Sephardic Jews first arrived in North Carolina during the early 18th century. By 1852, a Jewish Burial Society was formed in Wilmington with a Hebrew cemetery opening in 1855. An Orthodox Jewish congregation was formed in 1867, but did not succeed. In 1872, a Reform congregation was started by German Jews and their synagogue, the Temple of Israel, was dedicated on May 12, 1876.
Princeton All American football player and World War I hero Arthur Bluethenthal was a member of the synagogue.


The Temple of Israel's architecture is a combination of Greek Revival and Moorish styles. The Moorish architecture is unique in the city of Wilmington, but was common during late 19th century for many American synagogues. The synagogue features horseshoe arches and twin towers topped with golden onion domes. The building's exterior was restored in 1982, 2000 and 2013.  It is a contributing building in the Wilmington Historic District.


The Temple of Mars Ultor was a sanctuary erected in Ancient Rome by the Roman Emperor Augustus in 2 BCE and dedicated to the god Mars in his guise as avenger. The centerpiece of the Forum of Augustus, it was a peripteral style temple, on the front and sides, but not the rear (sine postico), raised on a platform and lined with eight columns in the Corinthian order style.
According to Suetonius and Ovid, the young Octavian vowed to build a temple to Mars in 42 BCE just before the Battle of Philippi if the god would grant him and Marcus Antonius victory over two of the assassins of Julius Caesar, Gaius Cassius Longinus and Marcus Junius Brutus. However, work did not commence on the temple until after the recovery of the Aquilae in 20 BCE that had been lost by Marcus Licinius Crassus in the disastrous Battle of Carrhae 33 years earlier. Originally, the Roman Senate had decreed that the returned standards were to be housed in a temple to Mars Ultor that was to be built on the Capitoline Hill. Augustus however, declared that he would build it at his own expense on the site of his new forum. Augustus’s decision to wait to fulfill his vow has been speculated to have been due to a reluctance to celebrate his victory over those who were seen as the defenders of Libertas, whereas the return of the standards, and its symbolic revenge against the Parthians, was a more acceptable victory to commemorate.
The temple was dedicated, albeit in an incomplete state, in 2 BCE, to coincide with Augustus’s celebration of his 13th consulship as well as his acceptance of the title Pater Patriae. The temple (and the forum within which it was placed) was part of imperial propaganda campaign to glorify and bring about an acceptance of the authority of the new Augustan empire. To the imperial regime, it was vital to accentuate the favour of the gods, as well as glorifying the ancestral figures and past of Rome, and so overcome the disorder of the civil wars that had plagued the state for over 50 years. In the words of Augustus himself, “I have fashioned this to lead the citizens to require me, while I live, and the rulers of later times as well, to attain the standard set by those great men of old.”
On the pediment of the temple was inscribed the name of Augustus, along with a series of reliefs honouring the divinities that played a part in influencing the outcome of battles and wars through their intercession. In the centre was the figure of Mars, flanked by the goddesses Fortuna and Venus. Next to these were the seated figures of Romulus (in the guise of an augur) and the goddess Roma in arms. Finally, in the gable corners were reclining figures of the personification of the Palatine Hill and Father Tiber. It was to these divinities that Augustan propaganda ascribed the self-styled “victory” over the Parthians that saw the return of the lost standards during Augustus’s visit to Syria in 20 BCE (and to a lesser extent, his victory at the Battle of Philippi as an act of filial vengeance against the assassins of his adoptive father, Julius Caesar). Further, it also emphasized the role that the goddess Fortuna played his triple victory in Illyria (33 BCE), at the Battle of Actium and in Egypt defeating Cleopatra. Finally, the role of Mars Ultor was critical in Augustus’s attempts to refashion the events of his coming to power in a way that obscured the illegality of much of his actions during those years.
Within the temple there stood three statues. In the middle, a colossal Mars Ultor depicted in full military dress, holding a large spear in his right hand and a shield in his left. On the right side of the god stood a statue of the goddess Venus, with Cupid – it was Venus whom all of the gens Julia claimed descent from. To the left of the god was a statue of Julius Caesar, or more specifically ‘Divus Julius’, as he had been deified after a comet was seen in the sky during his funeral games.
In 19 CE, the emperor Tiberius added two arches, one on either side of the temple, and it was later restored during the reign of Hadrian. The temple was used by the Senate as a meeting place to discuss matters of foreign policy, discussions around declarations of war, and to make decisions for awarding triumphs. It also served as a reception place to meet foreign embassies. By the end of the 4th century, the temple would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, when the Christian Emperors issued edicts prohibiting non-Christian worship. During the ninth century, an oratory church was built in the ruins of the temple, and was called the church of San Basilio in Scala Mortuorum. This church was mentioned in the 12th century Mirabilia Urbis Romae and by the late 19th century, the temple ruins was home to the convent of the nuns of Santa Annunziata.


Montu was a falcon-headed god of war. He was the tutelary deity of Thebes. His consorts were Tjenenyet (or Tanen-t) and rˁỉ.t-tꜣ.wỉ ("female Ra of the Two Lands"); his son was Harpora. He is also associated with a sacred bull named Buchis.
In addition to the temple at Medamud, temples dedicated to Montu were built in Karnak, Armant, and Tod. From 1925-1932, the Medamud Temple of Montu was excavated by French archaeologist Fernand Bisson de la Roque of the Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale in conjunction with the Louvre.


Medamud (or Madu) was an outpost of Thebes, located 3 miles (4.8 km) away. Little is known about the town of Medamud or its other structures. Prior to construction of the Middle Kingdom temple, the site had been burned and earlier mounds were razed. The Middle Kingdom temple is situated on a circular mound, its orientation bearing east-west.
Nearby are the Egyptian temple complexes at Luxor and Karnak. The Karnak Temple Complex contains three precincts, including the Precinct of Montu, which contains another Temple of Montu.


The Old Kingdom temple site, dedicated to Montu, was walled and had a sacred grove. It had a tunnel system, mounds, and chambers.


The Middle Kingdom 12th Dynasty building is a rare example of the foundation of religion in the Middle Kingdom of Egypt era. Others of this period are the temple of Senwosret III in Abydos, the Temple of Medinet Madi and Qasr el-Sagha in Fayoum dating from approximately the same time, and the funerary temple of Mentuhotep II of the 11th dynasty in Deir el-Bahari. The sanctuary was remodeled in later periods.
The temple's features included a tribune platform, a canal, a dromos, main gate, portico, hall, and sanctuary. There was also a courtyard for the living sacred bull. It consisted of a first chamber, 200 by 180 meters. The main access was by the east and north. A sacred lake was probably on the west side of the temple. The temple consisted of two distinct, contiguous sections that have been interpreted as a temple to the north and one to the south where the priests would have had their quarters. Typical of the period, the temple was built out of brick - it included raw elements for the doors and frames, and column or carved stone, the bases of which were decorated. Carved stone would have been present in the most intimate parts of the sanctuary, but no trace of it has been discovered. No doubt these parts were considered sacred and reused in later buildings. The plan of the sanctuary of the Middle Kingdom is still subject to discussion, but it was to have at least one hypostyle antechamber giving access to chapels of worship or shrine. A large courtyard surrounded by portico columns where a sacred bull would have lived would have been revered as the hypostasis of the living Montu.
This temple has provided many examples of royal statuary and lithic elements of Ancient Egyptian architecture. One of the extravagant doors, dated to Senwosret III, is in the Louvre. The temple continued to be decorated in the 13th Dynasty of Egypt, including Sobekhotep II, and included some reliefs of his predecessors and of his ancestor Senwosret III, dressed in the fashion of the Sed festival.


The temple was revised later by the kings of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt and was rebuilt by Thutmose III, who rebuilt the stone sanctuary and adorned it with statues in his likeness.


The site is currently closed to the public as a team of archaeologists and restorers work to protect against the modern city encroachment on the ancient remains of the former city.
Composed of twelve columns, the structure was built under Ptolemy VIII, who was then one of the great rebuilders of Medamud. Four of the six columns of the façade are still connected by walls. The elements of the inner temple are dated from the beginning of the Ptolemaic period. The enclosure of the temple included a sacred lake and a deep well but was blocked off because it represented a danger to children playing in the area. The temple continued to be enlarged and decorated for centuries under the Roman emperors, including Tiberius (14–37), up until the reign of Antoninus Pius. A wharf, which was reached by a canal, connected the temple with a line of sphinxes and is now in a state of ruin. Although grass grows throughout the site, there is evidence of ancient pilgrims in the form of graffiti or engraved footprints. Following the processional aisle, it was possible to access a large door whose decoration dates from the reign of Tiberius. This monumental gateway was a large opening within the walls of the temple axis. It was Ptolemy VIII who built the towered portico around the door, its decoration not completed until the reign of Ptolemy XII. Another door dates to Ptolemy II.
Some of the artifacts found in the temple date to Ptolemy III and Ptolemy IV. Many of these artifacts are statues of bulls used for worship and reliefs. The interior of this monument and its doors describe the traditional scenes of the Sed festival, when the king in traditional costume receives offerings or during an important step in the inauguration ceremony of royal power. The Temple of Montu is also an important insight into how very popular bull cults were in ancient Egypt, with Montu being strongly associated with raging bulls. A long corridor retained the scenes of the cult of the bull Buchis, which dates mostly from the emperor Domitian (81–96). There is also a wall relief of a procession of musicians who came to visit Trajan.
Nothing remains of the earlier or later temples, and the remains are dated mainly from the Greco-Roman period. The temple at Medamud was probably founded as the place of worship for the living god Montu while the temple Bouchéum (or Bucheum) at Ermant included a necropolis of sacred bulls, and was probably dedicated to his death. There are Coptic remains on the temple site.


What could be removed from the original structure, parts of the building and artifacts, were taken to museums such as the Karnak Open Air Museum. Most of the temple's statues and the Gates to the Temple are now located in various museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon and the Louvre.


WikiWeb_Templo Expiatorio Nacional de San Felipe de Jesus_0

Templo Expiatorio Nacional de San Felipe de Jesús is an historic church in Mexico City, Mexico.


There have been at least three fortresses on the castle hill in Terebovlia. The first historical castle in the town, mentioned in the Old Russian writing Primary Chronicle, was a castle erected in 9th/10th century. The city achieved its greatest power during the reign of Prince Vasylko Rostyslavych, the great-grandson of the Grand Duke of Kiev Yaroslav the Wise.
Prince Vasylko Rostyslavych's fortress was a wooden, enclosed palisade, and only the castle church within it was built of stone. The fortress had several defensive lines, but there was no water well. Archeologists suggest that the water was brought here underground or simply filled the reservoirs. This original castle was not like the one that has survived until now. Even the entrance to it was not from the east, as it is now, but from the north - from the modern park. There were cellars under the castle.
After the death of Vasylko Rostyslavych in 1124, the Principality of Terebovlia became part of the Principality of Halych, and later part of the Halych-Volhynia principality. With the reign of Vladimir Igorevich of the Izyaslavych family, Terebovlya regained its independence. However, in 1211, in the battle with the Magyars, the prince was captured and executed along with his brothers and father. In those days, the wooden walls of the castle were replaced by stone, but in 1241 Terebovlia was completely destroyed by the hordes of Batu Khan. In 1341 the city is already mentioned as being conquered by the Poles. In 1346 the Polish king Casimir III the Great rebuilt the fortress. Little is known about this newer castle, but it was stone and walled. In 1448 Kazimierz Jagiellończyk stayed here. In 1534, the castle was extended by Kraków castellan Andrzej Tęczyński.
During the 15th and 16th centuries Terebovlya fortress declined in importance due to constant attacks by Tatars. Within a few months, the Terebovlian Andrzej Tęczyński - a castellan of the then Polish capital of Krakow - rebuilt it at his own expense. The necessity of repairing the castle was mentioned in the privilege of King Stephen Báthory from November 30, 1576 (a copy was preserved   ).
In 1594 (July 1595 ), Terebovlya was acquired by Severyn Nalyvaiko, but the castle was not damaged at that time. At the end of the 16th century the castle was repaired by the Terebovlian headman Jakub Pretwitch.
From 1605-1625 the castle's importance declined after suffering 15 attacks by Crimean Tatars. Following these events, it was the turn of the fortress to build a stroll now. In 1631 the castle was rebuilt by the Trembowel starosta Andrzej Bałaban. The walls reach 3.5-5m in thickness and up to 18m in height. The entrance to the castle was made at height of 3m above the ground and could only be reached with the help of a special platform. It is suggested that during this castle renovation the church with grave of  prince Vasylko Rostyslavych was destroyed.
Cossacks captured castle in 1648, but after the armistice it was occupied by the Poles and frequently resisted attacks by Cossacks, Turks and Tatars.
In course of Polish–Ottoman War (1672–1676) Terebovlia castle became an important border fortress after the partition of Podolia by Turkey in 1671.  Armistice in war followed by Treaty of Buchach which ultimately was rejected by Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and war resumed. In 1675 Mehmed IV sent a new 10,000-strong Turkish-Tatar army under command of Pasha Ibrahim Shyshman  to enter Ukraine and on September 20 the siege of Terebovlya began. Despite considerable numerical advantage, Pasha Ibrahim Shyshman  was unable to capture the castle and on October 11 retreated south in anticipation of the early start of winter season. This saved the rest of Podillya, Galicia from the attack.
Terebovlia castle became famous for its heroic defense against Tatars and Turks.
During the 18th and 19th centuries the castle was left unattended and decayed. The lower parts of the walls have been preserved.


The Terespol Gate was one of the four gates leading into the Citadel of the Russian Brest Fortress. It was designed in a classic style in the early 19th century. It faces the Bug River. A suspension bridge was built here in the early 19th century to span the Bug River. The bridge was badly damaged in 1915 at World War I. Another bridge built here before 1941 was ruined during World War II. Now there is no bridge here, however, a new suspension bridge for pedestrian cross border traffic will be built in coming years.
Before the war outbreak in 1941 the gate used to be a three-storey structure with small turrets above. Inside there were two enormous water tanks which supplied the Citadel with water. On June 22, 1941 Wehrmacht infantry made their way into the Citadel. During the battle the gate was badly damaged. The upper part was destroyed


Terme Taurine, also known as the Taurine Baths, is a former Roman bathhouse complex located outside of the Italian city of Civitavecchia. The site contains ruins dating to both Republican and Imperial era Rome, with the oldest structures at Terme Taurine having been built in the first century BC. In modern era, the baths are considered an archaeological park.


Terme Taurine was first established on a hill overlooking Civitavecchia during the Roman Republican era in the 86 B.C. The bathhouse was known as the Taurine Baths in reference to the nearby village of Aquae Tauri, which is no longer in existence. Local legend holds that the hot spring that the baths were fed by was created when a bull stamped his hoof on ground, causing hot water to spring forth. The republic era ruins at Terme Taurine featured beauty parlors, changing rooms, and hot and cold pools. Several of these pools and the mosaics adorning them can still be visited. The republic era baths also once held a shrine to water nymphs, who were believed by the Romans to be the guardian spirits of underground springs.
The complex at Terme Taurine was greatly expanded by Roman emperor Hadrian (117 - 138 AD) from 123 to 136 AD. The Imperial era baths at Terme Taurine were open to all social classes, with some people being granted free admission. In addition to baths, the Imperial section of Terme Taurine also contained a library and housing for vendors. During the imperial era, the baths became a popular stop-over site for visitors to the nearby port.
Terme Taurine remained in use until the mid 6th century, when a war between the Goths and Byzantine Empire resulted in them being looted. Much of the marble walling of the baths was stripped off, and the baths fell into disuse. In 1770 the Papal States began to excavate parts of the site and built an Italian-style garden nearby, which can still be seen.
The baths reopened in 2020 after a brief period of restoration, which also saw improvements to facilities around the site. Local notables have proposed Terme Taurine be nominated as a UNESCO world heritage site.


During the reign of the Emperor Commodus, Aelius Lampridius recorded that the emperor—upon finding his bathwater lukewarm—had an attendant thrown into an oven while visiting Terme Taurine. Roman Poet Rutilius Claudius Namatianus visited the baths in the 5th century and described them in his travelogue.


Founded in 1876, it had an erratic existence and seemed that it would never get off the ground. In its first decade it had fifteen different artistic directors, the most notorious being Olga Léaud who fled the theatre after her production had failed, taking the contents of the theatre safe with her.
The theatre's fortunes were revived briefly in 1885 by the arrival of Abel Ballet as the director. In 1896, Abel Ballet left the direction of Bouffes North. The two actors Emmanuel Clot and G. Dublay succeeded him. In 1904, the theatre, under the direction of its directors, was entirely restored, repainted, and equipped with electricity. The theatre was renamed the Théâtre Molière and authors such as Arthur Bernède and Gaston Leroux were assembled to write plays for the newly named theatre.  In August 1914 the Théâtre Molière, like other theatres, closed its doors. Until 1974, the theatre was inhabited by a number of theatre companies, none of which were able to afford the repairs and maintenance needed for it to conform with safety regulations.
British director Peter Brook and French producer Micheline Rozan took over the theatre in 1974 as the home for their theatre company, the International Centre for Theatre Research. A renovation followed.
In 2008, Brook announced that he would slowly hand the reins over to Olivier Mantei, the deputy head of the Paris opera company Opéra-Comique and head of the musical programming at the Bouffes du Nord, and Olivier Poubelle, a theatre entrepreneur specialising in modern music. His farewell production was A Magic Flute.


The Théniet El Had National Park is one of the 10 national parks of Algeria. It is located in Tissemsilt Province, named after Théniet El Haâd, a town near this park.


It has several forests, and it is located in the foothills of the highest peak (1.985 meter/ 6.512 feet high) of the Ouarsenis mountain chain in the Tell Atlas; home to a diversified flora and fauna. The park is a popular hiking destination for many Algerians.
Seventeen species of mammals live in the park, nine of which are protected, also 27 bird species live here, of which 60% are actively breeding here.


The Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary has a rich and varied birdlife. Several species of birds, both forest birds as well as water birds, visit the sanctuaries; notable ones include the following:
The Indian pitta, which visits the sanctuary during winter and spends almost six months here.
Orange-headed thrush
Large-billed leaf-warbler
Jerdon's nightjar
Indian cuckoo
Oriental darter
Cormorants
Whiskered terns
Collared scops owl
Ceylon frogmouth
Grey-fronted green pigeon
Yellow-browed bulbuls
The sanctuary is a habitat for different varieties of cuckoos and a region of the sanctuary popularly called "Cuckoo Paradise" is home to them, among which are the:
Drongo cuckoo, which may be easily mistaken for drongo,
Indian hawk cuckoo, which is highly vocal, and the
Large hawk cuckoo, which looks relatively massive compared to other types of cuckoos, and is characterized by a dark grey and heavily streaked throat.
The Idamalayar forest is located about 15 km from Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary. There is a large evergreen forest to the east and south-east of the Idamalayar Dam, extending from Malakkappara to as far as Rajamala. The mountain hawk eagles are found in this forest. Other birds in this forest include dark-fronted babbler, brown-cheeked fulvetta, brown-backed and white-rumped needletails, and emerald green pigeons.


"Bird sanctuaries: Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary". ENVIS Centre: Kerala, State of Environment and Related Issues, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013.
"Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary and the Dr. Salim Ali, Ernakulam". Kerala Tourism. Retrieved 1 July 2021.


The Chester Grosvenor occupies a historic location on Eastgate, in the centre of Chester. It is next to the landmark Eastgate Clock and in close proximity to other notable features of the city, including Grosvenor Park, The Mall Chester, Chester Cathedral, and the ancient city walls.


Between 2006 and 2014 the congregation became divided on religious issues, and the buildings and property of the congregation became the subject of protracted litigation.
In December 2006, approximately 90% of the congregation voted to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA) (a member of the Anglican Communion), and join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).  The minority group reorganized itself as The Falls Church (Episcopal), and began holding services across the street at Falls Church Presbyterian Church.  The disaffiliating majority renamed itself The Falls Church (Anglican) and continued to worship at The Falls Church property, and later petitioned a local court to transfer ownership of the property to CANA.  The Diocese of Virginia and the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA) intervened in the case and resisted the transfer.  Following a series of trial court rulings and appeals, the Virginia Supreme Court affirmed a trial court decision leaving the church property in the hands of The Episcopal Church.
The Episcopal parish thus returned to worshiping at the historic property, and the Anglican parish moved to a different location.  In March 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by the Falls Church Anglican, ending the matter.


The Floating Piers was a temporary, site-specific work of art by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, consisting of 70,000 square meters of yellow fabric, carried by a modular floating dock system of 226,000 high-density polyethylene cubes installed in 2016 at Lake Iseo near Brescia, Italy. The fabric created a walkable surface between Sulzano, Monte Isola and the island of San Paolo.


Christo and Jeanne-Claude began conceptualizing of The Floating Piers in 1970. Their initial site was Rio de la Plata between Argentina and Uruguay. The couple also considered Tokyo Bay as a location before moving on to other projects.
In late 2013, Christo settled on Lake Iseo as the location for The Floating Piers and dedicated the next 22 months to realizing the project. It was the first major project he undertook after the death of his partner and collaborator Jeanne-Claude.
The project was estimated to cost $11 million, but was later reported at closer to $17 million. The funds were raised by Christo himself through sales of his project sketches and original art. Permits took less than a year.
The physical installation of the piers was handled by Deep Dive Systems, a company based in Bulgaria. They installed about 220 six-ton anchors in the lake floor at depths of up to 92 meters, over a period of three months. 226,000 cubes were then attached to those anchors, and covered by 70,000 square meters of nylon fabric. Over 600 workers were involved in the installation. Traffic planning required a 175-page document and cost €100,000 to produce.
The fabric was cut and confectioned by the company geo - Die Luftwerker e.K. located in Lübeck. This company was also involved in the 3D measurement and installation.


On 18 June 2016, the saffron-colored walkway opened to the public. 270,000 people visited the free installation in its first five days. Due to the unexpectedly large crowds, organizers began closing the installation from midnight to 6 a.m. each day to allow for cleaning. On 22 June 2016, the large crowds caused some chaos at the main train station in nearby Brescia.


On 3 July 2016, the work closed to the public. Local officials estimated that it had attracted 1.2 million visitors, or an average of 72,000 per day, over its 16-day run. Police estimates were even higher, at 100,000 visitors per day. Dismantling of the project began in the early morning of 4 July 2016.


The Forum is a community building in Norwich, Norfolk in England. It stands opposite St Peter Mancroft Church. Built on the site of the previous Norwich Library which burnt down in 1994, the Forum was designed by Michael Hopkins and Partners, and built as a millennium project for the East of England, being finished in October 2001. The Forum is part of Norwich 12, a collection of notable buildings in Norwich spanning the Norman, medieval, Georgian, Victorian and modern eras. It is visited by more than 2.5 million people every year.
The majority of the public area of the building is occupied by the Norfolk & Norwich Millennium (NML) library, which spans across all three floors and has been regularly named as the most popular library in the UK. The building was also home to the local Tourist Information Centre, which has now been replaced with a citizens' advice centre, and currently houses the BBC East offices and studios, where the regional television news bulletin BBC Look East and local radio station BBC Radio Norfolk are based. An open mezzanine looks out across the floor and the glass front of the building, and currently houses a Pizza Express restaurant. The amphitheatre-like steps at the front have provided a venue for functions such as amateur theatrical performances, outdoor opera, musical competitions, art exhibitions, processions, and celebrations. Because the Forum is funded partly by lottery grants, they hold certain events which are free of charge for people to attend. The Forum is commonly used as a meeting place, and the plaza area attracts skateboarders and free runners.


The Great Banyan is a banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) located in Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, Shibpur, Howrah, near Kolkata, India. The great banyan tree draws more visitors to the garden than its collection of exotic plants from five continents. Its main trunk  became diseased after it was struck by two cyclones, so in 1925 the main trunk  of the tree was amputated to keep the remainder healthy. A 330-metre-long (1,080 ft) road was built around its circumference, but the tree continues to spread beyond it.
 It was recorded to be the largest tree specimen in the world in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1989.


Botanically known as Ficus benghalensis, and belonging to the family Moraceae, the tree is a native of India.  The fruit is like a small fig and is eaten by some people. It tastes sweeter than fig. The banyan plant is seen sometimes growing from the little wet dust deposits on buildings because birds carry them around for eating. The fruit is red and when ripe gets softer.


The Great Banyan tree is believed to be at least 250 years old, and has been referenced in many travel books, going back to at least the nineteenth century.  Early travel writers found it to be noteworthy due to its large size and its unusually high number of prop-trunks. It has survived three great cyclones in 1864, 1867, and 2020 when some of its main branches were broken. With its large number of aerial roots, which grow from the branches and run vertically to the ground, The Great Banyan is said to appear more like a dense forest than as an individual tree.
The tree survives without its main trunk, which decayed and had to be removed in 1925. A monument has been erected to the dead trunk near the tree's center, but the marker is hardly accessible to visitors, who seldom venture within the tree's thick inner tangle of roots and branches.  Visitors generally prefer to access only the perimeter of the tree.  The area occupied by the tree is about 18,918 square metres (about 1.89 hectares or 4.67 acres). The present crown of the tree has a circumference of 486 m. and the highest branch rises to 24.5 m; it has at present 3772 aerial roots reaching down to the ground as a prop root. Its height is almost equivalent to the Gateway of India.
The tree lost several prop roots when Cyclone Amphan passed through West Bengal on 20 May, 2020.


The Hospital Club, later renamed the H Club, was a members' club for people in the creative industries in London, England. It housed a television studio, recording studio, screening room, live performance space, restaurant, lounges and gallery over seven floors. The club was located at 24 Endell Street, Covent Garden, on the site of an 18th-century hospital.
The Hospital Club was used by the rock band Radiohead to record parts of their 2007 album In Rainbows and the 2008 live video In Rainbows – From the Basement.
In 2017, the Hospital Club opened a second location in the former Redbury Hotel in Hollywood, California. In 2020, both clubs closed permanently due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other "extenuating circumstances".


In 2014, the club received a zero rating for food hygiene after an inspection found mouse droppings in kitchens, prompting worries of cross-contamination. In 2015, the Hospital Club received a five-star rating by the Foods Standard Agency.


The venue's 2,700 square feet (250 m²) television studio is located two floors below ground level, and when it opened in 2003 was the first high-definition television studio in the UK. A grid height of 4.4 metres (14 ft) and a size of 61 feet x 44 feet, roughly equivalent to that of Television Centre's TC2, means it is well used for programme production.
The studio can accommodate an audience of approximately 200 people sitting or standing. The sound production room was upgraded in conjunction with Solid State Logic.


The Mall was conceived as part of the 1903 Group Plan by Daniel Burnham, John Carrère, and Arnold Brunner as a vast public space flanked by the city's major civic and governmental buildings, all built in the neoclassical style. Many of those buildings were built over the following three decades, including the Metzenbaum Courthouse (1910), Cuyahoga County Courthouse (1912), Cleveland City Hall (1916), Public Auditorium (1922), the Cleveland Public Library main building (1925), and the Cleveland Public Schools Board of Education building (1931).  Other buildings include Key Tower, the Global Center for Health Innovation, the Hilton Cleveland Downtown Hotel, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
In the spirit of the City Beautiful movement, formerly seedy areas were transformed into a "magnificent civic center", which was supposed to be crowned by the Union Terminal at the north end of the mall, on the shores of Lake Erie.  However, the location of the station was eventually moved south and west, to Public Square, where it was finally born as the Terminal Tower. Even though the plan was never fully carried out, it was one of the few City Beautiful plans to be realized to a large extent, and remains one of the most complete examples in the country. The Mall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
The Mall is divided into three sections, known as Malls A, B, and C. Mall A, the southernmost, is officially named Veterans' Memorial Plaza, and Mall C was dedicated as Strawbridge Plaza in 2003.  The Memorial Plaza, between Rockwell and St. Clair Avenues, is the site of Marshall Fredericks' Fountain of Eternal Life, also known as the War Memorial Fountain. The Cleveland Convention Center was built underneath Malls B and C in 1964.  In 2010 the county purchased the underground convention center from the city as part of a project to completely rebuild it in conjunction with constructing the Global Center for Health Innovation and the Hilton Cleveland Downtown Hotel on the former site of the Cuyahoga County Administration Building across from Mall B.  The new Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland opened in 2013 and has underground connections to Public Auditorium and the Global Center for Health Innovation. The Hilton officially opened in June 2016.  Mall B and Mall C reopened after construction as predominantly grassy areas, with Mall B reaching 27 feet (8.2 m) above sidewalk level over the entrance to the Cleveland Convention Center along Lakeside Avenue.


Cleveland Public Art sponsored a series of temporary public art installations on Mall B. In 2004, New York artist Brian Tolle installed For the gentle wind doth move Silently, invisibly. The work featured eight nine-foot-tall styrofoam neoclassical urns standing atop pedestals, warped to reflect actual wind data collected from Lake Erie. The sculptures were taken down in 2006. In May 2008, Peter North and Alissa North of North Design Office in Toronto installed a work titled The Verdant Walk. It featured plantings of native grasses and seven fabric-covered sculptures. The sculptures were illuminated at night via a solar-powered LED system. They remained in place until 2010.
After the reconstruction of the Mall, Stephen Manka's sculpture City of Light was installed on Mall B. The illuminated steel sculpture was created for the 2013 National Senior Games. Manka described it as intended to "simulate the flames of the classic games with a wash
of programmable light" and "part petal of a flower, part heavy duty turbine".


The Meadows or Meadows is an area of Nottingham, England, south of city centre, close to the River Trent and connected to West Bridgford in the Borough of Rushcliffe by Trent Bridge and the Wilford Suspension Bridge. Victoria Embankment runs alongside the River Trent to the south of the Meadows and is home to the Nottingham War Memorial Gardens.
The Meadows is made up of two distinct areas: the Old Meadows, an area of predominantly pre-1919 privately owned terraced housing laid out in a traditional street pattern, and the New Meadows, an area of mainly social rented housing, built in a Radburn style layout following slum clearance in the late 1970s, and transformed into a more traditional layout after a Private Finance Initiative bid in 2008, by re-establishing vehicular access and reversing the orientation of some of the houses. Unpopular deck-access maisonettes have been demolished. The Community, still re-establishing, has once again been displaced and dispersed after only 40 years.
The area is served by two tram routes and two bus routes, while a dozen more pass along the peripheral roads. It is a short walk to Nottingham railway station. The Bridgeway shopping centre, a pedestrianised shopping precinct located in the centre of the Meadows, provides a focus for community cohesion, but is facing uncertainty about its future.


The Meadows is an area of Nottingham south of the castle and city centre, within the Meadows ward (previously Bridge Ward which also included the Dunkirk area of the city). The Meadows was originally a large area of wetland/floodplain which extended from the River Leen to the River Trent. After enclosure, this area was drained and gradually developed for a variety of uses, incorporating terraced housing, public houses, factories, warehouses and public buildings such as libraries and swimming baths.
To the north it is bounded by the low red sandstone hill of Nottingham City Centre, to the south west, south and east it is bounded by the meandering River Trent; to the north and west by the Beeston and Nottingham Canal. It is separated from the rest of Nottingham by the A60 London Road that runs along the canal bank from Trent Bridge and the A453 Queens Drive/A6019 Queens Road ring road. A local distributor road, Meadows Way, runs in parallel to these roads for their entire length. The embankment of the Great Northern Railway ran to the north.
The Ordnance Survey use the name Meadows (not The Meadows) for the area.


The terraced housing was constructed mainly for those that worked on the railways and in the factories. Many of these houses were built by the railway company themselves. Historic photographs show the area to be a vibrant community with many fine buildings and good townscape.
In 1901, Victoria Embankment, a 1¼ mile long Victorian flood defence engineering works with a promenade and carriage-way opened, along with the New Meadows recreation ground. In 1906 the Arts & Crafts style Cricket Pavilion was officially opened along with several new football pitches with the Police Band in attendance. In 1920, Jesse Boot purchased the remainder of the land within the Embankment adjacent to the Trent and then bequeathed it to the citizens of Nottingham in perpetuity for recreational use and memorial. This included the memorial gardens, playing fields, war memorial (foundation stone laid by Prince of Wales 1923), bandstand (1937) and two sports pavilions, all of which survive today.


In the 1970s, housing in the Meadows was deemed unsuitable by the council and a large part of the Meadows was demolished to make way for a new development of modern council housing. The new development was based on the Radburn model of planning which consisted of segregating traffic and pedestrians by constructing cul-de-sacs, feeder roads and underpasses. In 1975, the viaduct carrying the Great Central railway and Arkwright Street station  was demolished as the new development started to take shape. Today there is absolutely no trace of any part of the Great Central Railway in the Meadows.
The Radburn model led to anti-social behaviour problems : Nottingham City Council has stated that "the problems associated with the layout of the New Meadows Radburn style layout... contribute to the anti-social behaviour and crime in the area."
St Saviour's Church located on Arkwright Walk, by R C Sutton, opened in 1864. It is entered through the south west tower and has a simple west end with lancets. It is one of only a small number of large individual buildings that survived the area's redevelopment in the 1970s. However, the 'Old Meadows', a substantial area to the south of Wilford Crescent (East and West), running to the Trent Embankment, survives as a reminder of what was lost.


In 2009, Nottingham City Council commissioned the consultants Taylor Young to examine the problems facing the Meadows, as a precursor to putting in a bid for  Round 6 Housing PFI funding. They were awarded £200 million to implement the plan, which was promptly withdrawn by the incoming Cameron coalition government.
Taylor Young identified major issues and set up the Community Transformation Working Group to work with residents. The Meadows Neighbourhood Plan was developed over two years and resulted in a detailed document including: a baseline review highlighting the issues; a vision for the future; option appraisal; consultation and engagement; and detailed descriptions of the preferred plan and options for delivery.
During the initial stage, the plans involved completely redesigning the New Meadows area by reintroducing the traditional street layout in contrast to the maze of alleyways, subways and cul-de sacs that currently exist since the area was last redeveloped in the 1970s. The council anticipated that this would have had a positive impact by reducing crime and anti-social behaviour and providing easy access in and out of the area for the police. The plans also included a new local shopping centre which was to be created by demolishing the current Bridgeway Centre and constructing the new one along a recreated ‘Arkwright Street’ located slightly east of the current shopping area.
In order to achieve the desired traditional street layout the council planned to ‘turn around’ many houses and demolish many of the ‘Q’ blocks and replace them with modern energy-efficient family homes in reflection of the area's desire to become an eco-friendly neighbourhood.
During November 2010, the government announced that, as part of its austerity package, the £200 million PFI grant to redevelop the neighbourhood was cancelled.  However, the city council continued with a more limited scheme and funding for the construction of the tram extensions and the redevelopment of Nottingham railway station came from another source.
In September 2011, Nottingham City Homes (NCH) announced that fifteen of the 'Q' blocks, principally around the Arkwright Walk area, were to be decommissioned along with a small number of other properties. Nottingham City Homes manages 28,000 homes across the city and planned to decommission  or demolish about 1000 of the least sustainable.
The 'Q' blocks were four storey deck access maisonettes that were unpopular with residents and the police. The scheme was in phases, the final phase to be completed in 2016, involving demolishing houses to re-establish the line of Arkwright Street as a principal thoroughfare, open to buses and local traffic. Arkwright Walk/Street links Nottingham Station and Trent Bridge.
NCH proposed to develop new family sized housing to replace the demolished properties. Two of the subways in the Meadows have been removed (the Meadows Way underpass which connects Arkwright Walk with Arkwright Street has been replaced with a pedestrian crossing and the underpass which takes Queens Walk under Robin Hood Way filled in.
Under the NCH proposals, the Bridgeway Shopping Centre remains open but lacking traders and requests by residents for further shops along Queens Walk failed to attract any commercial interest.
Early in 2012 a new tram route to Clifton was cut through the Queens Walk. In the main the double row of plane trees from the 1842 plan have been maintained, though 40 trees were lost.


Victoria Embankment and the Memorial Gardens lie within a 1.2 mi (2 km) long meander of the River Trent as it runs between  Wilford Bridge and Trent Bridge. In the 19th century it was part of the Clifton Estate, and of low value due to regular inundation. The estate donated 9ha to Nottingham Corporation in 1897 to allow flood defences to be built. The Victoria Embankment was built between 1898 and 1901 under the supervision of borough engineer Arthur Brown. It consisted of concrete steps and an earth embankment surmounted with a public carriageway. A public recreation ground was created by levelling and backfilling the land between the embankment and The Meadows estate. The New Meadows Recreation ground was opened in May 1906, replacing a Public Recreation Ground on the east side of Queens Walk, lost to the development of the Great Central railway.
In 1920 the Clifton Estate sold 14.7ha of the adjacent land to Sir Jesse Boot who gave it to the Citizens of Nottingham. Boot lived opposite this land on the south bank of the river; New Park was given with the restrictions that it should remain open space in perpetuity. The name New Park has been lost: 2.7ha have been laid out as Memorial Gardens to the dead of World War I. They were laid out by City Engineer and Surveyor, Mr T Wallis Gordon with the Superintendent of the Public Parks, Mr J Parker. The rock gardens and the foundation stone of the Memorial Arch and Terrace were dedicated on 11 November 1926, and the full works were completed 12 May 1937.
The Memorial Garden as a whole is the Civic Memorial, with Remembrance Day Services taking place at the grand gateway entrance, the Triumphant Archway. Nottingham War Memorial 52.934590°N 1.140192°W, a raised terrace, formal gardens with an elaborate cross-shaped ornamental pond, pump room and toilets, and a statue of Queen Victoria. To the south of the gardens is a Grade II listed Art Deco bandstand. in 2011 the Grade 2 Gardens of Historic Interest designation awarded to the Memorial Gardens was extended to include the Bandstand Enclosure.


As of 2003, the Meadows contains 7,870 inhabitants. According to the 2001 census, the population of the Meadows has a high proportion of Mixed, Asian, Asian British, Black and Black British when compared with the national average. 16.3% of residents in the Meadows are aged between 18 and 24 which is higher than the national average of 8.4%. According to the 2004 ODPM report, the Bridge electoral ward of which the Meadows was a part, has one of the highest rates of children affected by income related poverty in the country. In 2005 Nottingham City LEA announced that approximately 45% of children who attend primary schools in the Meadows are eligible for free school meals. The area suffers from low formal educational attainment as the number of five or more GCSEs at grade C or above is below average in comparison to both the national average and the Nottingham City average. A high proportion of adults do not have any formal qualifications according to the ODPM (2004), and as a result the area has a higher than average rate of unemployment. Data collected by Nottingham City's benefits department in 2005 shown that 35% of households in Bridge ward were in receipt of Council Tax Benefit and/or Housing Benefit.


The Great Central Railway ran through the area on its route from Nottingham to London and had an intermediate station in the Meadows known as Nottingham Arkwright Street. However, due to the Beeching Report, conducted to assess the cost effectiveness of several railway lines and stations across Britain, the Great Central line along with Arkwright Street station was recommended for closure in 1963. However, the line and station remained open up until 1969 before they were eventually permanently closed. The line passed from Arkwrght Street, through the Bridgeway centre and on a route roughly parallel to Queens Walk, 120m to the east. It crossed the Trent and continued on the city boundary into West Bridgeford. The NET tram uses a replacement bridge for the former GCR bridge over Nottingham Station, and the track alignment south of the river.


The National Art Center (国立新美術館, Kokuritsu Shin-Bijutsukan) (NACT) is a museum in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. A joint project of the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the National Museums Independent Administrative Institution, it stands on a site formerly occupied by a research facility of the University of Tokyo.
The building has been designed by Kisho Kurokawa. It is one of the largest exhibition spaces in the country. Access is from Nogizaka Station on the Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line.
Unlike Japan's other national art museums, NACT is an 'empty museum', without a collection, permanent display, and curators. Like Kunsthalle in German-speaking regions, it accommodates temporary exhibitions sponsored and curated by other organizations. The policy has been successful. In its first fiscal year in 2007, it had 69 exhibitions organized by arts groups and 10 organized by NACT. Its Monet exhibition, held between 7 April and 2 July 2007, was the second most visited exhibition of the year, not only in Japan but in the world.
Its graphic visual identity was developed by graphic designer Kashiwa Sato of Tokyo-based Samurai Inc.


Top 100 Art Museum Attendance, The Art Newspaper, 2014. Retrieved on 13 July 2014.
"Things to Do | Travel Japan | JNTO". Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO).
Dr Masaaki Morishita (28 December 2012). The Empty Museum: Western Cultures and the Artistic Field in Modern Japan. Ashgate Publishing. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-4094-9263-4.


WikiWeb_The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk_0

The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk, previously known as Riverwalk Marketplace until 2014, is an outlet mall located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana.  It is located along the Mississippi River waterfront, stretching from the base of Canal Street, upriver to the New Orleans Morial Convention Center.  It is connected to the adjacent Hilton New Orleans Riverside Hotel.


WikiWeb_The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk_1

By the start of the 1980s, increased use of containers in shipping made some of the older riverfront wharves less useful, so the Poydras Street Wharf and the Julia Street Wharf were demolished, and the land was used as part of the 1984 World's Fair. After the fair, this section was redeveloped into the "Riverwalk," an upscale mall intended to attract both tourists and locals.
On the afternoon of Saturday, December 14, 1996, the MV Bright Field freightliner/bulk cargo vessel slammed into the mall. No one was killed in the accident, although approximately 66 were injured; fifteen shops were damaged. Damage to the mall, including the pier, condominium properties, shops, and hotel totaled an estimated $15 million (US). Physical damage to the Bright Field was calculated at $1,857,952 (US). The Bright Field was unable to be removed from the crash site until January 6, 1997. The spot where the Bright Field collided with the Riverwalk is marked on site with a plaque.
The mall closed for a few months after Hurricane Katrina, due to extensive wind and looting damage. It reopened in early December 2005, in hopes that Christmas shopping would jump-start the area's recovery. Only a small number of shops were able to open at first. Additional businesses slowly opened over the next several years, eventually bringing the mall back to near 100% occupancy.
In 2014, the mall closed temporarily and underwent an $82 million renovation. It reopened in May 2014 as The Outlet Collection at Riverwalk, becoming a outlet center, with shops which include a Coach, Inc., outlet and Neiman-Marcus Last Call Studio outlet.


Founded by members of the Kadoorie family, The Peninsula was built with the idea that it would be "the finest hotel east of Suez". Originally planned for a 1924 opening, the hotel opened its doors on 11 December 1928 and was the successor of Hongkong Hotel. The Peninsula was located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong at the junction of Nathan Road and Salisbury Road, directly opposite the quays where ocean liner passengers disembarked. Kowloon was also the last stop on the trans-Siberian rail link that brought travellers from Europe.
Following the opening of the hotel, The Peninsula held Sunday concerts, nightly dinners on the terrace and twice-weekly dinners in the Rose Room. Dinner dances were held every night, with regular Afternoon Tea Dances. The Peninsula Hotel then became a popular meeting place for the entire community. It also started to become a place to spot famous celebrities. Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard, who were Hollywood stars of the 1930s classic Modern Times, were the guests of the hotel.
On 25 December 1941, at the end of the Battle of Hong Kong, British colonial officials led by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered in person at the Japanese headquarters on the third floor of The Peninsula. The Governor was confined for two months in one of the hotel suites before being transferred to a prison in Shanghai. The resort was then renamed "Tōa Hotel" (東亜ホテル, "East Asia Hotel"), and the rooms were reserved for Japanese officers and high-ranking dignitaries, while Hong Kong sank into misery and destitution.
In his book God Is My Co-Pilot, Colonel Robert Lee Scott Jr., USAAF, commander of the 23rd Fighter Group, China Air Task Force, described in detail an aerial raid he led on the Japanese shipping anchored in Hong Kong harbour, conducted 25 October 1942, and the lone attack he personally made in his Curtiss P-40K Warhawk (nicknamed Old Exterminator) upon the famous Peninsula Hotel:
"So I looped above Victoria Harbor and dove for the Peninsula Hotel. My tracers ripped into the shining plateglass of the penthouses on its top, and I saw the broken windows cascade like snow to the streets, many floors below. I laughed, for I knew that behind those windows were Japanese high officers, enjoying that modern hotel. When I got closer I could see uniformed figures going down the fire escapes, and I shot at them...I turned for one more run on the packed fire escapes filled with Jap soldiers, but my next burst ended very suddenly. I was out of ammunition."
It was restored to its original name after Japan was defeated and the British regained control of the colony. The hotel today is part of the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels group headed by Sir Michael Kadoorie, and is the flagship property of The Peninsula Hotels group.
In 1994, an extension was added to the original hotel in the form of a 30-storey tower, which is topped off by a helipad.


To celebrate the hotel's 85th anniversary in April 2013, it launched a HK$450 million refurbishment programme. In September 2012, the first phase of the Peninsula Tower was completed. New features includes digital enhancements ranging from touch-screen tablets, a DVD library of 3D movies to high-definition televisions. The decor of the rooms is in pared-down Oriental chic, with plain cream upholstery, vintage luggage-inspired drawer handles and Chinese ink painting-inspired ornaments. However the renovation did not include the iconic lobby, restaurants and bars which all remained unchanged.


The Peninsula Hotel has adopted and reserved the Baroque style architecture design since its opening. The Baroque style setting of the lobby could reflect on the First Floor Tea Lounge, and lobby with a detailed design of plaster staircase, novel treatment balustrading, ornamental stained glass, and woodwork carpets and draperies starting from 1928.


The hotel's food and beverage outlets include the gourmet French restaurant Gaddi's, which has one of the first chef's tables in Hong Kong, and the Philippe Starck-designed 'Felix'. Others are 'Spring Moon', 'Imasa', and 'Chesa', which specialise in Cantonese, Japanese, and Swiss cuisine respectively.
The Lobby serves traditional English-style Afternoon Tea, reminiscent of Hong Kong's colonial era.


The hotel has one of the oldest fashion arcades in Hong Kong. Throughout the years, it has housed international brands such as Chanel, Dior, Hermès, Chrome Hearts, Gucci, Prada, Shiatzy Chen, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Piaget, Roger Dubuis, Goyard, Franck Muller, Bvlgari, Tiffany & Co., Baccarat, ST Dupont, Harry Winston, Davidoff, Van Cleef & Arpels and Polo Ralph Lauren. Apart from international fashion houses, it was also home to Hong Kong brands, such as Betty Charnuis Clemos in the 60s, Dickson Poon in the 70s and Joyce Boutique in the 80s.


Since December 2006, the hotel has had a fleet of 14 long wheelbase Rolls-Royce Phantoms painted in the hotel's signature green. It was the largest single order placed with Rolls-Royce in the history of the company. It replaced a fleet of Rolls-Royce Silver Spurs.


The Rolls Hall, Whitecross Street, Monmouth, Monmouthshire is a Victorian hall, now public library, donated to the town in celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee by John Rolls, the future Lord Llangattock.  It is a Grade II listed building as of 8 October 2005, and is one of 24 buildings on the Monmouth Heritage Trail.


The hall was constructed in 1887-8 by F. A. Powell in a Jacobean style, at a cost of £8,000. The materials are Old Red Sandstone and Forest ashlar.  The Rolls family of The Hendre were substantial Monmouthshire landowners and benefactors to the town, and attended the building's opening on 24 May 1888. The building was designed by F.A.Powell who was the eldest son of the Mayor of Monmouth, Mr Champney Powell. The hall was given to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee in 1888.  A new organ was installed in 1889 which had novel additions to its design by William Sweetland, and the following year several paintings were installed.  In September 1890, a successful Fine Art and Industrial Exhibition was held in the building; the catalogue can be seen in the Monmouth Museum.  Between 1897 and 1903, the Hall was used for a number of plays staged by the actor, director and impresario Ben Greet.
In 1963 the organ was inspected by an organ tuner who declared it to be useless. Water had affected the sounding boards and the instrument was falling to pieces. This was reported in the local paper but the organ remained in place for at least three years when the hall was used as a dance hall, and later as a night club.
In 1992, the building became used for the town's public library, which had previously been located at the Shire Hall.  The Library was refurbished in 2010 with a £210,000 grant from the Museums Archives and Libraries: Wales, which matched funding from the County Council. The library still honours its original benefactors as large full length portraits of John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, his wife Lady Llangattock and his son John Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock are the main decoration on one wall. However the floor mosaic, that showed the Rolls and Monmouth symbols linked together, is now exhibited on another wall.
In 2012 the library installed QRpedia codes to each bookcase as their part of the "MonmouthpediA" project which provides visitors with information about all aspects of the town. The staff also installed these codes in dozens of books that linked to the book's author.


The Simpsons Ride is a motion simulator ride located in the Springfield areas of both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood. Based on the animated television series The Simpsons, the ride was announced in 2007 as a replacement for Back to the Future: The Ride at both parks. It first opened at Universal Studios Florida on May 15, 2008, and then a few days later at Universal Studios Hollywood on May 19, 2008. The producers of The Simpsons contributed to the design of the ride, which uses CGI animation, also worked on the ride's 2D animation. At the time of its opening, the ride featured state-of-the-art projection and hydraulic technology.
In 2013, the ride became the centerpiece of a themed Simpsons area at both parks, based on the fictional town of Springfield depicted in the animated series. The attraction is more than four minutes long and features two pre-show line queues that guests experience before boarding the ride. Its theme focuses on Krustyland, a theme park built by and named after Krusty the Clown, in which his former sidekick, evil genius Sideshow Bob, attempts to get revenge on Krusty and the Simpson family. Many characters from the animated series make an appearance, all voiced by their original actors.


Planning for The Simpsons Ride started two years prior to its opening. Simpsons creators James L. Brooks and Matt Groening, as well as executive producer and current showrunner Al Jean, collaborated with the Universal Studios creative team, Universal Creative, to help develop the ride.  Music for the ride was composed by Jim Dooley, who worked with composer Hans Zimmer on the feature film The Simpsons Movie. The ride is located at both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood in the former Back to the Future: The Ride buildings at both locations. The Back to the Future opened in Florida in 1991 and closed March 30, 2007, while the Hollywood version opened in 1993 and closed on September 3, 2007.
The construction began at Universal Studios Florida in May 2007, and the original concrete on the ground from Back to the Future: The Ride was dismantled and replaced by a red and blue ground holding trees and benches. The building was given a complete overhaul; the cars were changed and the original Intamin mechanics system was updated by Oceaneering International.  The construction began at Universal Studios Hollywood in mid-September 2007, with the disposal of the building's Back to the Future insignia. Outdoor painting on the building began in January 2008.
Early rumors allegedly had the ride's theme involving Mr. Burns' Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, with the ride's name being "Project FISH", after the three-eyed fish Blinky. However, when Harry Shearer refused to participate in the ride, this proposed plot was dropped and opted to set the ride on Krustyland.


The four-minute ride uses 85-foot IMAX Dome screens and Sony Projectors. There are 24 ride cars, each seating eight people, and approximately 2000 people can ride it per hour. The projection system uses four overlapping Sony SXRD 4K resolution projectors on each dome, using custom-made semi-circular fisheye lenses to project undistorted images at a rate of 60 frames per second (in comparison, most feature films project at 24 frames per second). The video is projected onto two dome screens which are made of 416 panels (each 4 feet by two feet) and are approximately 80 feet tall and 85 feet wide. The animation in the ride uses computer generated 3D animation rendered by Blur Studio and Reel FX, rather than the traditional 2-D animation seen on The Simpsons and the queue and pre-show of the ride. The animation reference was provided by Film Roman, the animation studio that animates the series. Each car contains 12 speakers and a Dolby 6.1 surround sound, while the domes contain an additional 90 speakers.
The ride vehicles are themed to look like cars from a classic dark ride, and like the previous Back to the Future attraction, the vehicles feature fake wheels and gull-wing doors. Each dome features 12 8-passenger ride vehicles arranged with 3 cars on the first level, 5 on the second and 4 on the third. Each vehicle is mounted on a motion platform atop a scissor lift, which raises the vehicle 9 feet into the dome. The motion platforms are capable of a total motion of three feet. In addition to the motion-based ride vehicles, riders also feel water effects, smoke, mist, and experience lighting effects and scents.
The Simpsons Ride uses new technology that cuts down on its energy consumption. According to Universal Studios, the ride is able to save over 55,000 watts on average and 662,000 watt-hours per day. The ride includes over 2,500 LEDs, the largest number in theme park history.


Guests walk through a 32-foot (9.8 m) head of Krusty the Clown as they enter the ride's line queue, which leads them into a pavilion under various circus tents themed to carnival stalls. A variety of posters are on display advertising attractions at Krustyland, while television monitors stationed around the queue play video clips from the Krusty the Clown television show along with animated footage from Krustyland. Guests eventually leave the queue and enter "Krusty's Carnival Midway", the first of two pre-shows.


Themed to a fair's midway, riders are lined up into rows waiting for confirmation from Krusty to proceed. TV screens line the walls to both the left and right, displaying the residents of Springfield running through midway booths at the park. Krusty eventually appears on another screen located directly in front, seemingly to pick the first family to ride the most extreme ride at his park called "Thrilltacular: Upsy-Downsy Spins-Aroundsy Teen-Operated Thrillride". Sideshow Bob sneakily appears in a Scratchy costume when Krusty isn't looking and steps on Homer Simpson's foot, causing him to yell "D'oh!", which results in the Simpson family getting picked by Krusty. The Simpsons are then asked to pick another group, and Bart chooses all the guests waiting in the pre-show room. As guests are led into the next waiting room, Sideshow Bob bursts out into an evil laughter.


The next pre-show is themed to a funhouse room, where Krusty leads the group into a backstage area revealing that the park is powered by a nuclear reactor. Grampa and Maggie Simpson are told by Jeremy Friedman not to ride due to safety restrictions that serves a reminder to guests about the ride's height requirements and thrill intensity that can aggravate certain heart conditions. Grampa suddenly falls asleep while Maggie crawls into the nearby nuclear reactor room, causing her to grow larger. Meanwhile, on screen, Krusty leads the Simpsons into a ride room where he tells them to enjoy the ride, but Sideshow Bob appears and knocks out Krusty. After telling the Simpson family to enter the ride vehicle, Homer hastily boards followed by the rest of the family. Sideshow Bob then forces everyone to watch a safety video from Itchy and Scratchy, narrated by Nancy Cartwright, which depicts a recap of safety reminders. Scratchy can be seen trying to follow safety rules, but each attempt is sabotaged by Itchy. Guests are then ushered into the main ride room and board the vehicle.


After entering the Krusty-themed ride vehicle, Homer orders everyone to sit down, stating that "all seats are the same with the exception of the better ones", and threatens to make an annoying noise until everyone has taken a seat. Despite riders' actions, he makes the annoying noise anyway. Jeremy then appears on a TV screen in the ride cabin and assures guests that their comfort and safety are in the hands of highly-qualified teens like himself. He tells riders to enjoy themselves but asks to keep the screaming down so he can study for a math test. He can then be seen reading his textbook, which is upside down, while quiet elevator music reminiscent of "The Simpsons Theme" begins playing in the background.
Approximately a minute later, Sideshow Bob suddenly cuts off the teen's signal and takes control of the screen, telling riders that he is now in control of Krustyland. After threatening guests by saying no area in the park is safe from him, he starts the ride by flipping a switch from "thrilling" to "killing", which activates the vehicle causing it to virtually rise out of the room while telling them to enjoy the ride which is about to be destroyed with them on it. The ride simulator combines physical movement of the vehicle with on-screen motion. The experience continues with riders emerging onto a track with the Simpsons' vehicle in front of them. Bob is also nearby, operating a wrecking ball crane. The riders then ram into the Simpsons' vehicle, which can be seen taking a plunge. The rider's vehicle plunges soon after, revealing they are on the "Tooth Chipper" roller coaster (which was scheduled for demolition) involving a variety of drops and turns. Homer, who wasn't sitting down, gets hit by Bob's wrecking ball before it smashes into the track. With a portion of the track now missing, the riders fly into a different part of the coaster's layout along with Homer before the "steel" wrecking ball breaks free from its cable and rolls along the track chasing Homer and the riders. During the pursuit, the wrecking ball eventually runs over Homer.
The riders are then knocked off the roller coaster by the wrecking ball as it explodes and sends the Simpsons flying. Riders end up on the park's "Happy Little Elves in Panda Land" attraction with Bart and Lisa, landing in separate ride vehicles, where Bob appears in control of an evil robotic panda that smashes some nearby singing elves out of annoyance. He then forces the ride vehicles in reverse, sending them crashing through the attraction, causing riders to catapult to another attraction called "Captain Dinosaur's Pirate Rip-Off". Homer and Marge are seen riding a boat, which plunges down a waterfall. As they approach a second waterfall, Sideshow Bob appears in a projection telling Homer to resist temptations inside, parodying the Pirates of the Caribbean and Jurassic Park: The Ride attractions. As riders pass through the waterfall, they get sprayed with water effects. Homer grabs a barrel of beer while Marge attempts to warn Homer that it's a temptation. His actions trigger a trap that destroys their surroundings, transporting them to "Krusty's Wet and Smoky Stunt Show", running over a popcorn seller in the process. They reunite with Bart and Lisa. The panda robot can be seen still under Bob's control. Homer and Marge escape with Bart, as Lisa appears riding a killer whale. She lassos the riders' vehicle and follows her family. Upon reaching the attraction's exit, it suddenly explodes, sending them racing in circles while dragging Homer and the riders behind them.
After a series of jumping ramps, the group fly through a tipping metal water tower, where they crash at the edge of the attraction and encounter Bob again, who cuts a large hole into hell with a buzz saw. Maggie, now giant-sized from the effects of the reactor room depicted earlier, reappears and grabs Bob, causing his robotic panda to fall into the hole. She slams him into the riders' vehicle, which almost plummets into the hole before it is saved by Professor Frink flying a hi-tech helicopter. Bob steals Maggie's pacifier and tells her that if she wants it back, she must destroy Springfield. Riders then fly through Springfield attached to the helicopter, with references to the original opening sequence being made along the way. An army converges around Maggie while the Simpsons drive across town in a stolen Krustyland tour tram. The riders then encounter Maggie again, who mistakes their car for a new pacifier, sucking on it repeatedly and separating riders from Frink in the process. Water effects gets riders wet a second time as Maggie spits them out onto power lines, which catapults them into the Simpsons' house by crashing through the front door just after the Simpsons have arrived.
Now sitting on their couch, the family is relieved to be back home. Suddenly, Kang and Kodos turn the house into Krusty's "Death Drop" ride while saying that all rides must end near a gift shop. Riders are then dropped with the Simpsons from the sky, encountering various Simpsons characters along the way. Riders crash back at the entrance to Krustyland, where Bob prepares to kill them with a buzz saw. However, the couch the Simpsons are sitting on crushes and presumably kills him, followed by the Simpsons landing on top of it and Bob. Maggie appears and ends the ride by pushing down a large Krusty head sign directly over the Simpsons. The vehicle calmly lowers back down while mist, fire, and smoke effects spray. Homer enthusiastically yells that he wants to ride again. Krusty then appears on the TV screen in the loading room and remarks, "Well, that's our ride. Hey, what does this do?" For the Orlando attraction, Krusty is sitting in a control room and pushes an emergency button on a control panel, causing the vehicle to vibrate and ending the ride. In the Hollywood version, Krusty also takes a picture of the guests. After the gullwing doors on the car lift up, guests can exit the ride.


The ride features more than 24 regular characters from The Simpsons and features the voices of the regular cast members, as well as Pamela Hayden, Russi Taylor and Kelsey Grammer. Harry Shearer, however, decided not to participate in the ride supposedly due to scheduling and availability conflicts as the cast recordings were scheduled during the production break between seasons, where voice actors would have time off. None of his characters have vocal parts and many of them do not appear in the ride at all. In homage to the Back to the Future ride that it has replaced, The Simpsons Ride's queue video features a brief animated cameo from Doc Brown who is voiced by Christopher Lloyd.
Dan Castellaneta - Homer Simpson, Krusty the Clown, Grampa Simpson, Groundskeeper Willie, Squeaky Voiced Teen, Hans Moleman, Barney Gumble, Kodos, Repo man, and Mr. Freidman
Julie Kavner - Marge Simpson, Patty Bouvier and Selma Bouvier
Nancy Cartwright - Bart Simpson, Maggie Simpson, Nelson Muntz, Ralph Wiggum, The Happy Little Elves, and the Pre-Show Safety Video Narrator
Yeardley Smith - Lisa Simpson
Hank Azaria - Chief Wiggum, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Moe Szyslak, Professor Frink, Cletus Spuckler, Officer Lou, Comic Book Guy, Snake Jailbird and  Pants-Off Johnson
Kelsey Grammer - Sideshow Bob
Pamela Hayden - Milhouse Van Houten
Russi Taylor - Martin Prince
Christopher Lloyd - Doc Brown


In the queue video, several clips from episodes of the show are featured. They include:
"Homer the Heretic" (Season 4, Episode 3)
"Itchy and Scratchy Land" (Season 6, Episode 4)
"Selma's Choice" (Season 4, Episode 13)
"The Last Temptation of Krust" (Season 9, Episode 15)
"Mr. Plow" (Season 4, Episode 9)
"Brush with Greatness" (Season 2, Episode 18)
"In Marge We Trust" (Season 8, Episode 22)
"Lisa the Vegetarian" (Season 7, Episode 5)
"Marge in Chains" (Season 4, Episode 21)
"Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood" (Season 5, Episode 8)
"A Star is Burns" (Season 6, Episode 18)
” The Itchy and Scratchy Movie”
” New Kid on the Block”


In October 2007, gift shops modeled after the Kwik-E-Mart were built, replacing the Back To The Future: The Store gift shop at Universal Studios Florida and the Time Travelers Depot gift shop at Universal Studios Hollywood. The stores sell Simpsons-related merchandise. Carts were opened near the stores which sell Squishees, (which are The Simpsons' parody of 7-Eleven's Slurpees.)
At Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood, the park converted much of the World Expo and some of the Upper Lot in Universal Studios Hollywood into one based on Springfield. The new area includes some iconic landmarks from The Simpsons such as Krusty Burger, Frying Dutchman, Luigi's Pizza, Lard Lad Donuts, Bumblebee Man's Taco Truck, Moe's Tavern, The Android's Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop and a Duff Brewery. The park also added one amusement ride named "Kang & Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl", a Dumbo-esque spinning ride where patrons drive flying saucers around Kodos' head and attack Springfield residents.


The Simpsons Ride was well received by fans after it opened. Seth Kubersky of Orlando Weekly described the ride as "a more than worthy successor" to Back to the Future: The Ride. Brady MacDonald of the Los Angeles Times described the ride as "visually stunning" and said it "truly delivers — with loads of in-jokes and satire for serious fanatics and tons of thrills and fun for casual fans." Elise Thompson of the LAist said "the ride is a total blast, with plenty of laughs as well as thrills."
Jay Cridlin of the St. Petersburg Times wrote that "the ride is packed with more original, funny material than you'd expect to see in a sitcom, much less a theme park." However, he admitted that the ride was "a little discombobulating".
The Universal Studios Florida version of the ride hosted its one millionth rider on 14 July 2008, reaching the milestone faster than any other attraction in the resort. The ride was named the best new attraction of 2008 by the website Themeparkinsider.com.


The Three Soldiers (also known as The Three Servicemen) is a bronze statue by Frederick Hart. Unveiled on Veterans Day, November 11, 1984, on the National Mall, it is part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial commemorating the Vietnam War. It was the first representation of an African American on the National Mall.


In order to portray the major ethnic groups that were represented in the ranks of U.S. combat personnel that served in Vietnam, the statue's three men are purposely identifiable as European American (center), African American (right), and Latino American (left).  These three figures were based on seven actual young men, of which two (the Caucasian-American and the African-American) were active-duty Marines at the time that the sculpture was commissioned.  The Caucasian figure was modeled after James E. Connell III, then a Corporal in the Marines; the African-American figure was modeled after three men, Marine Corporal Terrance Green, Rodney Sherrill and Scotty Dillingham; the Hispanic figure was modeled after Guillermo (Willie) Smith De Perez DeLeon and Rene Farkass.
The lost wax technique was used to cast the sculpture in bronze. It was Hart's first major work in bronze.


Of the memorial, the architect has suggested,
'I see the wall as a kind of ocean, a sea of sacrifice that is overwhelming and nearly incomprehensible in the sweep of names. I place these figures upon the shore of that sea, gazing upon it, standing vigil before it, reflecting the human face of it, the human heart.
The portrayal of the figures is consistent with history. They wear the uniform and carry the equipment of war; they are young. The contrast between the innocence of their youth and the weapons of war underscores the poignancy of their sacrifice. There is about them the physical contact and sense of unity that bespeaks the bonds of love and sacrifice that is the nature of men at war. And yet they are each alone. Their strength and their vulnerability are both evident. Their true heroism lies in these bonds of loyalty in the face of their awareness and their vulnerability.'
The statue and the Wall appear to interact with each other, with the soldiers looking on in solemn tribute at the names of their fallen comrades.  Noted sculptor Jay Hall Carpenter, Hart's assistant on the project, explains the sculpture was positioned especially for that effect:  "We carried a full-size mockup of the soldiers around the memorial site trying many locations until we hit upon the perfect spot.  It was here that the sculpture appeared to be looking over a sea of the fallen."
Of his work on The Three Soldiers, Hart said he would put the “folds of those fatigue jackets and pants up against the folds of any [carved] medieval angel you can find.”


The design of The Three Soldiers was copyrighted by Hart and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. Reproductions were sold on many pieces of memorabilia, including t-shirts, keychains, and snowglobes. Hart donated his share of the profits to a non-profit which provides name rubbings to families of veterans.
A replica of the sculpture was created and dedicated on July 12, 2008, in Apalachicola, Florida.


The bridge was constructed in 1981 at the instigation of the Midland Area Community Foundation (MACF).  The bridge cost $732,000 to build, and took 6,400 hours of labor. Ten railroad car loads of prefabricated wood, and 337 cubic yards (258 m³) of concrete were used to construct three arches, which weigh 44,000 pounds (20,000 kg) apiece.  Each appendage is 180 by 8 feet (54.9 by 2.4 m). The Tridge was designed by Commonwealth Associates of Jackson and built for a design load of 85 pounds per square foot of deck area and to handle 1,500 people at a time.  Gerace Construction Company worked on the project. As a symbol, the bridge has been popularized and is the subject, for example, of lithographs.
The Tridge was closed in November 2011 due to work on the rails-to-trails project and the construction of a new canoe launch site.
In April 2017, the Tridge was closed for renovations with all stain to be removed and restained and some board replacements. The bridge's full reopening would happen in October with a partial reopening on the Fourth of July. Rollin M. Gerstacker Foundation donated $2.5 million towards the project.


The Tridge is a tourist attraction. It and its two surrounding parks—35 acres (14 ha) in Chippewassee and St. Charles parks—are one of the most popular leisure areas downtown.  The 3.5-mile (5.6 km) Chippewa Nature Trail begins at the bridge.
The site also marks the starting point of the Pere Marquette Rail Trail, a Michigan Rails to Trails Conservancy Hall of Fame trail. Although being mainly a footbridge, bicycles, skateboards, and in-line skates are also allowed on the bridge. It is the focal point for summer evening concerts.  Fishing is generally not permitted from the bridge although it does occur frequently.
The Tridge, located beside the Midland farmers market, has become an icon of the city and is the most famous landmark of the downtown area.  Each year, the Tridge mimics the Mackinac Bridge to the north, in hosting a "Labor Day walk".  The festive annual event is sponsored by MACF and the Chippewa Nature Center, and led by the mayor of Midland.  In addition, St. Charles Park, which surrounds the Tridge, is host to many public and private events. At night, the bridge's arches are lit.
During summer evenings, the Tridge is a popular hangout spot for local teens largely because it is near the Downtown area and several popular areas. The Trilogy Skatepark is located just 300 feet (91 m) north of the Tridge in Chippewassee Park.


The Third Millennium Bridge (Spanish: Puente del Tercer Milenio) is a bow-string bridge in Zaragoza, Spain. It crosses the Ebro.


A project by Juan José Arenas de Pablo, the final draft dates back to 2002. Building works took place between 2005 and 2008. Completing the Z-30 highway, its inception was programmed vis-à-vis the Expo 2008 in Zaragoza. Commissioned by the State-funded company Zaragoza Alta Velocidad, it was built by Dragados S.A.
It was opened on 7 June 2008.
The bridge displays a length of 270 m, a width of 48 m, and a main span of 216 m.


WikiWeb_Thiru Nayathode Siva Narayana Temple_0

Thiru Nayathode Siva Narayana Temple is located at Nayathod, a small village in Ernakulam District, Kerala, India. The temple is located 3 km from Cochin International Airport. This temple is a protected monument by Archeological Department, Kerala. The deity at this temple is Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu.


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The tower underwent restoration from 2011-2015. Concrete samples were taken off the facade and sent to a laboratory where they were tested for their specific makeup. This is so the recreated panels could match the old ones that do not need replacing.
The Centennial Plaque, which was stolen a number of years ago, was also replaced during the restoration. The lower part of the plaque was sent to a Metallurgist in order to match the color.
The restoration was completed in October 2015, and a re-dedication ceremony was held on October 24, 2015. The ceremony showed off the newly refurbished tower, media system which played music from the tower's construction until the 50s, grounds, and will conclude with the relighting of the large light bulb at the top of the tower.
Also to note there have been a few Eagle Scout projects in the area. One is the large informational sign across Christie Street from the tower. This project contains information about the Electric Railroad Edison built in that spot. The second project is the sign at the bottom edge of the property, closest to Route 27. The newest project was completed on June 8, 2013, and is a sign closer to the museum. The sign contains information about the museum, the website, and hours of operation.


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The sphere atop the tower had been called the "world's largest light bulb", however, in 2021, a larger light bulb, 17’ tall and 10’ in diameter, was installed in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on the plaza in front of the Cox Business Convention Center. Another famous sphere, the Union Watersphere, lon-known as the "world's tallest water sphere" is located in nearby Union.


The Thomas Paine Cottage in New Rochelle, New York, in the United States, was the home from 1802 to 1806 of Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense and Revolutionary War hero.  Paine was buried near the cottage from his death in 1809 until his body was disinterred in 1819.  It was one of a number of buildings located on the 300 acre farm given to Paine by the State of New York in 1784, in recognition of his services in the cause of Independence.  It was here in August 1805 that he wrote his last pamphlet, which was addressed to the citizens of Philadelphia on "Constitutional Reform".
The cottage has been owned by the "Huguenot and New Rochelle Historical Association" and has been operated as a historic house museum since 1910. The cottage is open to the public most Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays 10–5 p.m.. There are numerous weekend events scheduled at the cottage throughout the year including their Colonial Fair in the spring and Colonial Tavern night during ArtsFest in October and a Toys for Tots drive in December. The cottage hosts many local school field trips.


The cottage is a two-story wood-frame saltbox structure.  It began as a simple building 16 feet (4.9 m) wide and 31 feet (9.4 m) deep.   In 1804, an additional 18 by 23 feet (5.5 by 7.0 m) wing with a porch was constructed.  An exterior door and porch pillars in the Greek Revival style were added in about 1830. The main house has three rooms set one behind the other; the kitchen in front, a common room in the center and a bedroom in the rear. The wing to the right contains the parlor and there are four bedrooms on the second floor. The entrance door and the pillars of the porch on the wing are Greek Revival and were added about 1830. The current arrangement has rooms decorated in the late 18th and early 19th century style as well as exhibits pertaining to the history of New Rochelle, the local Siwanoy Indians, and the Huguenots.
The front door to the cottage enters directly into its main room, which is maintained as the "Huguenot Room". The desk is said to have belonged to Jacques Flandreau, an early Huguenot settler of the town. Over the desk is a steel engraving from the celebrated painting at Versailles showing King Henry IV of France (Henry of Navarre) entering Paris through the unfinished Porte-Neuve on the morning of March 22, 1594.
The rear room on the first floor is known as the "Paine Room". On Christmas Eve, 1805, a gun was fired into this room in an attempt on Paine's life. He described the incident in a letter:
Whatever the gun was charged with passed through about three or four inches below the window making a hole large enough to (allow) a finger to go through -the muzzle must have been very near as the place is black with powder, and the glass of the window is shattered to pieces.
There are several interesting items in this room. There are two chairs used by Paine when he boarded at Bayeau's Tavern, almost directly across North Avenue. Another item is the stove set in the chimney. It was presented by Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Paine, and is one of the few real Franklin stoves in existence. Still another item is a warming pan which belonged to Mrs. Sarah Bache (1774-1808), daughter of Benjamin Franklin and wife of Richard Bache who was postmaster-general of the United States from 1776 to 1782.


A 2009 restoration project at the Cottage has enabled the site to more accurately relate the story of the building once owned by one of the leading figures in America's fight for Independence. The stewards of the Cottage, members of the Huguenot and New Rochelle Historical Association, were able to raise funds to complete critically needed repairs on the 200+ year old building. In the process, the group also recognized the need to return the building to its original integrity, to the extent documented in archival photographs and by physical evidence. With a $50,000 grant obtained by State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and individual donations, the Association hired local architect John Woodruff and the restoration firm, Salem Preservation, Inc. of Salem, NY, for the exterior's restoration. As the Cottage is also a locally designated property, the New Rochelle Historical and Landmarks Review Board reviewed all aspects of the project before it moved forward.
The work included the removal of the asphalt roof and replacement with wood shingles, which also included exposing two original windows on the upper floor. Other major work to restore the building to its original integrity involved the reconstruction of a separate roof above the porch and below the windows and the replacement of wood shingles on the entire house with Weatherboard and the repair and replacement of gutters and wood trim.


The park in which Paine's Cottage now stands is a very small section of the Thomas Paine farm. This farm in turn was a part of the original purchase of four hundred acres of land, made in 1690, by Andre Thauvet, one of the first Huguenot settlers of New Rochelle. Thauvet deeded two hundred and seventy-six acres to Captain Oliver Besley, another Huguenot, then a Justice of the Peace and at one time the commanding officer of the local company of militia. By the time of the American Revolution, the property was owned by Tory Frederick DeVeaux/Davoue. During the Revolution Davoue remained loyal to the British crown. His active participation against the patriot cause, both in civil and military affairs, brought upon him a conviction for treason against the State of New York which resulted in the confiscation of his property. DeVeaux became a voluntary exile in Nova Scotia with other Tories. The farm was granted to Thomas Paine by act of New York State Legislature in 1784 in recognition of his "distinguished merit" and "eminent services rendered the United States in the progress of the  late war." The large original stone farmhouse on the Davoue farm was destroyed by fire in 1793, during Paine's absence in France.
The  277-acre (112 ha) farm was originally owned by the Tory Frederick DeVeaux (sometimes spelled "Davoue"), but was confiscated after the war.
320 acres (130 ha) including the farm were presented to Paine in 1784 by act of the New York State Legislature for his service.


The Huguenot Association acquired the house from Charles See, who wanted to subdivide the property for real estate development.  It was moved approximately 440 yards (400 m) west to its current location at 20 Sicard Avenue in 1908. This is the last extant portion of the original farm owned by Paine.
The current cottage was built in 1793 near the site of the Davoue house on the south side of Paine Lane, now called Paine Avenue. This house was built in two parts, the present westerly section, soon after 1793, and the easterly addition probably about 1804. Paine owned the property for twenty five years and appears to have leased it a large part of the time. He made no pretensions of being a farmer, and his letters clearly show that writing was his chief occupation and farm operations were of secondary importance. He described the farm in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1804:
It is a pleasant and healthy situation commanding a prospect always green and peaceable as New Rochelle produces a great deal of grass and hay. The farm contains acres, about of which is meadow land, grazing and tillage land and the remainder wood land.


The erection of the Thomas Paine Monument in 1839 was followed by several attempts to preserve the cottage in which Paine had lived as an additional Memorial. One of the most ambitious of these was in 1850 when not only the cottage itself was purchased, but also a considerable part of the original farm. This project was later abandoned and the property sold. It was not until 1908 that the efforts to preserve the cottage were successful. In that year it became necessary either to remove the house to a new location or demolish it outright. The owner, Charles W. Seer, generously gifted it to the New Rochelle Huguenot Association who in turn approved the purchase of the park in which the cottage now stands, which was a portion of the Paine farm. The cottage was removed to its present site, repaired, and outfitted as a museum and historical headquarters. It was dedicated on July 14, 1910, and formally opened to the public.


Paine died in Greenwich Village, New York on June 8, 1809. He wanted to be buried in the Quaker cemetery but, due to his writings, he was refused. His few remaining friends brought his body back to New Rochelle and interred on his farm as directed by his will:
I know not if the Society of People called Quakers admit a person to be buried in their burying Ground, who does not belong to their Society, but if they do or will admit me, I would prefer being buried there my father belonged to that profession, and I was partly brought up in it. But if it is not consistent with their rules to do this I desire to be buried on my farm at New Rochelle. The place where I am to be buried to be a square of twelve feet, to be enclosed with Rows of Trees, and a Stone or Post & rail fence, with a headstone with my name and age engraved upon it, Author of 'Common Sense'.
The site chosen for the grave was in the northwest corner of the field immediately south of the old Davoue Farm lane near the intersection with North Avenue. The site was marked by a marble headstone and was enclosed by a low stone wall.
In 1819, the English radical William Cobbett removed Paine's remains to England to build a larger memorial, but Cobbett died before succeeding and the remains disappeared.  Dr. Moncure D. Conway claimed to have recovered a portion of Paine's brain around 1905; it was subsequently buried under the monument on October 14, 1905.   The search for portions of Paine's body continues; in 2001, DNA tests were proposed for a portion of what was claimed to be his skull.


Located adjacent to the cottage is a 1925 museum dedicated to Paine created by the Thomas Paine National Historical Association.  The organization, founded in 1905, is not connected either to the cottage or to the Huguenot and New Rochelle Historical Association. In 2005, the association controversially sold off a significant portion of its holdings (including a first edition of Common Sense) to pay for repairs to the museum building.


The creation of the Thomas Paine monument was organized and carried to completion by Paine biographer and radical New York publisher, educator, and reformer Gilbert Vale. Vale's fellow American radical and Workingman, the sculptor and architect John Frazee, created the marble monument itself. An 1881 bronze bust of Paine by Wilson McDonald was later added.  It was moved next to the current location of the cottage in 1905.  It is owned by the city of New Rochelle.


Thommanon (Khmer: ប្រាសាទធម្មនន្ទ) is one of a pair of Hindu temples built during the reign of Suryavarman II (1113–1150) at Angkor, Cambodia. The name of the temple is derived from the Pali words "Dhamma", which means 'Buddhist Teachings' and "Nanda", which means 'supreme wisdom'. This small and elegant temple is east of the Gate of Victory of Angkor Thom and north of Chau Say Tevoda. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed by UNESCO in 1992 titled Angkor. The temple is dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu.


Scholars studying the carvings of the devatas in Thommanon have concluded that it was built around the time when work on Angkor Wat was begun. However, there is some disagreement as to the precise date it was built. Some believe that the distinctive carvings of females, known as devatas, indicate that they were built during the reign of Jayavarman VI (1080–1113 AD), some time at the end of the 11th century. However, there is greater agreement, especially given the scholarly studies, that it was built by Suryavarman II around the time of Angkor Wat and Beng Mealea from 1113 to 1150 AD.
The Vaishnavite cult was adopted in Cambodia by Jayavarman II and his son Jayavarman III. Under these rulers, the shaivite cult was subsumed with the Vaishnavite cult in the temples such as the Thommannon, Beng Mealea, Chau Say Tevoda, Banteay Samre, and Angkor Wat.
Thommanon is directly opposite the Chau Say Tevoda and just 500 metres east of the Victory Gate on the way to Ta Keo. In the 1960s, the temple underwent a full restoration, funded by the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO). French archaeologists restored it and added concrete ceilings.


Thommanon is a single-towered temple with an east-facing central sanctuary, crowned by a prasat, or tower. Access from the east is via a gopura, followed by a mandapa, or antechamber, before arriving at the central sanctuary.
The temple's carvings are very well preserved and the aged sandstone provides a distinct contrast to the surrounding jungle. The architectural style of its tower is akin to the Angkor Wat temple and the Chau Say Tevoda in its vicinity.
Thommanon is better preserved than Chau Say Tevoda, though they are similar in design. The reason for better preservation of Thommanon is attributed to the fact that its superstructure does not have stone-enclosed wood beams. Thus, adoption of sandstone as the medium for carvings in this temple has made it more advanced in its architectural design vis-à-vis other temples in its vicinity, which were mostly wood-based. All doorways include carved pediments.
The compound walls around the temple have all disappeared, leaving only the entry gates on the east and the west. The central tower is all that remains of the main temple. It is inferred that Thommanon and Chau Say Thavoda were interlinked to the central tower under one large compound with large gates. The independent building separated from the main temple was the library.


Images of devatas, the female divine carved figurines, are seen in profusion here, as in other Khmer temples. They are the centre of attraction in Thommanon. The devatas depict flower crowns, sampots  (Cambodian skirts), necklaces, armbands, belts and ankle bands.
The mudras displayed are complex. The devatas grip the flower very distinctively, holding the ring and middle fingers against the thumb, while the index and small finger are extended. One Angkor researcher calls this position the "devata mudra" and notes it is also prominent at Angkor Wat.
The sampots of the devatas are divided into two types: one is the ancient pleated style, seen in the Bakheng period at Lolei and Phnom Bok (900 AD), and the other is a patterned fabric style with folds and "tail" seen at Angkor Wat.