The original Mamilla Street extended from the Mamilla Pool to Jaffa Gate. Along this street, wealthy Arabs constructed homes, offices and stores in the 1800s. Toward the end of the 19th century, and especially during the British Mandate era, the street became a fashionable commercial district. Both Arab and Jewish businessmen operated high-end shops for furniture, textiles, housewares, art, photography, and automobile showrooms.
In response to the announcement of the United Nations Partition Plan, Arab mobs stormed Mamilla Street on December 2, 1947, ransacking and setting fire to 40 Jewish-owned stores. Jewish merchants fled the area, which then came under heavy bombardment during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. With the cessation of hostilities, the area became a no man's land dividing the Jordanian-occupied Old City from Jewish West Jerusalem, until a truce was signed in 1952. In the 1950s, poor Sephardic immigrant families and tradesmen took up occupancy in the derelict buildings, and workshops and auto-repair garages replaced the former stores.
In 1970 the Jerusalem municipality proposed to overhaul the slum-like area and replace it with a mixed-use development of luxury housing, hotels, and shops. Mayor Teddy Kollek asked architects Moshe Safdie and Gilbert Weil to draw up a plan. The two submitted a "grandiose" scheme that called for the construction of a subterranean traffic system, over-ground buildings, a pedestrian promenade, parking for 1,000 cars, and a bus terminal. All of Mamilla's historic buildings except for the Convent of St. Vincent de Paul would be demolished under the plan. The stated goal was to create a "living bridge" connecting the Old City with the New City of Jerusalem.
While the plan was approved by the city in 1972, it aroused keen opposition from preservationist, environmentalist, and religious groups. In response to the outcry, the city department of town planning submitted a scaled-back design calling for an above-ground traffic system, a pedestrian plaza fronting Jaffa Gate, the retention of facades along Mamilla and King Solomon Streets, and the demolition of historic buildings only in the heart of the Mamilla valley. Though Safdie incorporated these suggestions into a new plan submitted in 1976, opposition continued unabated by such bodies as the Jerusalem District Planning Commission, the Jerusalem Merchants Association, and the Council for a Beautiful Israel. Nevertheless, in the 1970s, the city spent NIS 130 million to move over 700 families out of Mamilla to the Neve Yaakov, Pisgat Ze'ev, Katamon, and Baka neighborhoods. Workshops and garages were relocated to Talpiot, where they formed the core of the nascent Talpiot industrial zone.
The Ladbroke Group of London, which won the original tender to develop the Mamilla project in 1989, pulled out in the early 1990s and development was handed over to Alfred Akirov of the Alrov Group of Tel Aviv. In the 1990s, Akirov completed 120 out of a planned 200 units in the David's Village condominium complex, and the David Citadel Hotel. But construction of the mall was delayed again and again due to bureaucratic disputes, litigation, arbitration, and political intervention by Israeli government ministers as Akirov and the government-owned development firm, Karta, went head-to-head on building rights, responsibilities, and compensation. In the 1990s Akirov changed the approved plan for covered arcades on the pedestrian promenade to open-air arches, adding 2,000 square metres (22,000 sq ft) of retail space; he also pushed for an entertainment complex with nine cinemas to be installed next to the Convent of St. Vincent de Paul, an idea that the city had vetoed years earlier. (Following Orthodox Jewish protest, Akirov cancelled the cinema complex.) When the government refused to approve Akirov’s zoning changes, Akirov sued Karta and froze construction on the mall for several years, leaving a swath of half-finished buildings and construction cranes in clear view of Jaffa Gate and the Old City Walls.
In August 2006 the Jerusalem District Court upheld three earlier arbitration rulings and ordered Karta to pay Akirov NIS 100 million for project delays. Akirov resumed construction and opened the center in stages from 2007 to 2008, bringing closure to a 37-year project that normally should have taken five to ten years. The 194-room Alrov Mamilla Jerusalem Hotel, anchored on the north side of the mall, opened in June 2009.


Mamilla Mall contains 300,000 square feet (28,000 m²) of retail space. Its 140 stores appeal to all economic strata, from high-end international chains Tommy Hilfiger and Abercrombie & Fitch; to Israeli designer boutiques such as Castro, Dorin Frankfurt, and Ronen Chen; to mid-range restaurants and a "supermarket-style" pharmacy. There are numerous chain stores selling fashions and cosmetics, as well as gift and souvenir stores. The Gap store, which opened in the mall in August 2009, is the chain's first store in Israel. Among the cafes are branches of Café Rimon, Aroma Espresso Bar, and Spaghettim.
Due to the diversity of retail establishments, the mall attracts a wide cross-section of Israeli residents and tourists. These include secular and religious Jews, Christians, Muslims, Armenian monks, young couples, families, and students. At the height of the summer and tourist seasons in  July and August, an estimated 20,000 people visit the mall daily.


Mampsis (Medieval Greek: Μάμψις) or Memphis (Ancient Greek: Μέμφις), today Mamshit (Hebrew: ממשית), Arabic Kurnub, is a former Nabataean caravan stop and Byzantine city. In the Nabataean period, Mampsis was an important station on the Incense Road, connecting Southern Arabia through Edom, the Arabah and Ma'ale Akrabim, to the Mediterranean ports, as well as to Jerusalem via Beersheba and Hebron. The city covers 10 acres (40,000 m²) and is the smallest but best restored ancient city in the Negev Desert. The once-luxurious houses feature unusual architecture not found in any other Nabataean city.
The reconstructed city gives the visitor a sense of how Mampsis once looked. Entire streets have survived intact, and there are also large groups of Nabataean buildings with open rooms, courtyards, and terraces. The stones are carefully chiseled and the arches that support the ceiling are remarkably well constructed.
The Incense Route - Desert Cities in the Negev, including Mampsis, Haluza, Avdat, and Shivta, were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in June 2005.


Josephus (37–c. 100) records a tradition according to which the terebinth at Mamre was as old as the world itself (War 4.534). The site was soaked in legend. Jews, Christians and Pagans made sacrifices on the site, burning animals, and the tree was considered immune to the flames of the sacrifices. Constantine the Great (r. 302–337) was still attempting, without success, to stop this tradition.


The hills surrounding the lake area, towards the north east of Jaipur, have quartzite rock formations (with a thin layer of soil cover), which is part of the Aravalli hills range. Rock exposures on the surface in some parts of the project area have also been utilised for constructing buildings. From the north east, the Kanak Vrindavan valley, where a temple complex is situated, the hills slope gently towards the lake edge. Within the lake area, the ground area is made up of a thick mantle of soil, blown sand and alluvium. Forest denudation, particularly in the hilly areas, has caused soil erosion, compounded by wind and water action. Due to this, silt built up in the lake resulting in a raising of the bed level of the lake.
During 1596 AD, a severe famine in this region was linked to an acute shortage of water. The then ruler of Amer was, therefore, motivated to build a dam to store water to overcome the severe hardships caused by the famine to the inhabitants. A dam was constructed, initially using earth and quartzite, across the eastern valley between Amer hills and Amagarh hills. The dam was later converted into a stone masonry structure in the 17th century. The dam, as existing now (see picture), is about 300 metres (980 ft) long and 28.5–34.5 metres (94–113 ft) in width. It is provided with three sluice gates for release of water for irrigation of agricultural land in the down stream area. Since then, the dam, the lake and the palace in its midst have undergone several rounds of restoration under various rulers of Rajasthan but the final restoration in the 18th century is credited to Jai Singh II of Amer. During this period, a number of other historical and religious places, such as the Amer Fort, Jaigarh Fort, Nahargarh Fort, Khilangarh Fort, and Kanak Vrindavan Valley were also built in the vicinity. All of these places are now linked by a tourist corridor of roads.
In recent years, with the urbanisation of Jaipur city and areas surrounding the lake, the ecological system of the lake and its vicinity deteriorated drastically. It became heavily silted thereby reducing the surface area of the lake. The silt deposited (estimated to be about 2,500,000 cubic metres) was contaminated with effluents (untreated sewage) from the city's drainage system causing intense eutrophication. The ground water surrounding the lake was also found to be highly contaminated and created serious health hazards. The rainwater combined with sewage water flow from the city resulted in the lake water giving off a foul smell. Water samples collected from the lake were tested and found to clearly show that the water quality was not uniform. It was extremely poor in southeast, south and southwest due to the influent nalas. The water quality parameters of BOD and total nitrogen recorded were 20 mg/L each. BOD values indicated high levels of organic matter. COD showed a very high level of oxidisable chemicals. Nitrate and phosphate content were excessive. Coliform counts was more than 500 times the norm. The Chloride content was found to be fatal to plants and fish.


The present temple was completed in 1921 by abbot Qingjie (Chinese: 清杰). Along the central axis of the temple stand three buildings including the Shanmen, Mahavira Hall and Rear Hall. Subsidiary structures were built on both sides of the central axis including wing-room, dining room and bedroom.


Important vegetation in the catchment of the lake comprise Orchards (apple, mulberry), some Platanus (Chinar trees) and Salix trees. Safar, a nearby village of Safapur which has a grove of Chinar trees, is known as Badshah Boni, royal Chinar, and was planted in imitation of the Nasim Bagh in Srinagar. Maize, mustard and wheat are generally the main crops grown in the agricultural lands of the catchment. In recent years, land use pattern has changed with more land used for horticulture and also diversion of land for construction purposes.


Manchester Arndale (one of a number of shopping centres in the UK by the same developers, also known simply as the Arndale Centre or the Arndale) is a large shopping centre in Manchester, England. It was constructed in phases between 1972 and 1979, at a cost of £100 million. Manchester Arndale is the largest of the chain of Arndale Centres built across the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. It was redeveloped after the 1996 Manchester bombing.
The centre has a retail floorspace of just under 1,400,000 sq ft (130,000 m²) (not including Selfridges and Marks and Spencer department stores to which it is connected via a link bridge), making it Europe's third largest city-centre shopping mall. It is one of the largest shopping centres in the UK, with 41 million visitors annually, ahead of the Trafford Centre, which attracts 35 million.


A 1965 version of the scheme, costed at £15 million and bounded by Market Street, Corporation Street, Withy Grove and High Street, was intended to be the UK's biggest single shopping centre. The only change to the boundaries (as of 2009) was in 1973 (i.e. before opening) onto the site of the former Manchester Guardian offices on the opposite side of Market Street. Boots took the 110,000 sq ft (10,000 m²) (gross) extension in its entirety, their biggest store at the time.


Arndale Property Trust was acquired by Town & City Properties in April 1968. A public enquiry into the development started on 18 June 1968, with a submission that the existing street pattern, while historic, was "hopelessly inadequate for modern requirements". The city planning officer gave evidence that "the development would be comparable with the best carried out in North America and Scandinavia". The scheme was to include seven public houses and a 200-bed hotel. An economist gave evidence that spending in central Manchester would double by 1981. The enquiry finished on 8 July 1968 and reported in early November 1969. The inspector approved the scheme, noting that the region north of Market Street needed redeveloping, and it was sensible to redevelop the frontage. Manchester corporation compulsorily purchased a further 8 acres (3 ha) of property in 1970 using money raised by selling land outside the city bought for overspill housing.


The architects were Hugh Wilson and J. L. Womersley. Their work together included Hulme Crescents and the Manchester Education Precinct. Womersley, as Sheffield City Architect, was responsible for the post-war redevelopment of Sheffield in the 1950s and 1960s including the city centre as well as extensive residential estates, notably Park Hill.
The developers and the corporation did not allow the architects a free hand. The developers demanded a closed building with little natural light and rejected a more open, roof-lit design. The corporation insisted on a bus station, market, car parking, an underground railway station, and provision for deck access to subsequent developments. Cannon Street was to be kept open with no shop frontages. Corporation Street and High Street were allowed shop fronts on the returns to Market Street. Market Street, a busy thoroughfare, had shop fronts as pedestrianisation was proposed, though this did not happen until 1981. Display windows were forbidden on most of the external walls of the centre and were instead inside. The architects, developers, and city council did not communicate well. The architects realised that "the brief [as] given ... would produce a very introverted building. And we said this would not be attractive".
Construction started in 1972 and the centre opened in stages, with the Arndale Tower and 60 shops opening in September 1976, followed by Knightsbridge Mall (the bridge over Market Street) in May 1977, the northern mall in October 1977, the market hall, Boots, and the bridge to the Shambles (over Corporation Street) in 1978, and the bus station off Cannon Street and anchor stores Littlewoods and British Home Stores in 1979. On opening, the centre contained 210 shops and over 200 market stalls.
The cost, estimated at £11½ million in the public enquiry in 1968, rose to £26 million by 1972, and to £30 million by 1974, forcing the formation of Manchester Mortgage Corporation, a partnership of Town & City, the Prudential Assurance Company, and Manchester Corporation. The joint company, run by Manchester Corporation, raised £5 million on the stock market (a first for a company formed by a local authority), after the Prudential admitted it could not fully fund the project. Town & City came close to bankruptcy, forcing them into a reverse takeover of Jeffrey Sterling's Sterling Guarantee Trust in April 1974 and a £25 million rights issue in 1975–6. Costs reached £46 million by 1976, of which £13 million came from the council. The final cost, described as "enormous" by Parkinson-Bailey, was £100 million, made up of £11.5 million for land, £44.5 million for the building, and £44 million for fitting out.


Many towns and cities began to erect war memorials after the armistice, but Manchester did not get underway until 1922. As a result of pressure from the local branch of the Royal British Legion, the city council convened a war memorial committee of 12 persons, chaired by the mayor and consisting of "Aldermen and Councillors [and] representative men connected with different aspects of Manchester business, with the military forces and other sections of Manchester life", to explore options for commemoration. The committee limited the budget to £10,000 and very rapidly raised this sum; donors being assured that local firms would benefit from the construction and resulting employment. Nonetheless, the letters pages of local newspapers featured several missives from ex-servicemen who felt that the cenotaph was a waste of money and that the funds would be better spent on the survivors and war widows, many of whom faced extreme hardship as a result of high levels of unemployment in the aftermath of the war. For a civic memorial to the Great War, £10,000 was relatively modest sum; the counterpart public  appeal in Rochdale had raised nearly £30,000, and the resulting Rochdale Cenotaph, then just completed, had cost £12,611. The proprietor of the Daily Dispatch newspaper, Edward Hulton, offered to cover the entire cost of the Manchester memorial, but the committee declined, feeling that the funding should come from the people and city of Manchester.  Subsequently, the committee resisted all suggestions that the memorial budget might be increased, or that the list of donors might be extended. Constitutionally, the memorial committee was a committee of the City Council, but acted throughout as having independent discretion and funds.
Three potential sites were considered for the memorial: Albert Square, Piccadilly Gardens and St Peter's Square; St Ann's Square being ruled out as already containing the civic monument to the Boer War. With the support of the Royal British Legion, Albert Square emerged as the favourite. The site proved controversial as the Manchester Society of Architects and Manchester Art Foundation led objections to the removal and relocation of statues in the square, which would have been required to create a suitable space for the war memorial. King George V had consented to the relocation of the memorial to his German grandfather, Prince Albert, but objections persisted and the city architect estimated the cost of relocating the statues at £8,400. The City Council rejected Albert Square in March 1923, and voted by 71 votes to 30 in favour of Piccadilly Gardens as the site for the monument. The City was already considering building an art gallery at Piccadilly on the space left after the old Manchester Royal Infirmary had been demolished, albeit that this was currently filled by temporary huts housing the books from Manchester Central Library. Siting the memorial on this land was welcomed by the Art Gallery Committee, who proceeded to commission designs for a memorial in the form of a 'Hall of Memory'; but would be contingent on also funding a new library. As nothing was yet decided on these wider schemes, any plans for the area would have delayed the war memorial project further and so in May 1923 the memorial committee, acting on its own initiative, disregarded the vote of the Council and switched attention to St Peter's Square.  The square was itself a controversial choice; both because it was then much the smallest of the three options, and also due to its being the location of the former St Peter's church, demolished in 1907. The statutory trustees appointed to administer the funds paid over by the city council for the deconsecrated site of the church had been required by the Manchester Churches Act of 1906 to erect and maintain a memorial cross on the site, as well as to protect the bodies of the dead still interred in vaults underneath; and they objected to the removal of both. The dispute was only partially resolved, as although the trustees consented to the construction of the cenotaph they refused to allow the removal of the cross while the burials remained in place. Accordingly, discussions proceeded with the Manchester diocese on the basis that the burials would need to be removed individually and reburied on separate plots in one of the City cemeteries; the cross being relocated to the grounds of Manchester Cathedral. But this would add considerable time and cost to the memorial project.
More controversy surrounded the choice of architect. The Manchester Art Federation and other bodies petitioned the city council to hold an open competition, to which the Council agreed. The war memorial committee appointed Percy Worthington, a local architect, as the assessor for the competition but attracted severe criticism in the local press when it reserved to itself the right to veto Worthington's choice. After further debate, a subcommittee approached Sir Edwin Lutyens, and the competition collapsed.  Conveniently, Lutyens assured the committee in August 1923 that his design could accommodate the cross and crypts remaining in place, while clearly distinct; and so this whole issue was deferred until after the cenotaph had been completed and dedicated.


The major collecting areas in archaeology have been Western Europe, the Mediterranean, Egypt and Western Asia. Large accessions of material from Egypt and Western Asia came from the excavations of Sir Flinders Petrie and subsequently archaeologists from the university have been involved in expeditions to Western Asia and brought more finds. The Egyptological collections include finds from Kahun and Gurob, presented in 1890 by Jesse Haworth and Martyn Kennard. By 1912 the growth of this area had been so great that a new wing was added for the Egyptian material to which Jesse Haworth made a major donation of funds. Its first keeper was Winifred M. Crompton.
The Egyptian Mummy Research Project, begun in 1973 under Rosalie David's direction, has yielded much information on health and social conditions in ancient Egypt and radiology and endoscopy have been used extensively. One of the mummies studied was the first mummy to be completely unwrapped in Britain since 1908. This was mummy no. 1770 in 1975. From 1979 the researchers developed non-destructive techniques by a combination of radiology and endoscopy. The results are held on the International Mummy Data Base, stored on the university computer. A redesign of the galleries in 1984/85 resulted in improved displays. The archaeology collections were redisplayed in 2011 in the Ancient Worlds galleries. A bog body, Worsley Man, is also in the care of the museum. Lindow Man, another bog body had previously been displayed.


Planning for the new town hall began in 1863. Manchester Corporation demanded it be, 'equal if not superior, to any similar building in the country at any cost which may be reasonably required'. The choice of location was influenced by a desire to provide a central, accessible, but relatively quiet site in a respectable district, close to Manchester's banks and municipal offices, next to a large open area, suitable for the display of a fine building. After investigating suitable sites, including Piccadilly, an oddly shaped plot facing Albert Square was chosen. The Albert Square frontage measures 323 feet (98 m), Lloyd Street is 350 feet (107 m), Princess Street the longest at 383 feet (117 m) and Cooper Street measures 94 feet (29 m). On this tight site, the corporation built a grand hall, a suite of reception rooms, quarters for the lord mayor, offices and a council chamber.
The second stage of a competition to design the town hall which attracted 137 entries was judged by Thomas Leverton Donaldson, a classicist, and gothicist George Edmund Street. The eight finalists were Waterhouse, William Lee, Speakman & Charlesworth, Cuthbert Brodrick, Thomas Worthington, John Oldrid Scott, Thomas Henry Wyatt and Edward Salomons. In terms of design and aesthetics, Waterhouse's proposal was placed fourth behind those of Speakman & Charlesworth, Oldrid Scott and Worthington but his design was considered far superior in architectural quality, layout and use of light and he was appointed architect on 1 April 1868.
The foundation stone was laid on 26 October 1868 by the Mayor, Robert Neill. Construction took nine years and used 14 million bricks. Estimates for the cost of construction vary from £775,000 to around £1,000,000 translating to between £76,160,000 and £98,270,000 in 2022. When Queen Victoria refused to attend, Manchester Town Hall was opened on 13 September 1877 by the mayor, Abel Heywood, who had championed the project.


The caves are believed to have been built approximately 1500 to 1600 years ago, nearly around the same time as Jogeshwari caves (which were built between 520-550 CE).
The caves were originally cut by Buddhist monks. Most of the early rock-cut temples and rock-art in India was created by Buddhist monks. The monks were the missionaries of the revolutionary message of the Buddha and the best places to spread the new message where the nodes of trade routes. Maharashtra and many of its hills in the Western Ghats fit their purpose. The monks would dig out prayer halls or chaitya-grihas in the caves, while building votive stupas and dwelling places for themselves. Here they would meditate and influence the passing traders and anyone else who happened by. The hills around Mumbai were at the juncture of the sea trade routes. During the occupation of the Kanhneri caves, the Buddhist monks found another location where they created a hall of paintings. The cave was created by the Buddhist monks and then they hired travelling Persians to paint.
The sculptures in these caves are estimated to have been carved out at the same period as of those seen in the Jogeshwari Caves. It contained the largest Mandapa and a prominent Garbagriha.
This cave has seen through time, World war (when the soldiers used it), General people used to stay, Initial Portuguese used it as a place of prayer. These caves were witness to a series of invasions in the surrounding areas by different rulers and each time the caves were used for a different reason, sometimes even for things like housing by the armies or sometimes by refugees. During this period the monolithic paintings were defaced. After the invasion of the marathas in this area in the year 1739, for years the area was deserted.
Somewhere in time the caves were again discovered, it was under the protection of Indian Archaeology Society.
Most of what can be seen on the walls now are destroyed remains. The church (IC Church) and its graveyard are situated above the cave precincts. There are ruins of an old structure above the caves. These ruins belonged to a much older church built in 1544. This ruins is also under protection of Indian Archaeology Society.
There are four rock-cut shrines in Mumbai:  Elephanta Caves, Jogeshwari Caves, Mahakali Caves, Mandapeshwar Caves. All four caves have the same sculptures. The sculptures at Mandapeshwar were created beginning in the late Gupta Empire, or some time after.
Elephanta Island was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 to preserve the artwork.
Mandpeshwer caves have sculptures of Nataraja, Sadashiva and a sculpture of Ardhanarishvara. It also has Ganesha, Brahma and Vishnu statuettes. These works depicted the mythical tales of the Hindu gods and goddesses. Even today an elaborate sculpture representing the marriage of Shiva with Parvati may be viewed from the large square window at the south end of these caves. The caves are declared as an archaeological heritage site and therefore are protected under law.


WikiWeb_Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London_1

The building was constructed in 1882 by the architects Archer and Green, and was originally designed as an apartment block. Although it faced onto Hyde Park, Queen Victoria did not permit the north entrance onto the park to be signed. The southern entrance onto Knightsbridge became the main one used by the public, while the northern was reserved for the Royal Family. The apartments caught fire in 1904, and after refurbishment, were converted into a hotel in 1908.
Between 1911 and 1912, the Ballroom was redecorated in a style of Louis XVI.  In 1925, the architects Charles Frédéric Mewès and Arthur Joseph Davis, who also remodelled some of the principal rooms in a traditional Louis XV style, added a Palm Court.
The hotel was visited by several Royals, including Queen Mary (wife of George V) and Edward VIII. Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, was staying at the hotel in 1916 when he was offered the peerage. Several silent film stars frequented the hotel, including Rudolph Valentino.


WikiWeb_Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London_4

Many important events have been held at the Hyde Park Hotel. A few such events were Lady Doris Vyner's silver wedding party in 1948, with the King and Queen as guests of honour, and the Balaclava Ball, hosted by the five cavalry regiments who had taken part in the Balaclava charge, also attended by the Queen, Prince Philip, and the late Queen Mother.
Other celebrations include the 1992 production of “Pavarotti in the Park”, one of the country's largest open-air concerts, the 1995 Anniversary of VE Day in which seven Heads of State and their delegations took up residence, and ‘Party in the Park’, one of Europe's largest music events. The hotel hosted the 80th birthday party of Margaret Thatcher which was attended by HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, along with former Prime Ministers John Major and Tony Blair, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party Jeffrey Archer and entertainers Shirley Bassey and Joan Collins among others.


Manglerud Church is a church in Oslo, Norway.  The church was consecrated in December 1963. It is a parish church for Manglerud congregation. 400 seats, in addition to an adjacent church hall with 200 seats, as well as a smaller hall with 50 seats. There are also a small chapel, a baptismal sacristy and a youth activity room attached to the building. Manglerud Church is located above and on the south side of the E 6 highway and the subway at Ryen Station. It is easily visible with its high, steep ceilings and a slender, separate bell tower.
The 15 m high wall at the choir contains stained glass created by Sigurd Winge, it depicts "The Cross - from suffering to victory". In the choir hangs two knotted tapestries, created by Else Poulson. The pulpit and baptismal font are designed by drawings by architect Carl Corwin.
The church organ is a pipe organ with 32 voices. The three church bells are named "Joy," "Thank You," and "Prayer." They were cast at Olsen Nauen Bell Foundry and the weight are respectively. 240 kg, 480 kg and 850 kg. They have each engraved their own verse from 1 Thessalonians 5, 16-18: "Always be happy", "Pray forever" and "Thank you for everything".
Manglerud Church is listed by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage.


The complex also has shrines of deities in the temple are Nandikeshvar, Gajana, Bhagavati and the Gramapurusha Deva Sharma of the Vatsa gotra.  The subsidiary shrines to the rear of the main building house Devtas like Mulakeshwsar, Virabhadra, Saanteri, Lakshminarayana, Suryanarayan, Garuda and Kala Bhairav.


The annual festivals include Rama Navami, Akshaya Tritiya, Anant Vritotsava, Navaratri, Dussera, Diwali, Magha Poornima Festival (Jatrotsav) and Mahashivratri. Magha Poornima Festival begins on Magha Shukla Saptami and ends on Magha Poornima.


Carrère and Hastings designed approach plazas on both ends of the bridge. At the time of the bridge's opening, these plazas were meant to conceal views of the Manhattan Bridge from the streets on either end.


The arch and colonnade on the Manhattan end of the bridge were completed in 1915. They surround an elliptical plaza facing northwest toward the Bowery. The arch and colonnade are made of white, fine-grained Hallowell granite. They are decorated with two groups of allegorical sculptures by Carl Augustus Heber and a frieze called "Buffalo Hunt" by Charles Cary Rumsey. The design of the arch and colonnade reference the fact that the Manhattan Bridge continues into Brooklyn as Flatbush Avenue, which runs south to the Atlantic Ocean. The arch thus signified the Manhattan Bridge's role as an ocean "gateway". The plaza was influenced by the New York Improvement Plan of 1907, which sought to create plazas and other open spaces at large intersections; a massive circular plaza, connecting the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, was never built.
The arch was based on Paris's Porte Saint-Denis. It is one of the city's three remaining triumphal arches, the others being the Washington Square Arch and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch. The arch's opening measures 36 feet (11 m) high and 40 feet (12 m) wide. On the northern side of the arch, the opening is flanked by carvings of classical ships, masks, shields, and oak leaves. The western pier contains the sculptural group Spirit of Commerce, depicting a winged woman flanked by two figures. The eastern pier contains Spirit of Industry, depicting the god Mercury flanked by two figures.  The arch's keystone contains a depiction of a bison. Above is the "Buffalo Hunt" frieze, which depicts Native Americans hunting animals while on horseback. The relief is topped by dentils and egg-and-dart ornamentation. The cornice of the arch contains modillions as well as six lion heads. The interior of the arch contains a coffered ceiling. There are rosettes on the arch's soffit. The southern side of the arch, facing Brooklyn, is less ornately decorated but has rusticated stone blocks indicative of a Parisian or Florentine bank. On the southern side, there are decorations of carved lions at the bases of each pier.
The colonnade and plaza was modeled after the one surrounding St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. The colonnade is elliptical and rises to 38 feet (12 m). It is supported by six pairs of 31-foot (9.4 m) Tuscan columns on either side, with each pair of columns flanking rusticated piers inside the colonnade. Above each column is a stone with a classical motif, such as a boat or a cuirass. There is an entablature above the columns, as well as a cornice and balustrade at the top of the colonnade. The entablature contains roundels with floral motifs. The arch and colonnade were initially surrounded by granite retaining walls that contained decorative balustrades surrounding parkland on either side of the arch and colonnade. Only a small segment of parkland remains at Canal and Forsyth Streets, while the south side of the park became Confucius Plaza.
American Architect and Architecture described the arch and colonnade in 1912 as "worthy of one of the principal gateways of a great modern city". The arch and colonnade were described as a "complete, dignified and monumental ensemble, worthy of one of the principal gateways of a great modern city" in a New York Times article. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle wrote: "The Manhattan Bridge will he not only something to get across the East River upon, but the sight of it will be a joy even to those who have no occasion to cross it." From the bridge's completion, the arch was highly used by vehicular traffic. Part of the colonnade's eastern arm was removed and replaced in the 1970s for the construction of the incomplete Second Avenue Subway. The arch and colonnade were designated a New York City landmark on November 25, 1975. After many years of neglect and several attempts by traffic engineers to remove the structure (including a proposal for the unbuilt Lower Manhattan Expressway that would have required removing the arch), the arch and colonnade were repaired and restored in 2000.


The Brooklyn approach to the Manhattan Bridge also contained a terraced plaza with balustrades. Daniel Chester French designed two 12-foot-high (3.7 m), 20-short-ton (18-long-ton; 18 t) pylons named "Brooklyn" and "Manhattan" on the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge. These were installed in November 1916. The pylons on the Brooklyn side were relocated to the Brooklyn Museum in 1963. The pylons never constituted a true portal, even when they were in place. Following their removal, the Brooklyn approach did not contain a formal entrance.


The David N. Dinkins Municipal Building (originally the Municipal Building and later known as the Manhattan Municipal Building) is a 40-story, 580-foot (180 m) building at 1 Centre Street, east of Chambers Street, in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan in New York. The structure was built to accommodate increased governmental space demands after the 1898 consolidation of the city's five boroughs. Construction began in 1909 and continued through 1914 at a total cost of $12 million (equivalent to $232,730,000 in 2020).
Designed by McKim, Mead & White, the Manhattan Municipal Building was among the last buildings erected as part of the City Beautiful movement in New York. Its architectural style has been characterized as Roman Imperial, Italian Renaissance, French Renaissance, or Beaux-Arts. The Municipal Building is one of the largest governmental buildings in the world, with about 1 million square feet (93,000 m²) of office space. The base incorporates a subway station, while the top includes the gilded Civic Fame statue.
The Municipal Building was erected after three previous competitions to build a single municipal building for New York City's government had failed. In 1907, the city's Commissioner of Bridges held a competition to design the building in conjunction with a subway and trolley terminal at the Brooklyn Bridge, of which McKim, Mead & White's plan was selected. The first offices in the Municipal Building were occupied by 1913. In later years, it received several renovations, including elevator replacements in the 1930s and restorations in the mid-1970s and the late 1980s. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building a landmark in 1966, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.


By the late 19th century, New York City governmental functions had outgrown New York City Hall. At the time, the city government's agencies rented space in various buildings from Downtown Manhattan up to Midtown Manhattan, with the number of such arrangements increasing by the year. In the 1884 annual report of the City of New York, mayor Franklin Edson declared that more space was urgently needed for governmental functions. He also noted that City Hall's "style of architecture was such that without marring its present symmetry, it couldn't be enlarged to the required extent." Edson suggested buying 280 Broadway, at the corner with Chambers Street, for use by the city government.
The government, desiring to cut down the amount of rent paid to private landlords, ultimately held four design competitions for a new, massive building that would be suitable to house many agencies under one roof. As early as 1885, a commission was empowered to look for plots of land where such a structure could be built, and by 1887, authorities were considering erecting a structure adjacent to City Hall itself, in City Hall Park. Mayor Abram Hewitt appointed a commission to study suitable plans and plots of land in 1888, although Hewitt opposed putting such a building anywhere except City Hall Park. The commissioners of the Sinking Fund initially approved a municipal building east of the Tweed Courthouse, at the park's northeastern corner. An architectural design competition was commenced for this new building, and seven architects submitted plans. Charles B. Atwood's winning proposal called for a pair of seven-story pavilions flanking City Hall. The public generally opposed the idea of development in the park, and the plan was voted down by the New York State Senate in February 1890.
The law authorizing the new building was modified in 1890 so that the new structure would be able to house other city agencies as well. Mayor Hugh J. Grant proposed a large municipal office building in early 1890, and that July, a committee of the city government was created to look for alternate sites. The committee published a report in October 1890, outlining three possible sites on Chambers Street. The first option was southwest of Chambers Street and Broadway; the second, northwest of Chambers and Centre Streets; and the third, northeast of Chambers and Centre Streets (at the current building's location). The committee recommended the third option, which would be the cheapest and offer the most floor area, as well as provide an opportunity for redevelopment at that location. However, the city government decided in March 1893 that the municipal building would instead replace City Hall, with two wings extending north to flank the Tweed Courthouse, despite the committee's recommendation and public objections to a City Hall site. The committee ultimately received 134 plans for such a new building, with six of these being selected as finalists. In response to opposition to City Hall's demolition, the New York governor signed a law in 1894 that once again prohibited the municipal building's construction. The six finalist submissions were supposed to receive monetary prizes, but ran into difficulty even collecting their awards, since the city had never formally accepted the committee's report on the finalists.
In 1899, architect George B. Post proposed a municipal office tower to be built at the northeast corner of Chambers and Centre Streets, while preserving City Hall, as part of a greater plan to rearrange Lower Manhattan's streets. The next March, state senator Patrick H. McCarren proposed a bill that would construct the municipal building on the blocks bounded by Broadway and Reade, Centre, and Chambers Streets, north of the Tweed Courthouse and west of the current building's site. The structure would replace 280 Broadway and the old Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank Building, incorporate the then-under-construction Hall of Records, and would also entail destroying the Tweed Courthouse. Several architects submitted proposals, the most elaborate of which was by McKim, Mead & White. Additionally, in 1903, the city's bridge commissioner Gustav Lindenthal hired George Post and Henry Hornbostel l as architects for a planned trolley hub at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, just east of City Hall. This plan also involved constructing a 45-story municipal office tower with a campanile at Chambers and Centre Streets. The municipal building and trolley hub plans were deferred by the administration of mayor Seth Low when he left office at the end of 1903.


By early 1907, the Hall of Records had been completed, but there was still not enough space for the city's important files; further, the city was paying large amounts for rent in private buildings. Officials pointed out that the cramped quarters of the city government's departments posed a fire hazard, and legislation had been proposed for a new municipal building. In July 1907, Lindenthal—who had already secured a new plot of land for the Brooklyn Bridge trolley hub—was authorized by the state legislature to host a fourth and final design competition for the municipal building. The Brooklyn loop line, a four-track subway line, was planned to be built under the site as well, passing through a large five-platform station at Chambers Street.
Thirteen architects were invited to compete. They would in turn elect a jury of three architects, whose names would not be published in advance. The Commissioner of Bridges would make a final decision based on the jury's recommendation. The building had to be at least 20 stories; the superstructure could not block train tracks, stairways, or platforms; the route of Chambers Street under the building had to be preserved; and the first floor, to be used for transit and building entrances, had to be completely covered, with a ceiling of at least 20 feet (6.1 m). The commissioner also recommended that the first story of each level be at ground level, and that an above-ground level be provided for mechanical equipment and building systems. The contestants were otherwise given "considerable freedom" for the building's design. By December 1907, several architects had submitted plans. Twelve architectural firms ultimately entered the competition, while Cass Gilbert withdrew.
The jury selected McKim, Mead & White's proposal as the winning entry in April 1908. The firm's design had been chosen because it provided the most space for the city government, even though it was less elaborate than some of the other submissions, such as the runner-up proposal by Howells & Stokes, inspired by 90 West Street. McKim, Mead & White had entered the contest under the encouragement of mayor George B. McClellan Jr. The firm's senior partners had been noncommittal about participating in the competition, though they named junior partner William Mitchell Kendall as the principal architect of the submission. The firm submitted plans for a 559-foot-tall (170 m) building to the New York City Department of Buildings in October 1908. The city had initially intended to erect the Manhattan Municipal Building on a plot immediately to the south of the current site, bounded by Park Row, the Brooklyn Bridge, and North William Street. The final plan, however, called for the building to be located between Park Row, Centre Street, and Duane Street, with Chambers Street running under the Municipal Building's center.


Coverage of the Manhattan Temple open house was exceptional in comparison with most other recently completed temples.  The temple was featured in most national newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and in newspapers in Europe and Asia.  It was also featured on CNN.
An anti-Mormon protest attended by many thousands of gay rights activists converged outside the temple on November 12, 2008, to protest the LDS Church's position in support of California's Proposition 8.  No vandalism against the temple was reported.
In 2020, the Manhattan New York Temple was closed in response to the coronavirus pandemic.


The Manila Central Post Office, often called the Post Office Building, is the main postal office of Manila, which also serves as the home of the Philippine Postal Corporation. It also houses the main mail sorting-distribution operations of the Philippines.
It is located along the riverbanks in Lawton, Ermita and lies at the northern end of Liwasang Bonifacio. Its location along the frontage of the Pasig River was a part of the Burnham Plan of Manila for easy water transportation of mails. Its central location with converging avenues made the building readily accessible from all sides.  The building's main entrance faces the Liwasang Bonifacio.
The original building was designed by Juan M. Arellano and Tomás Mapúa in neoclassical style. The construction of the building began on 1926 under the supervision of the architecture firm of Pedro Siochi and Company. However, it was severely damaged in World War II during the Battle of Manila and was subsequently rebuilt in 1946 while retaining most of its original design.


Mannheim Harbour, named Rhein-Neckar-Hafen Mannheim, is a river port on the Rhine in Mannheim, at the confluence of the Rhine and the Neckar in Baden-Wurttemberg. It consists out of 4 main harbour areas Handelshafen, Rheinauhafen, Altrheinhafen and Industriehafen, which are divided into 14 single harbour basins and 3 river docks.
It is one of the most important inland ports in Europe. The port covers 3.42 km² of water (2.83 km² Rhine, 0.59 km² Neckar) and 8.635 km² of dockland. The total land area covered from the harbour is about 11.31 km² and it is the biggest inland port in Germany based on this measure.
The Rhein-Neckar-Hafen Mannheim reflects a trimodal transport node at the junction of road and rail inks and two national waterways and offers various transhipment facilities. The 4 main harbour areas have overnight rail connections to all German and many important European commercial centres and it can be accessed by road via several main motorways.


Mannington Hall estate is open every day of the year for the public to use the country walks around the estate at no cost although there is a  charge for the car park. The gardens are open on a Sunday between 12 pm and 5 pm on Sundays between may and September. In June, July and August the gardens are also open on Thursday and Fridays between 11 am and 5 pm. The house is only open to the public by pre-arranged appointments and to special interest groups and on special events.


Before the construction of the theatre, plays and amateur theatrical productions were staged in the halls and piano nobiles of the Knights' auberges. These were palaces constructed for the langues of the Order. The Langue of Italy often held such entertainment, staged by its knights in their Auberge. The records of the Langue even state that, on 2 February 1697, some Maltese gentlemen presented a play in the Auberge d'Italie. Women were prohibited from attending these events after incidents during the Carnival festivities of 1639.
In 1731, António Manoel de Vilhena commissioned and personally funded the construction of the building to serve as a public theatre "for the honest recreation of the people." The Grand Master bought two houses from the Priory of Navarre, with a frontage on what is now Old Theatre Street for the sum of 2,186 scudi. It has a plain façade, in keeping with Valletta's Mannerist style, and has three floors with a mezzanine-level above the ground floor. The façade incorporates a doorway surmounted by a stone balustraded open balcony, itself supported by three heavy scroll corbels. The interior is decorated in Rococo style. The theatre was possibly designed by Romano Carapecchia, and was built by Francesco Zerafa and Antonio Azzopardi.
Construction was finished in only ten months. This however, may be because alterations were made to the fabric of the three adjoining houses, incorporating them into a theatre. The building occupied an area of 94½ square canes, which was later altered to 93 square canes and 2½ palms. The theatre is said to have been modelled after the contemporary Palermo Theatre. Its auditorium was originally semi-circular or horseshoe shaped, with an illuminated parterre that served as a small dance floor. The first theatrical performance to be staged at the Teatro Pubblico was Scipione Maffei's classic tragedy Merope, on 9 January 1732. The actors in that production were the Knights themselves, and the set was designed by the Knights' chief military architect, Francois Mondion.
On 26 January 1732 a satirical and anti-clerical play "Il bacchettiere falso" by Girolamo Gigli was performed. On 18 January 1769 the play "Il trionfo di Minerva", by Lentisco Adrasteo was presented on the occasion of Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca's birthday. A similar honour was also given to Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim, on his elevation as Grand Master. On this occasion, Hompesch appeared on the balcony thanking the crowd, showering handfuls of gold coins on the people that had gathered to applaud. Over the course of the next half-century, it was the venue for an extensive repertoire of lyric operas performed by companies of visiting professionals or by amateur groups of knights, and French tragedies or Italian comedies. Works by Johann Adolf Hasse, Niccolò Piccinni and Baldassare Galuppi were extremely popular at the theatre during its early years.
In its early days, the management of the theatre, and censorship of its performances, was entrusted to a senior knight, known as the Protettore. The first recorded impresario was Melchiorre Prevvost Lanarelli in 1736, and the last Giovanni Le Brun in 1866. From 1768 to 1770 the impresario was a woman, Natala Farrugia. In setting up the theatre, Grand Master de Vilhena set the rent to be paid by the impresario at 320 scudi per annum, of which 80 accrued for rent from Easter to August, 120 for autumn, and another 120 scudi from Christmas to Carnival. When dances or veglioni (masked ball) were held in the theatre, the pit was raised by a scaffolding to the level of the stage. On 22 August 1778 regulations were passed for the lighting of the theatre and corridors on such occasions, with the shading of lights, in any manner, being prohibited. In 1778, to avoid scandal, theatre companies were prohibited from sleeping in the boxes of the theatre. This was a practice which was common during that time. A few years later, in 1783, the Teatro Pubblico underwent considerable modification and decoration, based on a design by the Roman architect, Natale Marini. A model was displayed before the inquisitor and many knights, and the model was so admired that the Commissioners of the Foundation of the Theatre decided to add a further two louis, as a bonus to Marini's invoice of 49 scudi.
Nicolas Isouard's first known opera, Casaciello perseguitato da un mago, was performed here in 1792, and Isouard became director of this theatre in 1798, after the French captured Malta, and continued to premiere other operas there. Several of Isouard's own works, including Avviso ai Maritati and Artaserse, were performed at the Manoel during this time. French rule over Malta was short-lived and within two years the islands passed into the hands of Great Britain. An English gentleman who accompanied Abercrombie's expedition to Egypt in 1801, wrote that:
"La Valette possesses an opera, small indeed, but neat, though much out of repair. Italy and Sicily supply it with very tolerable vocal performers, and it is a very agreeable entertainment for the garrison. It was excessively crowded every night by the officers of the expedition, to whom it was a great source of amusement. The price of admission is one shilling."
During the early British Era, the "Teatro Pubblico" was renamed as the "Teatro Reale", going through a series of enlargements and re-modellings throughout the 19th century, most notably in 1812, when Sir George Whitmore added today's gallery and proscenium, raised the ceiling by one storey, and added eight more boxes, bringing the total to 67. Whitmore also transformed the auditorium to the oval shape that it has today. Further alterations were made in 1844, when the Manoel's set designer, Ercolani, repainted the panels on the wooden boxes and had them gilded. Another stratum of silver leaf was added to the panels and ceiling in 1906. Throughout this time, the Teatro Reale was rented out to professional impresarios, who hosted nine-month opera seasons. It was visited by many foreign dignitaries, including Sir Walter Scott, and H.M. Queen Adelaide, the Queen Dowager, widow of William IV of the United Kingdom, who attended performances of Elisir d'Amore and Gemma di Vergy at the theatre, during her convalescence in Malta. Lucia di Lammermoor was given as a gala night in honour of the Queen Dowager, featuring soprano Camilla Darbois. English and Italian opera and operetta were the most popular productions at the Teatro Reale throughout the 19th century; however, the Maltese public was particularly supportive of operas by Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti and Verdi.
In 1861, the Teatro Reale was given on perpetual lease, by the government, to Dr. Salvatore Mifsud and Anacleto Conti for an annual ground rent of £236,15, and in 1862, the directum dominium was sold to Emmanuele Scicluna for £7,833.6.8. Subsequent owners were Carmelo Arpa, a chemist (1889) and the Gollcher family (1906–7). The theatre had fallen into disuse in 1866, as a result of the construction of Malta's new Royal Opera House, designed by Edward Middleton Barry, on Strada Reale, at the entrance to Valletta. The theatre began to serve as a doss house for homeless and indigent citizens, who rented out the stalls for a few pennies a night. However, in 1873, the Teatro Reale – was officially renamed "Manoel Theatre", and it enjoyed a brief new lease on life when the Royal Opera House burnt down. But by 1877, the Royal Opera House had been rebuilt, and once more, Teatru Manoel was eclipsed and fell again into disuse. On 27 December 1922, 6 January 1923 and 3 February 1923, Teatru Manoel was the venue for the first public airing of Malta's National Anthem, "L-Innu Malti." During the Second World War, Teatru Manoel served as emergency accommodation for victims of the constant bombardment by the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica. In the early 20th century, it was also used intermittently as the venue for Carnival balls and, for a period of about twenty years, it operated as a movie theatre.
The theatre was included on the Antiquities List of 1925.


The interior is spacious and provides uninterrupted views for the congregation.  The five-bay arcades are carried on octagonal piers. The church has a hammerbeam roof with corbels decorated with foliage.  There is a west gallery.  The pulpit is octagonal and contains figures in niches. The font is carried on four green columns, and is decorated with traceried panels.  The stained glass in the east window depicts the Empty Tomb, and is by H. G. Hiller.  In the transept is a window of 1908 designed by William Aikman and made by Powell's depicting The Sower.  Also on the north side is a window by Wilhelmina Geddes, dated 1934, and a window by Gilbert Gamon depicting Faith, Hope and Charity.  On the south side are two windows made for the Artificers' Guild, one designed by John H. Bonnor, and the other by Edward Woore.  Between these, and elsewhere in the church, are windows by Morris & Co.  The west window contains glass designed by Percy Bacon.


Mansion House was built between the years of 1739 and 1752, in the Palladian style by the surveyor and architect George Dance the Elder. The Master Mason was John Deval.
The site, at the east end of Poultry, London, had  previously been occupied by the Stocks Market, which by the time of its closure was mostly used for the sale of herbs. The construction was prompted by a wish to put an end to the inconvenient practice of lodging the Lord Mayor in one of the City livery company halls. Dance won a competition over designs solicited from James Gibbs and Giacomo Leoni, and uninvited submissions by Batty Langley and Isaac Ware. Construction was slowed down by the discovery of springs on the site, which meant piles had to be sunk to lay adequate foundations.
The original building had two clerestory roof extensions, nicknamed the "Mayor's Nest" (a pun on "mare's nest") and "Noah's Ark".  In 1795 George Dance the Younger re-roofed the central courtyard, and had the "Noah's Ark" demolished.  In the same year, the original grand staircase was removed to make way for a further two rooms. In 1835 the entrance steps were reduced to one flight, and in 1842 the "Mayor's Nest" was demolished after the ballroom was reconstructed.  The Lord Mayor's private entrance in Walbrook was created in 1845, and in 1849 the former Swordbearer's Room was converted into the Justice Room, effectively the magistrates' court of the City, until 1999 when the court removed to a building on the opposite side of Walbrook.
From 1873, with the Lord Mayor as its president, committee meetings of the Metropolitan Hospital Sunday Fund met at Mansion House.


The Mansion House holds one of the largest civic silver collections in England. These collections have been displayed in a new Silver Gallery enabling visitors to view the collections since January 2017. Two of the earliest pieces are a seventeenth century silver chamber pot and gold cup which were bought for the City of York with monies bequeathed by Marmaduke Rawdon in 1669. Marmaduke left "one drinking cup of pure gold of the vallew of one hundred pounds, which I desire my executor to have handsomely made, and the cittie arms and my arms graven upon it, "This is the guift of Marmaduke Rawdon, son of Laurence Rawdon, late of this cittie alderman"; alsoe, I give unto the said cittie a silver chamber pott of the value of ten pounds, booth are to goe from Lord Maior to lord Maior, and if these two bee converted to any other use the vallew thereof to return to my executor or his heirs".
The collection of civic regalia also includes a seventeenth century mace and two city swords. The Bowes Sword was donated to the City of York by Sir Martin Bowes, Lord Mayor of London 1545. Bowes was born in York and was christened in St. Cuthbert's, York, where many of his family were also buried. In the sixteenth century there was a move to reduce the number of parish churches in York and Bowes pleaded to the council to save St. Cuthbert's. In thanks for saving St. Cuthbert's Bowes wrote to York on 20 September 1549 saying that he was sending "a fayre sworde within a sheathe of crymesyn velvet garnysyshyd with perle and stone sett upon sylver and gylte". In 1603 when James VI of Scotland visited York the Bowes sword travelled with one of his entourage to London. When the sword was returned the original precious stones had disappeared and the sword was repaired with semi-precious stones.
The Sigismund sword was once owned by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. In 1416 Sigismund was installed as a Knight of the Order of the Garter of the Knights of St. George as part of Henry V's alliance against France. He sent a sword to be hung over his stall in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and this sword was still in the chapel when he died in 1437. The sword was then acquired by Henry Hanslapp, dean of Windsor, who was also a canon of Howden and native of York. On 5 May 1439 Henry Hanslapp presented the sword to the City of York. The Sigismund sword blade is blued and inscribed with the Royal Arms of Elizabeth I. The scabbard is covered in crimson velvet which is decorated with "scorpions" or dragons which are similar to the emblem of the knightly Order of the Dragon founded by Sigismund in 1408.
The Mansion House also has a collection of oil paintings of previous Lord Mayors of York which include, George IV as Prince Regent, Charles Watson-Wentworth, Marquis of Rockingham and George Hudson.


The Mansu Hill Grand Monument (Chosŏn'gŭl: 만수대대기념비; Hanja: 萬壽臺大紀念碑) is a complex of monuments in Pyongyang, North Korea. There are 229 figures in all, commemorating the history of the revolutionary struggle of the Korean people, and especially their leaders. The central part of the monument consists of two 20-meter-tall (66 ft) bronze statues of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.


The Mantiqueira Mountains (Portuguese: Serra da Mantiqueira [literally: Mantiqueira Mountains Chain]) are a mountain range in Southeastern Brazil, with parts in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. It rises abruptly from the northwestern bank of the Paraíba do Sul River and extends northeastward for approximately 320 km (200 mi), reaching a height of 2,798 m (9,180 ft) at Pedra da Mina. The mountains, which eventually merge with the Serra do Espinhaço, were originally forest-covered, except for the peaks that rise above the tree line. They provide charcoal and pasture for cattle; on the lower slopes there are several health and tourist resorts, such as Campos do Jordão, Brazil's highest city. The name Mantiqueira derives from a Tupi word meaning "mountains that cry", denoting the large number of springs and streams found there.
The name shows the range's great importance as a source of drinking water, and the waters supply a great number of important cities in the southeast of Brazil. From its brooks are formed the Jaguari River, which supplies the northern region of Greater São Paulo; most left-bank tributaries of the Paraíba do Sul River, which crosses a densely populated and highly industrialized region; and the Grande River, which is the source of the Paraná River, one of the longest and most important in South America and the river with the world's largest hydroelectric output, through a series of power plants way down the river to Argentina and Paraguay.
Many springs of mineral water lie in the regions of Caxambu and São Lourenço in Minas Gerais, and Campos do Jordão and Serra Negra in São Paulo.


Manulife Financial Centre (Chinese: 宏利金融中心) is an office building on Wai Yip Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Originally named Kwun Tong 223, it was completed during the second quarter of 2008. The building was renamed 'Manulife Financial Centre' from 1 December 2009.
The property was jointly developed by Henderson Land Development and Sun Hung Kai Properties, on land formerly occupied by Dairy Farm's ice factory and a cement factory.


In 1997, allegations began to emerge that some employees of the Gardens had sexually abused young boys in the 1970s and 1980s. Martin Kruze was the first victim to come forward—contacting the new owners of Maple Leaf Gardens in 1993, and going public in February 1997. His story of abuses beginning in 1975 prompted dozens of other victims to come forward. In October 1997, Gordon Stuckless pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 24 boys dating back to 1969 and was sentenced to a jail term of two years less a day. Three days later, Kruze committed suicide. An appeals court later increased Stuckless' sentence to five years. He was paroled in 2001. In 1999, former usher John Paul Roby was convicted of sexually molesting 26 boys and one girl. He was subsequently declared a dangerous offender and could have been kept in prison for the rest of his life. Roby died in Kingston Penitentiary from an apparent heart attack in 2001. In 2002, former Gardens security guard Dennis Morin was found guilty of sexual assault, indecent assault and gross indecency for incidents involving teenage boys. Allegations—unproven in court—were also made against other Gardens employees, including Ballard. Several civil suits were settled out of court for undisclosed amounts. In January 2006, the Ontario government filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., seeking repayment of the medical costs to the province of treating the sex abuse victims. Stuckless later died on April 9, 2020, after suffering a brain hemorrhage a few nights before.


Mapungubwe National Park is a national park in Limpopo Province, South Africa. It is located by the Kolope River, south of the confluence of the Limpopo and Shashe rivers and about 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) to the NE of the Venetia Diamond Mine. The National Park borders Mapesu Private Game Reserve to the south. It abuts on the border with Botswana and Zimbabwe, and forms part of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area. It was established in 1995 and covers an area of over 28,000 hectares (69,000 acres). The park protects the historical site of Mapungubwe Hill, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe, as well as the wildlife and riverine forests along the Limpopo River. The Mapungubwe Hill was the site of a community dating back to the Iron Age. Evidences have shown that it was a prosperous community. Archaeologists also uncovered the famous golden rhino figurine from the site.  It is one of the few places in Africa that has both meerkats and Nile crocodiles.
Mapungubwe National Park is renowned for its scenic landscape, with sandstone formations, woodlands, riverine forest and baobab trees.


Mar Elias Monastery (Hebrew: מנזר אליהו הקדוש,  Arabic: دير مار إلياس, romanized: Deir Mar Elias) is a Greek Orthodox monastery in south Jerusalem, on a hill overlooking Bethlehem and Herodium.


During the 1967 Six-Day War, attackers of the Israel Defense Forces quickly overran Jordanian defences around the monastery on the way to Bethlehem and Hebron. After 1967 the height, known as Elijah Hill, was renamed in Hebrew as Givat ha'Arba'a, Hill of the Four, in honour of the four victims killed in the 1956 incident.
Facing the monastery is a stone bench erected by the wife of the painter William Holman Hunt, who painted some of his major works at this spot. The bench is inscribed with biblical verses in Hebrew, Greek, Arabic and English.
Since the 4th century, the monks of Mar Elias have cultivated olives and grapes.


The construction of the observatory began in 1259. Construction lasted a total of three years. This is according to multiple books including Jam-e-ttavarikhe rashidi (Persian: جامع التواريخ رشيدي), saf-e-elhofreh (Persian: صاف الحفره), and favat-o-lvafiyyat (Persian: فوات الوفيات)  The observatory came to be because of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, a Persian mathematician, astronomer and philosopher. Al-Tusi developed many astronomical theories, but failed to carry them to completion due to a lack of a workspace and resources. When the Mongols started to overtake their land, al-Tusi plead to Hulagu. He stated that with the necessary equipment, he could tell the future. This played into Hulagu's superstitions and was permitted to play this dream into reality. He acted as an advisor to Hulagu, a grandchild of Genghis Khan. Tusi complained to Hulagu that his astronomical tables had to be adapted to the latitude and longitude of Hulagu's new capital. Hulagu gave Tusi permission to build a new observatory in the location of his choosing, and Tusi chose Maragha, Iran, where he became the director of the observatory. Men of mathematics, science, and astronomy came to the Maragheh Observatory from across the Islamic world and further. According to historical texts recovered from the observatory, the site had a reputation so widespread it had reached as far as China as students had traveled to study mathematics, physics, and astronomy. Other scholars in attendance included Bar-Hebraeus, who late in his life took residence close to the observatory in order to use the library for his studies. He has left a description of the observatory.
A number of other prominent astronomers worked with Tusi at the observatory, such as Muhyi al-Din al-Maghribi, Mu'ayyid al-Din al-'Urdi, from Damascus, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, and Hulagu's Chinese astronomer Fao Munji, whose Chinese astronomical experience brought improvements to the Ptolemaic system used by Tusi.
After 12 years of intense work by Tusi and other scientists, including Mu’yed al-Din al-Arad-Najmedin Cathy, Najmd al-Din Qazvini, Allame Qutbuddin Shirazi, and Fakhruddin Maraghi, the tables were compiled in the Zij-i Ilkhani. The tables were published during the reign of Abaqa Khan, Hulagu's son, and were named after the patron of the observatory.
The downturn of the Maragheh Observatory began in the 13th century. After the death of Tusi in 1274 his son took over as director. However, with the death of Hulagu in 1265 and his son Abaqa in 1282, the observatory no longer had patrons to fund the research being conducted. The observatory became inactive by the beginning of the 14th century. Over time the site turned to ruins as a result of frequent earthquakes and a lack of funding by the state to preserve the site. Shah Abbas the Great arranged for repair; however, this was not commenced due to the king's early death.
During the Mongol invasions and conquests in this region, the contents of the observatory's library were stolen.
The remains inspired Ulugh Beg to construct his observatory in Samarkand in 1428.
Hulagu's older brother, Khublai Khan, also constructed an observatory, the Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory in China.
A celestial globe from the observatory made around 1279 is now preserved in Dresden, Germany. It is a rare example of decorative art from Iran of the 13th century, designed by al-Urdi and made of bronze inlaid with silver and gold.


Marble Hill House was built in 1724–1729 by Henrietta Howard, the mistress of King George II, to the designs of the architect Roger Morris (1695–1749) in collaboration with Henry Herbert, 9th Earl of Pembroke, one of the "architect earls".
Pembroke, then Lord Herbert, based the design of Marble Hill to a large degree on Andrea Palladio's 1553 Villa Cornaro in Piombino Dese, Italy, and thus incorporated a cubic saloon on the first floor or piano nobile. Villa Cornaro also served as a model for plantation houses in the American colonies, examples being Drayton Hall (1738–1742) in Charleston, South Carolina, and Thomas Jefferson's  initial version of Monticello (1768–1770). It was in other respects an adaptation of  a more expansive design by Colen Campbell. It is set in 66 acres (2.67 km²) of parkland known as Marble Hill Park. The Great Room contains lavishly gilded decoration and five capricci paintings by Giovanni Paolo Pannini. Marble Hill House also contains a loaned collection of early Georgian furniture and paintings as well as the  Chinoiserie collection of the Lazenby Bequest.
It was located a few miles away from Kendal House, another Palladian property built around the same time for a royal mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg, Duchess of Kendal who had been the long-term lover of George I.
Both Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift were regular guests at the house during the lifetime of Henrietta Howard.
In the late 18th century the house was rented by the Prince Regent (the future king, George IV) for his mistress, Maria Fitzherbert, so the two could continue to meet in private.
Shortly after its building the architecture of Marble Hill House became widely known from published engravings, and was widely admired for its compact plan and tightly controlled elevations. Its design was soon copied elsewhere, rarely in the 1730s and 1740s but more commonly thereafter, and provided a standard model for the English villas built throughout the Thames Valley and further afield, for example New Place, King's Nympton, Devon, built between 1746 and 1749 to the design of Francis Cartwright of Blandford in Dorset.
An archaeological investigation found evidence of what has been described as a bowling alley next to the house in 2017. However, it is likely that game resembled boules as much as bowling and the "alley" (better described as a depression in the ground) does not resemble the modern concept of a bowling alley. The main evidence that the area was used for some sort of bowling rests on contemporary plans.
The house is now owned by English Heritage, which acquired it in 1986 following the abolition of the Greater London Council. Its extensive grounds are known as Marble Hill Park and provide many leisure facilities including rugby and hockey pitches, a cricket pitch and nets, tennis courts, and a children's play area.
In 2015, English Heritage won a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to develop Marble Hill House and its park in order to improve its presentation and the associated leisure facilities. As part of this project Historic England made a range of landscape investigations, including geophysical surveys, aerial photography and lidar mapping, analytical earthwork survey, coring and vegetation analysis to create a clear picture of the development of the Marble Hill landscape from the 17th century onwards. Restoration work on the house included the reinstatement of Georgian colour schemes and renovation of the furnishings and pictures. The works took seven years to complete and cost £8M. The director of English Heritage, Kate Mavor, described the restored house as “one of the forgotten gems of Georgian London”.


The palace was built as a gift from Empress Catherine the Great for Count Grigory Orlov, her favourite  and the most powerful Russian nobleman of the 1760s. Construction started in 1768 to designs by Antonio Rinaldi, who previously had helped decorate the grand palace at Caserta near Naples, and lasted for 17 years. The combination of sumptuous ornamentation with rigorously classicising monumentality, as practiced by Rinaldi, may be attributed to his earlier work under Luigi Vanvitelli in Italy.
The palace takes its name from its opulent decoration in a wide variety of polychrome marbles. A rough-grained Finnish granite on the ground floor is in subtle contrast to polished pink Karelian marble of the pilasters and white Urals marble of capitals and festoons. Panels of veined bluish gray Urals marble separate the floors, while Tallinn dolomite was employed for ornamental urns. In all, 32 disparate shades of marble were used to decorate the palace.

The plan of the edifice is trapezoidal. Each of its four facades, though strictly symmetrical, has a different design. One of the facades conceals a recessed courtyard, where an armored car employed by Lenin during the October Revolution used to be mounted on display between 1937 and 1992. Nowadays, the court is dominated by a sturdy equestrian statue of Alexander III of Russia, the most famous work of sculptor Paolo Troubetzkoy; formerly it graced a square before the Moscow Railway Station.
Fedot Shubin, Mikhail Kozlovsky, Stefano Torelli and other Russian and foreign craftsmen decorated the interior with inlaid coloured marbles, stucco, and statuary until 1785, by which time Count Orlov had already died (1783), and the Empress had the palace purchased for her own heirs. In 1797–1798 the structure was leased to Stanisław II Augustus, the last king of Poland. Thereafter the palace belonged to Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich and his heirs from the Konstantinovichi branch of the House of Romanov.

In 1843, Grand Duke Constantine Nikolayevich decided to redecorate the edifice, renaming it Constantine Palace and engaging Alexander Brullov as the architect. An adjacent church and other outbuildings were completely rebuilt, while the interior of the palace was refurbished, in keeping with the eclectic tastes of its new owner. Only the main staircase and the Marble Hall survived that refacing and still retain the refined stucco work and elaborate marble pattern of Rinaldi's original decor.


Marble Palace houses many Western sculptures, pieces of Victorian furniture, paintings by European and Indian artists, and other artifacts. Decorative objects include large chandeliers, clocks, floor to ceiling mirrors, urns, and royal busts. The house is said to contain two paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, The Marriage of St. Catherine and The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian. There are also said to be two paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds, The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpent and Venus and Cupid. Other artists said to figure in the collections include Titian, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, and John Opie.
The collection of artifacts is lavish but random; genuinely valuable pieces of art share space with a lot of kitschy art objects of little value. This has caused some to feel the collection is superficial and gaudy. Geoffrey Moorhouse in his book Calcutta says it looks "as if they had been scavenged from job lots on the Portobello Road on a series of damp Saturday afternoons."


The Marc Chagall Art Center, at 2 Putna Street, was opened in 1992. Exhibitions of graphic works by Chagall from the museum's collection are held here: woodcuts, etchings, aquatints, a series of illustrations of Nikolai Gogol's novel "Dead Souls" (1923-1925), a series of color lithographs from 1956 and 1960 on the theme of the Bible, a cycle of colour lithographs entitled The 12 tribes of Israel (1960) and other of his works. The museum also houses a collection of printed graphics by European avant-garde artists such as Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Fernand Léger. The Art Center has a scientific library dedicated to the works of Chagall and other avant-garde artists, which has more than 3500 volumes.


Despite his protests, Wainwright was impressed by the dimensions of the Mardale dam - 90ft in height; 1550ft in length - which he noted as the earliest hollow buttress dam in the world.
In response to the submerging of the village, Manchester Corporation provided a new access road that runs for four miles along the south-eastern side of the reservoir to a car park at Gatescarth. From here ascents of the peaks surrounding the head of the valley, such as Harter Fell, High Street and Kidsty Pike may be made.


It was opened on 23 May 2009 and attended by Mariah Carey, Kendall Jenner, Sharon Stone, Richard Gere, Monica Bellucci, Paris Hilton, Seal, Tom Jones, and the Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Some football clubs like Shakhtar Donetsk and Steaua Bucharest, 2011 and respectively 2012, were guests of honor. The teams held their training camps in Antalya at the invitation of Telman Ismailov, who supported all the costs. The corporate identity and website for the hotel was created by Brash Brands in Dubai, winning it an International Design Award.
In December 2018, it was announced that Titanic Hotels, whose properties include Beach Lara and Deluxe Belek, would take over the hotel. It is unconfirmed when the hotel will reopen.


Of the 30 or so ancient carved stones in the museum, 17 are pre-Norman, and are displayed on the ground floor. The remainder are Margam Abbey memorials, housed in the upper gallery, and are mainly tomb slabs. They include Cistercian and post-reformation memorials.
The pre-Norman stones form a distinct local group of early Christian carvings and inscribed text, and are described as one of the most important such collections in Britain. Ten of these stones originate from Margam and its outlying settlements. Four others came from the area that became the Port Talbot steelworks, and three are from the hills and farms of the wider area.
The stones in the museum are part of a much larger group of carved and inscribed stones found across Glamorgan dating to the early Christian centuries. They can be classified into three groupings:
Latin inscribed memorials
These date from 450 to 650 AD, and indicate an early Welsh Christian culture. The three stone pillars in the museum provide early text including a Welsh family tree, and a stone with both Latin and Ogham inscriptions.
Cross inscribed slabs
Dating from 600 to 900 AD and crudely produced compared to the sculptured crosses, they have outline crosses cut into the stone.
Sculptured crosses and cross slabs
From 900 to 1100 AD, these have detailed patterns of lattice or plaitwork, and include a number of inscriptions in Latin. They are the most visually dramatic group within the museum, and are the bulk of the pre-Norman collection.


The bridge, which opened in March 2012, is the first of a series of bridges that the office of Santiago Calatrava designed to span the Trinity River in downtown Dallas. The bridge connects Spur 366 (Woodall Rodgers Freeway) in downtown to Singleton Boulevard in West Dallas. Construction on the bridge began in December 2005. The bridge cost $117 million to build. A Dallas Morning News analysis put the project's total cost at $182 million. Beginning in 2004, The Trinity Trust Foundation successfully worked to secure private funds in support of the Trinity River Corridor Project, including the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, Margaret McDermott Bridge, Ronald Kirk Bridge, trails and other components of the project.
On June 26, 2010, the signature 40-story center-support arch was topped with a central curved span, which can now be seen from many miles away in several directions. The arch provides an additional feature to the Downtown Dallas skyline.
In 2012, the bridge received an Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award from the Texas section of the American Society of Civil Engineers. The bridge also received a 2012 European Convention for Constructional Steelwork Award For Steel Bridges.
On June 1, 2020 at approximately 9:00 PM, several hundred protesters marching on the bridge were arrested in a kettling maneuver when Dallas Police routed the protest onto the bridge, blocked in the demonstration on both sides, fired teargas and pepper balls into the nonviolent crowd, then detained all protesters on the bridge for several hours. On June 4, former Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall announced that the protesters would not be charged following several days of attention and backlash from community members, political figures, local news outlets, and activist groups.


WikiWeb_Margaret Mitchell House and Museum_1

The house was built as a single-family residence in 1899. Commercial development quickly overtook the neighborhood, however, and in 1907 the original family moved to Druid Hills. The house changed hands several times until the winter of 1913–14 when the house was moved onto a new basement story constructed on the rear of the lot. Given a Crescent Avenue address, the building was remodeled in 1919 and converted into a ten-unit apartment building, known as the Crescent Apartments, and "three brick stores" were built where the house had originally sat. Located in what was then Atlanta's largest business district outside of downtown, close to trolley lines, and walking distance from her parents' house, the Crescent Apartments was home to Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh when they married in July 1925. Unfortunately, the building's owner became over-extended, and it was sold at auction in 1926. The next owner, too, was driven to bankruptcy when the stock market crashed in 1929. Maintenance declined, contributing to Mitchell's characterization of their apartment as "the Dump." By the fall of 1931, there were only two occupied apartments in the building, one of which belonged to the Marshes, but they, too, moved to a larger apartment a few blocks away in the spring of 1932.
With a new owner, the Crescent Apartments were revived and continued to attract tenants until shortly after World War II. By then, the building was in poor condition, and in 1946 the porches were removed from the Crescent Avenue side of the building. (The original front porches were lost when the building was moved in 1913). By the 1950s, the building was mostly vacant and overdue for rehabilitation. There were a few commercial tenants, and the old apartments were popular with Georgia Tech students. In 1964, the opening nearby of Ansley Mall signaled the death knell for the old commercial district on Peachtree Street between 8th and 14th. But at the same time, the Crescent Apartments got a much-needed rehab and were reborn as the Windsor House Apartments.

In 1977, the last tenants were evicted and the building boarded up by a new owner who intended a major redevelopment of the area. By the time he and his company went bankrupt in the late 1980s, their only accomplishment was construction of a new office building at 10th and West Peachtree and the razing of dozens of historic buildings in the area.
The old Crescent Apartments continued to deteriorate, especially after a fire set in the southwest corner of the building did minor damage in the late 1980s. In 1989, Mayor Andrew Young helped secure Margaret Mitchell House's future by designating it a city landmark on the rolls of what is now the city's Office of Urban Design - Historic Preservation Division. When the decision was made to restore the property, the architectural history of the structure was taken into account, and the front of the house was restored as it was in 1899. The back of the building was restored as it was when Margaret Mitchell called it home.
However, another fire, presumed to be arson, destroyed much of the building in September 1994. Afterwards, Daimler-Benz Corporation, the German auto manufacturer, gave $4.5 million to restore the property and purchase its surrounding city block. With a Mercedes-Benz plant near Birmingham, Alabama, Daimler-Benz anticipated using the facility for hospitality events during the 1996 Summer Olympics.
In May 1996, only 40 days before the Centennial Games’ Opening Ceremonies, the house again was victim of an arson attempt. This fire occurred at a point where the restoration was almost complete, and all but Margaret Mitchell's apartment was damaged or destroyed.
After the 1996 fire, $2 million collected from insurance allowed the restoration to continue. The House was dedicated on May 16, 1997.
It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.


The episcopal ordinariate of the then Roman Catholic Diocese of Berlin commissioned Friedrich Ebert, Hermann Jünemann and Hans Schädel to build the church. In 1960 Cardinal Julius Döpfner laid the cornerstone, and in 1963 he – together with Alfred Bengsch, then Catholic bishop of Berlin, and Louis-Marie-Fernand de Bazelaire, then Archbishop of Chambéry in France – consecrated the church. At that time, the church also served as a parochial church for the Catholic St. Joseph parish of Berlin-Spandau.
The campanile of Maria Regina Martyrum is a landmark at the entrance to the ceremonial courtyard, paved with cobblestone and surrounded by walls covered with slabs of black and grey basalt and showing figural way of the cross. The sober interior of the upper church, covered by an even ceiling, impresses with its indirect illumination. The building is regarded an outstanding example of combining church architecture and sculpture.
The crypt, originally a single room, has been divided by a gold-coated wall of concrete. The front part is dedicated solely to the memory of the martyrs of that time, symbolised by three inscriptions. At the right grave the ashes of Erich Klausener are reposing, the first martyr of Berlin's Catholic diocese in the Nazi period. The left inscription is dedicated to Blessed Provost Bernhard Lichtenberg. His relics are in Maria Regina Martyrum throughout the time of the renovation of St. Hedwig's Cathedral. The middle, only symbolic, grave commemorates all those martyrs, whom the Nazis denied to have a grave. Discalced Carmelite nuns who live in the convent Regina Martyrum next to the church since 1984 pray the Liturgy of the Hours in the rear crypt.
Since March 2008 the commemorative church, which does not belong to a parish, is headed by a rector of the Jesuits.


The mosque is visited by mainly Maltese Muslims, tourists, migrants and refugees. The Muslim community in Malta has increased from less than a hundred Muslims in 1974, to 3,000 Muslims in 2007, to 6,000 Muslims in 2011, to 10,000 Muslims in 2014. These estimates can be discredited as there has never been a proper conducted census about the Muslim population by the National Statistics Office (NSO Malta). There are about 18,000 refugees in Malta according to The Daily Telegraph with the overwhelming majority being males and Muslims.
In 2016 Ivan Vella said that there are up to 45,000 Muslims in Malta but this was also a conservative figure. With the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya over 55,000 visas were issued for Libyan citizens, generally of Muslim faith, to live in Malta, between 2011 and 2015. However, these are, for the most of them, temporary visas for medical care or other reasons.
The rapid growth of Muslims is mainly attributed to economic migrants, accompanied by interfaith marriages. Over 1,300 men are naturalized Maltese citizens mostly through marriage, and around 250 are native-born citizens of Malta. Around 350 Maltese citizens are reported to have converted to Islam, mainly Maltese women before or after marrying their Muslim husband; in general this is desired by Muslims to ensure that their children are raised "devout muslims". Maltese women are at times either "forced", pressured or persuaded to convert to Islam. Some muslim fathers have gone as far as taking their children away from their Maltese mothers, by taking them to their country of origin, with the scope to further ensure that they are raised as Muslims.
The mosque has become too small in the context of the growth of the Muslim population. Most of the attendants are from Libya, Somalia and Syria. The rise of crime among foreign Muslims, in Malta, is turning the mosque community into an isolated ghetto. Imam Elsadi himself said that the Muslim community aims not to "live in ghettoes". Some efforts by Maltese politicians have taken place to avoid this, such as by official visits.


The mosque makes the use of both Arabic as an Islamic tradition and English to communicate to the multicultural attendants. The loudspeaker at the mosque was shortly used to call for prayers but stopped after the nearby communities complained as the adhan unconventionally was used as early as 4 a.m. and disturbed public peace. The mosque is a seldom place of some conflict between non-nationals but mostly peaceful. The mosque's administration communicates to the public in general through their website mariamalbatool.com. Other forms of communication is participation in media discussion, such as on radio and on television, and occasional events such as conferences.


The Marienkapelle is a Roman Catholic church located at the Unterer Markt (market square) of the town of Würzburg, Bavaria. It was built in the Gothic style in the 14th century. Despite its large size, it is a chapel by status, as it does not have a parish. Today it is administered by the united parishes of the Würzburg Cathedral and the Kollegiatstift Neumünster.
The chapel was heavily damaged by the Bombing of Würzburg in World War II and its interior was destroyed by flames. It was rebuilt in the 1950s and re-consecrated in 1962.
Its two best known works of art, the sculptures of Adam and Eve by Tilman Riemenschneider, are today located in the Mainfränkisches Museum and have been replaced in-situ by copies. The chapel is also the place of burial of noted Baroque architect Balthasar Neumann.


The ornamental portal was made from red sandstone, when Julius Echter was bishop, as indicated by his coat of arms. It displays figures of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and above them the annunciation and finally the bishops Kilian und Burchard of Würzburg and a madonna. The design is still Renaissance style but already reflects early Baroque influences.
Under Echter's rule, a choir (known as the Echterchor) was also added to the church.


The Marin Headlands is the site of a number of historic military settlements fortifications, including Fort Cronkhite, Fort Barry, a large number of bunkers and batteries, and the SF-88 Nike Missile silo. From the 1890s, the first military installations were built to prevent hostile ships from entering San Francisco Bay. The batteries at Kirby Cove, above Black Sands Beach, south of Rodeo Beach, and at Battery Mendell are examples of fortifications from the pre-World War I period. During World War II Batteries Wallace, Townsley, and 129 on Hawk Hill were built into the hills to protect them from aerial bombardment and the high caliber shells that would be fired by Axis battleships. The emplacements at the top of Hawk Hill were used for a radio station. During the Cold War, the gun batteries were decommissioned, but antiaircraft missile sites were built on the northern and southern sides of Rodeo Lagoon. Radar sites were placed atop Hawk Hill and Hill 88. At several locations, shelters were built into the hillsides to protect the military personnel from the use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.
Observation posts known as base end stations can also be found in the Headlands. A well-preserved example can be seen near the northern end of Rodeo Beach, and others are located near the Point Bonita Lighthouse and on Wolf Ridge as it slopes down to the sea.
All military sites in the Headlands are now decommissioned and returned to civilian use. Some military facilities, such as SF-88, have been preserved as historical sites. Many historical buildings are now used by non-profit organizations, but maintained in their historical condition.
Other historic landmarks in the Headlands include Point Bonita Lighthouse.


The National Park Service maintains a visitor center near the intersection of Field Road and Bunker Road about a mile from Rodeo Beach. The visitor center contains historical and natural history displays as well as a small bookstore/gift shop. Hiking maps and Park Service program information are available as well.
Facilities include Presidio Fire Department Fire Station No. 2, located at building 1045 Fort Cronkhite. This fire station is operated by the National Park Service and houses one fire engine with cliff rescue capabilities.
Public restrooms are available in the Headlands at the visitor center parking lot, the parking lot near Rodeo Beach, and portable toilet facilities are available at the trailhead leading to the Point Bonita Lighthouse, along Conzelman Road near Black Sands Beach, at Battery Alexander dug into the hillside between Rodeo Beach and the Lighthouse, and at Battery 129 on Hawk Hill.
Conference center facilities are located in former military buildings maintained by the Point Bonita YMCA, NatureBridge, and the Headlands Center for the Arts. The Cavallo Point conference center is in East Fort Baker on the eastern side of the peninsula.
Other areas within Marin Headlands include Kirby Cove, Rodeo Lagoon, and Tennessee Cove.
Various nonprofit organizations have facilities in Marin Headlands. These include the Marine Mammal Center, the Foundation for Deep Ecology, and the NatureBridge campus (formerly known as the Headlands Institute), all in Fort Cronkhite; the Headlands Center for the Arts and the Marin Headlands Hostel at Fort Barry; and the Marin Headlands and Tennessee Valley Native Plant Nurseries.