and the main palace was extended on both sides. Sophie Charlotte died in 1705 and Friedrich named the palace and its estate Charlottenburg in her memory. In the following years, the Orangery was built on the west of the palace and the central area was extended with a large domed tower and a larger vestibule. On top of the dome is a wind vane in the form of a gilded statue representing Fortune designed by Andreas Heidt. The Orangery was originally used to overwinter rare plants. During the summer months, when over 500 orange, citrus and sour orange trees decorated the baroque garden, the Orangery regularly was the gorgeous scene of courtly festivities.</p><br>
<p>Inside the palace, was a room described as "the eighth wonder of the world", the Amber Room (Bernsteinzimmer), a room with its walls surfaced in decorative amber. It was designed by Andreas Schlüter and its construction by the Danish amber craftsman Gottfried Wolfram started in 1701. Friedrich Wilhelm I gave the Amber Room to Tsar Peter the Great as a present in 1716.</p><br>
<p>When Friedrich I died in 1713, he was succeeded by his son, Friedrich Wilhelm I whose building plans were less ambitious, although he did ensure that the building was properly maintained. Building was resumed after his son Friedrich II (Frederick the Great) came to the throne in 1740. During that year, stables for his personal guard regiment were completed to the south of the Orangery wing and work was started on the east wing. The building of the new wing was supervised by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, the Superintendent of all the Royal Palaces, who largely followed Eosanders design. The decoration of the exterior was relatively simple but the interior furnishings were rich with painting and sculpture,textiles and mirror. The ground floor was intended for Fredericks wife Elisabeth Christine, who, preferring Schönhausen Palace however, was only an occasional visitor. The especially splendid decoration of the upper floor, which included the White Hall, the Banqueting Hall, the Throne Room and the Golden Gallery, was designed mainly by Johann August Nahl. In 1747, a second apartment for the king was prepared in the distant eastern part of the wing. During this time, Sanssouci was being built at Potsdam, and once this was completed Frederick was only an occasional visitor to Charlottenburg.</p><br>
<p>In 1786, Frederick was succeeded by his nephew Friedrich Wilhelm II who transformed five rooms on the ground floor of the east wing into his summer quarters and part of the upper floor into Winter Chambers, although he did not live long enough to use them. His son, Friedrich Wilhelm III came to the throne in 1797 and reigned with his wife, Queen Luise for 43 years. They spent much of this time living in the east wing of Charlottenburg. Their eldest son, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, who reigned from 1840 to 1861, lived in the upper storey of the central palace building. After Friedrich Wilhelm IV died, the only other royal resident of the palace was Friedrich III who reigned for 99 days in 1888.</p><br>
<p>The palace was badly damaged in 1943 during the Second World War. In 1951, the war-damaged Stadtschloss in East Berlin was demolished and, as the damage to Charlottenburg was at least as serious, it was feared that it would also be demolished. However, following the efforts of Margarete Kühn, the Director of the State Palaces and Gardens, it was rebuilt to its former condition, with gigantic modern ceiling paintings by Hann Trier. From 2004 till early 2006, Charlottenburg Palace was the seat of the President of Germany, whilst Schloss Bellevue was being renovated.</p><br>
<h3>Grounds</h3><br>
<p>The garden was designed in 1697 in baroque style by Simeon Godeau who had been influenced by André Le Nôtre, designer of the gardens at Versailles. Godeau&#39;s design consisted of geometric patterns, with avenues and moats, which separated the garden from its natural surroundings. Beyond the formal gardens was the Carp Pond. Towards the end of the 18th century, a less formal, more natural-looking garden design became fashionable. In 1787 the Royal Gardener Georg Steiner redesigned the garden in the English landscape style for Friedrich Wilhelm II, the work being directed by Peter Joseph Lenné. After the Second World War, the centre of the garden was restored to its previous baroque style.</p><br>
<p>In 1788, Friedrich Wilhelm II arranged for the building of the Belvedere, designed by Carl Gotthard Langhans, in the grounds beyond the Carp Pond. The building was used as a teahouse and as a viewing-tower. Langhans also designed the Palace Theatre, which was built between 1788 and 1791 to the west of the Orangery wing. The Mausoleum was built as a tomb for Queen Luise between 1810 and 1812 in neoclassical style to a design by Heinrich Gentz. After the death of Friedrich Wilhelm III, it was extended; this design being by Karl Friedrich Schinkel. It was extended again in 1890–91 by Albert Geyer to accommodate the graves of Wilhelm I and his wife Augusta. In 1825, Friedrich Wilhelm III added the Neuer Pavilion, an Italianate villa designed by Schinkel, to the north of the palace. This was damaged in the war in 1943 and was reconstructed between 1957 and 1970.</p><br>
<h3>Burials</h3><br>
<p>Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz</p><br>
<p>Frederick William III of Prussia</p><br>
<p>Wilhelm I, German Emperor</p><br>
<p>Prince Albert of Prussia (1809–1872)</p><br>
<p>Augusta of Saxe-Weimar</p><br>
<h2>Today</h2><br>
<p>The palace and grounds are a major visitor attraction.</p><br>
<p>For an admission charge, parts of the interior of the palace are open to visitors, including the Old Palace (Alte Schloss) and the New Wing (Neuer Flügel). The Old Palace contains many rooms with baroque decoration, and includes a room called the Porcelain Cabinet, which holds thousands of porcelain objects. On special display are the crown jewels and the royal silver and fine porcelain tableware. The New Wing includes the opulent rococo State Apartments of Frederick the Great and the more modest Winter Chambers of Friedrich Wilhelm II. The formal and informal gardens are freely open to the public.</p><br>
<p>For an admission charge, the Mausoleum, the Belvedere and the Neue Pavilion are open to visitors. The Mausoleum contains the graves of, and memorials to, members of the Hohenzollern family. The memorial to Queen Luise includes her reclining effigy, which is made from Carrara marble and was designed by Christian Daniel Rauch.</p><br>
<p>Also open to the public are the Belvedere, which contains a collection of Berlin porcelain, and the Neue Pavilion, which houses a collection of arts and crafts of the period when Schinkel was active.</p><br>
<p>The former Palace Theatre is now the Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte, which is a museum of prehistoric archaeology. The former Orangery houses a restaurant and café. Destroyed during World War II, the Great Orangery was reconstructed on the model of the baroque building. Today, it shines in its old brilliance again. The light-flooded festival room provides a pleasant framework for cultural events, concerts and banquets.</p><br>
<p>In addition, a large equestrian statue of Friedrich Wilhelm I is the focus of the palace courtyard. This was designed by Andreas Schlüter and made between 1696 and 1700. From 1703, it stood on the Langen Brücke (now the Rathausbrücke) but was moved to a place of safety in the Second World War. On its return after the war, the barge carrying it sank and it was not salvaged until 1949. In 1952, it was erected on its present site. Across the street of the palace are two more museums, the Bröhan Museum, which contains art nouveau and art deco articles, and the Berggruen Museum, which houses modern art, in particular works by Picasso and Klee.</p><br>
<p>Taylorsville Lake is a 3,050 acre artificial lake or reservoir located mainly in Spencer County, Kentucky. Construction by the United States Army Corps of Engineers started in 1974, and flooding began in 1983. The total cost of the lake was $103 million. It is about 18.5 mi long. Backwater areas of the lake are also located in Nelson County and Anderson County.</p><br>
<p>The dam is located on Salt River, and it is estimated that it has prevented more than $30.5 million in flood damages since it became operational. The lake is named for Taylorsville, the county seat of Spencer County, and today serves as a major economic source for Spencer County, as well as a popular fishing area. Taylorsville Lake State Park occupies a portion of the lake&#39;s northern shore.</p><br>
<h2>Dam</h2><br>
<p>Taylorsville Lake Dam (National ID # KY00051), owned and operated by the Corps of Engineers, is an earthen structure 162 feet high, 1280 feet long at its crest, and was constructed for flood control and recreation. Its reservoir has a normal surface area of 4.8 square miles and a maximum capacity of 291,670 acre-feet.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The lakes water is murky year round and contains a large amount of silt washed down from agricultural runoff up river. During the lakes creation there was a large amount of standing timber in the lake that still remains today. This timber provides cover for much of the lakes wildlife. Blue Herons are a common sight feeding upon the lakes ample supply of shad. Major fish species in the lake are largemouth bass, hybrid striped bass, white crappie, black crappie, channel catfish, blue catfish, and freshwater drum perch.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>On weekends with good weather the lake is usually fairly crowded, especially around holidays. Boaters new to the lake should use caution when leaving the river channel that runs through the lake due to standing timber that can sometimes be just under the water surface. The 2 most popular boat ramps found in the northwestern part of the lake are Settlers Trace and Possum Ridge also known as the State Park Ramp. There are two smaller boat ramps upstream, Chowning Lane and Van Buren. There is a small waterskiing course on the lake. Waterskiing, wakeboarding, tubing, jet skiing, and fishing are popular on the lake. Due to the lake&#39;s popularity and proximity to a major city (the closest large lake to Louisville) fishing pressure on the lake is high which can make fishing difficult. Fishing with jugs for catfish is a common sight.</p><br>
<p>Ship Island is the collective name for two barrier islands off the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, part of Gulf Islands National Seashore: East Ship Island and West Ship Island. Hurricane Camille split the once single island into 2 separate islands in 1969. West Ship Island is the site of Fort Massachusetts , as a Third System fortification.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Having the only deep-water harbor between Mobile Bay and the Mississippi River, the island served as a vital anchorage for ships bearing explorers, colonists, sailors, soldiers, defenders and invaders. The French, Spanish, British, Confederate and Union flags have all flown over Ship Island.</p><br>
<p>French explorer Pierre Le Moyne d&#39;Iberville charted Ship Island on 10 February 1699,</p><br>
<p>"Hancock County, Then and Now",</p><br>
<p>Hancock County Historical Society, 2010, webpage:</p><br>
<p>which he used as a base of operations in discovering the mouth of the Mississippi River. The island served as a point of immigration to French colonies in the New World. Some immigrants died upon arrival at Ship Island, and their bodies were burned in a furnace.</p><br>
<p>In 1702, the island was named Ile aux Vaisseaux (the French phrase for "Ship Island") due to its protected deepwater anchorage. After New Orleans was founded (1718) to the west, the island served as the principal port of entry from Europe for French colonists from 1720 until 1724. The island was given to Great Britain by France at the end of the Seven Years&#39; War in 1763. In 1783, at the end of the American Revolution, Great Britain transferred the island to Spain.</p><br>
<p>The United States, as part of the Louisiana Purchase, claimed the island in 1810.</p><br>
<p>In the War of 1812, Admiral Sir Alexander Cochrane anchored between Ship Island and Cat Island with a fleet of fifty British warships and 7,500 soldiers in preparations for the Battle of New Orleans and the island was used as a launching point for British forces.</p><br>
<p>In 1849, the USA Navy anchored at Ship Island to discourage assembly of mercenaries on nearby islands for paramilitary invasion of Cuba.</p><br>
<p>In 1853, the island&#39;s first lighthouse was built. It was made of brick and mortar.</p><br>
<p>In 1858, Mississippi passed legislation that gave jurisdiction over the island to the United States government. After the war, Congress approved an ambitious plan to construct state-of-the-art masonry fortifications at strategic locations along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, including Ship Island. Construction of a fort on the island began in 1859, and continued up to the Civil War, when the Confederates named the uncompleted structure Fort Twiggs after Confederate General David E. Twiggs. The island later became a prison for Confederate prisoners of war, and a base for the USA Second Regiment (Louisiana Native Guards led by Colonel Nathan W. Daniels), a unit composed of African-American soldiers. On July 9, 1861, a twenty-minute cannon exchange between Confederates in Fort Twiggs and the screw steamer USS Massachusetts occurred. Ship Island was abandoned by the Confederates because it could not be adequately garrisoned. The USS Massachusetts returned and took possession of Ship Island in September 1861. According to the historian John D. Winters, the island was "a valuable base from which to break up the traffic of the small Confederate vessels plying between Mobile and New Orleans through Mississippi Sound."</p><br>
<p>In 1862, the fort was renamed Fort Massachusetts in honor of the Union warship which had seized the abandoned outpost. Construction on Fort Massachusetts was halted in 1866, although the fort was not fully completed.</p><br>
<p>The January 4, 1862, edition of Harper&#39;s Weekly describes Ship Island:</p><br>
<p>SHIP ISLAND was occupied by the advance-guard of General Butlers expedition on 3d December: The troops consisted of the 26th Massachusetts and 9th Connecticut Volunteers, under command of Brigadier-General Phelps. They left Massachusetts in the steamer Constitution; their embarkation was duly illustrated in Harpers Weekly at the time. On 3d inst., as we said, they arrived at their destination, landed, and occupied the island without molestation. It is understood that they are to be followed by other troops, on whose arrival operations will be commenced against Mobile or New Orleans, or both. The following account of Ship Island will, with our illustrations, enable our readers to understand the importance of the movement:Ship Island is situated in longitude 89°W and a little north of latitude 30°N, and is the property of the State of Mississippi. It is about sixty miles &#91;97 km&#93; from New Orleans, nearly the same distance from the Northeast Pass, at the mouth of the Mississippi River, forty miles from Mobile, and ninety from Fort Pickens. It lies between Horn Island on the east and Cat Island on the west, and is distant about five miles &#91;8 km&#93; from each. Some ten or twelve miles &#91;19 km&#93; to the north, on the main land of Mississippi, are the towns of Biloxi, Pascagoula, and Gulfport. These towns are favorite summer resorts for the wealthy planters and merchants of the Gulf States, and, in consequence of a bar off their shore, are now the places of refuge for rebel gun-boats.Ship Island is somewhat undulating, and extends in a slight curve about seven miles &#91;11 km&#93; east-northeast and westsouthwest. At West Point (the western end), where the fort is located, the island is little more than an eighth of a mile wide, and is a mere sand spit, utterly barren of grass or foliage of any kind. This eastern end, or East Point, is about three-quarters of a mile in width, and is well wooded with pine, cedar, and live-oak.The whole island contains a fraction less than two square miles of territory. Excellent water can be obtained in unlimited supply by sinking a barrel any where on the place. The great advantage of this is too palpable to require comment.The island possesses a very superior harbor, into which nineteen feet can be carried at ordinarily low water. It is situated north of the west end of the island. The anchorage, with water equal to the depth on the bar, is five miles long &#91;8 km&#93, and averages three and a quarter miles &#91;5 km&#93; in width. The harbor is safe for the most dangerous storms in the Gulf—those from the eastward, southward and eastward, and southward—and might be easily entered during these storms without a pilot, if good light-houses were placed in proper positions. The rise and fall of the tide is only from twelve to fourteen inches &#91;31-36 cm&#93;.FORT MASSACHUSETTS, of which we give an illustration, is thus described in the Herald letter:This fort, which is situated on the sand spit at the extreme western end of the island, is nearly circular in shape, somewhat resembling a pear in form. As I have stated elsewhere, its construction was commenced by the federal Government, and when in a state of considerable progress was burned by the rebels, who afterward rebuilt and then abandoned it. It is of brick, and rendered bomb-proof by sand-bags placed five or six feet deep in front of the walls.The rebels built eleven casemates, and our forces have built two more since they have occupied the fort. The casemates are bomb-proof. The fort is at present but one tier high. It is provided with Dahlgrens 9-inch &#91;229 mm&#93; shell guns of very heavy calibre and in perfect order, and they are hourly expecting sixteen more very heavy guns from Pensacola. Besides this, Captain Mannings battery have landed five of their steel rifled cannon, with the Sawyer projectile. There were six of these guns on board the Constitution, but unfortunately one of them was lost overboard in removing them from the transport. It is hoped that they will be able to recover it, as a buoy floats right over the spot where it fell. &mdash;Harper&#39;s Weekly, January 1862</p><br>
<p>In 1880, the island was designated as the country&#39;s first quarantine station. The fort closed in 1903, and the quarantine station was placed on reserve status in 1916.</p><br>
<p>In 1886, a wooden lighthouse was built to replace the brick lighthouse erected in 1853, which was damaged by waves.</p><br>
<p>During World War II, the Coast Guard used the island for anti-submarine beach patrol. In 1942, the Army Air Corps used the quarantine station as a military recreation facility, as did Keesler Air Force Base in 1955.</p><br>
<p>In 1969, Hurricane Camille with its 30 ft tidal surge cut Ship Island into two distinct islands, to form East Ship Island and West Ship Island. The gap is known as the Camille Cut. East Ship Island is mostly vegetation and wildlife, while West Ship Island is a tourist destination.</p><br>
<p>In 1972, the original 1886 wooden lighthouse was accidentally burned down by campers.</p><br>
<p>In 1998, Hurricane Georges washed away a mile of East Ship Island&#39;s beach.</p><br>
<p>In 1999, Friends of Gulf Islands National Seashore dedicated a commemorative reproduction of the 1886 wooden lighthouse.</p><br>
<p>In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina almost completely submerged East Ship Island. West Ship Island received most of the damage as Katrinas 30 ft tidal surge wiped out the visitor and employee facilities on the island, as well as the islands pier and boardwalk. These facilities included offices and sleeping quarters for National Park Service staff, public restrooms and showers, and the public concessions building. Fort Massachusetts received minimal damage and was soon reopened to the public. The pier and boardwalk were rebuilt as well. Temporary restrooms and a small concessions trailer were on the island while new facilities were rebuilt. The reproduction of the 1886 lighthouse was reduced to rubble.</p><br>
<p>In 2008, Ship Island was surveyed just 2 weeks after Hurricane Ike. Scientists had a difficult time finding the island. The eastern half of the island had completely disappeared, leaving only parts of the western half. It is unknown whether the island was eroded by Hurricane Ike, or if erosion occurred when Hurricane Gustav hit just 2 weeks earlier.</p><br>
<p>In April 2009, rebuilding of the island&#39;s ranger station, restrooms, visitor center and snack bar washed away by Hurricane Katrina began and was scheduled to be completed in the Fall of 2009. As part of this rehabilitation, parts of Fort Massachusetts damaged by Hurricane Katrina are also being repaired.</p><br>
<p>In June, 2010, containment booms encircled the island in an attempt to protect it from oil leaking from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.</p><br>
<h2>Activities</h2><br>
<p>Today, West Ship Island serves as a tourist destination. Activities include fishing, swimming, and tours of Fort Massachusetts.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>East Ship Island is accessible only by private or chartered boat.</p><br>
<p>West Ship Island is accessible through private or chartered boat. It is also accessible by a privately owned ferry boat company, Ship Island Excursions, running from Gulfport, Mississippi 12 miles (19 km) out to the island for a fee. Ship Island Excursions has been running boats to the island since before the National Park Service acquired the island. Today, they are an official Park Service Concession.</p><br>
<p>Ngadi Chuli  is a high peak in the Mansiri Himal , also known as the Gurkha Massif, in Nepal. It is flanked by Manaslu to the north and Himalchuli to the south.</p><br>
<p>Despite its top 20 height, Ngadi Chuli has only been climbed once or twice. The probable first ascent occurred in 1970. Hiroshi Watanabe and Sherpa Lhakpa Tsering, members of a Japanese expedition, climbed the east ridge and face. They left their camp V, at about 7500 metres, for a summit attack. About 70 m below the summit they disappeared out of sight for nearly two hours at 1:15 pm. On their return, after descending a difficult snow ridge, they suffered a fatal fall down an ice wall, from ca. 7600 m nearly down to camp 4 at 6900 m, where their climbing partners observed their fall. Neither their camera nor Watanabe&#39;s ice-ax, to which pennants would have been attached had they reached the summit, survived the crash so that no conclusive evidence could be found that they had reached the summit. In order to achieve a confirmed ascent of the mountain, the Japanese organized three more expeditions, in 1974, 1978 and 1982, but these all failed.</p><br>
<p>The first confirmed ascent, and as of 2014 the last attempt on the mountain, was in 1979 by the Polish climbers Ryszard Gajewski and Maciej Pawlikowski via the West buttress, involving some class V rock climbing at great height.</p><br>
<p>Surprisingly, as of 2014, no further attempts have been made on the mountain since the last Japanese expedition in 1982.</p><br>
<h2>Timeline</h2><br>
<p>1961 First reconnaissance by Japanese climbers.</p><br>
<p>1969 Third Japanese attempt reached 7350 m.</p><br>
<p>1970 Probable first ascent, via the east ridge and face.</p><br>
<p>1978 Three climbers die in an avalanche during the seventh Japanese attempt.</p><br>
<p>1979 First confirmed ascent, by a Polish expedition.</p><br>
<p>The Eldridge Street Synagogue, built in 1887, is a National Historic Landmark synagogue in Manhattan&#39;s Chinatown neighborhood.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Eldridge Street Synagogue is one of the first synagogues erected in the United States by Eastern European Jews (Ashkenazis). One of the founders was Rabbi Eliahu the Blessed (Borok), formerly the Head Rabbi of St. Petersburg, Russia. It opened at 12 Eldridge Street in New York&#39;s Lower East Side in 1887 serving Congregation Kahal Adath Jeshurun. The building was designed by the architects Peter and Francis William Herter, (but unrelated to the Herter Brothers cabinet-makers). The brothers subsequently received many commissions in the Lower East Side and incorporated elements from the synagogue, such as the stars of David, in their buildings, mainly tenements. When completed, the synagogue was reviewed in the local press. Writers marveled at the imposing Moorish Revival building, with its 70-foot-high vaulted ceiling, magnificent stained-glass rose windows, elaborate brass fixtures and hand-stenciled walls.</p><br>
<p>Thousands participated in religious services in the building&#39;s heyday, from its opening through the 1920s. On High Holidays, police were stationed in the street to control the crowds. Rabbis of the congregation included the famed Rabbi Abraham Aharon Yudelovich, author of many works of Torah scholarship. Throughout these decades the Synagogue functioned not only as a house of worship but as an agency for acculturation, a place to welcome new Americans. Before the settlement houses were established and long afterward, poor people could come to be fed, secure a loan, learn about job and housing opportunities, and make arrangements to care for the sick and the dying. The Synagogue was, in this sense, a mutual aid society.</p><br>
<p>For fifty years, the Eldridge Street Synagogue flourished. Then membership began to dwindle as members moved to other areas, immigration quotas limited the number of new arrivals, and the Great Depression affected the congregants&#39; fortunes. The exquisite main sanctuary was used less and less from the 1930s on. By the 1950s, with the rain leaking in and inner stairs unsound, the congregants cordoned off the sanctuary.</p><br>
<p>Without the resources needed to heat and maintain the sanctuary, they chose to worship downstairs in the more intimate house of study (Beth Midrash). The main sanctuary remained empty for twenty-five years, from approximately 1955 to 1980. In 1986 the non-sectarian, not-for-profit Eldridge Street Project was founded to restore the synagogue and renew it with educational and cultural programs. Paul P. E. Bookson, a former State Senator and Civil Court Justice, was instrumental in maintaining the Orthodox Religious services at the Eldridge Street Synagogue and its building restoration.</p><br>
<h2>Renovation and reopening</h2><br>
<p>On December 2, 2007, after 20 years of renovation work that cost US$20 million, the Eldridge Street Project completed the restoration and opened to the public as the Museum at Eldridge Street, reflecting its cultural and educational mission, within the Eldridge Street Synagogue building. The museum offers informative tours that relate to American Jewish history, the history of the Lower East Side and immigration. Occasionally, Jewish religious events are celebrated there, though not in the former main sanctuary.</p><br>
<p>The effort to return the sanctuary to its Victorian splendor, while maintaining the idiosyncrasies of the original aesthetic and preserving patina of age, included plaster consolidation and replication of ornamental plaster elements, over-paint removal, conservation, in-painting replication of stenciling, wood finishing and decorative painting including: faux-woodgraining, marbleizing, and gilding by skilled craftsmen.</p><br>
<p>The Orthodox Congregation Kahal Adath Jeshurun continues to meet for evening services in the Beth Midrash and daytime services in the main sanctuary; until Hurricane Sandy, Kahal Adath Jeshurun had never missed a Saturday or holiday service since the synagogue first opened.</p><br>
<p>The Eldridge Street Synagogue was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1996.</p><br>
<p>Meloria is a rocky skerry, surrounded by a shoal, off the Tuscan coast, in the Ligurian sea, 6.1 km north-west of Livorno.</p><br>
<h2>Meloria shoal</h2><br>
<p>The Meloria shoal is an attractive archaeological, naturalistic and historical region that makes part, since 2010, of the Area Marina Protetta Secche della Meloria (Meloria shoal Marine Protected Area) assigned to the Parco naturale di Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli (Natural Park of Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli) for the management. The shoal is formed by a rocky bank surrounded by swallow water sandy and muddy of the surface of 9,372 hectare extending up to 12 km offshore. The seabed varies from 2 meters to 30 meters and the habitat is an alternating of rocky areas with characteristic basins seabed with prairies of Posidonia. The sea flora consists mainly of Posidonia and Caulerpa racemosa while the fauna has a rich variety as: Symphodus roissali, Serranus cabrilla, Scorpaena scrofa, Muraena helena, Coris julis, Aphia minuta, Pelagia noctiluca and others.</p><br>
<p>Geologically the Meloria consists of a calcareous sandstone bench corresponding to an active undersea fault called Rift of Meloria which caused numerous local earthquakes up to 3,5 in the Richter magnitude scale.</p><br>
<h2>Meloria Tower</h2><br>
<p>The Pisans built in 1157 on a surfacing rock of the Meloria shoal a lighthouse in order to avoid the wrecking of the ships directed to Porto Pisano. It was decided to keep a navigational light giving the task to the Augustinians monks of the hermitage of San Jacopo in Acquaviva by Livorno signing a written agreement for the work.</p><br>
<p>The tower was destroyed by the Genoese. A second tower was built in 1598 on order of Ferdinando I de&#39; Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, which in its turn was destroyed by the bad weather.</p><br>
<p>The current tower was built in 1709 by Cosimo III de&#39; Medici and has a characteristic form; it is formed by four quadrangular pillars connected by Gothic arches above which arise the tower 15 meters high. The tower was built on the pillars to allow the flow of the waves but had no signalling light. On the south side of the tower is the Latin inscription: “Pro navigntium securitate ad latentes copulo evitandos” (For the sailors safety pay attention to the reef). In 1986 the tower underwent to a complete renovation.</p><br>
<h2>Meloria lighthouses</h2><br>
<h3>Meloria shoal south end lighthouse</h3><br>
<p>Because the Meloria Tower had not been an active lighthouse for some time, on May 15, 1867 (157 meters from the Meloria shoal) a 20-meter high metal structure lighthouse was installed. It was replaced in 1950s by a new round cylindrical tower 18 meters high with lantern and balcony; it is distinguished by the upper half painted in yellow and the lower half in black. The lighthouse is active and operated by Marina Militare identified by the number 1888 E.F. it has a solar power unit and has six quick flashing and one long white flash in a ten seconds period.</p><br>
<h3>Meloria shoal north end lighthouse</h3><br>
<p>This cylindrical tower was built in the 1950s in white concrete, 18 meters high with lantern and balcony. The lighthouse is situated 9 km north of the Meloria Tower and 14 km north west of Livorno. The lighthouse is active and operated by Marina Militare identified by the number 1884 E.F. it has a solar power unit and has a white flash in a ten seconds period.</p><br>
<h2>Meloria Naval battles</h2><br>
<h3>First Battle of Meloria</h3><br>
<p>The first Battle of Meloria, on May 3, 1241, was fought between the fleet of the emperor Frederick II, surnamed Stupor Mundi, in alliance with Pisa, against a Genoese squadron and ended with a Pisan and Imperial victory.</p><br>
<h3>Second Battle of Meloria</h3><br>
<p>The second battle, fought on Sunday August 6, 1284, was of higher historical importance. Usually, "Battle of Meloria" refers to this battle. It was a typical medieval sea-fight, and accomplished the ruin of Pisa as a naval power, in favour of Genoa.</p><br>
<h2>Meloria air crash</h2><br>
<p>On 9 November 1971, a Royal Air Force Lockheed Hercules C.1 crashed into the sea off the coast of Livorno on the Meloria shoal, killing all 46 passengers and 6 crew. At the time it was described by Italian officials as the worst military air disaster in Italy in peacetime.</p><br>
<p>Tyras  was an ancient Greek city on the northern coast of the Black Sea. It was founded by colonists from Miletus, probably about 600 BC. The city was situated some 10 km from the mouth of the Tyras River, which is now called the Dniester. The surrounding native tribe was called the Tyragetae. The ruins of Tyras are now located in the modern city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Of no great importance in early times, in the 2nd century BC Tyras fell under the dominion of native kings whose names appear on its coins, and it was destroyed by the Getae about 50 BC.</p><br>
<p>In 56 AD, it seems to have been restored by the Romans under Nero and henceforth formed part of the province of Lower Moesia. There exists a series of its coins with heads of emperors from Domitian to Alexander Severus.</p><br>
<p>Indeed, the autonomous minting of coins in the city, called by the Romans Alba Julia, lasted from the time of the emperor Domitian (81 AD) up to the end of the reign of the emperor Alexander Severus (235 AD) with few breaks. The coins of Tyras of this period were of copper with the portraits of the members of the Imperial house for the province of the Roman Empire.</p><br>
<p>In Tyras was stationed a small unit of the Roman fleet, Classis Flavia Moesica.</p><br>
<p>Soon after the time of Alexander Severus, it was partially destroyed by the Goths, but archaeological findings show that Romans remained there until the end of the 4th century under Theodosius I. Later the Byzantines renamed the city, destroyed by barbarian invasions, with the new name Maurokastron "black fort".</p><br>
<p>Its government was in the hands of five archons, a senate, a popular assembly and a registrar. The images on its coins suggest a trade in wheat, wine and fish. The few inscriptions are also mostly concerned with trade.</p><br>
<p>Remains of the city are scanty, as its site has been covered by the great medieval fortress called by the Genoese Maurocastro (and later Akkerman/Cetatea Alba).</p><br>
<p>Mount Muir is a peak in the Sierra Nevada of California, 0.95 mi south of Mount Whitney. This 14,018 ft peak is named in honor of Scottish-born John Muir, a famous geologist, conservationist and founder of the Sierra Club. The southernmost section of the John Muir Trail contours along the west side of Mount Muir near its summit and ends on the summit of Mount Whitney.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>Among mountain climbers, a peak needs to meet certain criteria in order to be included in some lists. To be listed as an independent peak a summit must have 300 ft of clean prominence. A reliable source gives Mount Muir&#39;s clean prominence as 298feet, It is included in other lists which do not depend on promince. Some lists are based on more subjective criteria and Mount Muir is included in the Sierra Peaks Section list,</p><br>
<p>The easiest approach is from the John Muir Trail just north of its junction with the Mount Whitney Trail in Sequoia National Park. The trail passes very near the summit and the climb involves a short stretch of difficult scrambling up the steep, boulder-strewn, western slope to the summit block. A dayhike permit or a backcountry permit with a Whitney Zone stamp is required to hike the Mount Whitney Trail.</p><br>
<p>The east side of Mount Muir, which is in the John Muir Wilderness, is a near-vertical cliff about 1,400 ft high. The route on this side (the north side of the east buttress) was first climbed on July 11, 1935 by Nelson P. Nies and John D. Mendenhall. It is a roped climb, (class 4). The south side of the east buttress, also class 4, was first climbed on September 1, 1935, by Arthur B. Johnson and William Rice.</p><br>
<p>Limeburners Bay, one of numerous bays in Port Phillip, lies in the southwest and adjoins Corio Bay, which abuts Geelong, the second largest city in Victoria, Australia. The bay was named after lime kilns, located on the east side of Corio Bay, used to burn limestone for making cement.</p><br>
<p>In the 1820s, explorers Hume and Hovell ended their journey in the area of Limeburners Bay before returning to Sydney. It is a tide-dominated estuary that runs off Hovells Creek. The area is popular for recreational fishing and hiking and birdwatching. Geelong Grammar School overlooks the bay.</p><br>
<p>Limeburners Bay is home to many endangered species. It forms part of the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site as a wetland of international importance. The site is part of the Werribee and Avalon Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for wetland and waterbirds as well as for orange-bellied parrots.</p><br>
<p>Afon Seiont  is a river in Gwynedd, Wales which runs into the Menai Strait.</p><br>
<p>Its source is the outflow of Llyn Padarn near Llanberis, and it flows out in a generally northwest direction. Between the outflow and the village of Llanrug it is known as the Afon Rhythallt, changing its name just after the village. Its mouth is in the town of Caernarfon, forming a natural harbour as it flows out into the Menai Strait. The Afon Nant Peris provides the main inflow into Llyn Peris which then drains into Llyn Padarn with the addition of the waters of the Afon Arddu which drains the northern slopes of Snowdon.</p><br>
<p>The name of the Roman fort of Segontium, near Caernarfon, is based on the Latinised form of the name &#39;Seiont&#39;.</p><br>
<p>Archer Park Railway Museum is a heritage-listed former railway station and now transport museum at Denison Street, Rockhampton, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1897 to 1908. It was known as Archer Park railway station and Rockhampton Central railway station. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.</p><br>
<p>The Museum&#39;s main attraction is a rare French "Purrey" steam tram originally operated by the Rockhampton City Council.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Archer Park Railway Station, the former Rockhampton Central Railway Station, is situated on Denison Street and forms an important link with the social, cultural and transport history of Rockhampton and Central Queensland. It was the major railway station in Rockhampton from the turn of the century until the mid 1920s, and is an important element in the development of the railway network in Queensland, and the growth of the North Coast Railway in the early part of the twentieth century.</p><br>
<p>The Archer brothers had made a private expedition to the Rockhampton district in 1853, and were the first Europeans to record and chart the Fitzroy River. The Archers were also the first European pastoralists to arrive in the area. Their establishment of Gracemere Station led to further pastoral expansion into the area.</p><br>
<p>After the short lived Canoona gold rush of 1858, Rockhampton was proclaimed as a town and declared a port of entry in 1858. Following the gold rush the town of Rockhampton developed as an entry and export town for central Queensland. Rockhampton continued to eclipse its nearest rival Gladstone for nearly a century as the principal port for Central Queensland.</p><br>
<p>In 1863 the Parliament of Queensland passed the controversial Railway Bill, which committed Queensland to the use of a narrow gauge for the development of its Main Line railway in Queensland. Other colonies in Australia at this time had adopted broader gauges for use on their rail networks. The reasoning behind this decision was that a narrow gauge would have lower construction costs.</p><br>
<p>The first section of the Queensland railway network was opened between Ipswich and Bigges Camp (now Grandchester) on 31 July 1865, and later extended to link the towns of Warwick, Dalby and Toowoomba with Ipswich. At the time that the Railway Act had been passed, the 5000 citizens of Rockhampton objected to having no provision made for the construction of a railway to their hinterland, where copper was being exploited in the Peak Downs area. A railway was thought necessary to ensure development of the interior.</p><br>
<p>The first length of Central Western railway line was opened to Westwood some thirty miles (fifty kilometres) from Rockhampton in 1867. The line was extended beyond the coastal ranges in 1872, reaching Emerald in 1879. The Central Western Railway was progressively extended further west reaching Longreach in 1892, and remained an isolated railway system, with no connection to the southern division of Queensland railways until 1903.</p><br>
<p>In 1882 after Brisbane had acquired a railway to the seaside at Sandgate, Rockhampton clamoured for a similar connection to its resort at Emu Park. Construction of the Emu Park railway line was approved in 1885 and the line opened in 1888. The 1880s was a period of economic and civic expansion in Rockhampton as a result of the discovery and exploitation of the gold and ore body at Mount Morgan in the Dee Range forty kilometres from Rockhampton.</p><br>
<p>The line, similar to Bundaberg, featured a railway system divided by a major river. This consisted of a line running from a terminus in Stanley Street, Rockhampton to Gracemere and westwards, and the line at North Rockhampton to Emu Park with no physical connection. Two years after the opening of the Emu Park line, the Railway Department began investigating the possibility of linking Rockhampton&#39;s two separate railways. The bridging of the Fitzroy River and the cost of land resumptions to join the two terminus stations were to be major difficulties in connecting the two lines.</p><br>
<p>Trial surveys in 1890 investigated two routes, but the financial crisis of 1893 forestalled further work. The impetus for bridging the Fitzroy River came from the decision of the Queensland Government to construct a deepwater port at Broadmount (now Thompson Point) at the mouth of the Fitzroy River in 1894, and to link the Central Railway with North Rockhampton via a bridge across the Fitzroy and a line running via Denison Street. The original plan called for a single line down Denison Street and for a single track bridge, however the Rockhampton City Council protested against this decision. Following a visit to Rockhampton by railway engineer Henry Charles Stanley, the management of the Lakes Creek Meatworks at North Rockhampton convinced the Railway Department to construct a double line to North Rockhampton, as it was felt that developments in livestock and goods traffic would justify the initial outlay. In 1895 construction was approved for what was to be known as the Rockhampton Junction Railway. The new bridge and connecting line were the first examples of double lines outside of the Brisbane-Ipswich metropolitan area. The Rockhampton City Council gave half of Leichhardt Park (now Archer Park) and Denison Street which allowed for the construction of a central railway station. The Council approved this work in October 1896.</p><br>
<p>The future station at Archer Park was first sketched out in 1897 in Brisbane. The concept developed was for a station separate from the main line down Denison Street, but connected via a loop line crossing the southbound line by crossovers and slip points. A single platform was to be provided 300 feet long and 20 foot wide, with an arched carriage shade running full length of the platform. The track to the platform and the three track loop line left only a small strip of roadway available along Denison Street. The plan was subsequently altered to allow for a larger space for vehicular traffic on Denison Street.</p><br>
<p>An amended plan for the station building was prepared in late 1897. This incorporated a station building 140 feet long, with a 10 foot wide verandah running its full length along the street elevation. A cloak room was also added to the plan.</p><br>
<p>Final plans were produced in 1898 by architect Henrik Hansen (1843-?). Hansen had joined the Queensland Railways in 1877, and was responsible for the design of many utilitarian buildings and structures. He was also responsible for the design of the railway stations at Mount Morgan (1898), Cunnamulla (1898) and Winton (1898), the refreshment rooms at Toowoomba (1900), and Emerald railway station (1900). Hansen was also involved in the design of the new North Ipswich Railway Workshops (c.1901-13). Hansen was retrenched in 1904. Similar features of the stations designed by Hansen, particularly at Mount Morgan, Cunnamulla and Winton, included an all-over arch roof or carriage shade, designed to provide cover to passengers and goods being loaded at the platform.</p><br>
<p>The tender for construction of the Rockhampton Junction Railway was awarded to GC Willcocks in 1897. The contract involved the construction of the branch to Broadmount, the Denison Street line, and the Alexandra Railway Bridge. Construction was delayed until 1898 on the bridge due to flooding on the Fitzroy River.</p><br>
<p>Tenders were called in September 1897 for the construction of a residence for a station master for Archer Park. Thomas McWatters won the contract for £520, and the building was completed in sixteen weeks. In July 1898 tenders were called for the erection of a signal cabin at Archer Park, and one tender was received from Watson and McDonald for £168. The system of interlocking signalling and pointworks led to discussions between HC Stanley and Traffic Manager Thallon in 1898. Thallon had suggested to deviate the mainline so as to enter Archer Park railway station, to avoid running interlocking gear and signal wires along Denison Street. However the original plan to enable trains to run along Denison Street without entering Archer Park was retained.</p><br>
<p>Tenders were called for the Rockhampton Central Station in February 1899. Thomas Butterworth Renshaw and Harry Ricketts submitted a tender of £4,130. Electric lighting of the station was considered during construction; however gas was installed instead.</p><br>
<p>The Rockhampton Junction Railway was officially opened on 6 November 1899. With the completion of the Alexandra Railway Bridge, the Emu Park and Central Railway provided a unified rail link between the two halves of Rockhampton. The Archer Park station was not ready for the opening of the Junction Railway, and no official opening ceremony was held; however the station was opened for the use of the public from 11 December 1899. The official name Archer Park was adopted in October 1899, rather than Leichhardt Park, from which it was resumed.</p><br>
<p>Being the central station for Rockhampton, Archer Park superseded the Stanley Street station not long after its construction. Mail trains to Brisbane departed from Archer Park following completion of the Gladstone-Rockhampton link in 1903. Archer Park was designed as a passenger station, and did not handle goods traffic apart from parcels and mail. The station was also important as the departure and terminating point for services to Mount Morgan, Emu Park and the local suburban services to Lakes Creek at North Rockhampton. Excursions to the seaside at Emu Park and later Yeppoon were also extremely popular.</p><br>
<p>In 1906 plans were drawn up to extend the building to provide for a refreshment room. The refreshment room was to be provided at the northern end of the station building, and was to include a bar for patrons. The rooms opened in 1908, and were leased by private operators until the Government established the Railway Refreshment Room services in 1916.</p><br>
<p>Denison Street was to be a major problem for train operations within Rockhampton. As the route of the railway was along a major thoroughfare across several open level crossings, trains were limited to a maximum speed of ten miles per hour. Trains were also required to provide an audible signal to warn motorists and pedestrians along Denison Street of their passage. The warning was given by the fireman on the engine ringing a brass hand bell.</p><br>
<p>The Central Western Line continued to expand throughout the early part of the twentieth century. Prior to 1922, up to twenty five daily departures and arrivals could be recorded at Archer Park. By 1922 the station layout at Archer Park was too restrictive to handle the increasing length of passenger and mail trains. With the completion of the North Coast Line from Rockhampton to Mackay in 1921, operational difficulties were increased as the length of mail trains frequently fouled the crossover, leading to the blocking of the main line. The length of trains also meant that vision between the signalman on duty and the driver of trains was obscured.</p><br>
<p>As the signal cabin for Archer Park was situated on the western side of the station loop lines, firemen looking back along the length of the train were unable to be given a proceed signal. To assist in the problem of observing passing trains on the main line in Denison Street, sheets of galvanised iron were removed to open up a view from the platform area.</p><br>
<p>The Stanley Street station was enlarged in 1923 to cater for longer trains, and two 600 foot long platforms were provided. The station was further enlarged between 1924 and 1928, making it the major station in Rockhampton. The long distance mail and passenger trains all departed from the Stanley Street station leaving Archer Park to cater for more local services.</p><br>
<p>During the Second World War Archer Park station was again utilised for services to cope with the dispatch and transport of allied army troops stationed in the Rockhampton area.</p><br>
<p>The signal cabin on the Denison Street side of the station was moved into the station building in 1956. Prior to this the station had been downgraded in staffing in the early 1950s as an economy measure. The movement of the cabin had been protested by union representatives, as it would have also meant the loss of signalmen jobs. The move first proposed in 1922, and again in the early 1950s was accomplished by the end of 1956.</p><br>
<p>Further staff reductions took place in 1957. At the same time the General Manager for the Central Division recommended that only local passenger and railmotor services operate to and from Archer Park with all other services to by-pass the station. Summer traffic to Emu Park and Yeppoon maintained regular departures from the station as in the early part of the century. Most traffic was now generated from services to Mount Morgan, St Lawrence, and the Sunday-only train to Mackay.</p><br>
<p>Branch line closures in the Central Division further reduced train services from the station. The Emu Park line was closed in 1964 due to falling revenue, and with the withdrawal of the railmotor service from Archer Park to St Lawrence in 1968, the only trains to operate were Yeppoon services. The Yeppoon railmotor was withdrawn in 1969, and with no passenger services operating from the station, the decision was taken to close the station as of 2 February 1970. Tenders were invited in 1970 to attract a suitable lessee for Archer Park, but no offers were forthcoming. The station was then used as a freight terminal for a door to door service being developed by Queensland Railways. Every second post on the Denison Street side of the carriage shade was removed to facilitate vehicle access. Rooms in the station building were also used for storage. No maintenance was to be carried out on the building at the request of Queensland Railways.</p><br>
<p>Filling was placed at the northern end of the platform to allow motor vehicles access to the station area. In 1974 Queensland Railfast Express Pty Ltd were given a lease of the station area north of the entry vestibule. Partitions were removed in the refreshment rooms and the floor strengthened. Archer Park was the headquarters for QRX and its freight operations in Rockhampton from 1976 until 1989.</p><br>
<p>From 1982 until QRX vacated the site in 1989, local residents protested over noise and inconvenience generated from the freight activities on site. Rockhampton City Council made approaches to Queensland Railways for the station and yard to be developed as a museum complex. QRX found alternative accommodation at a location near Port Curtis Junction, and financed its move with assistance from Queensland Railways. Archer Park closed as a freight terminal and station on 14 January 1990. Mechanical and electric semaphore signalling was placed out of use, along with all points and crossovers leading into the station.</p><br>
<p>On 1 May 1990 Queensland Railways handed over the Archer Park station to the Rockhampton City Council as part of a plan to develop a museum on site. In 1996 conservation and refurbishment work was carried on the station building and carriage shed. The eastern or southbound main line along Denison Street was removed by Queensland Rail as part of its Main Line Upgrade programme. A section of the line two blocks in length was retained linking Archer Park station to its loop line; however all physical connection with the North Coast Line has now been removed.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Archer Park Railway Station, bounded by Denison, Cambridge and Archer Streets, consists of a main station building which has a railway platform to the southwest and a verandah entrance to the northeast. Both the platform and tracks are covered by a steel framed carriage shade which runs the full length of the station.</p><br>
<p>The station building is a single-storeyed chamferboard structure supported on brick or timber stumps. The building has a corrugated iron hipped roof, with galvanised iron ridge ventilators, concealed behind a parapet surmounting a deep entablature. The parapet was originally surmounted by finials which are no longer extant. The front entrance of the building, which faces the adjacent Defence Reserve to the northeast, has a raised verandah which runs the full length of the original 1899 structure. The main entrance is located in the centre of the building, and consists of a projecting portico surmounted by a shaped timber gable with the date and title "A.D. 1899 RAILWAY STATION" in raised lettering. The portico is accessed via central concrete steps, and has paired cast iron columns flanking a wide central arch, with narrower arches to either side, and a timber lined ceiling. The arches are formed by delicate filigree cast iron valances, and fine cross-braced metal balustrading is located between the columns.</p><br>
<p>The verandah has similar cast iron columns, with cast iron brackets, supporting a corrugated iron skillion roof. The cast iron columns also act as downpipes for the verandah roof, and discharge into pipework built into the concrete verandah. The portico and verandah floor is finished in hexagonal concrete tiles, some sections of which have been removed. The northern and southern wings of the building have tall sash windows opening onto the verandah, with a single timber panelled door with fanlight (a converted sash window) to the southern wing. The northern wing has paired timber doors with fanlight accessing a luggage passage adjacent to the entry vestibule.</p><br>
<p>An extension containing the former refreshment rooms, which opened in 1908, is attached to the northern end of the building. This extension is similar in detailing to the original structure, but without the northeast verandah. The northeast elevation windows, while having the appearance of sashes, are fitted with a patent device (magic stays) which raises and pivots the lower sash against the upper sash. These windows have hoods, and a corrugated iron lean-to garage has been added to the northern end, replacing the wood, coal and coke yard.</p><br>
<p>The southern end of the building has a loading bay separating the men&#39;s toilet block and store from the main station building, all of which front the railway platform. The northern end of the building originally had a similar arrangement, providing a lamp room and store, but was altered with the construction of the extension containing the refreshment rooms. The loading bay has a cantilevered corrugated iron awning, with corrugated iron cladding enclosing the wall surface above to the underside of the carriage shade. The toilet block and store has corrugated iron wall cladding with metal louvred ventilation panels, and is roofed by a skillion with projecting twin gables with raised ridge ventilators. The gable ends have louvred panels and finials, and a glass rooflight is located between the gables lighting the urinals below.</p><br>
<p>The carriage shade is constructed of curved steel roof trusses supported on timber posts, and is sheeted with corrugated iron with a raised central ridge ventilator. The carriage shade has a corrugated iron valance along its southwest side, and a curved corrugated iron valance at either end. The structure currently covers the railway platform and single line of track, but originally a second line of track was also covered with a third line to the southwest of the structure. Every second post on the southwest side has been removed for access purposes, with the exception of the centre and end bays which have cross-bracing to stabilise the structure. There were originally highlight windows to the carriage shade, but these have also been removed. The railway platform has a concrete upstand, and originally was finished with hexagonal concrete tiles similar to the verandah, but these are no longer extant. The platform has been trenched in front of the signal box, which is situated on the southwest side of the station building fronting the former ticket and parcels office, creating a pit for control rods which has been covered with timber boarding. The signal box replaced the original free- standing structure which was located on the southwestern side of the carriage shade.</p><br>
<p>The main entrance has paired timber panelled doors, flanked by hinged timber side panels, and surmounted by a large arched glass fanlight. Tall sash windows are located either side of the entrance doors. Internally the building has boarded ceilings, with vertically jointed boarding to most of the walls, and rainwater heads protrude into the rooms along the northeast side of the building. The entrance vestibule has timber posts with cast iron brackets to the railway platform, and a low timber wall surmounted by a metal balustrade screens the luggage passage adjacent. Paired timber doors with fanlight open from the luggage passage to the former cloak room on the northern side. Two sash ticket windows with cantilevered timber counters access the former ticket and parcels office to the south of the entrance vestibule, with small hinged doors below.</p><br>
<p>The railway platform has tall sash windows, some of which have been painted out, and timber panelled doors with fanlights open from the adjoining offices and service rooms. Rainwater heads, draining the box gutter between the station building and the carriage shade, protrude into the platform area, with the downpipe inset into the station building wall. The signal box protrudes from the station building on a raised concrete base, and has sliding multi-paned windows to three sides.</p><br>
<p>The former ticket and parcels office has much of its original joinery, including benches to the ticket windows, and shelving. The raised signal box, which protrudes from the southwest side of the room, contains control levers and is accessed via timber steps to a platform with timber handrail. The adjacent former station masters office contains some early fittings including a timber screen fronting the southwest door, a corner basin, and a corner zinc coated shelf. The former cloak room originally had a central dividing wall, which separated a former ladies waiting room, and a timber panelled door with fanlight accesses the ladies toilet at the northern end.</p><br>
<p>The ladies toilet contains three cubicles, one of which contains an original earth closet which is not in use, another has been converted into a WC, and the third has been removed. An unpainted rear sanitary service passage, originally for the service of the earth closets, is located behind the cubicles. The service passage has a low narrow door opening onto the verandah, which replaced an earlier door which opened at the base of the verandah steps. An adjacent store opens onto the railway platform, and an opening has been created into the former refreshment rooms which is currently one large open space. This space originally contained a refreshment room, bar, two bedrooms, pantry store and kitchen. Paired timber doors open to the northeast, and sections of the room are currently unlined.</p><br>
<p>The men&#39;s toilet block and store at the southern end of the building has corrugated iron wall cladding over a timber frame. The toilet block has a concrete floor, and four cubicles with timber partitions. A sanitary service passage is located behind the cubicles, but the doorway providing access has been sheeted over with corrugated iron. A store has been created by partitioning off the southern end of the toilets.</p><br>
<p>The surrounds include a driveway and parking area on the northeastern side between Archer and Cambridge Streets, providing access to the front entrance. A number of trees are located scattered along the boundary with the adjacent Defence Reserve, and towards the southern end of the site. The carriage shade area has been enclosed with a high chain wire fence, and the ground to the southwest of the structure has been concreted.</p><br>
<p>A section of the eastern or southbound main line along Denison Street remains in front of Archer Park Station, linking it to its loop line.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>Archer Park Railway Station was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&apos;s history.</p><br>
<p>Archer Park Railway Station is important in demonstrating the evolution of the railway network in central Queensland and in the city of Rockhampton. Archer Park, constructed in 1899, was the central railway station for Rockhampton and is an integral part of the original design of the Rockhampton Junction Railway, which included the double line street railway connecting Stanley Street station to the Alexandra Rail Bridge (Alexandra Railway Bridge) and North Rockhampton via Denison Street.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&apos;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>The Denison Street double line is also a rare Australian example of road and rail traffic sharing the same corridor, and the station contains rare surviving remnants of its interlocking signalling system.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.</p><br>
<p>Archer Park Railway Station demonstrates the principal characteristics of a main line railway station built in a regional city at the turn of the century, and is also a rare surviving example of the use of a curved carriage and platform shade, which was a common feature of railway stations designed by architect Henrik Hansen. Archer Park Railway Station has a special association with the life and work of Henrik Hansen, and other surviving examples of stations designed by him include Mount Morgan (Mount Morgan railway station) and Emerald (Emerald railway station, Queensland).</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>Archer Park Railway Station is important for its intactness, being substantially unchanged since its construction. The structure is of considerable architectural merit, and the form and fabric of the building illustrate a skilled design approach. Archer Park Railway Station is an important component of the civic centre of Rockhampton, and makes a considerable aesthetic contribution to the local streetscape and Rockhampton townscape.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>Archer Park Railway Station has a special association with the community of Rockhampton, and is significant as being the main passenger station in Rockhampton from 1899 until the 1920s at a time when the Queensland Railways were the major form of transport for people and freight.</p><br>
<p>The Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, commonly referred to as the Reagan Test Site , is a missile test range in Marshall Islands . It covers about 750,000 square miles and includes rocket launch sites at the Kwajalein Atoll , Wake Island, and Aur Atoll. It primarily functions as a test facility for U.S. missile defense and space research programs. The Reagan Test Site is under the command of the US Army Kwajalein Atoll, or USAKA .</p><br>
<h2>Purpose and facilities</h2><br>
<p>The facility is part of the Defense Major Range and Test Facility Base. They provide range instrumentation, missile launch facilities, mission control center, range safety, meteorological support, and support space operations., the facility&#39;s budget was US$182 million. The site hosts a suite of unique instrumentation, located on eight islands throughout the Kwajalein Atoll. This instrumentation includes a comprehensive suite of precision metric and signature radars, optical sensors, telemetry receiving stations, and impact scoring assets. RTS provides both mobile and fixed ground and flight safety instrumentation. The Pentagon lease for the islands of the Kwajalein Atoll extends through 2066.</p><br>
<p>Equipment installed at the test site includes various tracking radars, stationary and mobile telemetry, optical recording equipment and a secure fiberoptic data network via the HANTRU-1 undersea cable. The Reagan Test Site also serves as a tracking station for manned space flight and NASA research projects.</p><br>
<p>Launch activities at the test site include ballistic missile tests, ABM interception tests, meteorological sounding rockets, and a commercial spaceport for SpaceX at Omelek Island.</p><br>
<h2>Population</h2><br>
<p>There are about 2,500 permanent residents of Kwajalein, including 1,200 employees of Bechtel and Lockheed Martin’s Kwajalein Range Services and more than 800 dependents. The Bechtel employees are located on 11 sites spread across 7,000 mi and seven time zones. The civilian jobs on the facility are managed under contract by Bechtel. Depending on the job, some positions are unaccompanied. Vehicles are not permitted. Workers on the facility may qualify for tax-exempt status in the United States. The Americans are supported by about 900 Marshallese workers who take a ferry from Ebeye Island to the base. Bechtel provides a wide variety of support services to the Department of Defense and military personnel and their families. These include dining operations, public utilities, medical and dental care, transportation, firefighting, recreational activities, youth and education services, retail, religious services, and newspaper, radio, and TV access.</p><br>
<p>A Catholic and a Presbyterian chaplain are employed by Bechtel. There are also religious services available for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The mission control center, along with most of the personnel and infrastructure, is located at the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Eleven of the atoll&#39;s islands are operated by the USA military under a long term lease (through 2066) with the Republic of the Marshall Islands.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Previous names for the installation include:</p><br>
<p>Naval Station Kwajalein (Post World War II–1959)</p><br>
<p>Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kwajalein (1959–1964)</p><br>
<p>Kwajalein Test Site (1964–1968)</p><br>
<p>Kwajalein Missile Range (1968–1986)</p><br>
<p>United States Army Kwajalein Atoll (1986–1991)</p><br>
<p>Kwajalein Missile Range (1991–1999)</p><br>
<p>Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site (1999–present)</p><br>
<p>The Monadnock Building  is a skyscraper located at 53 West Jackson Boulevard in the south Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. The north half of the building was designed by the firm of Burnham & Root and built starting in 1891. The tallest load-bearing brick building ever constructed, it employed the first portal system of wind bracing in America. Its decorative staircases represent the first structural use of aluminum in building construction. The south half, constructed in 1893, was designed by Holabird & Roche and is similar in color and profile to the original, but the design is more traditionally ornate. When completed, it was the largest office building in the world. The success of the building was the catalyst for an important new business center at the southern end of the Loop.</p><br>
<p>The building was remodeled in 1938 in one of the first major skyscraper renovations ever undertaken—a bid, in part, to revolutionize how building maintenance was done and halt the demolition of Chicago&#39;s aging skyscrapers. It was sold in 1979 to owners who restored the building to its original condition, in one of the most comprehensive skyscraper restorations attempted as of 1992. The project was recognized as one of the top restoration projects in the USA by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1987. The building is divided into offices from 250 ft&sup2; to 6,000 ft&sup2; in size, and primarily serves independent professional firms. It was listed for sale in 2007.</p><br>
<p>The north half is an unornamented vertical mass of purple-brown brick, flaring gently out at the base and top, with vertically continuous bay windows projecting out. The south half is vertically divided by brickwork at the base and rises to a large copper cornice at the roof. Projecting window bays in both halves allow large exposures of glass, giving the building an open appearance despite its mass. The Monadnock is part of the Printing House Row District, which also includes the Fisher Building, the Manhattan Building, and the Old Colony Building.</p><br>
<p>When it was built, many critics called the building too extreme, and lacking in style. Others found in its lack of ornamentation the natural extension of its commercial purpose and an expression of modern business life. Early 20th-century European architects found inspiration in its attention to purpose and functional expression. It was one of the first buildings named a Chicago Architectural Landmark in 1958. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and named as part of the National Historic Landmark South Dearborn Street – Printing House Row North Historic District in 1976. Modern critics have called it a "classic", a "triumph of unified design", and "one of the most exciting aesthetic experiences America&#39;s commercial architecture produced".</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>North half (1881–1891)</h3><br>
<p>The Monadnock was commissioned by Boston real estate developers Peter and Shepherd Brooks in the building boom following the Depression of 1873–79. The Brooks family, which had amassed a fortune in the shipping insurance business and had been investing in Chicago real estate since 1863, had retained Chicago property manager Owen F. Aldis to manage the construction of the seven-story Grannis Block on Dearborn Street in 1880. It was Aldis, one of two men Louis Sullivan credited with being "responsible for the modern office building", who convinced investors such as the Brooks brothers to build new skyscrapers in Chicago. By the end of the century, Aldis would create over 1,000,000 ft&sup2; of new office space and manage nearly one fifth of the office space in the Loop.</p><br>
<p>Daniel Burnham and John Wellborn Root met as young draftsmen in the Chicago firm of Carter, Drake, and Wight in 1872 and left to form Burnham & Root the following year. At Aldis&#39;s urging, the Brooks brothers had retained the then-fledgling firm to design the Grannis Block, which was their first major commission. Burnham and Root would become the architects of choice for the Brooks family, for whom they would complete the first high-rise building in Chicago, the 10-story Montauk Building, in 1883, and the 11-story Rookery Building in 1888.</p><br>
<p>The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 had destroyed a 4 mi by 0.5 mi swath of the city between the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, and subsequent commercial development expanded into the area far south of the main business district along the river that would come to be known as "the Loop". Between 1881 and 1885, Aldis bought a series of lots in the area on Peter Brooks behalf, including a 70-by-200-foot (21 by 61 m) site on the corner of Jackson and Dearborn streets. The location was remote, yet attractive for several reasons. The construction of the Chicago Board of Trade Building in 1885 had made nearby LaSalle Street the citys prime financial district, driving up property values, and railroad companies were buying up land further south for new terminal buildings, creating further speculation in the southeastern end of the Loop. Brooks commissioned Burnham & Root to design a building for the site in 1884, and the project was announced in 1885, with a brief trade journal notice that the building would cost $850,000 ($ in dollars). The Chicago building community had little faith in Brooks&#39; choice of location. Architect Edwin Renwick would say:</p><br>
<p>Early sketches show a 13-story building with Ancient Egyptian ornament and a slight flaring at the top, divided visually into five sections with a lotus-blossom decorative motif. This design was never approved, as Brooks waited for the real estate market in the south Loop, still mostly warehouses, to improve. Where Root was known for the detailed ornamentation of his designs (as seen in the Rookery Building), Brooks was known for his stinginess and preference for simplicity. For the Monadnock, Brooks insisted that the architects refrain from elaborate ornamentation and produce instead "the effect of solidity and strength, or a design that will produce that effect, rather than ornament for a notable appearance." In an 1884 letter to Aldis, he wrote: While Root was on vacation, Burnham had a draftsman create a "straight up-and-down, uncompromising, unornamented facade." Objecting at first, Root later threw himself into the design, declaring that the heavy lines of an Egyptian pyramid had captured his imagination and that he would "throw the thing up without a single ornament".</p><br>
<p>In 1889, a new plan was announced for the building: a thick-walled brick tower, 16 stories high, devoid of ornamentation and suggestive of an Egyptian pylon. Brooks insisted that the building have no projections, for which reason the plan did not include bay windows, but Aldis argued that more rentable space would be created by projecting oriel windows, which were included in the final design. The Monadnock&#39;s final height was calculated to be the highest economically viable for a load-bearing wall design, requiring walls 6 ft thick at the bottom and 18 in thick at the top. Greater height would have required walls of such thickness that they would have reduced the rentable space too greatly. The final height was much dithered over by the owners, but a decision was forced when the city proposed an ordinance restricting the height of buildings to 150 ft. To protect future income potential, Aldis sought a permit for a 16-story building immediately. The building commissioner, although "staggered by the sixteen story plan", granted the permit on June 3, 1889.</p><br>
<p>With its 17 stories (16 rentable plus an attic), its 215 ft high load-bearing walls were the tallest of any commercial structure in the world. To support the towering structure and reinforce against wind, the masonry walls were braced with an interior frame of cast and wrought iron. Root devised for this frame the first attempt at a portal system of wind bracing in America, in which iron struts were riveted between the columns of the frame for reinforcement. The narrow lot allowed only a single, double-loaded corridor, which was appointed with a 3 ft high wainscot of white Carrara marble, red oak trim, and feather-chipped glass that allowed outside light to filter from the offices on each side into the hallways. Floors were covered with hand-carved marble mosaic tiles. Skylit open staircases were made of bronze-plated cast iron on upper floors. On the ground floor, they were crafted in cast aluminum—an exotic and expensive material at the time—representing the first use of aluminum in building construction.</p><br>
<p>The building was constructed by the firm of George A. Fuller, who trained as an architect but made his mark as the creator of the modern contracting system in building construction. His firm had supervised construction of the Rookery, and later built New York&#39;s Flatiron Building with Burnham in 1902. The Monadnock Block was built as a single structure but was legally two buildings, the Monadnock and the Kearsarge, named for Mount Monadnock and Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire. Work was completed in 1891. The Monadnock, which Root called his "Jumbo", was his last project; he died suddenly while it was under construction.</p><br>
<h3>South half and early history (1891–1893)</h3><br>
<p>Encouraged by the early success of the building, Shepherd Brooks purchased the 68-by-200-foot (21 by 61 m) lot adjoining to the south in 1893 for $360,000 ($ in dollars). Aldis recommended the firm of Holabird & Roche, who had designed the Pontiac Building for Peter Brooks in 1891, to extend the Monadnock south to Van Buren. William Holabird and Martin Roche had trained together in the office of William LeBaron Jenney, and in 1881 formed their own firm, which would become one of the most prolific in the city and the acknowledged leader of the Chicago school of architecture. The north half had struggled with cost overruns and Holabird & Roche presented a far more cost-effective design. The design, for two buildings called the Katahdin and Wachusett (also named for New England mountains), connected them to the north half as a single structure at an estimated cost of $800,000 ($ in dollars). Construction began in 1892, under the supervision of Corydon T. Purdy who would later earn accolades as the structural engineer for many famous Chicago and New York skyscrapers.</p><br>
<p>The addition, 17 stories high, preserved the color and vertically massed profile of the original, but was more traditionally ornate in its design, with grander entranceways and more neoclassical touches. The building reflected in its design the transition taking place in skyscraper design from load-bearing walls to steel frame construction. The Katahdin, built first, used the same iron framed masonry construction as the original. The Wachusett was entirely steel framed. Where the north half required great thicknesses of brick in the load-bearing walls, the addition employed only a thin facing of brick and terracotta trim, affording larger expanses of glass and faster, less expensive construction. The south half cost 15 percent less, weighed 15 percent less, and had 15 percent more rentable space than the north half. Connected on every floor except the top one and sharing a common basement, each of the four component buildings was equipped with its own heating system, elevators, stairs, and plumbing to facilitate a separate sale if required. The combined final cost in 1893 was $2.5 million ($ in dollars).</p><br>
<p>When complete, the Monadnock was the largest office building in the world, with 1,200 rooms and an occupancy of over 6,000. The Chicago Daily Tribune commented that the population of most Illinois towns in 1896 would fit comfortably in the building. It was a postal district unto itself, with four full-time carriers delivering mail six times a day, six days a week. It was the first building in Chicago wired for electricity, and one of the first to be fire-proofed, with hollow fire clay tiles lining the structure so that the metal frame would be protected even if the facing brick were to be destroyed.</p><br>
<p>The Brooks decision to construct a building of such scale and in such an unlikely location was vindicated by the Monadnocks success—it was the most profitable investment they ever made. The Economist, a Chicago real estate journal, conceded in 1892 that:</p><br>
<p>Early tenants, according to Rand McNally, included "great corporations, banks, and professional men... among them the Santa Fe, the Michigan Central, and the Chicago & Alton Railroads, and the American Exchange National and Globe Savings Banks".</p><br>
<p>In 1897, the Union Elevated Railroad Company opened the Union Loop line of the Chicago "L", the last leg of which ran immediately alongside the Van Buren side of the building. Aldis filed suit against the "L" in 1901 for $300,000 in damages ($ in dollars), complaining that:</p><br>
<p>Aldis lost the case, but won on appeal, when the Supreme Court of Illinois found that owners of property abutting the "L" lines could recover damages if the property had been injured by noise, vibration, or the blocking of light, paving the way for many lawsuits to follow.</p><br>
<h3>Modernization (1938–1979)</h3><br>
<p>A boom in new construction after 1926 created stiff competition for older buildings like the Monadnock. Occupancy declined from 87 percent in 1929 to 55 percent in 1937 and the building began to lose money. In 1938, building manager Graham Aldis (Owens nephew) announced what the Chicago Daily Tribune called "the citys largest and most novel modernization job" in a move toward halting the destruction of Chicago&#39;s aging skyscrapers. Rejecting the term "modernization", Aldis called his plan "progressive styling", which he believed would revolutionize the way building maintenance was done to preserve millions of dollars worth of buildings that would otherwise be destroyed. "There is no reason why", he said, "any well-designed office building need be torn down because of obsolescence." Skidmore & Owings, who had pioneered functional design, were retained to lead a $125,000 program ($ in dollars) to restyle the main entrance, remodel the lobby and ground floor shops, modernize all the public spaces, and progressively modernize office suites as demand required. The modernization included covering the mosaic floors with rubber tile and terrazzo, enclosing the elevators and ornamental stairways, and replacing the marble and oak finishes in the corridors and offices with modern materials. By the end of 1938, 35 new tenants had signed leases and 11 existing tenants had leased additional space in the building.</p><br>
<p>In 1966, Aldis & Co., which had managed the building for the Brooks estate for 75 years, was dissolved and the Monadnock was sold for $2 million ($ in dollars) to Sudler & Co., owners of the John Hancock Center, the Rookery Building, and the Old Colony Building. The new owners again modernized the interior, installing carpet, fluorescent lights, and new doors, and undertook a major effort to shore up the north wall which had sunk 1.75 in during construction of the Kluczynski Federal Building across Jackson Street in 1974.</p><br>
<p>By 1977, operating expenses were high, rents were low, and occupancy had fallen to 80 percent. Struggling to make loan payments, the owners were forced to sell the building to avoid foreclosure. It was purchased by a partnership headed by William S. Donnell in 1979 for $5 per square foot ($53.82 per square meter) or approximately $2 million ($ in dollars).</p><br>
<h3>Restoration and later (1979–)</h3><br>
<p>The building Donnell purchased in 1979 had declined badly. The Dearborn entrances had been closed in, the ground floor had been "defaced by garish signs", and the brick had been painted and was peeling. Inside, the marble wainscoting had been painted over and many of the original oak doors had been replaced with cheaper mahogany. The decorative stair rails had been enclosed, and some stairways and corridors had been closed off completely. Much of the original mosaic tile had been demolished—some floors were carpeted, others tiled in vinyl or terrazzo. Half of the sixteen elevators were still manually operated. "It was as if it had been partly updated every ten years throughout its history", said Donnell, "it was never done over in its entirety."</p><br>
<p>Donnell, who had studied architecture at Harvard, planned to gut the building and construct a new, modern office complex inside the historic shell. Failing to obtain financing for the remodeling, he embarked instead on an incremental, "pay as you go" project to restore the Monadnock to its original condition in painstaking detail. The project was, according to historian Donald Miller, the most comprehensive skyscraper restoration ever attempted at the time; it took thirteen years to complete. Working from original drawings discovered at the Art Institute of Chicago, and two old photographs, Donnell and John Vinci, one of the nation&#39;s leading preservation architects, restored the building to its condition when first constructed, before any modernizations, working piecemeal as offices became vacant.</p><br>
<p>The color of the shellac was matched to closets where the wood had not been darkened by exposure to light. The mosaic floors were recreated by Italian craftsmen at a cost of $50 per square foot ($538.12 per square meter). A local firm was found that could reproduce the complicated process of sandblasting and hide glue application used to create the original feather chipped glass. This reproduced glass was used to restore the partitions and naturally lit corridors of Roots design. To recreate the doors and wood trim, Donnell purchased the firm that had created the original oak woodwork—and still used the same 19th century machinery. Perfect replicas of the original aluminum light fixtures were fabricated from early photographs and carbon filament light bulbs were obtained to recreate the original lighting effect. A single surviving aluminum staircase was discovered behind a wall, restored, and used as a model to rebuild the lobby stairways and metalwork. The wainscoting on the upper floors was restored with marble salvaged from the recently modernized, nearby 19 LaSalle and Manhattan Buildings. Marble was purchased from the same Italian quarry that supplied Roots original construction to restore the lobby walls and ceilings.</p><br>
<p>The Dearborn Street entrances were reopened and their massive granite lintels and surrounds cleared of layers of black paint or replaced. A source was found for the molded bricks needed to repair or replace the curved corners. Large plate glass windows at the entrance were removed and replaced with double-hung windows that conformed to the original design. Fiberglass shades resembling the original linen versions were installed to preserve the appearance of the facade. The average cost of the restoration work was $1 million per floor ($ in dollars) in 1989, or $47 per square foot ($505.92 per square meter).</p><br>
<p>Donnells goal was that the Monadnock would "not only look as it originally did, it also live as it used to", and he sought tenants for the street-level shops that were similar to their 19th-century occupants. Shop windows were cleared of all signs and obstructions to preserve intended view from the corridor through to the street. Fluorescent lighting was prohibited and only gold leaf lettering on the glass was permitted for signage. Shops, all individually owned, were selected to fit the architectural character of the building. A florist, for example, was chosen that evoked a turn-of-the-century atmosphere, as well as a barbershop with vintage fixtures and decor. A tobacconist with oak furnishings, a pen shop with glass cases, a shoe-shine stand, and other service establishments represented, in Donnells words, "the kind of small-scale entrepreneurs who occupied those spaces at the turn of the century, the kind of people who bring vitality and life to a building because they have a stake in it."</p><br>
<p>The restoration was a success both critically and commercially. The building was 80 percent occupied when bought in 1979 and rented for $5.50 per square foot ($59.20 per square meter). By 1982, it was 91 percent occupied and commanded rent of $9 per square foot ($96.89 per square meter). The Monadnock was selected as one of top restoration projects in the country by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1987, noting "the outstanding quality of the overall restoration effort", and the precision, detail and faithfulness of the interior restoration, in particular the lobby, which "serves as a model for preservation nationwide."</p><br>
<p>The restored Monadnock is divided into offices of from 250 ft&sup2; to 6,000 ft&sup2, it was 98.9 percent leased; the 300 tenants are primarily independent professional firms and entrepreneurs. Rents range from $21 to $23 per square foot ($226 to $247 per square meter), plus electricity.</p><br>
<p>The building was offered for sale in 2007, with an expected price of $45 to $60 million. A tentative deal was reached at a price of $48 million in 2008.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The south half preserves the lines and color of the older building, but is vertically divided by a stringcourse over the second story, emphasizing the building&#39;s base, and a large ornamental copper cornice at the roof line. Massive blocks of red granite, 6 ft thick, frame the large, two-story entrances. The projecting window bays of the original are repeated, but alternate in a pattern of two four-window bays to one recessed strip of windows to create the undulating appearance of the facade that was an early trademark of Holabird & Roche. Carl Condit, historian of the Chicago school, has commented that:</p><br>
<p>The Monadnock rests on the floating foundation system invented by Root for the Montauk Building that revolutionized the way tall buildings were built on Chicago&#39;s spongy soil. A 2 ft layer of concrete, reinforced with steel beams, forms a spread footing extending out 11 ft under the surrounding streets, spreading the weight of the building over a large area of earth. The building was designed to settle 8 in, but by 1905 had settled that much and "several inches more", necessitating reconstruction of the first floor. By 1948, it had settled 20 in, resulting in a step down from the street to the ground floor. The entire east wall is supported on caissons sunk to the hardpan, installed when the subway Blue Line was dug under Dearborn Street in 1940.</p><br>
<p>The narrow building allows an external exposure to all of the 300 offices, which pass natural light via double hung outside windows through feather-chipped glass transoms and hallway partitions into the single central corridor. Skylights bring sunlight into the open stairwells. The north half corridors are 20 ft wide and the south half corridors are 11 ft. In the north half, there are two open stairs in the center at the one third points, with perforated risers, white marble treads, and decorative steel railings. There are two banks of four elevators on the west side of the corridor, one for passengers and the other for freight. In the south half, there is a single bank of elevators on the north half of the length. The southern bank was abandoned and slabbed over on each floor. There is a flight of stairs behind each of these shafts with marble treads, closed cast iron risers, and ornamental balusters. The basic office suite is 600 ft&sup2, consisting of one outer office and two or more inner offices. Heavy internal walls at the quarter and halfway points, the arches of which manifest Root&#39;s innovative wind bracing, mark the boundaries of the four original buildings.</p><br>
<h2>Surrounding area</h2><br>
<p>The Monadnock belongs to the Printing House Row District, a National Historic Landmark which includes the Manhattan Building, the Old Colony Building, and the Fisher Building, some of Chicagos seminal early skyscrapers. The Manhattan Building, built by William LeBaron Jenney in 1890, was the first building in Chicago with a complete steel skeleton or "Chicago" construction, an innovation Jenney had introduced in the Home Insurance Building in 1884. The first 16-story building in America, at the time it was "regarded with awe and fear". Jenneys masterpiece, the Manhattan was considered a technical triumph in construction. The 17-story Old Colony, built by Holabird & Roche in 1894, was considered one of the structural masterpieces of its time for its revolutionary portal form of bracing. It is the only survivor of a group of Chicago school buildings with rounded corner bays. The Fisher Building, built by Burnham in 1894, was an engineering miracle—the first tall commercial building to be built almost entirely without bricks. Its steel frame and thin terracotta curtain wall allowed two-thirds of the surface to be covered with glass.</p><br>
<p>The district overlaps geographically with the Printers Row neighborhood, originally the center of Chicagos printing and publishing industry, but now mostly converted to residential housing. The area is also home to the largest public library in the world, the Harold Washington Library, named for Chicagos first African-American mayor, and the Loop campus of Depaul University, Americas largest Roman Catholic university.</p><br>
<p>Immediately to the west on Jackson Street is the Union League Club of Chicago, founded in 1879 as a civic organization for "upright, law-abiding businessmen". To the north are the three buildings comprising Ludwig Mies Van der Rohes minimalist Federal Plaza: the 1964 Everett McKinley Dirksen United States Courthouse, the only courthouse designed by Mies; the 1973 United States Post Office Loop Station; and the 1975 Kluczynski Federal Building, Miess last project, considered to mark the apex of his career. The triangular, 27-story Metropolitan Correctional Center, a detention center serving the Federal courts in the Dirksen Building and nearby Ralph H. Metcalfe Federal Building, is southwest of the Monadnock at Clark and LaSalle.</p><br>
<p>The south leg of the Chicago Transit Authority elevated rail loop runs next to the building on Van Buren Street; the CTA&#39;s Brown, Orange, Pink, and Purple Lines are served by the Library-State/Van Buren stop one block to the east. The Jackson street subway station, serving the Blue Line, is on the Dearborn Street side of the building.</p><br>
<h2>Critical reception and historical significance</h2><br>
<p>Contemporary Chicago critics considered the building too radical a departure from Burnham & Roots previous designs and too extreme in its stark simplicity and disregard for prevailing aesthetic norms, calling it an "engineers house" and a "thoroughly puritanical" example of commercial style. European critics were even less approving. In the words of French architect Jacques Hermant, "The Monadnock was no longer the result of an artist responding to particular needs with intelligence and drawing from them all of the possible consequences. It is the work of a laborer who, without the slightest study, super-imposes 15 strictly identical stories to make a block then stops when he finds the block high enough."</p><br>
<p>Other critics saw this lack of style as "natural" and what made the Monadnock truly modern. New York critic Barr Feree wrote in 1892 that "There are no attempts at facades... no ornamental appendages, nothing but a succession of windows, frankly stating that the structure is an office building, devoted to business, needing and using every available surface." Other critics praised the truthfulness of the building to the ideals of business, which, while "not necessarily the highest to which we might aspire to in art... are the only ideals the business building ought to express". Montgomery Schuyler, one of the Monadnocks most enthusiastic defenders, argued that the Monadnocks lack of ornament was not a lack of art, but rather "radiated the gravity of modern business life".</p><br>
<p>The Monadnock was widely praised by early twentieth-century German architects, including Mies, who on his arrival in Chicago in 1938 declared that "The Monadnock block is of such vigor and force that I am at once proud and happy to make my home here." These European architects found the building&#39;s attention to purpose and functional expression inspiring. Bauhaus architect Ludwig Hilberseimer wrote that "The false solution—unfortunately too common—of applying meaningless and misplaced adornment is here instinctively avoided. An innate feeling for proportion gives this great building inner consistency and logical purity."</p><br>
<p>Modern critics have praised the Monadnock as one of the most important exemplars of the Chicago school, along with Louis Sullivans Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building. It has been called "a triumph of unified design" comparable to Henry Hobson Richardsons Marshall Field&#39;s Wholesale Store, and "one of the most exciting aesthetic experiences our commercial architecture has ever produced".</p><br>
<p>The building was one of the first five selected by the Chicago Commission on Architectural Landmarks in 1958, "in recognition of its original design and its historical interest as the highest wall-bearing structure in Chicago". The commission went on to note that the "restrained use of brick, soaring massive walls, omission of ornamental forms, unite in a building simple yet majestic." In 1973, the Chicago City Council voted unanimously to designate the Monadnock a Chicago Landmark, stating that "The two halves of this building provide a unique perspective for examining the history and development of modern architecture.... Together, they mark the end of one building tradition and the beginning of another." Critics of the Monadnock&#39;s landmark status objected that it would prevent the necessary demolition of the building, which was "an excellent example of a building that is... no longer fulfilling the functions it was designed to fulfill" and "a wasting asset" that underperformed the market and was far less valuable than the land on which it stood would be.</p><br>
<p>The National Register of Historic Places, to which the Monadnock was added in 1970, noted that "the sheer, unadorned walls of this building forming a powerful mass became, prophetically, a forerunner of the slab skyscraper—a style not popular until the late 1920s" and that "the two sections... make, as an ensemble, one of the strongest, yet refined architectural statements in the development of twentieth century architecture." Its nomination as a National Historic Landmark in 1976, as part of the South Dearborn Street – Printing House Row Historic District, included the comment that it was "one of the most classical statements ever made in the skyscraper idiom."</p><br>
<p>Huangguoshu Waterfall, is one of the largest waterfalls in China and East Asia located on the Baishui River  in Anshun, Guizhou province. It is 77.8 m high and 101 m wide. The main waterfall is 67 m high and 83.3 m wide.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Known as the Huangguoshu Waterfall National Park, it is 45 km southwest of Anshun City. Together with minor waterfalls, the charms of the waterfall is a natural tourist draw, classified as a AAAAA scenic area by the China National Tourism Administration.</p><br>
<p>Huangguoshu Waterfalls vista changes depending on the location of the viewer. One viewing spot is Waterfall-Viewing Pavilion (Guan Bao ting), where you see the whole waterfall from a distance. Another is Water-Viewing Stage (Guan Bao Ting) where you get a birds eye view. The third is Waterfall-Viewing Stage (Guan Bao Tai) in which you raise your head to see the scene.</p><br>
<p>There is a special line of buses servicing Huangguoshu Waterfall, the Dragon&#39;s Palace at Guiyang, and Anshun railway stations.</p><br>
<h2>The Water-Curtain Cave</h2><br>
<p>The Water-Curtain Cave named "Shuiliandong" (水帘洞) in Chinese is a 134 m long naturally formed cave located in the back of the waterfall.</p><br>
<p>Sergoula  is a settlement and a community of the municipality of Dorida, Phocis in Greece. The community Sergoula consists of three villages: Sergoula, Paralia Sergoulas  and Palaiochori. Sergoula was established around 17th century, and its original name was Miloi . Sergoula was an independent community between 1912 and 1997, when it became part of the municipality Efpalio. The village Paralia Sergoulas is situated on the Gulf of Corinth coast, below the mountain village Sergoula. The Greek National Road 48  passes through Paralia Sergoulas.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<h2>Other</h2><br>
<p>Paralia Sergoulas has a road parallel to the seaside, built by the military MOMA construction group during the junta dictatorship. All the houses of the village provide access to the central road. This road leads to the nearby villages of Glyfada, Hania and Spilia (belonging to the Municipality of Tolofon), and is connected with the National Route above the village through the Gourgouleti Street, the only officially named street of the village. Prior to the construction of the National Route and the seaside road during the junta, the village was not as accessible as today and cars could not enter the village.As travel guides mention, Sergoula Beach houses are mostly traditional cottages and viewed from above they resemble mushrooms in a sea of green. The older houses are made by stone and clay and can be found on the seaside road. The most notable house used to be a residence of the former noble family and Greek MP Mr.Lidorikis, now owned by the Lemonis family. The former Lidorikis (now Lemonis) house is situated in the eastern corner of the village near the historical stone-built hydragogeon and mill and by the stream Halikias. The historical Hydragogeon and mill is the only historical construction in Sergoula being considered a monument and protected by Greek law. It was built by the Papapolitis noble family in 1911 and used to bring water to the mill, so the farmers could make bread. The big land property stretching from the hydragogeon to the Ambelaki coast was inherited by the Lidorikis family, Mr. Lidorikis became an MP with the support and votes of locals. During the 1990s he started selling his farm and fortune, and as a result, the eastern part of Sergoula Beach was built and a new neighbourhood emerged. Finally, he donated a big piece of land to the municipality, where the new church and a basketball court were built. This land was proclaimed a park and Sergoula Beach residents hold their annual Agia Sofia (September 17) and Agia Marina (July 17th) folk celebrations (panigiri) there. Also, there used to be a long beach stretching from the marvelous Ambelaki coast (east) to the Valahariza shore (west). Nowadays, as a result of the road construction, we find several distinct beaches, of which the most popular are Ambelaki, Platania, Potami, Molos and Valahariza.</p><br>
<p>Smoketown is a neighborhood one mile  southeast of downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Smoketown has been a historically black neighborhood since the Civil War. It is the only neighborhood in the city that has had such a continuous presence. Smoketown is bounded by Broadway, CSX railroad tracks, Kentucky Street, and I-65.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The neighborhoods name apparently comes from the large number of (smoke-producing) kilns in the area during its early brick-making days. An 1823 newspaper advertises a brickyard in the area as part of the farm and residence of "the late Mark Lampton", after whom Lampton Street is probably named. 9 of 20 brickyards in the city had Smoketown addresses according to an 1871 Carons directory, although none remained by 1880, as apparently the supply of clay from under the neighborhood had run out. The abandoned, water-filled clay pits may have given rise to the name "Frogtown" for the neighborhood, which appeared in print in 1880.</p><br>
<p>Some residential development by whites of German ancestry began in the 1850s, but due to the arrival of thousands of freed slaves who moved there from various parts of rural Kentucky after the Civil War, it was solidly African American by 1870. A streetcar line was extended down Preston Street to Kentucky in 1865, spurring growth.</p><br>
<p>With its shotgun houses and narrow streets, Smoketown was a densely populated area with a population of over 15,000 by 1880. African American property ownership was rare, with most living in properties rented from whites.</p><br>
<p>By the 1960s the area had high crime and unemployment rates, causing massive population loss. Many of the old shotgun houses have been razed and housing projects built in their place. Since the 1950s, Smoketown has been massively depopulated. As of 2000, the population of Smoketown was 2,116, a decrease of over 38% from 1990.</p><br>
<h2>Revitalization</h2><br>
<p>In May 2011, Louisville received a $22 million federal Hope VI award that will allow the demolition of the deteriorating Sheppard Square housing project, replacing it with new, mixed-income housing. In Mayor Fischer&#39;s Budget Address of May 26, 2011, he said:</p><br>
<p>You all heard the exciting news this week about Sheppard Square. The project will have a value of $157 million over the next decade. Our budget includes $1.6 million to help integrate that new development into the surrounding neighborhood. That will not only make the area a better place to live, but will set the table for the private businesses that settle into any healthy neighborhood.</p><br>
<p>On July 12, 2012, Construction of nine new homes has recently begun near the site of the former Sheppard Square housing development. The nine homes consist of eight in the 500 block of East Breckinridge and one on South Shelby Street.</p><br>
<p>On December 10, 2012, construction began between Hancock, Jacob, Finzer and Jackson Streets, on a $100 million redevelopment of a new, and revitalized mixed-income Sheppard Square housing neighborhood, with a completion date of December 2015.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>As of 2000, the population of Smoketown was 2,232, of which 13.1% is white, 81.2% is black, 1.8% is listed as other, and 3.8% is Hispanic. College graduates make up 6.0% of the population, and people without a high school degree make up 42.7%. Females outnumber males 53.4% to 46.6%.</p><br>
<h2>Notable locations</h2><br>
<p>Albert E. Meyzeek Middle School is located in the neighborhood at 828 S Jackson St.</p><br>
<p>Bates Memorial Missionary Baptist Church is located in Smoketown at 620 E Lampton St.</p><br>
<p>The Presbyterian Community Center at 701 S Hancock St. was a feature of the Smoketown neighborhood for over 115 years when it closed in 2013. In 2015, Jefferson County Public Schools took over the building to offer Early Head Start programming and renamed the center the Ernest Camp Edwards Education Complex.</p><br>
<p>Denman Island is one of the Northern Gulf Islands and part of the Comox Valley Regional District of British Columbia, Canada, and is home to a small community of 1,022 year-round residents.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Denman Island was first inhabited by Indigenous peoples including the Pentlatch and Sliamon as evidenced by middens, gravesites, and oral history. It was discovered and mapped by Europeans during the 1791 voyage of the Spanish ship Santa Saturnina, under Juan Carrasco and José María Narváez. It was named by Captain Richards in 1864 for Rear Admiral Joseph Denman who was commander of the Pacific station from 1864 to 1866.</p><br>
<h2>Denman Island life</h2><br>
<p>Regular ferry service links Denman Island to both Hornby Island from Gravelly Bay on the east side of Denman and across Baynes Sound to Buckley Bay on Vancouver Island on the west side. Denman Island has long been a haven for people escaping from busy urban centres. Downtown Denman consists of one general store (which includes a gas pump, government liquor outlet, and post office), a hemp clothing store, hardware store, bookstore, dental bus (shared with Hornby two weeks a month), craft stores, the Guest House Bistro, a cafe, three real estate offices, an insurance brokerage, two community halls, the Dora Drinkwater Volunteer Library, a community school, a church, and the museum. It is famous for its all ages dances, festivals, quiet roads, and beautiful scenery. Yoga is a prominent activity, as is gardening, and volunteerism. Many artists have made Denman Island their home for decades, and as a result there is a thriving local artistic community. The island has a land area of 51.03 km&sup2;.</p><br>
<p>Complementing a population made up of farmers, retired baby-boomers, artists, writers, craftspeople and a laid-back collection of alternative types are young homesteaders from various origins. The author Emily St. John Mandel was born and brought up on Denman Island.</p><br>
<h2>Vegetation and soils</h2><br>
<p>Much of the western part of Denman Island is covered by a dense forest dominated by Douglas fir, western hemlock, and western red cedar on deep gravelly loam glacial till. Some areas have shallow soils over sandstone or shale. The eastern part has a loamy sand on which arbutus is frequently present. All of these soils were classed as brown podzolic in a 1959 soil survey.</p><br>
<h2>Provincial Parks located on Denman Island</h2><br>
<p>Sandy Island Marine Provincial Park (off northern tip, accessible on foot at low tide).</p><br>
<h2>Local media</h2><br>
<p>Denman Island has a monthly news and artistic journal called the Flagstone, a weekly news and advertising circular called the Grapevine, a community radio station, and several active online groups, including the Denman Open Bulletin Board.</p><br>
<p>The Narrows of the Green is a 2.9 mi section of the Green River, in Henderson County and Polk County, between the Big Hungry creek confluence and the Fishtop access area, in western North Carolina, United States. It is roughly 35 mi south of downtown Asheville.</p><br>
<h2>White water kayaking</h2><br>
<p>The Green Narrows is best known for being one of the most extreme kayaking runs in the Eastern US. Water is released on a regular basis from the Tuxedo Power station with a 100% release being equivalent to 216 cuft/s. This regular flow allows for year-round kayaking and is part of the reason the Green is such a notorious and well known river.</p><br>
<p>The river has an average gradient of 178 feet per mile (33.7 m/km or 3%) with a half mile (800 m) section dropping roughly 342 ft and containing 11 major class IV+ to V+ rapids. Through this area the water often channels through extremely tight slots as narrow as 4 ft wide as the river funnels through a stunning gorge. The three major rapids on the river ("The Big Three") are called "Go Left and Die", "Gorilla" and "Sunshine". Gorilla is considered the most visually impressive rapid on the river. It consists of the river funneling into a 4 ft-wide slot ("The Notch") and is then immediately followed by an 18 ft waterfall ("the flume") and then another 10 ft waterfall ("Scream Machine"). Sunshine is considered the most difficult and dangerous rapid, and consists of a 14 ft waterfall landing on a jagged rock shelf below. The route through Sunshine is about 4 ft wide and mistakes here have been known to cause paralysis. The river gets considerably more difficult at higher water levels, however the Green has been run at up to 300% flows (over 30" on the stick gauge).</p><br>
<p>On the first Saturday of November many of the best paddlers in the world descend on the Green to participate in the annual http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Photo/detail/photoid/18557/#brown Green Race. The race is considered by many as the most competitive and coveted whitewater race on the planet. Since 1996, the staggering amount of video, blog posts, magazine articles, and mega-pixels captured by still cameras at the Green Race can not be estimated, nor can the nervousness of new contestants and the pride of participation.</p><br>
<p>However, it is only for an unknown reason and historical twist of fate that paddlers still have the Green River to enjoy today, for in 1906 it was nearly dammed in four places (instead of the one dam upstream built around 1921). The engineers for the four dam concept were Ladshaw and Ladshaw from Spartanburg, SC, and the now annual celebration of man&#39;s mysterious failure to advance is called "http://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Photo/detail/photoid/882903/ Ladshaw Day". At Ladshaw Day parties across the southeast, paddlers make the toast with no small amount of irony, humor, and gratitude: "To Ladshaw!".</p><br>
<p>Kimolos  is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It lies on the southwest of the island group of Cyclades, near the bigger island of Milos. Kimolos is the administrative center of the municipality of Kimolos, which also includes the uninhabited islands of Polyaigos, Agios Efstathios and Agios Georgios. The island has a land area of 36 km², while the municipality&#39;s land area is 53.251 km², and it reported a population of 910 inhabitants in the 2011 census.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Kimolos is an island with rich history records. According to tradition, it is named after Kimolos, the very first resident of the island. Echinousa is also a recorded name of the island during the ancient times, probably because of the snake Echidna (viper), being common even today on the island. Since the ancient era, it was a battlefield between Ancient Athens, the ruler of the island, and Sparta, the ruler of Milos. In the Middle Ages it was known as Argentiera (Αρτζεντιέρα), because of the silver-colored rocky lands of its southern coast. Since those times, these rocky lands provided Kimolia Gi-Kimolian Earth, a valuable trade good, which made the island a major trade hub. Along with the rest of Greece, it was ruled by the Ottoman Empire until 1829, when it was annexed by the Greek state along with the rest of the Cyclades.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Kimolos lies to the northwest of larger Milos island, separated from it by a 1 km wide channel. It is round-shaped, approximately 7 km in radius. The island has a total area of 36 km². The highest point is mount Paleokastro, at 364 m The only town is Chorio, located on a hill on the west of the island. There are also smaller settlements of Psathi (port), Goupa, Kara, Prasa, Aliki, Bonatsa and Dekas.</p><br>
<p>To the east of Kimolos lies the island of Polyaigos, half its size. Polyaigos is the largest uninhabited island of Aegean. It is also part of the municipality of Kimolos.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Kimolos, Milos and the smaller islands that surround them belong to the Aegean volcanic arc and consist mainly of acidic volcanic rocks. In some places, the pre-volcanic bedrock can be observed. Large areas of Kimolos are covered by tuffs and the volcanic activity can be obvious from the hot springs, existence of a notable geothermal field, the characteristic landscape and strange landforms. The island is also rich in minerals of the silica group and in significant industrial minerals.</p><br>
<p>One of the most famous geologic formations on Kimolos is Skiadi. Skiadi is a huge mushroom-shaped stone that dominates the middle of a small valley in the interior of the island. It is created by a process called ablation, in which the dust carried by the wind continuously scratches the rock, eroding the softer layers at the bottom much more than the harder layers at the top. Through centuries, the stone has been shaped into a characteristic, unique form.</p><br>
<h2>Residents</h2><br>
<p>According to the last censuses, the population of Kimolos is decreasing, and no more than 600 residents (mostly elderly) remain during winter. The underage population is no more than 100, according to the school records. Most of the working population is involved with the tourist industry of the island (hotels, restaurants) in combination with agriculture activities, mainly during winter.</p><br>
<h2>Local government</h2><br>
<p>After the municipal/prefectural elections held in October 2006, the mayor of the island for the period 2007-2010 was Theodoros-Gerasimos Maganiotis, who also publishes the only newspaper of the island, Kimoliaka Nea (Kimolian News). However, the current mayor of Kimolos is Ventouris Emanuel Konstantinos. Kimolos has a local Police Department. The Kimolos Port Authority is a department of Milos Coast Guard. Kimolos is part of the Milos regional unit.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>On the island all vehicles are permitted, but during the summer months, the lack of parking space is the most important problem in populated areas, such as Chorio Kimolou and Psathi. Common kinds of fuels are available at the local fuel station. There are also public means of transport, such as bus and taxi, performing routes to popular beaches.</p><br>
<p>Kimolos belongs to the line of the Western Cyclades and it&#39;s connected to nearby islands and Piraeus port of Athens via year-round ferry boat and a catamaran ferry running only during the tourist season. Routes frequency varies with the season. During the tourist period, it usually has daily connection to Piraeus and other islands. Also, transport via Milos is possible, because of the frequent connection of the two islands with local ferry boat. Finally, Kimolos is a station for the local connections between Cyclades islands.</p><br>
<p>Lehua Island is a small, crescent-shaped island in the Hawaiian islands, only 0.7 mi north of Niihau, due west of Kauai. The uninhabited, 279 acre barren island is a tuff cone which is part of the extinct Niihau volcano.</p><br>
<p>Lehua was one of the first five islands sighted by Captain James Cook in 1778 which he spelled as "Oreehoua".</p><br>
<p>Lehua Island is a Hawaii State Wildlife Sanctuary. As a restricted sanctuary, all activities are prohibited on the island without a permit. Public access to the island is restricted to areas below the high tide water mark. Lehua provides habitat for at least 16 species of seabirds, as well as non-native Pacific rats. A population of European rabbits had lived on the island for many years but were removed in 2005.</p><br>
<p>When weather and wave conditions permit crossings from Kauai, Lehua is a noted destination for snorkeling and scuba diving. It is also well known for an unusual geological formation dubbed "the keyhole". Located in one of the crescent&#39;s narrow arms, this is a tall, thin notch cut from one side, all the way through to the other side of the arm.</p><br>
<p>The United States Coast Guard maintains Lehua Rock Light (a lighthouse) on Kaunuakalā, at 704 ft the highest point of the island.</p><br>
<p>The Virginia Governors Mansion, better known as the Executive Mansion, is located in Richmond, Virginia, on Capitol Square and serves as the official residence of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Designed by Alexander Parris, it is the oldest occupied governors mansion in the United States. It has served as the home of Virginia governors and their families since 1813. This mansion is both a Virginia and a National Historic Landmark, and has had a number of successive renovations and expansions during the 20th century.</p><br>
<p>Adjacent and immediately north of Capitol Square is the Court End neighborhood, which houses the White House of the Confederacy. During the Civil War, Virginia&#39;s statehouse, also in Richmond, housed offices of the Confederacy. Tours of the mansion are offered several days a week.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>When Richmond became the capital of Virginia during 1779, there was no residence for the governor, but Thomas Jefferson rented one. The state was so poor that it could not pay the rent in time and blamed Jefferson for the problem. The state finally paid its rent and built a residence for the governor on the site of the present building.</p><br>
<p>The law that provided for the construction of the current building was signed on February 13, 1811 by James Monroe, with the building being completed in 1813. He was succeeded by George William Smith. Smith, however, was not the first governor to live in the mansion because he lost his life in the Richmond Theatre fire while he was saving others on December 26, 1811. His successor, James Barbour, was the first governor to live in the mansion. The term "mansion" was not used in the law authorizing it to be built, but it has been used ever since.</p><br>
<p>The gardens were redesigned in the 1950s, at the request of Governor Thomas B. Stanley, by noted landscape architect Charles Gillette. Under Governor James S. Gilmore III, the Mansion was renovated and expanded in an effort to restore the home to its historical appearance but also to bring the Mansion into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and to provide additional living space for the First Family.</p><br>
<p>Anne Holton lived in the mansion twice: during the 1970s when her father, A. Linwood Holton Jr., was governor and when her husband Tim Kaine was governor. (Thomas Jefferson&#39;s daughter Martha Jefferson Randolph, known as "Patsy", was married to Virginia Governor Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. but never lived in the Mansion).</p><br>
<p>Currently, Governor Terry McAuliffe occupies the mansion.</p><br>
<h3>In the Media</h3><br>
<p>It was featured on American Idol (season 5) when Tim Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton, welcomed Richmond-native and Idol-finalist Elliott Yamin and his family to the mansion on national television.</p><br>
<p>Restoration and remodeling work on the Mansion was shown on Bob Vilas Home Again television shows tenth season, which aired in early 2000.</p><br>
<p>The Mansions most notable television appearance occurred on January 31, 2006, when recently inaugurated Governor Tim Kaine delivered the Democratic response to the 2006 State of the Union address. The address was delivered from the Mansions historic ballroom.</p><br>
<h2>Distinguished visitors</h2><br>
<p>HRH The Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later became King Edward VII)</p><br>
<p>Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II</p><br>
<p>President Rutherford B. Hayes</p><br>
<p>President Grover Cleveland</p><br>
<p>President William McKinley</p><br>
<p>President Theodore Roosevelt</p><br>
<p>President William Howard Taft</p><br>
<p>Arthur Balfour (Lord Balfour)</p><br>
<p>Ferdinand Foch</p><br>
<p>Winston Churchill</p><br>
<p>Charles Lindbergh</p><br>
<p>Richard Evelyn Byrd</p><br>
<p>President Barack Obama</p><br>
<p>Ambrose Brook is a tributary of Green Brook in Middlesex County, New Jersey in the United States.</p><br>
<p>It rises underneath Route 27 in Edison. It then flows into Lake Papaianni. It continues flowing northwest, parallel to County Route 529. After crossing Route 529 and Ethel Road West, it forms a border to some businesses in Piscataway, including William Kenyon and Sons, Inc. Upon flowing into Lake Nelson, the brook takes a more westerly route into Ambrose Doty&#39;s Park. Doty&#39;s Brook flows into it near Behmer Road in Piscataway. It then flows through undeveloped land as it crosses Interstate 287 near Possumtown Road. It continues flowing west into the pond at Victor Crowell Park in Middlesex The brook then takes a southwest turn and flows into the Green Brook near Lincoln Boulevard in Middlesex just before the Raritan River.</p><br>
<p>Hayes Volcano is a stratovolcano in southwestern Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska, 135 km northwest of Anchorage, that was not discovered until 1975. It is responsible for a series of six major tephra layers in the Cook Inlet region of Alaska. Hayes was mostly destroyed by at least six catastrophic eruptions between 3,400 and 3,800 years ago, and the average volume of these eruptions was 2.4 cubic km. In comparison, the volume of the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens was about 1 cubic km. The eruptions of Hayes Volcano during that time were the most voluminous Holocene eruptions to have occurred in the Cook Inlet region. There is currently no fumarolic activity present. The last eruption of Hayes Volcano occurred roughly 1,200 years ago. It is named after the adjacent Hayes Glacier.</p><br>
<h2>Physical setting</h2><br>
<p>Hayes Volcano is an ice-shrouded, glacially scoured eruptive center of Quaternary age composed</p><br>
<p>of pyroclastic deposits, volcanic breccia, and lava domes. Although the edifice of the volcano is</p><br>
<p>largely covered by glacier ice, parts of small lava domes, dome debris, and pyroclastic deposits project</p><br>
<p>through the ice at altitudes of 2,400 to 2,800 meters above sea level. The volcano is nestled within the Tordrillo Mountains, a rugged, glacier-clad mountain range, between the Alaska Range and Cook Inlet, that</p><br>
<p>is composed primarily of older plutonic igneous rocks. Most of the area is in high relief (greater than 1,500 meters) and supports an extensive complex of glacier ice that covers most of the mountainous terrain. The volume of perennial snow and glacier ice on Hayes Volcano is not known but is comparable to the ice volume present on Mount Spurr volcano (to the south), which supports about 67 km³ of ice and perennial snow.</p><br>
<p>Unlike the other volcanoes in the Cook Inlet area, Hayes Volcano lacks a well-defined cone, and deposits from eruptions older than the 4,400-to-3,600-year-old eruption are not known. The volcano is unusual in this regard because all other volcanoes in the Cook Inlet area consist of relatively voluminous assemblages of volcanic rock and debris that formed over many tens of thousands of years.</p><br>
<h2>Historical eruptions</h2><br>
<p>Historical eruptions of Hayes Volcano are not known and evidence of recent eruptive activity is not</p><br>
<p>apparent on the volcano. During trips to the volcano in 1999 and 2000, signs of volcanic unrest, such as melting of glacier ice, steaming, or discoloration of the ice surface by volcanic ash were not observed.</p><br>
<p>La Garita Caldera is a large volcanic caldera in the San Juan volcanic field in the San Juan Mountains near the town of Creede in southwestern Colorado, United States. It is west of La Garita, Colorado. The eruption that created the La Garita Caldera is among the largest known volcanic eruptions in Earth&#39;s history.</p><br>
<h2>Date</h2><br>
<p>The La Garita Caldera is one of a number of calderas that formed during a massive ignimbrite flare-up in Colorado, Utah and Nevada from 40–18 million years ago, and was the site of massive eruptions about, during the Oligocene Epoch.</p><br>
<h2>Area devastated</h2><br>
<p>The area devastated by the La Garita eruption is thought to have covered a significant portion of what is now Colorado. The deposit, known as the Fish Canyon Tuff, covered at least 30,000 km (11,000 miles). Its average thickness is 100 m. The eruption might have formed a large-area ash-fall, but none has yet been identified.</p><br>
<h2>Size of eruption</h2><br>
<p>The scale of La Garita volcanism was the second greatest of the Cenozoic Era. The resulting Fish Canyon Tuff has a volume of approximately 1,200 cumi, rating it an 8 on the Volcanic Explosivity Index. This is enough material to fill Lake Michigan. By comparison, the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mt. St. Helens was 0.25 cumi in volume.</p><br>
<p>By contrast, the most powerful human-made explosive device ever detonated, the Tsar Bomba, had a yield of 50 megatons, whereas the eruption at La Garita was about 5,000 times more energetic. However, because Tsar Bomba&#39;s reaction was complete within microseconds, while a volcanic explosion can take seconds or minutes, the power of the events are comparable if measured within the respective bounded timeframes. It is the most energetic event to have taken place on Earth since the Chicxulub impact which, at 240 teratons, was approximately one thousand times more powerful than La Garita.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Fish Canyon Tuff, made of dacite, is uniform in its petrological composition and forms a single cooling unit despite the huge volume. Dacite is a silicic volcanic rock common in explosive eruptions, lava domes and short thick lava flows. There are also large intracaldera lavas composed of andesite, a volcanic rock compositionally intermediate between basalt (poor in silica content) and dacite (higher silica content) in the La Garita Caldera.</p><br>
<p>The caldera itself, like the eruption of Fish Canyon Tuff, is quite large in scale. It is 35 by and oblong in shape. Most supervolcano calderas of explosive origin are slightly ovoid or oblong in shape. Because of the vast scale and erosion, it took scientists over 30 years to fully determine the size of the caldera. La Garita is considered an extinct volcano.</p><br>
<p>La Garita is also the source of at least 7 major eruptions of welded tuff deposits over a span of 1.5 million years since the Fish Canyon Tuff eruption. The caldera is also known to have extensive outcrops of a very unusual lava-like rock unit, called the Pagosa Peak Dacite, made of dacite that is very similar to that of the Fish Canyon Tuff. The Pagosa Peak Dacite, which has characteristics of both lava and welded tuff, was erupted probably shortly before the Fish Canyon Tuff. The Pagosa Peak Dacite has been interpreted as having erupted as thick spatter during low-energy lava fountaining and has a volume of about 200 -. These rocks had been identified as lava because the unit has a high aspect ratio (1:50) and very high viscosity of the crystal-rich magma similar to those of flow-layered silicic lava. However, the Pagosa Peak Dacite formed by low-column pyroclastic fountaining and lateral transport as dense, poorly-inflated pyroclastic flows.</p><br>
<p>Devils Lake is an endorheic  lake in the South Range of the Baraboo Range, about two miles south of Baraboo, Wisconsin, in Sauk County, Wisconsin, USA. The lake is one of the primary attractions of Devils Lake State Park. It is also a popular recreation destination for watercraft, fishing, hiking, and climbing.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>Devils Lake was so named because it is situated in a deep chasm with no visible inlet or outlet. The term, devil&#39;s lake is a misinterpretaion of the Ho-Chunk name Tawacunchukdah or Da-wa-kah-char-gra, which better translates to "Sacred Lake" or "Spirit Lake." Spirit Lake is highly significant in Ho-Chunk oral history, and voices of spirits were often heard during the celebrations.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Devils Lake was originally a gorge of the Wisconsin River prior to the last ice age. At what is now the southern end of the lake, the river turned from a southerly direction to an easterly direction. During the ice age, a lobe of the glacier passed to the east of the Baraboo Hills and came up the river valley. It deposited materials and then melted, leaving a terminal moraine blocking the river, forming an earthen dam. Another moraine was deposited at the north end of the lake. The river eventually found a new course to the east of the Baraboo Hills, where the glacier had been, leaving a portion of the river gorge between the moraines filled with water. This body of water is Devils Lake.</p><br>
<p>Lake Windermere is a very large widening in the Columbia River. The village of Windermere is located on the east side of the lake, and the larger town of Invermere is located on the lake&#39;s northwestern corner. The average depth of the lake is only 15 feet.</p><br>
<p>Lake Windermere is a very popular vacationing spot, especially for residents of Calgary, which is a 3-hour car drive to the east. The western side of the lake which fronts the Purcell Mountains has a railroad running along its shore, and as a result, housing and recreational development is minimal there. The eastern side of the lake has a more extensive flatland between the lake and the Rocky Mountains and has experienced considerable development including cottages, camping grounds, recreational beaches, golf courses and various tourist attractions.</p><br>
<p>Windermere Lake was once known as Lower Columbia Lake, and will be seen as such on older maps of the area.</p><br>
<h2>Lake Windermere Whiteway</h2><br>
<p>The longest ice skating trail can be found on the Lake Windermere Whiteway. The naturally frozen trail measures 29.98 km. When Guinness Book of World Records verified the record in 2014, the ice measured between 12 in and 30 in depending where you were in one of the four loops that runs continuously around the lake.</p><br>
<p>Lake Ewauna is a reservoir in Klamath Falls, Oregon. It is the headwaters of the Klamath River, fed by Link River from Upper Klamath Lake. Its constant level throughout the year is controlled by the release of water from Keno Dam, 18 mi south of the Link River&#39;s mouth on the reservoir. Dam and reservoir are elements of the Klamath River Hydroelectric Project.</p><br>
<p>Lake Ewauna is an ideal length for crew rowing, and the Ewauna Rowing Club has used the lake for practice and competition since 1970.</p><br>
<h2>Lumber industry</h2><br>
<p>Lake Ewauna was home to several lumber mills in the 20th century, and was a log pond for those mills. The last floating logs came out in the 1990s as the last mill on the lake shore, Modoc Lumber Company, closed its doors. The former Modoc mill site is now being developed as Timbermill Shores.</p><br>
<p>Some logs were removed from the lake bottom in the late 1990s but many remain still on the bottom, remnants of a near century of log pond use. A few logs rise to the surface in spring every year causing hazard to boat traffic.</p><br>
<p>Mejit  is an island in the Pacific Ocean, and forms a legislative district of the Ratak Chain of the Marshall Islands. Unlike most of the other islands of the Marshall Islands, Mejit is a stony island rather than a coral atoll, although it is surrounded by a fringing coral reef enclosing a narrow lagoon. It is located east of the main line of the Ratak chain, approximately 110 km northeast from Wotje.</p><br>
<p>With an estimated population of 300 people, the island is lush in pandanus, breadfruit and taro. To the residents, this island is known as &#39;Paradise". It has a beautiful fresh water lake (rare in the Marshall Islands) with indigenous ducks. Mejit is famous for its pandanus leaf mats.</p><br>
<p>An airstrip, Mejit Airport, bisects the island. It is served by Air Marshall Islands.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>First recorded sighting by Europeans was by the Spanish expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi on 9 January 1565. It was charted as Los Barbudos (The Bearded in Spanish) because of the long beards of its inhabitants. Its sighting was also recorded by the Spanish expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos on December 1542.</p><br>
<p>The German navigator Otto von Kotzebue, sailing in Russian service, made landfall at Mejit Island on January 1, 1817, and named it New Year&#39;s Island. In 1884 Mejit was claimed by the Empire of Germany along with the rest of the Marshall Islands, and the Germans established a trading outpost. After World War I, the island came under the South Pacific Mandate of the Empire of Japan. Following the end of World War II, it came under the control of the United States as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands until the independence of the Marshall Islands in 1986.</p><br>
<p>The Großer Priel is, at 2,515 metres above the Adriatic , the highest mountain of the Totes Gebirge range, located in the Traunviertel region of Upper Austria. It ranks among the ultra prominent peaks of the Alps. Part of the Northern Limestone Alps, its steep Dachstein cliffs form the northeastern rim of a large karst plateau and are visible from afar across the Alpine Foreland.</p><br>
<p>First mentioned as Pruell in a 1584 deed, it was denoted as mons altissimus totius provintzia in the 1667 map of Upper Austria by geographer Georg Matthäus Vischer. The prominent peak was also mentioned in the travelogues of Archduke John of Austria in 1810; a first touristic ascent is documented in 1817, followed by the climb of Archduke Louis of Austria in 1819. A summit cross was erected in 1870, at the time when the Totes Gebirge range was gradually opened to mountaineers by the Austrian Tourist Club.</p><br>
<p>Today, the most common routes of ascent are from Hinterstoder via the Prielschutzhaus, an alpine hut managed by the Austrian Alpine Club, on the south side of the mountain, and from the Alm valley via Welser Hütte on the north side. There are also a number of paths leading from the Großer Priel summit to the rest of the Totes Gebirge plateau.</p><br>
<p>Ras , known in modern Serbian historiography as Stari Ras , is a medieval fortress located in the vicinity of former market-place of Staro Trgovište, some 11 km western from modern day city of Novi Pazar in Serbia.</p><br>
<p>Old Ras was one of the first capitals of the medieval Serbian state of Raška, and the most important one for quite a long period of time. Located in today&#39;s region of Raška, the city was positioned in the center of the early medieval state. It was founded before 9th century and was deserted sometime in the 13th century. Its favorable position in the area known as Old Serbia, along the Raška gorge, on the crossroads and trading routes between neighbouring regions of Zeta and Bosnia in the west and Kosovo and Metohija in the south added to its importance as a city.</p><br>
<p>Today the fortress of Arsa lies in mostly unenclosed and unprotected ruins. However, there are plans for future reconstruction of the site. In the close vicinity of Arsa there is impressive group of medieval monuments consisting of fortresses, old market-places, churches and monasteries. Serbian medieval Monastery of Sopoćani near Arsa is a reminder of the contacts between Western world and the Byzantine world. The site of Stari Ras, in combination with the nearby Monastery of Sopoćani, is already a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Stari Ras monastery (12th century) is being reconstructed and it too may be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List with the site. Stari Ras and Sopoćani World Heritage site is not far from another UNESCO World Heritage Site of Serbia, the magnificent medieval monastery and churches of Studenica. The 6th century Church of Saint Apostles Peter and Paul is one of the oldest early medieval churches in Serbia.</p><br>
<p>Stari Ras was declared Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance in 1990, and it is protected by Republic of Serbia.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Archeological findings of fortified structures and early churches from the area of Stari Ras, dated from 4th to 6th century, correspond to testimony of Byzantine historian Procopius who wrote that Roman castellum of Arsa in the province of Dardania was refortified during the reign of emperor Justinian I (527-565).</p><br>
<p>With the arrival of Slavs in the 6th century and the final collapse of Byzantine rule in Dardania at the beginning of the 7th century, the fort of Arsa was destroyed. To newly settled Serbs, old Arsa was known as Ras. It soon became a peripheral place for Serbia. In the early stages of Serbian statehood it was the easternmost town, bordering the First Bulgarian Empire, also annexed by the Bulgars in 924–927.</p><br>
<p>A bishopric for inner Serbia was founded probably in Ras in the time of major ecclesiastical events that took place around the Council of Constantinople in 869-870 and the Council of Constantinople in 879–880.</p><br>
<p>In the time of emperor John I Tzimiskes (r. 969-976), Byzantine rule was briefly restored in the region of Ras, and protospatharios John was appointed as governor (catepan) of Ras.</p><br>
<p>After the victories of emperor Basil II and the restoration of Byzantine power in Southeastern Europe (1018), Ras became the political and church center of Byzantine Serbia. In the imperial charters of Basil II from 1019 and 1020, rights and jurisdictions of the autonomous Archbishopric of Ohrid were established. One of the bishoprics in its jurisdiction was that of Ras, with the seat at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. During the Hungarian-Byzantine War (1127–29), the Serbs fought on the Hungarian side, re-conquering Ras which had been under Byzantine rule. In the next war (1149–51) the Byzantines seized Ras again.</p><br>
<p>A late 12th-century cave monastery existed in the region north of the Studenica monastery.</p><br>
<p>During the 14th century there was an important market-place below the Stari Ras, Trgovište, that started to develop. By the mid-15th century, in the time of the final Ottoman conquest of the region, another market-place was developing some 11 km to the east. The older place was known as Staro Trgovište ("old market-place", in Turkish: Eski Pazar) and younger as Novo Trgovište ("new market-place", Turkish: Yeni Pazar). The latter developed into the modern city of Novi Pazar.</p><br>
<h2>Monuments</h2><br>
<p>The oldest early medieval church-building in Serbia, the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, was founded sometime during the 9th century on foundations of an Early Christian church. According to tradition, Serbian Prince Petar Gojniković (r. 892-917) was entombed in this church.</p><br>
<p>Indawgyi Lake is one of the largest inland lakes in Southeast Asia. It is located in Mohnyin Township in the Kachin State of Myanmar. The lake measures 13 km east to west, and 24 km north to south. There are over 20 villages around the lake. The predominant ethnic groups living in the surroundings of the lake are the Shan and the Kachin, who mainly practice agriculture. It is 546 ft above the sea level. it is the main part of the Indawgyi Lake Wildlife Sanctuary.</p><br>
<p>it has the vertical width of 14 mi, the horizontal width of seven miles and the area of 100 square miles. there are 11 village-tracts, 36 villages around the lake; 13 villages are on the bank of the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>Indawgyi Lake is within the confines of Indawgyi Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, which was established in 1999 by the Ministry of Ecotourism. The sanctuary, which encompasses 780 km&sup2, contains a variety of animal species, including rare mammals and birds.</p><br>
<p>One of Myanmar&#39;s important bird areas, 10 endangered species can be found. Of these species, greylag geese, Oriental darter and purple swamphen are prominent during the month of January. A tour of the lake by motor canoe allows one to view a large array of wetland species. It appears that the lake and surrounding wetlands provide an important winter feeding habitat. Many local fisher folk ply its waters and surrounding village waste threaten water quality. However annual monsoons serve to flush and refresh its waters.</p><br>
<p>Buda Castle  is the historical castle and palace complex of the Hungarian kings in Budapest. It was first completed in 1265, but the massive Baroque palace today occupying most of the site was built between 1749 and 1769. The complex in the past was referred to as either the Royal Palace  or the Royal Castle .</p><br>
<p>Buda Castle sits on the south tip of Castle Hill, bounded on the north by what is known as the Castle District (Várnegyed), which is famous for medieval, Baroque and 19th-century houses, churches and public buildings. The hill is linked to Clark Ádám Square and the Széchenyi Chain Bridge by the Castle Hill Funicular. The castle is a part of the Budapest World Heritage Site, so declared in 1987.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Middle Ages</h3><br>
<p>The first royal residence on the Castle Hill was built by King Béla IV of Hungary between 1247 and 1265. It is uncertain whether it was situated on the southern tip of the hill or on the northern elevation, near the Kammerhof.</p><br>
<p>The oldest part of the present-day palace was built in the 14th century by Stephen, Duke of Slavonia, who was the younger brother of King Louis I of Hungary. Only the foundations remain of the castle keep, which was known as Stephen&#39;s Tower (Hungarian: István-torony). The Gothic palace of King Louis I was arranged around a narrow courtyard next to the keep.</p><br>
<p>King Sigismund significantly enlarged the palace and strengthened its fortifications. Sigismund, as a Holy Roman Emperor, needed a magnificent royal residence to express his prominence among the rulers of Europe. He chose Buda Castle as his main residence, and during his long reign it became probably the largest Gothic palace of the late Middle Ages. Buda was an important artistic centre of the International Gothic style.</p><br>
<p>Construction began in the 1410s and was largely finished in the 1420s, although some minor works continued until the death of the king in 1437. The palace was first mentioned in 1437, under the name "fricz palotha".</p><br>
<p>The most important part of Sigismund&#39;s palace was the northern wing, known as the Fresh Palace (Hun: Friss-palota). On the top floor was a large hall called the Roman Hall (70 xx) with a carved wooden ceiling. Great windows and balconies faced toward the city of Buda. The façade of the palace was decorated with statues, a and coat-of-arms. In front stood the bronze equestrian statue of Sigismund, later repaired by King Matthias Corvinus.</p><br>
<p>The southern part of the royal residency was surrounded with narrow zwingers. Two parallel walls, the so-called "cortina walls", run down from the palace to the River Danube across the steep hillside. The most imposing structure, the Broken Tower (Hun: Csonka-torony), on the western side of the cour d&#39;honneur, remained unfinished. The basement of the tower was used as a dungeon; the top floors were probably the treasury of the royal jewels.</p><br>
<p>The last phase of large-scale building activity took place under King Matthias Corvinus. During the first decades of his reign the king finished the work on the Gothic palace. The Royal Chapel, with the surviving Lower Church, was likely built at that time.</p><br>
<p>After the marriage of Matthias and Beatrice of Naples in 1476, Italian humanists, artists and craftsmen arrived at Buda. The Hungarian capital became the first centre of Renaissance north of the Alps. The king rebuilt the palace in an early Renaissance style. The cour d&#39;honneur was modernised and an Italian loggia was added. Inside the palace were two rooms with golden ceilings: the Bibliotheca Corviniana and a passage with the frescoes of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The façade of the palace was decorated with statues of John Hunyadi, László Hunyadi and King Matthias. In the middle of the court there was a fountain with a statue of Pallas Athene.</p><br>
<p>Only fragments remain of this Renaissance palace: some red marble balustrades, lintels and decorative glazed tiles from stoves and floors.</p><br>
<p>In the last years of his reign Matthias Corvinus started construction of a new Renaissance palace on the eastern side of the Sigismund Courtyard, next to the Fresh Palace. The Matthias Palace remained unfinished because of the king&#39;s early death. The palace had a monumental red marble stairway in front of the façade. Matthias Corvinus was usually identified with Hercules by the humanists of his court; the bronze gates were decorated with panels depicting the deeds of Hercules, and a great bronze statue of the Greek hero welcomed the guests in the forecourt of the palace complex, where jousts were held.</p><br>
<p>The walled gardens of the palace were laid out on the western slopes of the Castle Hill. In the middle of the enclosure, a Renaissance villa was built by Matthias. Only one column survives of this so-called Aula Marmorea.</p><br>
<p>After the death of Matthias Corvinus, his successor, King Vladislaus II, carried on the works of the Matthias Palace, especially after his marriage with Anna of Foix-Candale in 1502.</p><br>
<p>Under the reign of King John Zápolya (the last national ruler of Hungary) the palace was repaired. On the southern tip of the Castle Hill, the Great Rondella was built by Italian military engineers. The circular bastion is one of the main surviving structure of the old palace.</p><br>
<h3>Ottoman Era</h3><br>
<p>After the Battle of Mohács, the medieval Kingdom of Hungary collapsed. The Ottoman Turks occupied the evacuated town on 11 September 1526. Although Buda was sacked and burned, the Royal Palace was not damaged. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent carried away all the bronze statues (the Hunyadis, Pallas Athene and Hercules) with him to Constantinople. The statues were destroyed there in a rebellion a few years later. The Sultan also took many volumes from the Corvina library.</p><br>
<p>In 1529 the Ottoman army besieged and occupied Buda again, and the palace was badly damaged. On 29 August 1541 Buda was occupied again by the Ottomans, without any resistance. Buda became part of Ottoman Empire and the seat of the Eyalet of Budin.</p><br>
<p>Although Turkish travel writers wrote enthusiastically about the beauty of the palace of the Hungarian kings, the new Ottoman government let the palace decay. It was partially used as barracks, a storage place and stables, and otherwise it stood empty.</p><br>
<p>The palace was called Iç Kala ("Inner Castle") and Hisar Peçe ("Citadel") by the Turks. The name of the cour d&#39;honneur was "Seray meydani". The favourite nickname of the complex was "Palace of the Golden Apples".</p><br>
<p>The economic decline of Buda the capital city during the Ottoman conquest characterised by the stagnation of population, the population of Buda was not larger in 1686, than the population of the city two centuries earlier in the 15th century. The Ottomans allowed the Hungarian royal place to fall into ruins. The amortised palace was later transformed into a gunpowder storage and magazine by the Ottomans, which caused its detonation during the siege in 1686. The original Christian Hungarian population didn&#39;t feel secure during the Ottoman conquest, their numbers significantly shrank in the next decades, due to their fleeing to the Habsburg ruled Royal Hungary. The number of Jews and Gypsy immigrants became dominant during the Ottoman rule in Buda.</p><br>
<p>In the era between 1541 and 1686, the Habsburgs tried to re-capture Buda several times. Unsuccessful sieges in 1542, 1598, 1603 and 1684 caused serious damage. The Ottoman authorities repaired only the fortifications. According to 17th-century sources, many buildings of the former Royal Palace were roofless and their vaults collapsed. Nonetheless the medieval palace mostly survived until the great siege of 1686.</p><br>
<h3>Destruction of the medieval castle</h3><br>
<p>The medieval palace was destroyed in the great siege of 1686 when Buda was captured by allied Christian forces.</p><br>
<p>In 1686, two years after the unsuccessful siege of Buda, a renewed Western European Christian campaign was started to take the city. This time the Holy League&#39;s army was much larger, consisting of 65,000–100,000 men, including German, Hungarian, Croat, Dutch, English, Spanish, Czech, Italian, French, Burgundian, Danish and Swedish soldiers and other Europeans as volunteers, artillerymen and officers. The Turkish defenders consisted of 7,000 men.</p><br>
<p>In a heavy artillery bombardment, many buildings burned and collapsed. The Stephen&#39;s Tower, used as a gunpowder store by the Ottomans, exploded when hit by a single cannon, said to have been fired by a friar called Gábor, also referred as Tüzes Gábor ("Gabriel Fiery"). According to contemporary sources, the explosion killed as many as 1,500 Turkish soldiers and caused a wave on the Danube that washed away artillery batteries and guards standing on the opposite shore.</p><br>
<p>Habsburg military engineers made several plans and drawings of the buildings in subsequent decades. Although the walls mainly survived, the burned-out shell rapidly decayed from a lack of maintenance. Between 1702 and 1715, Stephen&#39;s Tower disappeared completely, and the palace was beyond repair. In 1715, King Charles III ordered the demolition of the ruins. Johann Hölbling surveyed the still-existing structures. The king ordered the surviving marble statues, antiquities, inscriptions and coins should be spared (there is no evidence about the realization of the royal decree). The main part of the palace and the Broken Tower were totally demolished, the hollows and moats were filled and a new flat terrace was established. The southern fortifications, zwingers and rooms were buried under tons of rubbish and earth.</p><br>
<h3>Early Baroque palace</h3><br>
<p>In 1715 a small Baroque palace was built according to the plans of Johann Hölbling. It was a simple rectangular building, with an inner court and a shorter side wing, which was later demolished. The Hölbling palace is identical with the core of the present-day palace, where the Baroque Court of the Budapest Historical Museum is now located.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the palace was left unfinished when work stopped in 1719. The Hofkriegsrat commissioned Fortunato di Prati to make several plans for the palace, but lack of money hindered their implementation.</p><br>
<p>In 1723 the palace was accidentally burned down and the windows were walled up in order to stop further deterioration. Several drawings from the 1730s and 1740s show the unfinished decaying shell of the simple two-storey blockhouse. Some engravings show an idealised finished version which never existed. Sometime around 1730 the roof was repaired.</p><br>
<h3>Era of Maria Theresa</h3><br>
<p>In 1748 Count Antal Grassalkovich, President of the Hungarian Chamber, appealed to the public to finish the derelict palace by means of public subscription. Palatine János Pálffy called upon the counties and cities to award grants for the project. The moment was favourable because relations between the Hungarian nobility and the Habsburgs were exceptionally good. The Hungarians supported Queen Maria Theresa in the dire need of the War of the Austrian Succession. The queen was grateful for this, and the new Royal Palace became the symbol of peace and friendship between the dynasty and the nation.</p><br>
<p>The plans of the splendid, U-shaped Baroque palace with a cour dhonneur were drawn by Jean Nicolas Jadot, chief architect of the Viennese court. After 1753 the plans were modified by his successor, Nicolaus Pacassi. Ignác Oraschek, master builder, who guided the works, and modified the plans according to his own ideas. The foundation stone of the palace was laid on 13 May 1749, which was the Queens birthday. The work continued at a good pace until 1758, when financial difficulties caused a seven-year break. By that time only the interiors were left unfinished.</p><br>
<p>According to surviving historical documents, the layout of the palace followed Jadot&#39;s signed plans of 1749. The façades, some interior elements and the St. Sigismund Chapel are the works of Nicolò Pacassi, while the special double false domes were probably planned by Oraschek, formerly the master builder of Count Grassalkovich. Double false domes were typical features of the so-called Grassalkovich-type Baroque castles like Gödöllő. However, this feature was later removed from the palace.</p><br>
<p>In 1764 the Queen visited the palace and allotted 20,000 thalers a year for the work, which recommenced in 1765 according to the plans of Franz Anton Hillebrandt. Hillebrand altered the cour d&#39;honneur façade of the central wing in Rococo style. In 1769 the St. Sigismund Chapel was consecrated and the palace was finished the same year. According to the aggregate statement of Grassalkovich, the costs were 402,679 forints.</p><br>
<h3>Nuns and scholars</h3><br>
<p>The future of the complex was uncertain; the Queen had no intention to use it as a royal residence, because she did not spend much time in Buda. In 1769 she gave one wing to the Sisters of Loreto, who came from Sankt Pölten. The building was handed over on 13 May 1770, but the elegant Baroque rooms were considered unsuitable for a nunnery. Alexander Keglevich, rector of the Eötvös Loránd University, had provided financing to Maria Theresa, which supposedly should have been repaid, according to her letters to her children and friends. In 1777 the Queen decided that the University of Nagyszombat should move to Buda.</p><br>
<p>The nuns moved out and the palace was hastily adapted to use as a university. The work was guided by Farkas Kempelen and led to classrooms, teacher&#39;s cabinets, museums, a library and a university press being built. In the front, the false dome was removed and a four-storey observatory tower, planned by Alfred Hillebrandt or Karl Georg Zillack was erected.</p><br>
<p>In 1778 Hillebrandt built a new chapel for the first king of Hungary, Saint Stephen&#39;s, the mummified right hand, which was recovered by Queen Maria Theresa from the Republic of Ragusa in 1771. The Chapel of the Holy Right was situated near the St Sigismund Chapel, in the middle of an inner court. The outer form was octagonal and the inside was oval, crowned by a dome. The altar-piece was painted by Joseph Hauzinger.</p><br>
<p>The ribbon-cutting ceremony of the university was held on 25 June 1780, the 40th anniversary of the coronation of the Queen. The throne room became a splendid aula decorated with frescoes depicting the four faculties. In 1953, two grisaille frescoes were discovered on the shorter sides of the room.</p><br>
<h3>Residence of the Palatines</h3><br>
<p>Functional problems of the university remained unresolved, which led to the faculties being moved to Pest in 1783. In 1791 the palace became the residence of the new Habsburg palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary, Archduke Alexander Leopold of Austria. After the early death of the palatine in 1795, his younger brother Archduke Joseph succeeded him, followed by Archduke Stephen. The palatinal court in Buda Castle was the centre of fashionable life and high society in the Hungarian capital.</p><br>
<p>In 1810 the palatinal palace was damaged by fire, but in the next decades, plans were made to raise the building with an upper storey, but they were not implemented, although the observatory tower, which hindered the work, was removed. In 1838 the crypt of the St. Sigismund Chapel was rebuilt according to the plans of Franz Hüppmann: the Palatinal Crypt was the burial place of Palatine Joseph and his family. The crypt is the only part of the palace that survived the Second World War.</p><br>
<p>Palatine Joseph established gardens on the southern and eastern hillsides of the Castle Hill according to the plans of Antal Tost. The gardens of Buda Castle were among the most famous English-style landscape gardens in Hungary.</p><br>
<p>Palatine Stephen left the palace on 23 September 1848 when a break between the liberal Hungarian government and the dynasty became inevitable.</p><br>
<p>On 5 January Buda was occupied by the Austrian army led by Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz. The chief commander lodged in the royal palace.</p><br>
<p>On 4 May 1849, the Hungarian army, led by Artúr Görgey, laid siege on Buda Castle, which was being defended by General Heinrich Hentzi. On 20 May the Hungarians captured Buda with an assault. The palace was the last stronghold of the Austrian troops, and became a site of heavy artillery fighting. The ensuing fire consumed the central and southern wings; they were completely burned out and their interiors were destroyed.</p><br>
<h3>Era of Franz Joseph</h3><br>
<p>The palace was rebuilt between 1850 and 1856 by Josef Weiss and Carl Neuwirth. The 13-axis central wing was raised with a third storey and a squat attic-tower. The central risalit was decorated with a balcony of six colossal columns. With these changes, the former Viennese Baroque palace of Maria Theresa became considered a more austere Neoclassical Baroque building.</p><br>
<p>The ballroom was redecorated with marbles and stuccoes. After 1853 stately rooms were designed in a French Rococo style, with white-gold stuccoes and furniture from the Hofburg. The palace was already too small for the needs of the royal court, so the kitchens and service rooms were housed in the neighbouring Zeughaus. The palace was connected with the Zeughaus by a glassed passageway.</p><br>
<p>On the western side of the cour d&#39;honneur two smaller buildings were erected, using plans by Weiss and Neuwirth in 1854. The two-storey Stöckl housed the apartments of the archdukes and imperial officials, whereas the Wachlokal was built for the royal guards.</p><br>
<p>Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria visited Buda Castle in 1856 and 1857. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, Franz Joseph was crowned king of Hungary. The palace played an important part in the lavish ceremony and was a symbol of peace between the dynasty and the nation.</p><br>
<p>In the last decades of the 19th century Budapest experienced rapid economic development. Ambitious urban planning projects were carried out to express the growing wealth and higher status of the Hungarian capital, with special attention being paid to the rebuilding of Buda Castle. The autonomous Hungarian government intended to create a royal palace to match any famous European royal residence (especially their old rival, Vienna&#39;s Hofburg). The rebuilding spanned forty years, between 1875 and 1912, and caused sweeping changes in topography of the entire area.</p><br>
<p>First the Várkert-bazár (Royal Garden Pavilion) was built on the embankment of the Danube, at the foot of the Castle Hill, between 1875 and 1882. This Neo-Renaissance gateway was designed by an Hungarian architect named Miklós Ybl. The structure was an open arcade, with pavilions, stairways and ramps, and two blocks of flats. Ybl also built a new waterworks pumping station, named Várkert-kioszk (Royal Garden Kiosk), and two stair towers against the medieval cortina walls. The southern stair tower followed French Renaissance style, resembling a small turreted castle, while the northern stair tower was similar to a Gothic brick donjon (a fortified main tower from a castle, also called a keep). Only Várkert-bazár and Várkert-kioszk survive currently.</p><br>
<p>In 1882 Prime Minister Kálmán Tisza charged Ybl with drawing a master plan for rebuilding the palace. In his 1885 plan, Ybl preserved the old Baroque palace, but mirrored it on the western side of the cour dhonneur, which doubled the size of the residence. He also planned a new carriageway on the western hillside, demolishing the medieval walls and towers of the Újvilág-kert terrace. The narrowness of the natural plateau of the Castle Hill meant there was not enough space for the new Krisztinaváros wing, which Ybl solved by erecting a substructure down to the foot of the hill. The monumental western façade sits on this windowless, three storey high substructure. The whole block covered almost the entire hill, but the main façade on the cour dhonneur had the same modest height as the Baroque palace. The façade was clad with stone slabs, while the old parts are stuccoed; hence, the difference between the original Baroque and the Neo-Renaissance wings is obvious. The formerly open cour d&#39;honneur became a closed court with an arched gateway, guarded by the four lions of the sculptor, János Fadrusz. The court is called Lions Court (or Oroszlános udvar).</p><br>
<p>The work began on 1 May 1890, but Ybl died on 22 January 1891. His successor, Alajos Hauszmann, slightly modified the plans of the Krisztinaváros wing. In 1896 the building reached the level of the court, and King Franz Joseph ceremoniously laid down the foundation stone of the palace, which was soon completed.</p><br>
<p>In 1893, the 25th anniversary of King Franz Josephs coronation was celebrated in the Royal Palace. However, the old banqueting hall proved to be too small, so Hauszmann enlarged the room by knocking down and reconstructing the wall towards the cour dhonneur (which additionally had the Hillebrandt façade).</p><br>
<p>In spite of this expansion and Ybl&#39;s new wing, the palace was still deemed insufficient for great royal celebrations, so another round of construction began. The north wing, standing on the site of the old Zeughaus, was completely designed by Hauszmann. The architect doubled the Baroque palace on the Danube side, generally imitating its traditional architectural style. At the meeting point of the old and the new wings, a colonnaded portico was erected, with a lavishly-decorated tympanum (with allegorical statues by Károly Sennyey) and a flight of stairs called the Habsburg Stairs. The whole palace was crowned with a dome with a copy of the Crown of St. Stephen at its apex. The dome, like other details of the north wing, shows German Jugendstil influences, as does the rear façade towards the western forecourt. This forecourt also contains the Matthias Fountain (Hungarian: Mátyás kútja) by sculptor Alajos Stróbl. Above the main gate, towards Szent György tér, stood a statue of the Goddess Hungaria. This side was the main façade of the complex, but it was much shorter and less characteristic than the long Danube façade. The old Chapel of the Holy Right was demolished to make room for a carriageway.</p><br>
<p>Hauszmann designed a new riding school in the former Újvilág terrace, which was now named the Csikós court, after the Csikós statue of György Vastagh (now in the western forecourt). In front of the long Danube façade, an equestrian statue was erected in honour of Prince Eugene of Savoy, the victorious leader of the Habsburg army in the Battle of Zenta. The eastern forecourt was closed off with a lavish wrought-iron rail, which ended in a pillar crowned by a statue of the legendary Turul, the sacred bird of the Magyars, spreading its wings above Budapest. Two flights of stairs led up to the Szent György tér, which was on much higher ground.</p><br>
<p>In the western forecourt, Hauszmann designed a new neo-Baroque guardhouse and rebuilt the old Royal Stables. The Royal Gardens on the southern hillside were famous for their precious plants, glass houses and picturesque terraces. In the middle of the gardens stood the Swiss House of Queen Elisabeth, furnished with Hungarian folk art objects. The house was built above the ruins of the medieval gatehouse, partially making use of them.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the palace was decorated and furnished exclusively with works of the leading Hungarian artists of the age. The Royal Palace was officially inaugurated in 1912. Contemporary critics praised it as the most outstanding Hungarian building of the turn of the 20th century.</p><br>
<h3>Interbellum years and World War II</h3><br>
<p>The Hauszmann palace existed for around three decades: on 30 December 1916, the building played a part in the coronation ceremony of the last Hungarian king, Charles IV of Hungary. After the 1918 revolution and the removal of the Habsburg dynasty, the Royal Palace became the seat of the new regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, Miklós Horthy. Horthy lived in the Krisztinaváros wing with his family between the years of 1920 and 1944. In this era the palace was the centre of Hungarian political and social life. Famous guests entertained by Horthy in the palace included King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy in 1937 and Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (later Pope Pius XII) in 1938.</p><br>
<p>On 16 October 1944 a Nazi German commando unit, led by Otto Skorzeny, occupied the Royal Palace and forced the regent to abdicate. Buda Castle was the last major stronghold of Budapest held by Axis forces during the siege of Budapest between 29 December 1944 and 13 February 1945. The German and Hungarian forces defending the castle attempted to break the Soviet blockade on 11 February 1945, but failed. Allegedly the Soviet Red Army knew about their plans and had aimed heavy weapons at the possible escape routes hours earlier. This is considered one of the biggest disasters of Hungarian military history.</p><br>
<p>Heavy fights and artillery fire rendered the palace into ruins. The furniture vanished, roofs and vaults collapsed and the southern and western wings were burned out. The destruction was comparable to that of the great siege of 1686.</p><br>
<h3>Reconstruction</h3><br>
<p>Immediately after the war, archeological research was begun in order to unearth the remains of the medieval castle. The research, led by László Gerő (1946–1966) and László Zolnay (1967–1979), was likely the biggest castle excavation in Europe. The former Royal Gardens stairways, pavilions and glass houses, which dated from the turn of the 20th century, had to be sacrificed. Important parts of the former Sigismund and Matthias Palace had survived under the thick earth fill.</p><br>
<p>The first reconstruction plan of the medieval remains was written by László Gerő in 1950 and finalised in 1952. The reconstruction work was finished in 1966. Contrary to the generally accepted principles of historic reconstruction, the medieval fortification system was rebuilt in its entirety. Important elements like the 16th century Great Rondella and the medieval Gatehouse, the Mace Tower, the walls and the zwingers were reconstructed according to the results of the archaeological research and contemporary pictorial evidence. The low-lying southern wing of the Gothic palace was also reconstructed, together with the vaulted Gothic Hall and the Lower Church of the former Royal Chapel. Medieval-style gardens were planted in the zwingers. The foundation of the Stephen&#39;s Tower was unearthed, but as archaeological evidence was lacking, the tower was not reconstructed. The remains of the Broken Tower were covered again.</p><br>
<p>The large-scale reconstruction of the medieval fortifications substantially changed the cityscape of Budapest. At the time it was considered a highly successful project, reconciling historical authenticity with urban-planning demands.</p><br>
<p>In the 1970s, archeological research continued on the northern and western side of the palace, led by László Zolnay. It produced many important achievements, including the Late Gothic Buda Castle Statues. The Karakash Pasha Tower, in the Újvilág Garden, was a Turkish-era tower demolished at the end of the 19th century. Photographic evidence enabled its reconstruction, but the new tower was only a copy of the original, and the details are not considered authentic.</p><br>
<h3>Modernization</h3><br>
<p>The government made a decision about reconstruction only in 1948. According to contemporary photos, all the important interiors were in a damaged state, but their reconstruction was technically possible. The new communist government of Hungary considered the Royal Palace a symbol of the former regime. Therefore, Hungarian leaders chose to thoroughly modernise the interior and exterior of the palace. Architectural trends played a part in the decision, as modernist architects had condemned the Hauszmann style as "too ornate".</p><br>
<p>The first modernist reconstruction plan was made by architect István Janáky in 1950. His controversial concept was later modified. In 1952 the Hungarian government asked for help from Poland, because they had successfully rebuilt Warsaw and, indeed, other cities. A delegation of Polish experts, led by the architectural historian Jan Zachwatowicz, proposed the rebuilding of the Hauszmann palace.</p><br>
<p>During the 1950s the palace was gutted and all the remaining interior, including the rooms and halls that were undamaged, were destroyed. Important exterior details, such as the main entrance, the Habsburg Steps, the dome, the Royal Stables, the guardhouse and the riding school were demolished, and the remaining façades were simplified. In Lions Court the ornate gates of Kings Stairs and Diplomats Stairs were demolished. The doorway of the castle church disappeared, as did the chapel. The detailed Neo-Baroque roofs were simplified and plain new windows were installed. The allegorical sculpture group of the tympanum was destroyed.</p><br>
<p>At the same time however, medieval elements that were uncovered were reconstructed in what was thought their appearance was. No precise drawings existed of the medieval elements, therefore an approximate reconstruction of their appearance was done.</p><br>
<p>The modernist dome was designed by Lajos Hidasi in 1961 after Italian Baroque models. The palace was rebuilt by 1966, but the interior spaces were ready only in the 1980s. Buda Castle became a cultural centre, home to three museums and the National Széchényi Library.</p><br>
<h3>21st century</h3><br>
<p>In March 2006 the National Office of Cultural Heritage finalised the long-term development plan of Buda Castle. Asserting that the modernisation in 1952–66 caused irreversible damage, they proposed the partial reconstruction of the façades, including the dome and the Habsburg Steps. No decision has been reached about the realization of the development plan.</p><br>
<p>On 25 July 2007 Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány chose the medieval King&#39;s Cellar in Buda Castle as the place to announce the list of the "most important public works projects", which was financed by European Union funds between 2007–2013.</p><br>
<p>In 2008 an international consortium began to build an underground garage for 700 cars under the former Csikós Court. The developer was granted permission to demolish a 4.5 m section of the 15th-century castle wall. The demolition was carried out in spite of criticism from archeologists and the public. The area had been previously excavated by archeologists, who discovered many important finds, including medieval children&#39;s toys and a tooth from the pet leopard of King Matthias Corvinus. Additionally, the area outside the inner walls was used as a garbage dump during the 15th–17th centuries. However, financial difficulties interrupted the construction of the garage in 2009; work resumed for a short time in November 2011 but stopped again after the completion of the concrete basement slab. The government granted 1.3 billion forint for the completion of the project in 2015 after the half-built garage was bought by the state.</p><br>
<p>The castle courtyard was also used as the setting for Katy Perry&#39;s 2010 music video, "Firework", part of her Teenage Dream album.</p><br>
<h2>Medieval wing</h2><br>
<p>In 1958–1962, architect László Gerő partially recreated the façades of the Gothic castle facing the narrow southern, western and eastern courts. Only the ground and first floors were reconstructed; the castle was originally much higher. The unfinished façade stops at the level of the Baroque terrace above, with two windows opening towards the southern court and another two opening towards the eastern court. The four almost-identical windows are square, four-panel stone constructions of very fine Gothic craftsmanship, with their outer frames decorated with small columns. One window, which had been walled up, was discovered in situ during archeological research, and the others were reconstructed from fragments by the sculptor Ernő Szakál by means of anastylosis. The ground floor openings are simpler. An arched stone doorway gives access to the southern court from the cellar under the Gothic Hall.</p><br>
<p>The façade was originally plastered. The whitewashed surface was decorated with a painted pattern in a rusty hue, resembling rustication. Fragments of painted geometrical decoration, a common feature on the medieval buildings of Buda, were discovered on the eastern façade, but it was not restored.</p><br>
<p>A Gothic balcony tower projects from the wall at the end of the eastern façade. Its reconstruction was a much debated issue, because the balcony tower goes above the level of the Baroque terrace, disturbing the harmonious panorama of the palace. On the other hand, it clearly indicates that there are higher, missing floors.</p><br>
<p>The balcony tower is a two-storey structure standing on a wide stone basement. The first floor is a solid stone wall without any openings and the niche behind it belongs to the Gothic Hall. The second floor has a balcony with three windows; it is now closed off by a glass wall. Originally it would have been part of an important ceremonial room. The balcony is in the shape of half an octagon. The three Gothic double lancet windows are considered the most important architectural elements of the tower and the profiles; frames and mullions were restored in a simplified form, using many of the original stones. The tower is covered with a flat metal roof.</p><br>
<p>The Gothic Hall is connected to Stephen&#39;s Castle (István vár) on the western side. It was named after Prince Stephen, Duke of Slavonia, the younger brother of King Louis I of Hungary. Built in the 1340s–1370s, it is the oldest part of the medieval royal palace. Only the foundation and three interconnected barrel-vaulted rooms survive.</p><br>
<p>Stephens Tower (István torony) was the keep of Stephens Castle. However, it was destroyed by an explosion in 1686. The ground floor walls were discovered a little time after 1946. It was a square building (11.7 × 11.1 m), built upon the rock surface of Castle Hill. The walls are 2.31 to 2.7 m thick with narrow arrowslits on the southern, western and northern sides. The original doorway, on the eastern side, was walled up after the Gothic Hall was built in the 15th century.</p><br>
<p>Stephen&#39;s Tower was originally a free-standing structure, sited differently from later buildings. The triangle in front of it was walled up to create a continuous southern façade for the palace. During post-war reconstruction, this part of the façade (with a broken stone doorway) was not reconstructed. A vaulted room (6.2 × 6.3 m) on the ground floor was still intact in 1820, according to a contemporary drawing. Although the ribs, corbels and key stone were discovered during archeological research, the room was not reconstructed. A spiral stairway had connected the room with the missing higher floors.</p><br>
<p>The remaining part of the Stephen&#39;s Castle (with the barrel-vaulted rooms behind) has a simple stone façade with a Gothic doorway. The pointed arch was later restored.</p><br>
<h2>Interior</h2><br>
<p>The interior from the time of Maria Theresa and Franz Joseph was mostly destroyed during World War II and the post-war reconstruction, excluding the Palatinal Crypt, which survived both. Little information exists about the interiors from the medieval and Baroque eras, but the palace built at the turn of the 20th century was meticulously recorded, using detailed descriptions, photographic documentation and grounds plans. Architect Alajos Hauszmann said about the royal apartments: "I created a 200 m long series of rooms, longer than any similar royal apartments in continental Europe except Versailles."</p><br>
<p>A series of rooms from the medieval castle were unearthed and reconstructed during the post-war rebuilding of Buda Castle in 1958–62. They are now part of the permanent exhibition of the Budapest History Museum in "Building E" of Buda Castle.</p><br>
<h3>Medieval period</h3><br>
<h4>Architectural context</h4><br>
<p>Only a fragment of the medieval castle survived the destruction of 1686–1715. The surviving rooms are not considered the most important ones; and none of the more famous rooms and buildings mentioned in the medieval sources exist today. The rooms which were unearthed after 1946 were only saved by chance and by their geographical position at a lower level than the newly created Baroque terrace. The Gothic Hall and the Palace Chapel were built by King Sigismund Luxemburg at the beginning of the 15th century. The castle wing is surrounded by a complex system of medieval fortifications.</p><br>
<h4>Castle chapel</h4><br>
<p>The first chapel in the castle was probably built in the 14th century during the reign of Louis I of Hungary. Eberhard Windecke claimed in his Chronicle that Charles II of Hungary was murdered in 1386 in a room from which the royal chapel could be seen. The chapel was again mentioned in the Chronicle of Lorenzo de Monacis, which was written around 1390.</p><br>
<p>King Sigismund of Luxemburg thoroughly rebuilt the old Anjou castle during the first decades of the 15th century. He erected a Gothic church in place of the former chapel. The Anjou castle&#39;s façade was now facing towards the inner palace courtyard, and the long chancel was projecting from the eastern side of the palace. The chancel was built upon a lower church due to a lack of space on the narrow plateau. The church had a 21 m nave and an 11 m chancel. The flamboyant Royal Church of Buda Castle was similar to the more famous Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.</p><br>
<p>Archeological research proved the date of the church, because 15th-century strata were discovered under the intact brick floor of the lower church.</p><br>
<p>In November 1489, Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire sent the relics of John the Almoner to King Matthias Corvinus. The King placed the relics in the Royal Chapel, which was re-dedicated and embellished with Renaissance furniture. In 1526, Buda was plundered by the Ottoman Turks after the Battle of Mohács. The relics were rescued in time and carried to Pressburg, where they are still kept currently. A surviving church inventory from 1530 shows a wealth of furnishings. Later, King János Szapolyai converted the lower church into a bastion. The large Gothic windows were walled up; and only the rectangular arrow slits were left open.</p><br>
<p>In 1541 the Ottoman Turks captured Buda without resistance, and the Royal Church ceased to be a place of Christian worship. The upper church was destroyed in the 1686 siege of Buda, and the ruins were demolished in 1715. The vault of the lower church collapsed, and the interior was filled with rubbish. The remains were then buried under the new Baroque terrace for two centuries.</p><br>
<p>The ruins of the lower church were discovered by archeologists in 1949–50. The remains were buried in 1953 because of conceptional disputes about the possible reconstruction. The chapel, finally reconstructed by 1963, was re-consecrated in 1990.</p><br>
<h4>Gothic Hall</h4><br>
<p>The Gothic Hall is one of the most important surviving example of secular Gothic architecture in Central Europe. It was built by King Sigismund of Luxemburg in the early 15th century as an extension of the earlier Anjou palace. It was built on the southern edge of the natural rock plateau of Castle Hill. The level difference between the plateau and the southern court was about 2.79 m. A vaulted cellar was built under the hall to span this difference.</p><br>
<p>The Gothic Hall is an irregular rectangle of 20.2 xx, with a closed niche on the eastern side, which is the inside of the balcony tower. It is divided into two naves with Gothic rib vaults. The vaults are supported by two massive pillars which come up through the floor from the cellar beneath the room, and in addition, half-pillars in the corners support the ribs. All six vaults are quadripartite, and the two on the inner side are irregularly shaped.</p><br>
<p>The hall has four windows, two on the southern side and two on the eastern side, with stone benches in the window niches. The Hall was connected to the palace through a door in the northern wall, supposedly on the place of the original doorway. The northern section of the floor is three steps higher.</p><br>
<p>All the newly built side walls were plastered and painted white, while the original stone surfaces were left uncovered. The ribs, pillars, arches and window niches were restored by sculptor Ernő Szakál in 1961–62. The ribs have a simple profile, but fragments of a more complicated type were also found in the rubble, together with keystones. These pieces supposedly belonged to another stately hall situated above the room, but they were built into the reconstructed vaults by restorers in the 20th-century.</p><br>
<p>The northern pillar of the Gothic Hall was already discovered by Alajos Hauszmann at the beginning of the 20th century. The remains were buried under the outbuildings of the Royal Gardens, and Hauszmann protected the medieval pillar by building a brick shaft around it.</p><br>
<h4>Barrel-vaulted rooms</h4><br>
<p>Three interconnected barrel-vaulted rooms belong to the oldest part of the palace, Stephen&#39;s Castle, which was built by Prince Stephen, Duke of Slavonia, in the 14th century. The northern room is larger (6.62 xx) than the southern ones (5 xx). The northern room is covered by an east-west axial vault while the southern rooms have north-south axial vaults.</p><br>
<p>The southern room is connected to the inner courtyard by a doorway. There is a small window high on the western wall. The middle room has a similar window. The larger northern room has three slit windows, one facing west and two facing north, all had iron rails. The rooms were connected to each other with carved Gothic corbel doors. The walls were originally plastered. In the southern room, a medieval stairway led to a trapdoor and a medieval toilet hidden in the empty space between the walls of the castle and the keep.</p><br>
<p>The barrel vaulted rooms were supposedly used as a prison in the Middle Ages. Later the southern vaults collapsed. The intact barrel vault of the northern room was broken by Alajos Hauszmann at the beginning of the 20th century when he filled the cellar with rubble. The barrel-vaulted rooms were restored in 1958–1962.</p><br>
<h4>Albrecht Cellar</h4><br>
<p>A medieval cellar north of the barrel-vaulted rooms, later called Albrecht pince (Albrecht Cellar), is covered with a Gothic brick barrel vault. The walls are blackened from burning. The cellar was probably built by King Sigismund of Luxemburg as the Cisterna Regia, i.e. the great underground cistern of the palace.</p><br>
<p>The Cisterna Regia was situated under the former northern zwinger of the palace. This small rectangular courtyard became a private royal garden during the reign of King Matthias Corvinus. The private garden was an early Renaissance giardino segreto (hidden garden). It was designed by architect Chimenti Camicia in the 1470s. A well in the middle of the garden was fed by the cistern underneath.</p><br>
<p>The hidden garden, the well and the cistern survived the 1686 siege of Buda. They were indicated on the plans of the area drawn by military architect Joseph de Haüy in 1687. In 1715–1724 the former Cisterna Regia became the cellar of the new Baroque palace. A section of this room was later used as an ice chamber.</p><br>
<h4>King's Cellar</h4><br>
<p>The King&#39;s Cellar (Király pince) is not a medieval structure, but a Baroque-era brick cellar under the Danube side of Building E. It was filled with tons of earth and rubble, and the original eastern façade of the medieval royal palace survived under the fill. The inner walls of the Baroque palace were actually built upon the old façade. Only the 7 m basement section of the original façade remained.</p><br>
<p>This wing was built by King Sigismund of Luxenburg in the early 15th century and was rebuilt by King Matthias Corvinus 50 years later. The surviving eastern façade was built from large, finely carved blocks of stone. It followed the contour of Castle Hill with a break in the middle. A buttress was added and a rectangular tower with two buttresses on its corners. The lower part of a balcony on the tower was reconstructed, with three elegant Gothic corbels decorated with cusps.</p><br>
<p>It was not possible to demolish the King&#39;s Cellar because the whole Baroque palace was resting upon it; the inner fill was removed in 1961. The medieval façade was reconstructed inside the cellar space between 1961–1965. Large windows were cut in the outer wall of the cellar to let in the daylight. Currently, the architectural history of the palace is discernible by viewing the interwoven layers of the past.</p><br>
<p>On 25 July 2007 Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány chose the King&#39;s Cellar as the place to announce the list of the "most important public works projects", financed by European Union funds between 2007–2013.</p><br>
<h3>Baroque and Historicism</h3><br>
<h4>Old ceremonial rooms</h4><br>
<p>The old ceremonial rooms were as follows:</p><br>
<h4>="Zenta" Room=</h4><br>
<p>The "Zenta" Room ("Zenta" előterem) was on the first floor of the Baroque wing, was situated next to the audience antechamber. It opened from the main staircase of the central wing and was the first room of the ceremonial apartments on that side. In the early 1900s, it had a white-golden stucco decoration with one chandelier. The name of the chamber referred to the large painting of the Battle of Zenta contained therein.</p><br>
<h4>=Audience Antechamber=</h4><br>
<p>The Audience Antechamber (Fogadási váróterem) was situated north of the ballroom on the first floor of the Baroque wing. In the Baroque era it was called Antichambre Ihrer Majestat der Kaiserin ("Her Majesty the Empress Antechamber"). The room gave access to Maria Theresas private apartments from the ballroom. In the early 1900s, the audience antechamber became part of the ceremonial apartments and had the same white-golden Rococo stucco decoration as the white antechamber on the other side.</p><br>
<h4>=Grand Throne Room=</h4><br>
<p>The Grand Throne Room (Nagy trónterem), formerly known as the ballroom (Nagyterem), on the first floor of the Baroque wing had several layers of Baroque decoration from the second half of the 18th and the 19th century. Two surviving drawings record the oldest form of the room. Jakob Schmutzers drawing from 1777 shows the opening ceremony of the Eötvös Loránd University after it was moved to the palace. The room had a Late Baroque decoration with double grooved Corinthian pilasters between the windows and stucco garlands. The walls were decorated with Vinzenz Fischers frescoes of the four faculties. József Pollencig&#39;s drawing from 1795 shows a ball scene in the "Prunksaal". The pilasters were kept, but the frescoes were already covered, and the whole room was stuccoed. On the vault the coat-of-arms of the Kingdom of Hungary can be seen. After the destruction of the 1849 siege, the room was redecorated in Neo-Baroque style. In 1892 the old ballroom was rebuilt with a new ceiling and a gallery towards the Lions Court; three of its side walls were preserved. It was enlarged again after 1896. The function of the ballroom was given to another new hall and this room was converted into the main throne hall instead. In the early 1900s, the room had a Rococo white-golden stucco decoration with three large chandeliers.</p><br>
<p>Vinzenz Fischer&#39;s frescoes were re-discovered in 1953 during the post-war reconstruction. In spite of this, all the decoration layers were destroyed. Today it houses the Gothic altar collection of the Hungarian National Gallery.</p><br>
<h4>=White Antechamber=</h4><br>
<p>The White Antechamber (Fehér előterem) is on the first floor of the Baroque wing and was situated south of the throne room. In the Baroque era it was called Zweyten Antichambre ("second antechamber"). In the early 1900s it had a Rococo white-golden stucco decoration with one chandelier and a white Rococo stove.</p><br>
<h4>="Coronation" Room=</h4><br>
<p>The "Coronation" Room ("Koronázás" előterem), also on the first floor of the Baroque wing, was situated next to the white antechamber. It opened from the main staircase of the southern wing and was the first room of the ceremonial apartments on that side. In the early 1900s it had a white-golden stucco decoration with one chandelier. The name of the chamber referred to the painting of Franz Joseph I&#39;s coronation as King of Hungary after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867.</p><br>
<h4>Old royal apartments</h4><br>
<p>The old royal apartments are as follows:</p><br>
<h4>=Small Throne Room=</h4><br>
<p>The Small Throne Room (Kis trónterem), which was situated next to the Audience Antechamber on the first floor of the Baroque wing. In the Baroque era it was called Audienz-Zimmer and was part of the Empress private apartments. In Hauszmanns time it was converted into the throne room of the palace, with a simple Baroque throne under a baldachin. It had a white-golden stucco decoration with one chandelier and a Rococo tile stove.</p><br>
<h4>="Circle" Tearoom=</h4><br>
<p>The "Circle" Tearoom ("Circle" teaszalon) was on the first floor of the Baroque wing and situated next to the small throne room, in the corner of the southern wing. In the Baroque era it was called Gesellschaft Zimmer Ihrer Majestat der Kaiserin ("Her Majesty the Empress Parlour") and was part of Maria Theresas private apartments. In the early 1900s, it had a white-golden stucco decoration with one chandelier and a Rococo tile stove. The furniture consisted a Rococo parlour suite.</p><br>
<h4>=Antechamber=</h4><br>
<p>The Antechamber was on the first floor of the Baroque wing and was situated next to the "circle" tearoom with two windows opening on to the Danube. In the Baroque era it was called Ankleide-Zimmer Ihrer Majestät der Kaiserin ("Her Majesty the Empress Dressing Room") and was part of Maria Theresas private apartments. It was connected to another small room, the Frauen Kammer. In Hauszmann&#39;s time the walls were largely clad with wallpaper. The furniture consisted a Rococo tile stove, chairs and paintings. The last small room of the Empress, the former Schreib cabinet ("writing room"), with one window opening on to the Danube, later became a simple passageway.</p><br>
<h4>=Smoking Room=</h4><br>
<p>The Smoking Room (Dohányzó szalon) was on the first floor of the Baroque wing and was situated in the middle of the Danube side of the old palace. In the Baroque era it was called Schlafzimmer Ihrer k.k. Majestäten ("The Imperial Couple’s Bedroom"). It was the only common room of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I. In the early 1900s, the walls were largely hung with wallpaper. The furniture consisted a Rococo parlour suite and paintings. In the old imperial apartments only the ceilings had the typically white-golden stucco decoration, used in the old ceremonial apartments.</p><br>
<h4>=Writing Room=</h4><br>
<p>The Writing Room (Írószoba) was on the first floor of the Baroque wing, was formerly part of the private apartments of Francis I. One window opened to the Danube. In the Baroque era it was called Ankleidecabinet S.M. des Kaisers ("Emperor’s Dressing Room"). It was connected to another small room, the second dressing room. Later, the imperial dressing room was divided with a wall; with half being converted into a simple passageway, the other into a small writing room. In the early 1900s the latter&#39;s walls were largely clad with a very ornate Rococo wallpaper. It had a white marble mantelpiece with a large Rococo mirror above.</p><br>
<h4>=Parlour=</h4><br>
<p>The Parlour (Társalkodó terem), on the first floor of the Baroque wing, was part of the private apartments of Francis I. It was situated in the corner of the southern wing with 2+3 windows opening on to the Danube. In the Baroque era the room was divided with a wall, one half named Empfangs Zimmer S.M. des Kaisers ("Imperial Audience Room"), the other Arbeits Cabinet ("Study"). In Hauszmann&#39;s time, it was converted to a great parlour with wallpaper clad walls, a Rococo tile stove, a chandelier, paintings, chairs and a mirror.</p><br>
<h4>=Antechamber=</h4><br>
<p>The Antechamber, on the first floor of the Baroque wing, was the last room of the former private apartments of Francis I. In the Baroque era it was called Zweyten Audienz Zimmer ("second audience room"). In Hauszmann&#39;s time the walls were mainly clad with wallpaper, and it had a Rococo tile stove, a chandelier, paintings and chairs.</p><br>
<h4>South Wing</h4><br>
<p>The rooms of the south wing are as follows:</p><br>
<h4>=Baroque Court=</h4><br>
<p>The Baroque Court (Barokk udvar), a rectangular court, which is the oldest part of the Baroque palace. Here the original 18–19th century façades survived, and in 1997 the court was covered with a glass roof and became the main exhibition hall of the Budapest History Museum.</p><br>
<h4>=King's Staircase=</h4><br>
<p>The Kings Staircase (Király-lépcső), the Baroque main staircase of the southern wing gave access to the private apartments of Emperor Francis I. Both the Kings Staircase and its northern twin, the Diplomat&#39;s Staircase, had ornate gates opening onto Lions Court, decorated with telamons. The kitchens were originally situated on the ground floor of the southern wing, but they were relocated by Hauszmann.</p><br>
<h4>Central Wing</h4><br>
<p>The central wing had the following rooms:</p><br>
<h4>=Diplomat's Staircase=</h4><br>
<p>The Diplomats Staircase (Diplomata-lépcső) was the Baroque main staircase of the central (originally northern) wing and gave access to the private apartments of Maria Theresa. In the 18th century there was an officers dining room and a smaller kitchen on the ground floor and another dining room with a cafe kitchen on the first floor. The southern and northern (later central) wings had the same ground plan: all the rooms opened from a passageway running along the sides of a rectangular central court. The two monumental stairways were rebuilt by Hauszmann in Neo-Baroque style.</p><br>
<h4>=St Stephen's Chapel=</h4><br>
<p>St Stephen&#39;s Chapel, known before as St. Sigismund Chapel, or Castle Church (Szent Zsigmond-kápolna, Vártemplom) was the chapel royal in the western end of this wing, which had no façades, only a door opening onto Lions Court (through an antechamber). Construction was finished in 1768 and the church was consecrated in 1769. The ground plan was drawn by Nicolaus Pacassi, with the interior was designed by his follower, Franz Anton Hillebrandt. The ground plan followed a typical "violin" form favoured in the Baroque church architecture of Central Europe at that time. It had a rectangular chancel and a nave with four bays for side altars. On the first and the second floors two oratories opened into the chancel and a two-storey high gallery was situated above the entrance. In 1777–78 a new door was opened in the first side bay to give access to the new chapel of the Holy Right. An engraving from 1771–80 shows the original interior design in its completed form: double pilasters, windows with segmental arches, stucco and false marble decoration, double oratory windows and a doorway with a stucco veil drawn aside by flying putti. The church was slightly rebuilt by Hauszmann, who demolished the Chapel of the Holy Right in 1899 and built a new chapel for the relic behind the chancel (converting a small recess). This chapel was decorated with the golden Venetian mosaics of Károly Lotz. A new Neo-Baroque main altar was built in the church in 1899.</p><br>
<p>20th-century photos testify that the church survived in its Baroque form until the war. During a siege, the vaults of the church partially collapsed and the furniture was plundered. The Castle Church was left decaying for more than a decade. In 1957 the remaining two vaults collapsed, and the church was totally destroyed and converted to exhibition spaces. The altar table was rescued and re-erected in Pilisvörösvár in 1957. The Lotz mosaics from the Chapel of the Holy Right were also rescued and re-assembled in Balatonalmádi.</p><br>
<h4>=Palatinal Crypt=</h4><br>
<p>The Palatinal Crypt (Nádori kripta) was under the former palace chapel and is the only surviving room of the whole Royal Castle. The underground crypt was first used as a burial place between 1770–1777. In August 1820, Elisabeth Karoline, Palatine Josephs infant daughter was buried in the crypt. Seventeen years later, the Palatines 13-year-old son Alexander Leopold followed. Palatine Joseph decided to convert the crypt into a family mausoleum and commissioned Franz Hüppmann with the task. The work was finished in 1838, and other members of the Palatine&#39;s family were reburied here. Palatine Joseph himself was interred on 13 January 1847. The crypt was continuously used by the Hungarian branch of the Habsburg family. It was repeatedly restored and enriched with new works of art, frescoes, statues and ornate stone sarcophagi, made by renowned artists of the 19th century. The last member of the family buried there was Archduchess Klotild in 1927. The crypt survived the war unscathed and was spared during the post-war reconstruction.</p><br>
<p>The crypt was looted in 1966 and 1973 (during the construction works), when some corpses were thrown out of the sarcophagi by the thieves. The human remains were later identified and reburied. The crypt was restored in 1985–1987. Since then the Palatinal Crypt is part of the exhibition of the Hungarian National Gallery.</p><br>
<h4>North Wing</h4><br>
<h4>=Lobby=</h4><br>
<p>The main lobby (Előcsarnok) of the Royal Palace was situated in Hauszmann&#39;s Northern Wing on the Danube side. It was a long, rectangular hall divided into four sections with free standing Ionic columns and two square pillars. The section at the southern end was elevated a few steps. Nine arched windows opened towards the Danube. In the middle of the other sidewall, a doorway led to the inner courtyard. The walls and the ceiling were stuccoed. The southern elevation was closed off with a stone balustrade between the pillars and the wall. The ornate lobby was designed for important state ceremonies.</p><br>
<h4>=Grand Ballroom=</h4><br>
<p>The Grand Ballroom (Nagy bálterem), in the middle part of the northern wing, took over the function of the smaller old ballroom in the Baroque wing. Designed by Hauszmann, it was the most splendid room of the palace. The two-storey high, airy room was lavishly decorated with stuccoes, half columns, trabeation, balconies and six crystal chandeliers in Neo-Baroque style. Seven arched windows and doorways opened towards a pillared terrace facing the western forecourt. On the other side, the ballroom was connected to the Buffet Hall through three doors.</p><br>
<p>Photos made after the war show the room with its vaulted ceiling collapsed. The ballroom was not restored but totally destroyed in the course of the post-war remodelling.</p><br>
<h4>=Dining Hall=</h4><br>
<p>The Dining Hall (Buffet-csarnok), on the Danube side of the northern wing, was a very long hall used for state banquets. It was connected to the Great Ballroom nearby and it was possible to join them together. There was a shorter, passage-like space between the two rooms. This passage was separated from the Buffet Hall by six square pillars, while its other side was a solid wall with three doors. On the eastern side of the Buffet Hall a long row of windows opened towards the Danube and a pillared terrace. The Buffet Hall was divided into three sections with free-standing Ionic columns, holding trabeations. The vaulted ceiling was lavishly decorated with frescoes and stuccoes.</p><br>
<h4>=Habsburg Hall=</h4><br>
<p>The Habsburg Hall (Habsburg terem) was situated in the middle of the long palace complex, under Hauszmanns (false) dome, where the new northern wing and the old palace met. Although this part of the building belonged to the original palace, it was thoroughly rebuilt by Hauszmann–this stately room was totally his own work. It was one of the three historical rooms of the palace representing the important periods of Hungarian history. A free-standing, double flight of steps, called the Habsburg Steps, connected the room with the Royal Gardens on the Danube terrace. The room had lavish Baroque decorations with half-pillars and gilded stuccoes. The vaulted ceiling was decorated with Károly Lotzs fresco Apotheosis of the Habsburg Dynasty. Károly Senyei&#39;s four Carrara marble busts stood in front of the sidewalls representing King Charles III, Queen Maria Theresa, King Franz Joseph and Queen Elisabeth.</p><br>
<p>The Habsburg Hall survived World War II relatively undamaged, but in the 1950s it was demolished for political reasons.</p><br>
<h4>Krisztinaváros wing</h4><br>
<p>The Krisztinaváros wing faces the district of Krisztinaváros, which was named in honour of the daughter of Queen Maria Theresa, Archduchess Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen.</p><br>
<h4>=Entrance hall=</h4><br>
<p>The entrance hall (Előcsarnok) opened from Lions Court, under an arcaded Neo-Renaissance portico, through ornate wrought-iron doors. This now serves as the entrance of the Hungarian National Library. The hall was a long, oblong-shaped room with 4+4 free standing Ionic columns in front of the walls on the longer sides, holding a trabeation. In the end of the shorter sides two doors opened into antechambers. The three arcaded doorways on the longer side opened into a lobby. The ceiling of the hallway was stuccoed, and the whole design was Italian Renaissance in style.</p><br>
<h4>=Lobby=</h4><br>
<p>The lobby (Előcsarnok) was connected to the hall of the main staircase through pillars. The stuccoed ceiling was held up by two rectangular pillars. The apartments of Archduke József Ágost and his wife, Archduchess Auguszta, were situated on the ground floor of the Krisztinaváros wing and opened from this room. Now it serves as the lobby of the Hungarian National Library in a radically modernised form.</p><br>
<h4>=Main Staircase=</h4><br>
<p>The monumental main staircase (Főlépcsőház), with three flights, led up from the lobby to the first floor in an airy, glass-roofed hall. The side walls of the hall were decorated in Italian Renaissance style with colossal Corinthian half-columns, stuccoes and lunette openings. Ornate wrought-iron chandeliers and intricate balustrades decorated the stairs. On the ground floor, colossal Atlas statues stood beside the side pillars, holding the weight of the upper flights. The marble statues were the works of János Fadrusz from 1897. During the post-war reconstruction the main staircase was radically modernised. Only the two colossal Atlas statues survived. Now they are standing somewhat incongruently near their original places.</p><br>
<h4>=St Stephen's Room=</h4><br>
<p>St Stephens Room ("Szent István" terem), on the first floor of the Krisztinaváros wing, was one of the "historical rooms" of the palace, created by Hauszmann. Together with the Matthias Room and the Habsburg Room, they represented the three most important periods of Hungarian history. Saint Stephens Room connected the new Private Royal Apartments and—through a very long passageway—the Old Royal Apartments in the Danube Wing. Its style evoked the age of the Árpáds, the first Hungarian dynasty in the early Middle Ages. The walls were clad with dark carved wood paneling. The most spectacular item was a large stone mantelpiece with Romanesque Revival architectural details and the bust of King Saint Stephen, the first king of Hungary. The room was furnished with medieval-looking metal chandeliers and heavy wooden furniture.</p><br>
<h4>=Matthias Room=</h4><br>
<p>Matthias Room (Mátyás terem) was named after King Matthias Corvinus, who ruled in the late Middle Ages. It was one of the three "historical rooms" of the palace, created by Hauszmann. The room opened from the Royal Bedroom, at the end of the line of private apartments. It had three windows opening towards the hills of Buda. There was a long terrace in front of the room. The style of the Matthias Room was Renaissance, with carved wooden paneling and a coffered ceiling. It was furnished with a mantelpiece in the corner and two chandeliers, the most spectacular item being the equestrian statue of King Matthias, sculpted by János Fadrusz. The statue was a miniature copy of the original standing on the main square of Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca). This copy was saved after the war and put on display in the Hungarian National Gallery.</p><br>
<h4>=Strong Room=</h4><br>
<p>The Hungarian crown jewels were kept in the specially-designed Strong Room (Páncélterem) on the second floor of the Krisztinaváros Wing. The Crown of Saint Stephen was kept here between 1900 and 1944.</p><br>
<h4>=Queen Elisabeth Memorial Museum=</h4><br>
<p>The small Queen Elisabeth Memorial Museum (Erzsébet Királyné Emlékmúzeum) on the second floor of the Krisztinaváros Wing was established in remembrance of Queen Elisabeth after her murder in 1898. Memorabilia were collected by Ida Ferenczy, Elisabeths former lady-in-waiting, Viscountess Pallavicini and Countess Ilona Batthyány. The museum opened on 15 January 1908 as an affiliate of the Hungarian National Museum. The collection contained personal items, letters and clothes. Its most important relic was the costume that Elisabeth had been wearing when she was murdered. One room was meticulously recreated as the Queens own writing room with her original writing desk and her 219 Hungarian books. The museum was badly damaged during World War II, and the surviving relics were bestowed to other museums.</p><br>
<h4>Private royal apartments</h4><br>
<h4>=Royal Entrance Hall=</h4><br>
<p>The Royal Entrance Hall (Fejedelmi előterem), on the first floor of the Krisztinaváros Wing, gave access to the rooms of the Private Royal Apartments of King Franz Joseph I. The private apartments were situated in the southwestern part of the Krisztinaváros wing, their windows opening towards the hills of Buda. The Royal Entrance Hall was connected through a wide passageway to the main staircase hall. The spacious, oblong-shaped hall was divided in three, with two pairs of Ionic marble columns supporting architraves. The central part of the room was much longer than the bays at the ends. Doors connected the hall with the rooms of the private apartments. In the middle of the longer wall stood an ornate stone mantelpiece with the bust of Franz Joseph. On the other side, three windows opened to the inner courtyard of the Krisztinaváros wing. The ceiling was stuccoed and the side walls of the hall were covered with marble.</p><br>
<h4>=Antechamber=</h4><br>
<p>The antechamber (Előterem) of the private apartments opened from the Royal Entrance Hall. It had three windows facing toward the hills. The room had a typical Biedermeier white-golden stucco decoration with floral wallpapers, resembling to the cosy rooms of Schönbrunn Palace. All the rooms of the private apartments followed this Viennese style favoured by the King. The antechamber was furnished with a stone mantelpiece (with a mirror above), an Empire crystal chandelier, a stone flowerpot standing on a fluted column and Neo-Renaissance table with chairs.</p><br>
<h4>=Audience Room=</h4><br>
<p>The audience room (Fogadószoba) of Franz Joseph I was situated in a corner of the private apartments wing, with two windows opening southwards and three windows opening westwards. It had a beautiful stuccoed and frescoed ceiling. The walls were covered with floral wallpapers. The room was furnished with a crystal chandelier, a golden Rococo console table with a large mirror and a parlour suite.</p><br>
<h4>=Writing Room=</h4><br>
<p>The writing room (Írószoba) of Franz Joseph had two windows opening towards the hills of Buda. It had a white-golden stuccoed ceiling and the walls were covered with floral wallpapers. The room was furnished with a crystal chandelier, an ornate white tile stove, a table and chairs. To the right and left two similar parlours opened from the room.</p><br>
<h4>=Royal Bedroom=</h4><br>
<p>The bedroom (Fejedelmi hálószoba) of the king had two windows opening towards the hills of Buda. It had a white-golden stuccoed ceiling and the walls were covered with floral wallpapers. The room was furnished with a crystal chandelier, the baldachined royal bed and a folding screen. The bedroom was connected to a dressing room, a private bathroom and smaller rooms belonging to the butler and the servants.</p><br>
<h4>=Royal Dining Hall=</h4><br>
<p>The Royal Dining Hall (Fejedelmi ebédlő) opened from the Royal Entrance Hall, and it was the largest room of the private apartments. The long hall had six windows opening towards Gellért Hill. Three crystal chandeliers gave light to the elegant stuccoed space. In the middle of the longer side wall, between the two doors, stood a marble mantelpiece.</p><br>
<h4>="Circle" Room=</h4><br>
<p>The "Circle" Room ("Circle" terem) opened from the Royal Dining Hall. It was the last room of the private apartments on the southern side, with three windows opening towards Gellért Hill. It had a white-golden stuccoed ceiling and the walls were covered with floral wallpapers. The room was furnished with a crystal chandelier, an ornate white tile stove and chairs.</p><br>
<h4>=Dining Room=</h4><br>
<p>The small dining room (Ebédlő) was situated in the northern part of the Krisztinaváros wing, among the other rooms of the Royal Guest Suite. Four windows opened towards Krisztinaváros. The ceiling was stuccoed, while the walls were covered with carved wooden panelling and wallpaper. A stone mantelpiece and large painting above it (depicting a hunting scene with a deer) gave a homey feeling to the room. It was furnished with a crystal chandelier and a long dining table with 12 chairs.</p><br>
<h4>Archducal Apartments</h4><br>
<p>These apartments, on the ground floor of the Krisztinaváros Wing, were designed in 1902 for Archduke Joseph August of Austria (1872–1962), the head of the Hungarian branch of the Habsburgs and his wife, Archduchess Augusta (1875–1964). They could be reached from the lobby of the Krisztinaváros wing through a long passageway. The most important rooms were (in due course): the salon, where guests were entertained; the great parlour; parlour; dining room; the Archdukes study; the Archdukes bedroom; the Archduchess bedroom; the Archduchess study; and the breakfast parlour. All rooms had a relatively simple decoration with white stuccoed ceilings and stucco panels above the doorways. The walls were covered with wallpaper. Crystal chandeliers, stone mantelpieces and typical turn-of-the-century furniture gave the rooms a homey ambiance. The great parlour was decorated with large paintings.</p><br>
<h2>Works of art</h2><br>
<p>The castle and its gardens have been decorated with works of art since their foundation in the 14th century. Only written sources speak about the most important medieval works, but detailed pictorial and written information exists about the 19th-century artistic decoration of the palace, which was mainly created by the most important Hungarian artists of the era. Many of the statues survived the destruction during the siege of Budapest in 1944–45 and were later restored. On the other hand, important works of art were destroyed during the controversial reconstruction of the castle during the 1950s and 1960s.</p><br>
<h3>Sculptural monuments</h3><br>
<p>The spectacular fountain decorates the western forecourt of the palace. It shows a group of hunters led by King Matthias Corvinus together with hounds, a killed deer, Galeotto Marzio with a hawk and Szép Ilonka with a doe. This group of people stands between fallen rocks with water running down into a basin. The fountain was made by sculptor Alajos Stróbl. The dead deer was modelled upon a majestic stag killed in 1896 by poachers in the forest owned by Stróbl. The damaged sculpture was restored after the war. Nowadays it is probably the most photographed object in the palace.</p><br>
<p>The equestrian statue of Prince Eugene of Savoy stands on the Danube terrace, in a prominent position, high above Budapest. The Neo-Baroque statue was made by sculptor József Róna for the town of Zenta, but the town could not afford the price. The monument was bought in 1900 as a temporary solution until the planned equestrian statue of King Franz Joseph was completed. This never happened, so Prince Eugen remained on his plinth. The plinth is decorated with two bronze reliefs showing the capture of the earth-works in Zenta and the decisive cavalry charge in the Battle of Zenta in 1697.</p><br>
<p>The statue of the Hortobágy National Park horseherd taming a wild horse originally stood in front of the Riding School in the former Újvilág terrace. It is the work of György Vastagh from 1901. The statue was displayed in the Exposition Universelle in Paris (1900). The damaged statue was removed during the 1960s, but it was later restored and erected in the western forecourt of the palace in 1983, next to the Matthias Fountain.</p><br>
<p>The mythological Turul, high above the Danube, was made by Gyula Donáth in 1905. The plinth and the ornate Neo-Baroque rail (Gyula Jungfer&#39;s work) was seriously damaged during the siege of Buda, but they were restored in 1981, together with the broken coat-of-arms of the Kingdom of Hungary on the plinth.</p><br>
<p>The Fountain of the Fishing Children on the Danube terrace is the work of sculptor Károly Senyei from 1912. It depicts two children grappling with a fish. The fine workmanship of the fishing net is remarkable. The fountain was removed in 1955 and re-erected at Rákóczi Square in Pest, but brought back to its original place in 1976. It was restored in 2001.</p><br>
<p>The two statues depicting Csongor and Tünde, literary figures from Mihály Vörösmarty&#39;s drama, originally decorated the Habsburg Steps in front of the palace. They are the works of sculptor Miklós Ligeti from 1903. The steps were demolished after the war, but the statues were saved and re-erected in 1976 on top of two simple concrete plinths near their original locations.</p><br>
<p>Two pairs of lions guard the monumental gate leading into Lions Court. The four statues are the works of János Fadrusz from 1901. The animals standing on the outer side of the gate are calm and dignified, while the inner ones are menacing. One lion was broken in two pieces during the war, but it was recreated in the 1950s.</p><br>
<p>The monumental allegorical bronze statues of War and Peace stand beside the entrance to the Budapest History Museum. They are the work of Károly Senyei. Both War and Peace are represented by angels, one with a trumpet, the other with an olive branch. Under the angel of Peace is a returning soldier, while under the angel of War there is a dead Ottoman soldier and ancient Hungarian warriors.</p><br>
<p>There are sepulchral monuments in the Palatinal Crypt decorated with the statues of György Zala, Alajos Stróbl and Károly Senyei.</p><br>
<h3>Lost works of art</h3><br>
<p>The monumental sculpture group decorated the main (northern) façade of the palace, facing Szent György Square. On the top of the attic, crowning the façade, stood the female figure of Hungaria, the allegorical representation of Hungary. Two semi-nude figures sat at her side, one male and one female, representing Industry and Commerce. The group was made by sculptor Gyula Jankovits in 1905. The sculpture was destroyed, together with the whole northern façade, during the 1950s.</p><br>
<p>The pediment above the Habsburg Steps was decorated with an allegorical group of Károly Senyei representing the Apotheosis of the Dual Monarchy. It was destroyed during the 1950s, together with the great coat-of-arms of the Kingdom of Hungary which originally crowned the façade. The present-day pediment is plain, without any sculptural decoration.</p><br>
<p>The ceiling of the Habsburg Room was decorated with a fresco representing the apotheosis of the Habsburg Dynasty. It was the last important work of Károly Lotz, painted in 1903, one year before his death. The artist was already seriously ill when he worked on the fresco. The "Apotheosis" followed the traditions of Baroque court painting, and the work was praised by contemporary critics. The fresco survived the war unscathed, but it was destroyed in the 1950s.</p><br>
<h2>Museums and institutions</h2><br>
<p>The Budapest History Museum is located in the southern wing of Buda Castle, in Building E, over four floors. It presents the history of Budapest from its beginnings until the modern era. The restored part of the medieval castle, including the Royal Chapel and the rib-vaulted Gothic Hall, belongs to the exhibition. The highlights of the exhibition are the Gothic statues of Buda Castle and a 14th-century silk tapestry decorated with the Angevin coats of arms. Small gardens were recreated in the medieval zwingers around the oldest parts of the building.</p><br>
<p>The Hungarian National Gallery is located in Building A, B, C and D. The museum presents the history of Hungarian art from the 11th century until the present, with a special exhibition concentrating on Gothic altarpieces (housed in the former Baroque Ballroom). The only surviving interior from the pre-war Royal Palace, the Palatinal Crypt, belongs to the museum.</p><br>
<p>"Building F" is occupied by the National Széchényi Library, the national library of Hungary. Its collection of rare and antique books, codices and manuscripts contains 35 Corvina pieces from the famous library of King Matthias Corvinus. The original Bibliotheca Corviniana was housed in the medieval Royal Castle of Buda.</p><br>
<h2>The cellars and caves</h2><br>
<p>The Montsec Range  is a mountain system of the Pre-Pyrenees.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Serra del Montsec consists of a series of calcareous mountain ranges running roughly from east to west. The range system is about 40 km long and 186.96 square kilometres in area. The Montsec is located in the Catalan province of Lleida and the Aragonese province of Huesca in Spain.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The name Montsec derives from the Latin Montus sectus, which makes reference to its characteristic rock formations. It marks the southern limit of the Pallars region and is divided into three main massifs by 3 of the most important rivers in Catalonia:</p><br>
<p>Montsec de Rúbies, the eastern massif, is separated by the river Segre in the east and the Noguera Pallaresa in the middle,</p><br>
<p>Montsec d&#39;Ares, the central massif.</p><br>
<p>Montsec d&#39;Estall, in Aragon, located to the west, separated by the Noguera Ribagorçana from the central massif.</p><br>
<p>Two gorges (congostos), those of Terradets and Montrebei, or Bonremei, have been opened by the action of the rivers and tectonic movements. The highest peak, Santalís, is found in the central massif, standing at 1,678 metres, and dominates views over Àger and the plains of Lleida to the south and the Pyrenees to the north.</p><br>
<p>The southern face is virtually a great wall with a "step" about two-thirds of the way up, and the northern side, although by no means as steep, still stands at 1,000 metres above the Tremp basin below.</p><br>
<h3>Geographical features</h3><br>
<h2>Formation</h2><br>
<p>Montsec&#39;s formation goes back to when sediments of several thousand metres deep were deposited in the Cretaceous sea, raised and partly covered by the Eocene sea, and then raised again by Pyrenean folding. Fossils from the Mesozoic era are relatively easy to find, and at Vilanova de Meià the deposits there are one of the most important in the world.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Montsec stands in a natural defensive position over the plains and is relatively protected from the icy winds from the north, and as such its strategic aspect was very important in times of the Reconquista. In the 10th century, when the caliphate of Córdoba was at its height, Balaguer was the northernmost Arab city, and the castles of Castelló de Farfanya, Algerri, and Os de Balaguer were satellite fortifications which, together with a barrier of well-placed watch towers, formed the line of defense against the Christians to the north of Montsec. In the 11th and 18th centuries the area had one of the densest populations in Catalonia, but the population level began to fall at the beginning of the 20th century, and nowadays emigration is prominent and many villages are virtually abandoned.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>The difficulty of irrigation makes for a very limited agriculture in the area. Local farmers cultivate mostly some barley and almonds. Hydroelectric power is another resource but most of all planners are looking to tourist development to give the region an important boost.</p><br>
<p>Victorio Peak is a high rocky outcropping in the Hembrillo Basin in southern New Mexico. This was one of Chief Victorios hideouts, and was the site of a battle in 1880 between Victorios Apaches and the USA Army Ninth Cavalry "Buffalo Soldiers." Additionally, gold prospector Milton "Doc" Noss claimed to have found hidden treasure inside the Mountains in the late 1930s.</p><br>
<h2>Geologic History</h2><br>
<p>The Tularosa Basin was developed in the north-south trending San Andres Mountains, and comprises north-south striking Late Paleozoic sedimentary rocks of Permian and Carboniferous age, that lie unconformably upon Precambrian metamorphics. The regional dip of the Paleozoic rocks is gentle, around 10° to the west. The Permian rocks of the Abo and Yeso formations comprise mudrocks and sandstones which are freely weathering to create a series of steps capped by sandstones with intervening argillaceous rocks forming less steep slopes. These slopes and cap rocks were to be used to advantage by the Apaches in 1880. The entrance to the Hembrillo Basin, Hembrillo Canyon, opens eastwards into the Tularosa Basin and the White Sands National Monument. The Canyon is partially barred by a roughly north-south trending diabase dike. Westwards is the valley of the Jornada del Muerto, the Sierra Caballo mountains and the Rio Grande.</p><br>
<h2>Namesake</h2><br>
<p>As the area was a well known hideout of Chief Victorio, the peak was named after him. Briefings used by the USA Army prior to Operation Goldfinder labeled the mountain as Victoria Peak. Officials at the Range followed the lead of New Mexico historians, who erroneously believed the peak was named after Queen Victoria. Through diligent research, Howard Bryan, a reporter for the Albuquerque Tribune, linked Victorio with the Battle of Hembrillo Basin and discovered the peak&#39;s original namesake.</p><br>
<h2>Battle of Hembrillo Basin</h2><br>
<p>The Battle of Hembrillo Basin was a battle fought between the components of the United States Army&#39;s Sixth Cavalry and Ninth Cavalry against the Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache led by Chief Victorio.</p><br>
<h2>Treasure of Victorio Peak</h2><br>
<p>Theories abound on the origins of the alleged treasure, from eighteenth-century Spanish Missionaries to wealth pilfered from Mexico during the reign of the French puppet Emperor Maximilian. One such claim was by Milton Ernest "Doc" Noss, who claimed to have found treasure but was murdered by an associate. Some years after he was killed, his wife Ova asserted a claim that she was entitled to access to the cave in Victorio Peak and its contents. Eventually she brought her case to the military, but the alleged treasure was never found.</p><br>
<p>The Dümmer or officially Dümmer See is a large lake in southern Lower Saxony . It has a surface of 13.5 km² and an average depth of one metre. Its elevation is 37 metres.</p><br>
<p>Dümmer is a popular resort for water sports, but also an important biotope for water birds and located in a zone especially frequented by migratory birds. A large section of its shore is protected by nature reserve areas.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The Dümmer is located in the 300 acre Dümmer depression. One and a half miles to the west, the Damme Hills begin to rise, eventually reaching a height of 145 m. Around the lake are fens (Niedermoore) and raised bogs (Hochmoore). The lake lies in the Dümmer Nature Park, which is just under 500 km² in area, and in which the Damme Hills and Stemweder Berg form the central elements of the landscape.</p><br>
<p>The open water of the lake belongs entirely to the district of Diepholz, but on its western shore the district of Vechta extends up to the dyke foreland. Near Dümmerlohausen the district boundary comes within a few metres of the shoreline. To the southwest by the mouth of the River Hunte a tip of the territory of the district of Osnabrück advances to within half a kilometre of the lake. Whilst Diepholz district belonged to the Electorate of Hanover from 1585 (County of Diepholz) and 1582 (County of Hoya), the territory of the district of Vechta belonged for centuries to the Diocese of Münster and only became part of Oldenburg in 1803 after the German Mediatisation. Hence it counts as part of Oldenburg Münsterland.</p><br>
<h2>Character</h2><br>
<p>The Dümmer is, after the Steinhuder Meer, the second largest lake in Lower Saxony. With its water surface of 13.5 km ² - the area within the ring dyke including siltation zones is 16 km ² - and maximum water depth of just 1.50 m, it is good for swimming and water sports. The shallow lake with its flat beaches on the western and eastern shore is up to 5 km long from north to south and up to 3.4 km wide from west to east.</p><br>
<p>The lake is crossed by the River Hunte, which leaves the lake via several branches, the largest of which is not called the "Hunte" but the Lohne. Other branches are the Grawiede and the artificial Wätering, the Dorflohne, Schoddenlohne and Ompteda Canal. Only 13 km north of the lake and 3 km north of Diepholz all the branches of the Hunte are reunited.</p><br>
<p>The fish-filled lake, which is also a breeding and resting place for birds, has a variety of flora and fauna, which is why the western and the southern shore of the lake are largely protected.</p><br>
<p>Although the lake is only about a metre deep on average, very rich water sources and the Hunte itself ensure that its water level is relatively constant. Previously these headstreams combined with regular heavy rainfall to cause flooding, so that in the 1940s work began to build dykes around the lake. In the period 1941-1945 foreign forced labour was used for this on a large scale. The reclamation and subsequent lack of annual flooding resulted in algae growing in large quantities in the lake and hence depriving most other organisms of oxygen. The low water level was caused by heavy silting, also a result of dyking the lake. With the help of several locks it was possible to control the high water levels artificially without greatly interfering with nature. Nevertheless, the Dümmer suffers from heavy nutrient pollution caused by intensive agriculture.</p><br>
<p>The remains of New Stone Age settlements have been found on the shores of the Dümmer.</p><br>
<p>The Canning River  is a major tributary of the Swan River in south western Western Australia.</p><br>
<h2>Source and route</h2><br>
<p>With headwaters on the Darling Scarp, the Canning meanders through suburbs of Perth on the Swan Coastal Plain, including Cannington, Thornlie, Riverton, Shelley, Rossmoyne and Mount Pleasant, before joining the Swan at Melville Water just downstream of the Canning Bridge.</p><br>
<h2>Bridges</h2><br>
<p>Canning Bridge</p><br>
<p>Mount Henry Bridge</p><br>
<p>Shelley Bridge</p><br>
<p>Riverton Bridge</p><br>
<h2>Points</h2><br>
<p>Coffee Point (east of Point Heathcote on the Swan River)</p><br>
<p>Deepwater Point (on western shore in Mount Pleasant)</p><br>
<p>Salter Point (very narrow part of river between Salter Point suburb on north side, Rossmoyne/Shelley border on south)</p><br>
<p>Prisoner Point (south shore in Shelley suburb, east of Shelley Beach)</p><br>
<p>Wadjup Point (north west of Shelley Bridge)</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first European contact was in 1801 when a French exploring party spotted the mouth. The crew subsequently named the mouth Entrée Moreau after Charles Moreau, a midshipman with the party.</p><br>
<p>The Canning River received its contemporary name in 1827 when Captain James Stirling aboard the HMS Success following an examination of the region in March 1827 named the river after George Canning, an eminent British statesman who was Prime Minister of Great Britain at the time and whose government facilitated the funds for the expedition.</p><br>
<p>In November 1829, just five months after the founding of the Swan River Colony in Western Australia, an exploring party led by now Governor James Stirling chose a site for a new town named Kelmscott on the banks of the Canning River.</p><br>
<h2>Convicts</h2><br>
<p>Convicts partly constructed and maintained the Canning River Convict Fence. This structure is still a notable landmark to this day. It was built primarily for the use of barges carrying timber from Mason&#39;s Timber Mill in the Darling Ranges.</p><br>
<p>The river is home to much wildlife including dolphins, pelicans, swans and many other bird species.</p><br>
<h2>Algae bloom</h2><br>
<p>Algal blooms occur naturally in the Canning River system, they are caused by a buildup of nutrients in the river. Human activities including farming, residential gardens and parklands are the major causes of increases in levels, the blooms are potentially toxic to both mammal and marine life. The Swan River Trust monitors the levels of nutrients and growth of the algae issuing warnings and closing sections of the river to all activities. The Trust also operates cleanup programs to reduce the amount of nutrients reaching the river, as well phosphorus removal and oxygenation in areas were blooms have been identified.</p><br>
<p>The Trust is encouraged by the appearance of Azolla carpets on sections of the Canning River as this fern is known to reduce the amount of sunlight available to the algae as well as absorbing large amounts of phosphorus and other nutrients from the water. However, it is possible that Azolla carpets can cause deoxygenation and emit a strong sulfur smell.</p><br>
<p>Lake Albert is an artificial lake in the suburb of Lake Albert in Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia. Covering 125 ha, the lake was built in 1868 on what was known as Swampy Plains and was named after Prince Albert.</p><br>
<p>Surrounded by parkland, the lake is a venue for water sports, fishing, walking and bird watching. The lake is home to the Boat Club and one of the town&#39;s two golf courses, Wagga Wagga Country Club, is situated on the western shore of the lake.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Events</h3><br>
<p>On 8–9 May 1976, the Water Ski Challenge Shield was held on the lake for the first time which was formed by Zone 5 of the New South Wales Ski Association and the Wagga Boat Club. On 9 May 1976, Australian Ski and Victorian trial champion, Barry Carne from the Melbourne suburb of Lower Templestowe, died when he collapsed and cart wheeled up to twelve times during the sixth lap of the final heat of the ski challenge.</p><br>
<p>The Barry Carne Memorial Ski Race was held on the second Saturday and Sunday in May of each year, subject to water levels in the lake. On 13 and 14 May 2006 the event returned to Lake Albert after a 4-year absence due to the lake being at record low levels owing to drought but was cancelled in 2007 due to low water levels.</p><br>
<p>On 12 May 2009, due to the low water levels in the lake the Barry Carne High and Dry event was held. In March 2010 it was announced that Barry Carne Memorial Ski Race would return to the lake on 3rd Saturday and Sunday in May, after record breaking rain had filled that lake.</p><br>
<h3>Water levels</h3><br>
<p>Due to years of drought the water level at Lake Albert reached record lows and in 2005 Wagga Wagga City Council considered pumping water into the lake to prevent further fish deaths which was ruled out by a senior council official. After a thunderstorm dumped around 50 mm in the area the lake reached its full depth in early November 2005.</p><br>
<p>In January 2007, a ban on water sport activities on Lake Albert was likely if the lake&#39;s water level drops below 1.2 m due to the ongoing drought.</p><br>
<p>On 20 March 2008, the lake was closed for the second time since January 2008 due to high levels of Faecal Coliforms in the water.</p><br>
<p>In January 2010, the lake&#39;s water levels were at record lows with a large amount of fish, mostly European carp, dying due to the low water levels, blue-green algae and hot weather. With the low water levels and dying fish, residents around the lake fear that a mosquitoes outbreak is possible which could see an outbreak of the Ross River fever.</p><br>
<p>The lake was expected to be almost dried up by the end of March,</p><br>
<p>Record breaking rains in the catchment on 7 March had raised the lakes level to 2.0 m, the deepest level since 2006.</p><br>
<h3>Silt removal</h3><br>
<p>On 23 March 2009, local businesses volunteered time and equipment with the Wagga Wagga City Council paying $30,000 in fuel costs, began to remove silt on the northern end of the lake with 8,000 m&sup3; of silt to be removed and used at the Wagga Wagga Exhibition Centre (Equex) for spectator mounds.</p><br>
<p>Big Tancook Island is the largest of many islands in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. It measures approximately 4 km  by 1.6 km forming roughly a "C" shape. Its area is 550 acre and has a rocky shoreline with open fields and softwood forest dotted by ponds, residential properties and fish stores. It is separated from nearby Little Tancook Island to the east by a 1 km wide strait called "The Chops". Big Tancook Island is approximately 4 km from Sandy Cove Point on the Aspotogan Peninsula - the nearest point on the mainland. Wildlife populations are limited to deer, muskrats, snakes, and pheasants, and a great variety of birds.</p><br>
<p>The community of Big Tancook is the only one located on Big Tancook Island. It has a population of about 200 in summer 120 in winter. It is home to one of the last remaining one-room schoolhouses in Canada: Big Tancook Island Elementary School, which also serves Little Tancook Island. High school students must be transported to the mainland town of Chester, Nova Scotia.</p><br>
<p>The island was once a summer fishing ground for native peoples. The word "Tancook" is an anglicized Mi&#39;kmaq term that translates into "facing the open sea." The island was later settled by German immigrants.</p><br>
<p>The residents primarily make their living through lobster fishing, or the ferry service. Several small professional and artistic businesses operate on and from the island.</p><br>
<p>A scheduled ferry service operates daily year-round from Chester to Big Tancook Island and Little Tancook Island. The MV William G. Ernst is a passenger-only ferry operated by the provincial Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal. Emergency response is provided by the Big Tancook Island Emergency Response Association (BTIERA), which is supported through volunteer efforts and community fundraising.</p><br>
<p>Ufton Court is an Elizabethan manor house at Ufton Nervet in the English county of Berkshire. Today it is an active home to an educational charity, the Ufton Court Educational Trust. As well as historical and environmental education, the site hosts creative projects including theatre and music courses. It is also a wedding and corporate events venue.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>Parts of the house date from 1474, including the basis of the great hall and the screens passage complete with the original pantry and buttery doors, although, at Ufton, there was a proper kitchen beyond. From 1568, the place was modified and extended by Elizabeth, Lady Marvyn, a prominent Roman Catholic, including the installation of a magnificent pendant ceiling in the great hall. Two carved beams which she had installed in the Green Room are thought to be older and may have been brought from her former residence nearby. The house is notable for its priest holes where Recusant Catholics could hide priests, their vestments and plate used in the mass. An east wing and Catholic devotional panelling were added in 1616. Further embellishments, including updated panelling, were added in the early 18th century.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Late medieval times</h3><br>
<p>The house was originally a small medieval manor called Ufton Pole and was one of the minor manors belonging to Lord Lovell. He was made a Viscount by Edward IV and later became part of Richard III&#39;s inner circle. With the death of King Richard in 1485, Lovell rebelled against the new king, Henry VII and had all his lands, including Ufton Pole, confiscated by the Crown.</p><br>
<h3>Tudor and Stuart times</h3><br>
<p>In 1510, Henry VIII granted Pole Manor to Sir Richard Weston, a Groom of the Chamber.</p><br>
<p>In 1568, the house was bought by Lady Marvyn, the widow of Richard Perkins of Ufton Robert Manor at Ufton Green. She considerably altered and enlarged the house over the next eight years and renamed it Ufton Court. She eventually left the house to her first husband&#39;s nephew, Francis Perkins. It remained in this family until 1769.</p><br>
<p>The Perkins were persecuted for their Catholic beliefs. They had to pay fines for not attending Church of England services at the parish church and could be subjected to raids at any time by local magistrates looking for priests, hidden in tiny secret rooms. In 1599, during the second raid on Ufton, Sir Francis Knollys discovered at least one priest hole containing much gold plate, but the priests were not in residence.</p><br>
<h3>Georgian times</h3><br>
<p>In 1715, Francis Perkins of Ufton Court married Arabella, the daughter of Henry Fermor of Tusmore in Oxfordshire. Before the marriage, painters and poets celebrated her charms and her beauty, for she was the belle of London society. She is remembered today as the inspiration for Alexander Popes The Rape of the Lock, a poem telling how Lord Petre stole a lock of her hair and caused a great scandal. Arabella was humiliated and accepted Perkins offer of marriage in order to live quietly in the country instead. Tradition asserts that the great hall and western half of Ufton Court were refashioned for the lady&#39;s arrival, and this seems to fit with the date of the architecture and interior décor there. Bonnie Prince Charlie is supposed to have secretly visited the couple during the Jacobite rising of 1745. They had six children together, but they all died childless and the house gradually fell into a state of disrepair.</p><br>
<h3>Victorian times</h3><br>
<p>During its sale in 1837, Ufton Court was described as unfit for a gentlemans residence.&#39; It was bought by Richard Benyon De Beauvoir of the adjoining estate at Englefield. He repaired the house and converted it into tenements for his estate workers.</p><br>
<p>Over the next hundred years, various tenants lived in the house: mostly notably Mary Sharp, a local historian who wrote a detailed history of the place. Mr (later Sir) Henry Benyon also lived there himself before inheriting Englefield House, restoring the house as a gentleman&#39;s residence once more and replanting the garden.</p><br>
<h2>Educational Centre</h2><br>
<p>Although still owned by the Benyons, Ufton Court is now the home of the Ufton Court Educational Trust. This charity provides opportunities for children and young people to explore the historical and environmental world through hands-on experiences. They host both day visits and residential courses. Many of the rooms are now dormitories and children are encouraged to treat the house as their own. Historical courses range from studies of the Iron Age to the Victorian era. The site includes a Tudor garden and small Saxon/Medieval/Tudor farm with pigs, goats and chickens to look after. In the grounds are a Celtic Village, featuring a reconstructed Iron Age roundhouse, a Wheel of the Year fire circle, a Roman/Saxon palisade and Saxon/Viking ship; as well as the Ufton Adventure woodland centre based around residential cabin accommodation.</p><br>
<h2>The Ufton Dole</h2><br>
<p>The Ufton Dole is a distribution of bread and sheets, from a window in the Great Hall of Ufton Court, every Maundy Thursday to the villagers of Ufton Nervet and Padworth. Lady Marvyn left money in her will of 1581 for this annual dole. Tradition has it that this was to thank the villagers for having helped her return home after becoming lost in the local woods. Additionally, a curse is said to have been placed on any lord of the manor who breaks the tradition. The distribution is currently undertaken by Richard Benyon MP.</p><br>
<p>Sierra Negra  is a large shield volcano at the South eastern end of Isabela Island in the Galapagos that rises to an altitude of 1124m. It coalesces with the volcanoes Cerro Azul to the west and Alcedo to the north. It is one of the most active of the Galapagos volcanoes with the most recent historic eruption in October 2005.</p><br>
<p>Guided tours of the volcano typically start at Puerto Villamil and traverse the rim of the caldera along its East side before heading into the fresh lava fields north east of the main crater.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Sierra Negra like the other volcanoes on Isabela is believed to have been created from a mantle plume which has created the hotspot. The age of Sierra Negra and the other volcanoes on Isabela is hard to determine as they are in a North-South line to the east of the hotspot, which is believed to be under Fernandina volcano, and the Nazca plate is moving east. This puts the volcanoes perpendicular to the hotspot. The surface of Sierra Negra and its neighbouring volcanoes are also covered by young lavas, adding to the difficulty of aging them. An estimate based on volume (588 km) and eruption rates suggest that Sierra Negra is approximately 535,000 years old.</p><br>
<p>The morphology of Sierra Negra is the upturned soup bowl shape of the other Isabela volcanoes, however it does not have the steep sloping sides that are on others. Instead the slope goes from approximately 2 degrees at its base and although increasing averages only 5 degrees. The volcano has the largest caldera of all of the Galapagos volcanoes, with dimensions of 7.2 x 9.3 km, with the long axis being south west to north east. The caldera is also the shallowest of the Isabela volcanoes at only 100m. The caldera is structurally complex with a 14 km long ridge within it. A large fumarolic area, Volcan de Azufre, lies between this ridge and the western caldera wall. This fumarolic area is one of the locations where terrestrial sulfur flows have been identified, this is associated with the melting of sulfur deposits.</p><br>
<p>The volcano is one of the most active in the Galapagos, with the last eruption starting on 22 October 2005 and lasting until 30 October 2005. This eruption is estimated to have produced 1.5x10 m of lava. Despite the GPS monitoring on Sierra Negra there was no advance warning of the eruption. There had been expansion of the caldera floor since 1992 but no short term deformational signal was noted before the eruption. Contraction continued through the nine-day eruption before starting again immediately after the eruption ended.</p><br>
<p>Other eruptions in the historical record are 1911, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1957, 1963, and 1979. Eruptions in earlier years are recorded by dating lava flows but their location on the volcano and the dates of the eruption are not known precisely.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The majority of the 2200 population on Isabela live in the town of Puerto Villamil on the southern shore of the volcano. Consequently, the eastern side of the volcano is partly used for agriculture, with fishing the initial activities of the island&#39;s population. Those involved in farming were one of the sources of non native species including cattle and goats, some of which escaped and became feral, other sources were sailors who released goats to provide a source of fresh meat on future trips. Eradication efforts of feral goats were undertaken in Northern Isabela island, north of the Perry isthmus between Sierra Negra and Alcedo volcanoes but not in the southern portion of the island.</p><br>
<p>While the southern and eastern side of the volcano is covered with lush tropical forest vegetation and fertile soil at moderate altitudes, the higher reaches are more barren with bushes and grasses of modest height of 2–3 meters. The northern side of the volcano is almost entirely devoid of vegetation (with the exception of some cacti) as it has been resurfaced in more recent times by lava flows.</p><br>
<p>The habitat for the Sierra Negra giant tortoise, Chelonoidis nigra guentheri, which has a saddleback shell, is on the southern and south eastern slopes of the volcano. This species is endangered due to population pressure brought on by hunting, habitat alteration, and predation by feral mammals. C. n. guentheri is part of an ecosystem restoration program in order to recover the population of the tortoises in their natural habitat.</p><br>
<p>Isabela Island is the largest island of the Galápagos with an area of 4,640 km&sup2; and length of 100 km almost four times larger than Santa Cruz, the second largest of the archipelago. It was named after Queen Isabella of Spain. It was originally named Albemarle after the Duke of Albemarle. The island strides the equator.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>One of the youngest islands, Isabela is located on the western edge of the archipelago near the Galápagos hotspot. At approximately 1 million years old, the island was formed by the merger of 6 shield volcanoes - Alcedo, Cerro Azul, Darwin, Ecuador, Sierra Negra, and Wolf. All of these volcanoes except Ecuador are still active, making it one of the most volcanically active places on earth. Two of the volcanoes, Volcan Ecuador and Volcan Wolf (the island&#39;s highest point with an elevation of 1,707 m), lie directly on the equator. The island is primarily noted for its geology, providing excellent examples of a geologic occurrence that created the Galápagos Islands including uplifts at Urvina Bay and the Bolivar Channel, tuff cones at Tagus Cove, and Pulmace on Alcedo and Sierra Negra, one of the most active volcanoes in the world.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>Isabela is also interesting for its flora and fauna. The young island does not follow the vegetation zones of the other islands. The relatively new lava fields and surrounding soils have not developed the sufficient nutrients required to support the varied life zones found on other islands. Another obvious difference occurs on Volcan Wolf and Cerro Azul; these volcanoes loft above the cloud cover and are arid on top.</p><br>
<p>Isabelas rich animal, bird, and marine life is beyond compare. Isabela is home to more wild tortoises than all the other islands. Isabelas large size and notable topography created barriers for the slow-moving tortoises; apparently the creatures were unable to cross lava flows and other obstacles, causing several different sub-species of tortoise to develop. Today, tortoises roam free in the calderas of Alcedo, Wolf, Cerro Azul, Darwin, and Sierra Negra.</p><br>
<p>Introduced goats multiplied to over 100,000 but were eradicated by the Galápagos National Park Service and the Charles Darwin Foundation in 2006-2007. Since then, the vegetation has recovered greatly.</p><br>
<p>Other noted species include penguins, cormorants, marine iguanas, boobies, pelicans and Sally Lightfoot crabs abound. Galápagos land iguanas, Darwin&#39;s finches, Galápagos hawks, Galápagos doves, and very interesting lowland vegetation. The west coast of Isabela in the Bolivar Channel is the best place in Galápagos for viewing whales and dolphin.</p><br>
<h2>Human occupation</h2><br>
<p>The settlements of Puerto Villamil and Santo Tomás were founded in 1893. By 1905, the population of the island was 200. Exports at the time were sulfur mined from fumaroles and lime made from coral. Tortoises were used for meat and oil.</p><br>
<p>The third-largest human settlement of the archipelago, Puerto Villamil, is located at the south-eastern tip of the island.</p><br>
<h2>Other points of interest</h2><br>
<p>Other popular attractions include El Muro de las Lágrimas (a wall built by prisoners when the island was a penal colony) and the Flamingo Lagoon (with occasional pink visitors). Both are in the south of the island.</p><br>
<p>Palaia Fokaia  is a former community and a seaside town in East Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Saronikos, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 22.944 km. Its population was 3,436 at the 2011 census.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Palaia Fokaia is located on the Saronic Gulf coast, in the southeastern part of the Attica peninsula. There are low mountains south and east of the town. It lies 2 km south of Anavyssos, 9 km west of Lavrio and 36 km southeast of Athens city centre. Greek National Road 91 (Athens - Sounio) passes through the town.</p><br>
<p>The municipal unit includes the village of Thymari (pop. 723) and the small, rocky and deforested island of Patroklos, which is uninhabited.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<p>Santiago Island is an island of the Galápagos Islands. It is also known as San Salvador, named after the first island discovered by Columbus in the Caribbean Sea , or as James Island. The island, which consists of two overlapping volcanoes, has an area of 585 km&sup2; and a maximum altitude of 907 m, atop the northwestern shield volcano. Marine Iguanas, sea lions, fur seals, land and sea turtles, flamingos, crabs, dolphins, and sharks are found here. There are a large number of goats and pigs, animals which were introduced by humans to the islands and have caused great harm to the endemic species. Darwin Finches and Galápagos Hawks are usually seen as well as a colony of Fur Seals. At Sullivan Bay, a recent  pahoehoe lava flow can be observed.</p><br>
<p>Puerto Egas, south of James Bay and west side of Santiago, is one of the best sites. There is a long, lava shoreline where eroded rock formations house an excellent variety of wildlife. Marine iguanas bask in the sun. The tide pools contain many Sally Lightfoot crabs, which attract other types of hunters. Following the trail Fur seal lions are found. Puerto Egas is not only a good spot for taking pictures but also perfect for snorkeling and seeing many species of tropical fish.</p><br>
<p>Sullivan Bay is especially fascinating for those who are interested in geology and volcanology. You can walk over the uneroded, black lava flow covered with lava bubbles and tree-trunk molds in the surface. There are two small beaches where turtles come for nesting.</p><br>
<p>Cousin&#39;s Rock is a well-known dive site and is situated off the east coast of Santiago. It is a triangular rock that rises about 10 m out of the water and is made up of many layers of volcanic rock.</p><br>
<p>Sombrero Chino (Chinaman&#39;s Hat) is a small islet off the southeastern tip of Santiago. A 52 m, 0.22 km&sup2; volcanic cone, it is named for its resemblance to the conical Asian hat.</p><br>
<p>Santa Cruz Island is one of the Galápagos Islands with an area of 986 km² and a maximum altitude of 864 m.http://m.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11491237</p><br>
<p>On Santa Cruz, the walkable downtown area of Puerto Ayora is a small strip of hotels, restaurants, tour companies and gift shops.http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/news/visit-the-galapagos-islands-but-tread-lightly-on-natures-construction-site/story-fnglekhp-1227463418157</p><br>
<p>Visit Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos Islands, but tread lightly on "nature&#39;s construction site" Situated in the center of the archipelago, Santa Cruz is the second largest island after Isabela. Its capital is Puerto Ayora, the most populated urban centre in the islands. On Santa Cruz there are some small villages, whose inhabitants work in agriculture and cattle raising. This island is a large dormant volcano. It is estimated that the last eruptions occurred around a million and a half years ago. There is a gigantic lava tunnel that is over 2000 meters long on the island that many tourists visit and walk through. As a testimony to its volcanic history there are two big holes formed by the collapse of a magma chamber: Los Gemelos, or "The Twins".</p><br>
<p>Named after the Holy Cross, its English name (Indefatigable) was given after a British vessel HMS Indefatigable. Santa Cruz hosts the largest human population in the archipelago at the town of Puerto Ayora, with a total of 12,000 residents on the island.</p><br>
<p>Tortuga Bay is located on the Santa Cruz Island, a short walk from center of Puerto Ayora where you can view Marine iguanas, birds, galapagos crabs and a natural mangrove where you can spot white tip reef sharks and the gigantic galápagos tortoise.</p><br>
<h2>Points of interest</h2><br>
<p>Charles Darwin Research Station</p><br>
<p>Headquarters of the Galápagos National Park Service</p><br>
<p>Lava tubes</p><br>
<p>El Chato and Rancho Primicias Giant Tortoise Reserves</p><br>
<p>Itabaca Channel</p><br>
<p>Black Turtle Cove</p><br>
<p>Cerro Dragón</p><br>
<p>Tortuga Bay</p><br>
<p>Playa El Garrapatero</p><br>
<p>Los Gemelos</p><br>
<p>Stand of Scalesia - daisy trees</p><br>
<h2>Twin towns – sister cities</h2><br>
<p>On June 19, 2002 the cities of Seabrook, Texas and Santa Cruz Island finalized a sister city status during a ceremony at Seabrook City Hall.</p><br>
<p>The Virginia Beach Surf & Rescue Museum honors and preserves the history of Virginia&#39;s maritime heritage, coastal communities, the United States Lifesaving Service, and the United States Coast Guard along the Atlantic coast.</p><br>
<h2>History of the Revenue Cutter Service</h2><br>
<p>In 1790, the United States Congress empowered the Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton to construct ten cutters to acquire custom duties from foreign ships visiting the ports of the young nation. The ten cutters provided 92% of the young nations income with collections of custom duties. In six years the young nations debt was paid off to foreign countries. The role of the Revenue Cutter Service would expand to protecting the young nation in times of national security. The Revenue Cutter Service would be placed under the control of the United States Navy. This practice continues today with authorization from the President of the United States. The organization and rank formation of the United States Coast Guard coincides with the United States Navy for such emergencies. The officers and crew of the US Revenue Cutter Service would collect a percentage of the fines, penalties, and forfeitures collected from offenders.</p><br>
<p>In 1878 the United States Congress passed a law that would join the Revenue Cutter Service and the United States Life-Saving Service to provide assistance to persons that had been shipwrecked. The joining of the two concerns; in regards to Life-Saving was a success. In 1882 superintendent of the United States Life-Saving Service Sumner I. Kimball wrote in a report that the success of the United States Life-Saving Service was enhanced by the Revenue Cutter Service. Sumner I. Kimball stated that "little wonder the United States Life-Saving Service has succeeded; the souls of such men have entered it, and it has become an incarnation. In the later years, the efforts of the two Services would help create the United States Coast Guard. The United States Revenue Cutter Service success is shown over a five year period from 1881 to 1885. The numbers that are shown are a yearly average: Saved from drowning 87, assisting vessels in distress 208, value of cargo on vessels $4,498,078, maintenance cost $843,595.</p><br>
<h2>History of United States Life-Saving Service</h2><br>
<p>On December 14, 1854 the United States Congress passed "An act for the better preservation of life and property from vessels shipwrecked on the coasts of the United States. The Civil War disrupted the formation of the United States Life-Saving Service. In the year 1870 a powerful storm caused many deaths and newspaper editors called for "reform to check the terrible fatalities off our dangerous coasts" In the year 1871 the United States Life-Saving Service was formed under the Department of the Treasury. The Treasury Department appointed a lawyer named, Sumner Increase Kimball as the chief of the Treasury Department&#39;s Revenue Marine Division The United States Life-Saving Service was under the Revenue Marine Division. In 1878 the growing number of United States Life-Saving Service stations brought about the USLSS becoming a separate agency.</p><br>
<p>Kimball brought organization and standards to the USLSS that was once a mostly volunteer organization. During the volunteer times, only the "keepers" of these early stations were paid $200 a year. The crews of the early stations were un-paid volunteers. Through Kimball&#39;s guidance the number of Life-Saving Service stations grew to meet the need for rescuing victims of shipwrecks. The unforgivable coast line of the Northeast claimed many lives and much property. The number of USLSS stations was greater in the Northeast than in the moderate climate and more forgiving coastlines of the lower Southeast.</p><br>
<p>The USLSS served the United States with distinction for forty-four years. The success of the USLSS can be seen in economic terms and more importantly; peoples lives. In the forty-four years the USLSS assisted 28,121 ships and saved 178,741 lives.</p><br>
<h2>Life-Saving Stations and the Equipment</h2><br>
<p>In November 1889 Sumner I. Kimball reported that there were 265 life-saving stations across the United States. The stations are occupied during the months of the active season. The active season was normally for the months of October to March, depending on the needs of the area patrolled. Each station had a keeper that was in charge of the quarters and the Surfmen. The keeper and the Surfmen would be responsible for patrolling the beach and maintaining a watch for vessels in distress. The patrols are conducted twenty-four hours a day during active season. The stations were equipped with surfboat, apparatus cart, Lyle gun, and Breeches Buoy.</p><br>
<p>The stations located in the Virginia Beach area were Cape Henry, Seatack, Dam Neck, Little Island, and False Cape.</p><br>
<p>The five stations located in Virginia Beach were located approximately two to five miles apart. The Surfmen would patrol the beaches in all types of weather. When storms and dark of night would restrict the visibility of the men in the watchtower, the surfman would patrol the beach. The surfmen would leave at a scheduled time and walk towards the opposite station. Once the surfmen met they would exchange a check. The check was a shaped piece of metal that resembles a modern-day police shield. According to Sumner Kimball the exchanging of checks would insure fidelity of the patrols. The isolated stations would record their patrol times with patrol clock. The clock would register the time when the surfmen reached the end of their patrol. All of the patrols were recorded and logged at the Life-Saving Station. If during a patrol a surfman spotted a ship in trouble, he would signal the ship with a Coston flare that help was on the way. The Coston flare would alert the other surfmen on watch or at the station. The surfmen would man the apparatus cart and pull and push the 1400 pound and above cart through wet sand, gale-force winds, and high surf to render aid to victims of a shipwreck. If conditions dictated it, the surfboat would be used. The surfboat was also placed on a wheeled cart to travel to a wreck. Upon arrival at the shipwreck; the keeper of the station would determine the method of rescue.</p><br>
<h2>The Seatack Station and the Wreck of the Diktator</h2><br>
<p>The first station was built in 1878. The station at Seatack (built in 1903 replaced the earlier structure) is now the museum at 24th street adjacent to the boardwalk of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The folk-lore of the name seatack has two possible explanations. The least probable is the story of a group of local militia that repelled a sea-attack from the British, during the War of 1812. The more probable story is that when mariners cleared Cape Henry, they would begin their first turn or sea tack. There were many local heroes of the Seatack Station #2.Local Surfman John Woodhouse Sparrow was one of the Seatack heroes. On December 21, 1900 a powerful storm forced the ship Jennie Hall aground ten miles south of Cape Henry. A surfman from the Dam Neck station named Carroll saw the Jennie Hall disabled, he allerted his station. The Seatack station was notified and a joint effort commenced. The Jennie Hall was a complete loss, but with the efforts of the surfmen there were survivors. Four of the seamen from the Jennie Hall were saved by surfboat. For his efforts, John Woodhouse Sparrow from the Seatack Station was awarded the USLSS Silver Lifesaving Medal. The wreck of the Jennie Hall is just one of the wrecks that occurred off the coast of Virginia Beach. There are photos, stories, and artifacts from various wrecks including the Diktator displayed at the museum. The Virginia Beach coastline is a part of the Graveyard of the Atlantic.</p><br>
<p>It is the shipwreck of the Diktator that the Seatack Station has been associated with for many years. On March 27, 1891, the Norwegian ship Diktator wrecked off the beach near the Seatack Station. A surfman named John L. Robinson was assigned to Seatack. Robinson tells the story of the rescue. He tells that the ship wrecked around 10 am. The keeper of the station was a Captain Drinkwater. Drinkwater told his men that the ship was "coming ashore". Drinkwater told his men to "man the apparatus cart and get ready to go to the wreck" Robinson remembers that the storm was so severe that they could not use the beach for the cart. They had to use a "country road" that was partially blocked by fallen trees. The surfmen had to travel one and a half mile to get to the beach. They arrived at the section of the beach where the ship now laided off the beach; broadside. He tells how waves were breaking over the ship and causing further damage to the ship He tells how the wind was so severe the Lyle gun was fired three times without success. The line that is fired from the Lyle gun has an optimal range of 695 yards, but with perfect conditions. He tells that the wind was so severe, the line would fall short.</p><br>
<p>The men on the ship saw the failed attempts of the Lyle gun and threw a wooden cask over board with a line attached. The cask made it to shore and the surfman placed the line for the Breeches Buoy in the cask. The crew of the Diktator rigged the line to their ship and prepared for the Breeches Buoy to be brought out to the ship. The Breeches Buoy is a life-ring with "britches" sewn onto the ring. The Breeches Buoy would be placed on a hawser line and between the crew of the ship and the surfmen they would transport victims of shipwrecks from ship to shore.</p><br>
<p>The surfmen managed to bring three members of the Diktator safely to the beach, before wreckage of the ship tangled the hawser lines. The crew of the ship and the surfman worried that time was running out for more rescues, because of night falling quickly. The Captain of the Diktator decided that he and his crew had to get off the ship soon. The Captain lowered a boat from the Diktator with four crew members. The small boat was capsized in the large waves and the crew was now in the cold water. The crew started to swim for shore and the larges waves pushed them into the shore. The surfmen had made fires on the beach to alert any survivors to their location. Robinson tells how miraculously all four Diktator crew members made it to the beach; alive. Robinson tells how the Captain of the Diktator made his way to the beach. He survived, but others did not including his wife and their four-year-old son. The Captain tells how he decided to attempt to swim to the shore. The Captain took a ladder form the ship and placed life-preservers on the ladder. His wife, boy, and himself would place hold onto the ladder and hopefully be washed to the shore. The captain tells how a wave broke over the ladder and he did not see his wife again. The Captain heard his son crying and told him to hold his breath when a big wave breaks over them. A large wave came and broke over the two and that was the last time he saw his son. The Captain was the last survivor of the Diktator. A total of ten people survived but, the ship was a total loss with eight people who drowned. In 1962 the Norwegian town of Moss sent a replica of the figurehead from the Diktator to the residents of Virginia Beach. A plaque on the figurehead tells how the people of Moss, Norway, commemorate all who perished during the rescue of the Diktator The figurehead is approximately 100 yards north of the Old Coast Guard Station Museum.</p><br>
<h2>The United States Coast Guard</h2><br>
<p>In 1915, the United States Lifesaving Service became the United States Coast Guard. The USLSS and the Revenue Cutter Service were combined to make the United States Coast Guard. The Seatack Station #2 became Coast Guard Station #162. The United States Coast Guard is now under the Department of Homeland Security. The Station was decommissioned in 1969 by the Coast Guard. The building was empty for ten years and scheduled for demolition, until Virginia Beach locals gained public support and formed the Virginia Beach Maritime Museum in 1979. The name of the museum was changed to the Life-Saving Museum of Virginia in 1988, but was changed to the Old Coast Guard Museum in 1996.</p><br>
<p>The Seatack Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.</p><br>
<h2>Other Coast Guard Museums</h2><br>
<p>Coast Guard Museum Northwest</p><br>
<p>Port Orford Lifeboat Station Museum</p><br>
<p>Sleeping Bear Point Coast Guard Station Maritime Museum</p><br>
<p>USCGC Tamaroa (WMEC-166) (museum ship)</p><br>
<p>Cuddie Springs is a notable archaeological and paleontological site in the semi-arid zone of central northern New South Wales, Australia . Cuddie Springs is an open site, with the fossil deposits preserved in a claypan on the floor of an ancient ephemeral lake. The claypan fills with water after local rainstorms and often takes months to dry, a fact which facilitated the survival of fossils over a long period of time.</p><br>
<p>The site provided the first unequivocal association of stone artefacts with fossil remains of Australian megafauna. Cuddie Springs has been known as a fossil megafauna locality since the late 1870s, when a well was sunk into the centre of the claypan. The Australian Museum launched excavations in 1933 and while many bones were found, no archaeological discoveries were made in that initial research. More extensive excavations were conducted between 1991 and 1996 by a team from the University of New South Wales and were continued between 1997 and 2009 through the University of Sydney.</p><br>
<h2>Etymology</h2><br>
<p>It was recorded that the word Cuddy in the language of the "Marra Blacks" means bad. This has been interpreted as a reference to the quality of the water found in the Cuddie lake, which is alkaline with a pH between 7 and 9. Despite the name, Cuddie Springs is an ephemeral lake, and not a spring.</p><br>
<h2>Excavation history</h2><br>
<p>In the historic period, Cuddie Springs was known to both Aboriginal and European people as a palaeontological site. A Dreamtime story about Mullyan the eaglehawk is associated to the formation of the bone deposits at the site and the formation of the Macquarie Marshes to the south and the site is also part of a Dreaming track tied to the Macquarie Marshes and the Geera waterhole on the Barwon River.</p><br>
<p>Europeans first settled in the area around Cuddie Springs in the 1830s. A well was sunk into the middle of the claypan in 1876, the disused superstructure of which was still present in the 1920s. During the sinking of the well in the 1870s several large fossilised bones were recovered and were sent to the Australian Museum, some of which were later sent to Sir Richard Owen who identified the fossils as belonging to different genus of Diprotodon, Euowenia, Nototherium, Genyornis, various Macropodidae, Megalania and at least one genus of crocodile (Pallimnarchus).</p><br>
<p>Despite attempts in the 1920s to excavate it was not until 1933 that the first excavations took place at Cuddie Springs. Led by the Australian Museum, the principal researchers described the excavation thus:</p><br>
<p>We commenced our excavations about 10 yards from the well, working towards the centre, and before work was stopped, about five weeks later, the claypan resembled the fields of Flanders, with a complicated series of trenches and pits, mostly about 5 feet in depth, but in one case about 15 feet.</p><br>
<p>Though a range of paleontological material was recovered from the site, no archaeological material was identified in the 1933 excavation.</p><br>
<p>The main archaeological excavations were carried out between 1996 and 2009. The majority of the excavated material is currently stored at the Australian Museum.</p><br>
<h2>Site setting</h2><br>
<p>Cuddie Springs is located within the semi-arid zone, however palynological evidence indicates that 40 000 years ago was large permanent lake surrounded by open shrub land suitable for supporting megafauna.</p><br>
<h2>Evidence for human co-existence with Australian megafauna</h2><br>
<p>The excavators of Cuddie Springs reject humans as the primary cause of megafauna extinctions. They conclude that the 10,000 years of co-habitation of humans and megafauna at Cuddie Springs suggests that climate changes that began before the human colonisation of Australia were responsible for the megafauna extinctions. Wroe and Field (2006) cite the staggered extinctions that have been occurring since at least 130,000 years ago and the fact that megafauna in Tasmania do not occur after 46,000 years ago but people only arrived across a land bridge at 37,000 years ago. This staggered decline, mostly occurring in contexts independent of humans, is linked to environmental evidence for increasingly arid and erratic conditions since 400–300,000 years ago. The large body size of the megafauna suggests low fecundity and low population densities which have been argued to have made them susceptible to extinction due to habitat loss from increasing aridity (Wroe and Field 2006).</p><br>
<p>The 10,000 years of co-habitation of humans and megafauna at Cuddie Springs that is the foundation of Wroe and Field’s argument has been the subject of intense critical examination. This critique has identified a number of details that weaken the integrity of the association between humans and megafauna. First are the finds themselves, such as relatively large number of grinding stones in Pleistocene-age layers (Fullagar and Field 1997), as well as tula-adze-like flakes (David 2002). The Pleistocene grinding stones are notable because they imply a broad-spectrum plant-processing economy much earlier than previously known in Australia (Fullagar and Field 1997). These finds are anomalous because in other parts of Australia they are restricted to late Holocene contexts (Gillespie and David 2001). Amongst the megafauna bone layers there is a tooth of a crocodile (Pallimnarchus sp.) that became extinct long before 40,000 years ago (Gillespie and David 2001). The tooth is also exfoliated and heavily mineralised and the preservation is not consistent with other bone and teeth in the same level. There are stone artefacts with hair and blood adhering, but in the same layers there are megafauna bones with not even traces of protein remaining (Brook, et al. 2006; Coltrain, et al. 2004; Dodson, et al. 1993; Garling 1998).</p><br>
<p>These inconsistent finds suggest that the process of site formation may have involved some mixing of materials of different ages. This leads to the second important detail, the stratigraphy. Cuddie Springs is unusual in having a dense deflation pavement that separates recent materials (such as cow bones) from the Pleistocene layers. The layers above the pavement contains cow bones mixed with megafauna bones but the layers below contain no cow bones. (Field and Dodson 1999). David (2002) has asked where the rocks in this pavement come from in a stone-poor riverine plain, and suggested that they may have been carried by Aboriginal people from a gibber plain 4 km from the site or by farmers during the late 19th or early 20th century to create a firm footing for people or cattle. Gillespie and Brook (2006) also suggest that the stone artefacts in the pavement are unusually dense for a Pleistocene archaeological site and may have been transported during well construction or represent an in situ but late Holocene archaeological site overlaying disturbed Late Pleistocene sediments. There is a long history of European activity at Cuddie Springs, with a well dug in 1876, ten metres from the 1990s excavation and trenches dug by the Australian Museum in 1933. These events likely caused disturbance of the stratigraphy. Gillespie and Brook add that cattle visiting the well may have pushed stone artefacts through the pavement into the Pleistocene layers during waterlogged conditions. Tracing the origins of the pavement is crucial to understanding the integrity of the Pleistocene layers.</p><br>
<p>Several authors have suggested that the Pleistocene stone artefacts and megafauna bones may have derived from separate contexts that have become mixed by underground water flow. Because it is a ground-fed spring and a site that is periodically inundated by rain, sediment at Cuddie Springs is highly likely to have been moved by water. The depth of the historic well suggests that the ground water level may have been near the level of the Pleistocene layers (Gillespie and Brook 2006). Gillespie and David (2001) suggest that the upright orientation of an unarticulated Genyornis femur in the Pleistocene layers at Cuddie Springs might be explained by sediment movement by water flow is responsible for. This suggests that the megafauna bones might derive from much older sediments and have been reworked into the stone artefact bearing layers. A more direct link between the stone artefacts and the bones would be cut marks on the bones, but there are ‘few cut marks on any bones’ at Cuddie Springs (Field, et al. 2001: 698). Evidence favour of an intact Pleistocene deposit comes from analysis of rare earth elements (REE) in the megafauna bones. The REE contents of the bones suggests that each depositional unit contains fauna with a discrete chemical signature and, therefore, a discrete and distinct postdepositional history, arguing against any postdepositional movement and mixing of bone between stratigraphic horizons (Trueman, et al. 2005). Gillespie and Brook (2006) comment that this still does not exclude an off-site origin of the bones (i.e. death of the animal) and subsequent fluvial transportation to Cuddie Springs. Field et al. (2006) dispute the proposal that flood movement caused the combination of megafauna and stone artefacts. They report that the sediments enclosing the bones and stones are fine-grained silts and clays resulting from a low-energy flow of water. They argue that if floods were responsible then larger sediments such as sands and gravels would have been found also.</p><br>
<p>The possibility of mixed Pleistocene deposits is also suggested by some interpretations of the chronology of the site, a third focus of the critiques (figure 6). So far, there are 20 radiocarbon dates and seven luminescence dates published for Cuddie Springs (Gillespie and Brook 2006). Statistical analysis by Gillespie and Brook (2006) of the 16 radiocarbon dates from the Pleistocene layers (ranging from 28 to 33,000 years ago) suggest that they do not increase in age as depth increases. They interpret this to mean that the sediments have been disturbed since they were first deposited. The luminescence dates also suggest mixing, with Roberts et al. (2001) finding that the sediments sampled for dating have multiple palaeodose populations, suggesting that sediments in the same sample were deposited at different times, rather than all at the same time. As mentioned above, the megafauna bones contain undetectable amounts of protein, so direct dating of the bones has so far been unsuccessful (Clarke 1999; Coltrain, et al. 2004).</p><br>
<p>The uniqueness of archaeological and palaeontological finds from Cuddie Springs and its unusual stratigraphy have attracted detailed critiques that cast doubt on the integrity of the human-megafauna coexistence. Despite these problems, Cuddie Springs is uniquely significant as a major focus of research into the question of how the Australian megafauna became extinct.</p><br>
<p>Muzhappilangad Drive-in Beach   is a beach in the state of Kerala in southwestern India. It is located parallel to National Highway 66 between Thalassery and Kannur.</p><br>
<h2>Overview</h2><br>
<p>This beach is the longest Drive-In Beach in India and is featured among the top 6 best beaches for driving in the world in BBC article for Autos. Muzhappilangad is the only Asian beach featured in the list. Even though Goa has many beautiful beaches, it does not have a Drive-in beach. It is considered as the longest drive-in beach in Asia.</p><br>
<p>The beach festival is celebrated in the month of April and it is one of the important tourist attraction in the district of Kannur in Kerala. The youth also try many driving stunts in cars like drifting and wheeling in bikes as this is a paradise for driving along the shore.</p><br>
<p>There is an unpaved road winding through coconut groves leading to the beach. To get to this road, if you are driving from Tellicherry towards Kannur, take the left turn just before the first railway crossing you encounter after crossing the Moidu bridge. The beach is about 5 km long and curves in a wide area providing a good view of Kannur on the north. Local laws allow beachgoers to drive for a full 4 km directly on the sands of the beach. The beach is bordered by black rocks, which also protect it from the stronger currents of the ocean. These rocks provide habitat for Blue mussel, a delicious seafood.</p><br>
<p>Beach attracts bird-watchers from far off places as hundreds of birds flock here during various seasons.</p><br>
<p>Approximately 100–200 m south of the beach there is a private island called Dharmadam Island (Pacha Thuruthu in Malayalam, which translates to Green Island in English). It is possible to walk to the island during low tide from the near by Dharmadam beach.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Since the late 90&#39;s, the beach has seen a steady influx of European tourists during winter. A major share of foreign and domestic tourists are not aware of the potential of this elusive destination. It is a must see destination for Indians as well as foreign tourists. After the face lift of the beach there has been a huge improvement in the facilities available to the beach visitors including resorts, roads, etc. The beach is wide and the sand is firm enough to support smooth driving.</p><br>
<h2>Bird Watching Hotspot</h2><br>
<p>Despite a tourist destination the beach is a bird watching hotspot too. More than thirty species of migratory birds visit here in the winter. Among them Pectoral sandpiper and Caspian plover, sighted here in 2013 were reported for the first time in Kerala. Long, broad shore and rocky formations on the either side of the beach provide a safe place for migration.</p><br>
<h3>Species</h3><br>
<p>Egrets</p><br>
<p>White bellied sea eagle</p><br>
<p>Eurasian Oystercatcher</p><br>
<p>Black-winged Stilt</p><br>
<p>Plovers</p><br>
<p>Whimbrel</p><br>
<p>Eurasian Curlew</p><br>
<p>Sandpipers</p><br>
<p>Common Greenshank</p><br>
<p>Common Redshank</p><br>
<p>Ruddy Turnstone</p><br>
<p>Sanderling</p><br>
<p>Little Stint</p><br>
<p>Ruff</p><br>
<p>Sea Gulls</p><br>
<p>Terns</p><br>
<p>Brahminy kite</p><br>
<p>Black kite</p><br>
<p>Asian Openbill</p><br>
<h2>Accessibility</h2><br>
<p>Nearest Airports:</p><br>
<p>Kozhikode International Airport - 100 km</p><br>
<p>Kannur International Airport (Under construction ) - 25.7 km</p><br>
<p>Nearest Towns / Railway stations :</p><br>
<p>Thalassery - 7 km</p><br>
<p>Kannur - 15 km</p><br>
<p>By road:</p><br>
<p>On National Highway 66 the beach is situated between Kannur town and Thalassery town.</p><br>
<p>There are five village connection roads on the National Highway towards the beach.</p><br>
<h2>Image gallery</h2><br>
<p>The Col de Montgenèvre  is a high mountain pass in the Cottian Alps, in France 2 kilometres away from Italy.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The pass takes its name from the village Montgenèvre (Hautes-Alpes), which lies in the vicinity. It links Briançon in the upper Durance valley with the Susa Valley and its communes of Cesana Torinese and Susa in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont.</p><br>
<p>The Col de Montgenèvre is an important road connection, and is kept open in winter. Its importance has always lain in the fact that it is the lowest of the principal crossings of the main range of the Alps between France and Italy.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>It appears to have become first known to the Romans when Pompey used it on his campaign to Spain in 77 BC, claiming to have opened up a route more favorable than hitherto. It was subsequently used by Julius Caesar in travelling to Gaul and became thereafter the main route for travel between Roman Italy and southern Gaul or Spain.</p><br>
<p>Through this pass Charles VIII of France led his army in September 1494 on his way to capture the Kingdom of Naples, which would spark 65 years of intermittent warfare up and down Italy, later known as the Italian Wars.</p><br>
<h2>Tour de France</h2><br>
<p>The Col de Montgenèvre has appeared on the Tour de France 10 times. The first person over the summit on each occasion was:</p><br>
<p>1949 Tour de France: Gino Bartali Italy</p><br>
<p>1952 Tour de France: Fausto Coppi Italy</p><br>
<p>1956 Tour de France: Valentin Huot France</p><br>
<p>1966 Tour de France: Julio Jiménez Spain</p><br>
<p>1976 Tour de France: Joop Zoetemelk Netherlands</p><br>
<p>1992 Tour de France: Richard Virenque France</p><br>
<p>1996 Tour de France: Bjarne Riis Denmark</p><br>
<p>1997 Tour de France: Richard Virenque France</p><br>
<p>1999 Tour de France: Richard Virenque France</p><br>
<p>2011 Tour de France: Sylvain Chavanel France</p><br>
